February 2, 2006

All Ears

If you are like me, you don’t understand much about the process of recording music. You might know some of what a producer does, or an engineer, but it’s hard to translate those conceptual models into what you’re actually hearing when you play a record. Oh, yeah, I can pick apart a recorded song and say “Wow, cool guitar sound! Hella tight cymbal crash, dude!” – but it’s merely a fun exercise to channel my enthusiasm. I really don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about.

The passing years have made me realize that certain “studio” people are consistently associated with music that I love. What are, or were, these folks doing right?

Here’s some education on a silver platter. Get yourself a free subscription to Tape Op Magazine, or check out their site. It’s an advertiser-supported trade publication, so it won’t even cost you nothin’. Tape Op helps me open my ears to music in a whole new way. It’s fun. There’s some really good writing and fascinating interviews. You don’t need to know who Tom Dowd or Steve Albini are, to appreciate the dedication behind their craft. Tape Op is short on blingy equipment fetishism, but long on the humanist quest for truth in sound.

Do what I do: Just skip over the parts you don’t understand.

(There’s something really compelling about reading about the ugly side, too. People who counsel you to “do what you love” had better also assess the soul-frying heartache that comes about when your life’s passion becomes just some crap that you do for a paycheck. I recommend the work of “Mixerman“, a guy who came to notoriety by publishing a diary of his worst big-studio nightmare sessions on a message board. Despite the obvious comedy, what shines in MM’s journals is his dogged determination to remain professional, maintain a sunny outlook and actually help a bunch of talentless assholes polish their musical turds into something half-worthwhile.)

So ends today’s lecture. I trust that you will follow my advice. After all, you read Toe Stubber. It’s clear you are a person of taste, discernment and sensitivity.

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In keeping with today’s theme of posting from ignorance, here’s a band I know nothing about. I found this punkcore cover of a Glenn Miller song on some mostly lame sausage-party compilation a while back and it’s spectacular the way Bounder rips through this catchy jazz novelty tune in less than 100 seconds.

Bounder – “Kalamazoo”

Rick at 11:14 pm

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