Enough Tech Talk
Posted on | August 29, 2008 |
To counter-balance all the quasi-tech-opinionated blather I’ve been posting recently, let’s get back to non-scientific sound. Gut instincts record making.
When you go out for pizza, you don’t really care the exact temperature of the oven, how much salt and water are in the dough that make the perfect crust, or how much sugar is in the pizza sauce. You just want the best tasting pizza you’ve ever had. And creating that is an intangible combination of all the ingredients, the tools that cook it and the person making the decisions preparing the ‘za. In the end, though, it’s the taste that matters.
It’s the same thing with making a recording. There’s tons of technical back-end that needs to be understood, protocol/order of operations/best practices that need to be followed. But when it’s all said and done, does it sound great or not? Or — to stay with the pizza analogy — is it satisfying?
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From Ohm to Om reflects the opinions of mastering engineer Paul Abbott, owner of San Diego's ZenMastering.
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September 9th, 2008 @ 6:23 pm
As both a pizza maker and recording guy, I have to chime-in…
Often times, you need to go off-recipe to get satisfied. I love pizza, but not the same one every time. That said, the best pizza places that know how to get it “right” (or at least the same every time) have many repeat customers and develop a good reputation… Even though nobody would think of eating ONLY their pizza. (Man does not live by Rosario’s alone!)
If you go to a pizza place that was started by a guy simply because he loved to eat pizza, and had collected a lot of pizza boxes, sauce, and toppings, you’re likely to get a bad pizza. (Insert “recording studio” and “musician” above for the analogy)
However, if you go to a pizza place where the basics of pizza making are well understood through years of experience, trying new things, recipe changes and love, you’re likely to get a good pie.
The recipe may be the same, but the details are in the quality, preparation and presentation. Same with recording.
- Rickshaw