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Re: (no subject given!)

From: as010b@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (andrew david simchik)
Date: Tue, 1 Dec 92 23:56:49 GMT
Subject: Re: (no subject given!)
Newsgroups: rec.music.gaffa
Organization: University of Rochester - Rochester, New York
References: <9212011842.aa14528@hobbes.sco.com>
Sender: news@galileo.cc.rochester.edu

In <9212011842.aa14528@hobbes.sco.com> news@sco.COM (News admin) writes:



>it is typical of the novice to express an opinion on something that he or
>she knows little about.  as a certified recording engineer and beautiful
>person (our record was noted as having "exceptionally clean sound on this
>cutting edge release" in US Rave) i am obviously in a position of authority
>to comment.  take it from me, folks.  i know the difference between bad
>engineering, bad recording and bad mixing.  the sensual world is badly
>engineered and recorded.  you can tell quite easily by listening to the
>differences in hiss/distortion levels between the things del recorded at
>chez kate and stuff like the orchestras recorded at abbey road.

>kate's gotta pull her head out of her butt and take an interest in sound
>quality.  for an artist of her caliber to put out a CD like the british
>edition of The Sensual World is really insulting.  (i single out the British
>version cos it's slightly clearer than the american one, and you can hear
>the shit even better.  this is what i paid an extra $5 for?  puhleeze!)

>>Checking the credits, I notice that it wasn't Del who did the
>>mixing on most of the album, it was Kevin Killen. Del only mixed
>>one song, _Walk Straight Down the Middle_.

>nothing wrong with kevin killen.  check out peter gabriel's "so".  you can't
>make gold out of turds.  you can gold plate the turd but deep down it
>retains its essential turdiness.

>>I think the next album can't help but be helped by just "turning
>>down the volume on all that electronic background crap and letting
>>me hear KATE!"

>she should spend some of her fortune on a better reverb.

>or better yet, come live at my house and let me produce her album in our
>studio.

>-- 
>Jon Drukman (God's personal DJ)                 uunet!sco!jondr   jondr@sco.com
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Always note the sequencer - this will never let us down.

Wow.  Jeez, you just trashed one of my favorite albums of all time.  I hated
to quote *all* of that, but I felt it necessary to what I am about to say.

I realize you apparently know more about all this technical stuff than the
rest of us, which *does* put you in a position of authority to comment. 

However, as the layman I am, I *love* this album.  Absolutely adore it.  How
can that be, if it's so badly made (technically speaking)?

Well, I think the answer comes from your own posting.  You speak of the
inability of the engineer to improve music by "gold plating" it.  And
plating is all it is; "turdy" music is still "turdy" no matter how it's
plated, and good music is still good no matter how *it's* plated.

The implication of your "turd" paragraph is that TSW is "turdy".  To which I
reply, in an equally scatological vernacular: BULLSHIT.  Don't get me wrong,
I like Peter Gabriel's music too, but TSW has it all over "So".  TSW has it
all over the vast majority of the past decade's music, period.  So it wasn't
the raw music that was lacking.

And, well, in the layman's opinion, it wasn't lacking in *any* respect. 
Maybe it could have been engineered better (I apologize if I've misused the
terms "engineer," "record," and "mix"); maybe not.  Either way, I don't
listen for gold plating, I listen for music.  Perhaps it's a good thing I'm
not a certified recording engineer; my untrained ear didn't notice anything
gratingly awful, and I was able to enjoy TSW for the brilliance it is. 
Ignorance is bliss, I guess.

I don't think Kate has to "pull her head out of her butt" in terms of her
sound quality.  It might be nice, but I'd prefer that she simply concentrate
on making a new album, even if she has to record in a garage somewhere.  I'd
buy it; I'd buy it twice.  If TSW was an insult, she's free to insult me all
she wants.

Drewcifer

P.S. I don't mean this to sound rude, but does your above post really mean
to say that you are a "certified...beautiful person?"  If so, where does one
acquire a certificate?
-- 
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* Andrew David Simchik, a.k.a. Drewcifer ***************  SCHNOPIA! *******
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