Re: Recording engineering

[Peter Byrne Manchester <PMANCHESTER@ccmail.sunysb.edu>]

Thanks to Peter Stoller (afcpeters@aol.com) for several clarifying comments 
about Del's engineering.  

First, replying to Fiona McQuarrie (fmcquarr@upei.ca):

> >                                                         My question
> > is, if he (Del) knows all this technical stuff, why have all of's
> > Kate's recent records sounded so flat and empty? I still think she
> > needs an outside producer to help her.
>
> I agree completely. Del knows a certain amount about recording, but
> he's not really a great engineer. The bit about learning to compress
> Kate's vocals from "Ardman" (aka Hardiman) is an example. Yes, KB's
> vocals have always been heavily compressed, but *nothing* like the
> sound Palmer introduced on TSW, where you can hear the bloody
> compressor pumping! This guy needs to turn over the console to
> someone qualified, and get back to playing bass - something he was
> really good at.

Even this last has been challenged here this week, but I agree with Peter 
Stoller that he is very good, especially in a live band context.

Later, replying to my observations:

> > punch aspect of the percussive `hit'; worse is audible splattering
> > of the leading edge of the sound.  But surely neither is a sound
> > one would relish, and not want to part with!?
> 
> Actually, tape compression can sound pretty good, and many engineers
> still prefer to use analog tape and hit it very hard to get that
> sound. Roy Thomas Baker was particularly famous (or infamous) for
> this; he slammed the tape something fierce for the Queen records he
> did, and I think they sound splendid. One result is that you get a
> lot of third harmonic distortion which, rather than dulling the
> sound, tends to make it sound brighter and silkier. 

This is true.  In fact, depending on the specific tape and the biasing you 
are using, you can get a whole bunch of odd harmonics.  Working with 2-track 
Sony SuperScope (yes, I do go back) and Ampex machines, however, I could 
never abide the intermodulation.

>                                                        This is similar
> to tube (valve, to you) distortion. Obviously, there's a limit before
> it starts to sound bad, but pushing the needle into the red is quite
> acceptable for analog recording. In digital, it's disasterous.

Actually, I'm not a valve and bonnet sort; I just have a name that sounds 
like I should be.  I was born and lived most of my life in California.  
Tomato rhymes with potato, like it should.

> Of course, there are other ways to get that sort of sound when
> recording digitally. A good tube compressor would be one way. I think
> Del's choice of a "cold" sounding compressor is a mistake, especially
> when printing to digital; a warmer sound could still work for what he
> wants to do, it just wouldn't be so horribly exaggerated.

I agree.  In general, analogue effects achieved electronically are more 
agreeable that electromechanical ones.  They are certainly more repeatable 
and controllable.  I knew guitarists that used to love the effects they'd get 
pushing cone speakers up against the wall--for a week or so.  *Much* more 
tractable to use a smaller tube amp!

I checked out of any direct contact with recording when multitrack was 
followed by the near-complete abandonment of *acoustic* stereo and the 
microphone techniques associated with it.  The Stones stayed with acoustic 
stereo for at least Keith Richards' rhythm work for a long time.  For me a 
particularly spectacular illustration of the poverty of multitrack stereo was 
Jorma Kaukonen's arrangement of "Good Shepherd" with Jefferson Airplane.  In 
performance, he used phasing to coil that descending lead around the room 
like a snake.  In medium-sized spaces like Winterland it was cosmic.  The 
effort to synthesize the effect with pan-pot on the recording is just silly 
by comparison.

............................................................................
                                                            Peter Manchester
       "Eat the Music!"                        pmanchester@ccmail.sunysb.edu
                                                    72020.366@compuserve.com