Digital recording & Kate/Single version of Sat in your Lap

[ed191-bq%violet.Berkeley.EDU@berkeley.edu (Taylor)]

(Really from Hugh Maher)

Glad to hear someone was interested in my posting yesterday - Thanks Andrew!
Whatever anyone might say about IED, at least he's consistently the
most polite person on the net!

However, I don't remember the exact source and date of that interview -
I remember reading it after having a discussion with Peter Morris and
the others at Homeground about Kate's attitude toward digital recording.
He showed me this article/interview that she gave to a magazine called
something like "Electronic musician" or "Modern Music and Recording"
or something the equivalent of "Musician" magazine in Britain.
I'm pretty sure that the interview was given in the wake of the release
of "The Dreaming" (Fall '82 or spring '83). Perhaps you could scour your
old copies of Homeground for the "Medialog" section and track down
articles around this time in magazines that sound like this.

I'm certain, though, of the content (I have a weirdly sharp memory for
this stuff, but it tends to fail rapidly in other areas!). She definitely
did do comparison tests between analog and digital and expressed a 
preference for the analog recording, although she admitted that it could
probably just be due to past biases. Also, when she said that the analog
was "warmer" she also said something about how the digital was somewhat
"harsh" - but NOT in terms of the actual sound of the instruments as many
claim; but more along the lines that it was TOO good at perfectly
reproducing the sound of the instrument without any background hiss or
noise. This seemed to throw her off, and she DEFINITELY made a statement
that she LIKES a certain amount of tape hiss "Just to remind you that
you're listening to a tape" or something like that. She even said something
like "If you listen to "The Dreaming" closely, you can still hear a bit
of hiss, which is comforting"  (I don't know if "comforting" was the word,
but that was the general idea).

She also went on about what a nightmare it was to digitally mix "The Dreaming"
(this is from the one-column Musician feature on her home recording 
techniques in the spring of 1983) and how certain parts took "easily twice
as long as analog" to do; However, her liking for the end product and the
"edge" that digital mixing gives is supported in the fact that "Hounds of
Love" was also digitally mixed.  

I think she should take a leaf out of Peter Gabriel's book and think
about using a combination of the two - the digital recorder for the 
electronic stuff, fairlight, drums, and voices (which all work great
with digital) and use an analog for the acoustic instruments. 
I have to admit, the opening fiddle on "Jig of Life" is one of the most
earthy and real sounding acoustic instruments I've ever heard on CD, and
it was done on analog. This way, she'd have the best of both worlds.
As it stands, her constant re-playing of the analog tape over and over
(I think) tends to erase the highs and generally muddy up the sound.
This might explain why "Hounds" doesn't sound as good as "The Dreaming"
in terms of clarity. I have to admit, I sort of worry about her
using Del as the sole engineer - sure it saves money, but how good is he
around the studio?

I'll be curious to see how the next album sounds, since it will be
done from start to finish in her home studio. (The basic tracks of
Hounds of Love were recorded on an 8-track as demos, and then were
transferred onto the new analog 24-track, which probably has a lot
to do with the "muddier" HOL sound).

Hugh