It occurs to me that a day comes for rather a lot of people when they wake up in the morning and suddenly, inexplicably, they have the urge to work at a recording studio. I’ve known plenty of people who have taken this to the next level and hocked themselves up to the ears to purchase whatever gear the guy at the music store recommends. Almost to a man, what they have now is no more than a big debt, while the equipment gathers dust in a spare room. So whilst at face value the idea of running your own recording facility seems appealing, hindsight shows that it seldom leads anywhere. And the main reason, I would suppose, is that these folks buy all the tasty gear only to find out that what actually makes good recordings isn’t equipment, it is EXPERIENCE.
So if you fancy getting into the world of recording, I would dare to suggest that buying a mass of recording kit is not a sagacious route to take, unless you really are prepared to spend years learning the craft. fl studio is a good piece of software Believe me, it does take years and you never stop learning. Speaking as someone who might be referred to as a “seasoned professional” (or “old fart” if you prefer) of three decades I can state this with certitude and also add that I’m learning more now than ever before. I guess most professional sound engineers would say the same; there’s always more to learn - especially with the exponential rate of technological growth these days.
But where do you start? fl studio if you have in your heart the dream of being a recording engineer, how do you go about making it into a reality? Well, in this article I’d like to focus not so much on the process of becoming a sound engineer as the qualities you should seek in yourself which will help you to get there. Not everyone has the personality, character and gifting to make it as a sound engineer, so consider this something of a checklist. How do you measure up?
MY DEAR AUDIO, I LOVE YOU
The very first thing you’re really going to need is a genuine and lasting passion for recording. You’ll need it because this is a hard, unforgiving career which can sometimes be unrewarding too (so if you’re in it for the money, don’t bother). Moreover, today’s music industry cannot support a huge swathe of new engineering talent, so you’re going to have to be very determined. The irony in this is that you may not know whether you have such passion and determination until you’ve been in the line of work for a while. However, if you’ve been mentally taking records to pieces in your head since an early age and had a keen interest in the technology of sound reproduction, I think you’re definitely in the right ball park. Perhaps the first step would be to get some books on recording and gauge your own reaction to them: Do you eat them for lunch and remember all the fun details, or do you casually flick through them with one eye on the ball game?
If a career in recording really is the desire of your heart then feed it, nurture it and don’t let anyone dissuade you from it. This doesn’t mean barging blindly ahead in a single- and narrow-minded manner; you’ll know in your “knower” if recording is really what floats your button, pushes your candle and lights your boat.
NERD CITY, MAN
You’re also going to need more than a passing interest in technical matters. You’ll need good physics, some maths, electronics preferably, some computer skills and a genuine love for the process of recording. You’ll need to understand the equipment thou fl studio has everything in the box with which you’re going to be working when starting out, and over the years you’re going to have to get to know loads of different bits of gear really well. Another invaluable thing to learn is acoustics; the science and properties of sound. You’ll have to be interested in details like what makes one preamp sound different than another, and why moving a microphone three inches makes a radical change to the sound. You might also want to look into the mechanisms of human perception, how sound reaches the brain and what affects that. I’m not asking you whether you think you can swot-up and remember every atom of information; I’m asking whether you can unearth in yourself a real interest in it. If you’re genuinely interested and passionate, learning will be much easier.
HEAR, HEAR
Along with the technical aspects of audio and human perception, you’re going to have to work on your own listening skills. It’ll pay to get your hands on a cheap keyboard and figure out the different sounds of chords; why does a major sound different to a minor - or a diminished seventh, for that matter? Learn the sounds of different kinds of instruments too. The difference between a trumpet and a guitar is easy to spot - but how about the difference between a trumpet and a cornet? Not so easy, but very worth knowing nonetheless. Learn to really listen to the details in recordings. Can you hear the kick pedal squeaking on The Sweet’s “Ballroom Blitz”, the aberrant test tones which made it through to the vinyl of “Owner Of A Lonely Heart” by Yes, or the high-pitched speech buried deep in the music track of Mat Munro’s “From Russia With Love”? Can you tell the difference between a wood shell snare drum and a metal shell? Or between Fender and Gibson? Later on you’ll probably be asked to hear the difference between two almost identical models of microphone. So learn to LISTEN, to concentrate on what your ears are actually hearing and not what you think they are.
HOW DO YOU REALLY FEEL?
The recording studio can be a fairly high-pressure environment and some of the clients you’re going to get are probably going to make you want to commit murder. Whilst the majority of your clients are going to be cool, unfortunately there are going to be those who will just be asses of the highest order - it’s human nature. So it’ll pay to develop the right attitude towards the job and the people involved. You’re going to have to have considerable patience for when the singer fouls up the forty-ninth take, and you’re going to have to keep your frustration well-hidden because if you give the slightest hint of it they may lose their confidence altogether and the session will be screwed up. You’ll need to be personable and polite but not too familiar. You’ll need to be very good at communication, both in the sense of keeping your clients informed as the session progresses and also of listening to their requirements. You’ll need to have the humility to admit that even a fool can ask questions that a wise man can’t answer, and to take it on the chin and remain professional when the producer decides to erase all your hard work and start again or when you have a fantastic idea which they don’t use. The key word here is professionalism; if you’re there because you love to record stuff, you’ll do well. If you’re there because you want people to record how you think they should and you throw your toys out of the pram when they don’t, well, perhaps you shouldn’t be there at all. Most of all, learn to be a team player; it’s not about you, it’s about making a great record.
ORGANISM
A keen eye for details is going to serve you well, along with the ability to be very organised. Recording sessions can descend into chaos unless someone’s taking notes (even mental ones) about what takes were best, which tracks had bum notes on them and what settings made up that complex but nonetheless awesome guitar sound. Under normal circumstances this thankless but necessary task falls to the engineers, who also need to remember things like what mics went to what tie lines, who has what headphone mix and arbitrary details like tape speeds (if you’re lucky enough to work with tape), tempos, delay times and compression ratios. And this is in addition to physical organisation in the manner of labelling media, not letting mics get in the way of players, ensuring cable runs aren’t round ankles and so on.
WEIRD SCIENCE
Finally, in amongst all this learning, organising and humility, you’re going to have to maintain an attitude of inventiveness. Yes, you’ll learn your favourite techniques; all sound engineers do. Most people use an SM57 for snare and a large-capsule condenser for vocals. But that doesn’t mean you’re limited to stock techniques. You might often rely on tried-and-trusted experience for the sake of speed, but don’t be closed to the idea of trying something new; maybe even something weird, pushing the envelope in search of a new sound. Just as in cooking, where some of the world’s best dishes were created by accident, using off-the-wall approaches to recording can sometimes get a unique and outstanding result.
So if you think that all the above factors describe you, I wonder whether you might consider a career in recording? I won’t lie to you; it’s hard work and often for little reward, but when it does pan out it’s the most interesting and fun job in the world. More so if you really love it. Hey, I would never have stuck with it if that wasn’t true. And if you’ve got what it takes and go ahead with your dreams, I look forward to buying a successful CD on which I see the words “engineered by [insert YOUR name here]”.
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