these days, most recording sessions for
rock or pop groups are recorded directly onto computer hard disk, using
a program called ProTools by these rich mad scientist cum marketing types
from a company called digidesign.
Think of it as a giant iPod, or more like 192 iPods all strapped together
with software, so that you can have the bass guitar on one, the bass drum
on another iPod, the snare drum on another iPod, the lead singer's vocal
performance on yet another 3 iPods (he sang it 3 times, with slight variations
on the lyrics, and he can't decide which one he likes the best,
so he made the producer (like a film director
for a record,) save them all separately, for later Decision
Postponement options. )
Anyway, one killing feature of this newish recording
technology, (which has been around, in stereo form (not the 192 channel
upgrade...) since the late 80's. . . ) is that you can actually go in and
cut and paste one tiny smidgeon of a note from one performance into
another, and the listeners (if there are any!) can't tell. So say the drummer
hit one snare beat a little late, cuz he was scratchin his nose, or something
(!). . . or a little weaker than the others. The engineer and producer,
if so inclined (control freak, mechanical performance nazi or just fastidious
and/or anal....) can copy a different snare hit from another part
of the song (or even a WHOLE CHORUS of the drums,
if that chorus is played 'superior' (by who's def?) to the one being replaced....)
anyway they can copy the good note, and paste it over the old note, thus
P E R F E C T I N G the performance.
Well, what this leads to, some say is unlimited freedom.
Others say it takes the soul-life out of music today. . . In my opinion,
it's a little of both, but it can be fun and help get the job done, and
sometimes, with creativity be an improvement, In
my case, I get to do maybe 6 performances of the same tune, cuz there's
a lot of hard disk space available to record my ideas on, and
that it's an invitation to experiment (for me the musician,) with a safety
net, that if they don't like my improv, they still have the earlier 'responsible'
performance i gave while the clock was running. = but that's multiple complete
takes, not cutting up takes and putting them together, which is what KH
won't do. so i've strayed - sorry.
Well, dare I say, Kevin Hupp is a really good
drummer, and cool guy. When he gets your music-minus a drummer recording
in ProTools format ( FedEx him the hard drive, or there's even a new way
to collaborate over the internet....) (big bux for Digidesign yet again!)
well, when Kev gets your song, he'll set up his studio to play it back
in his headphones, where he's sitting at his humongous drum kit, and he'll
play along, recording his drums on a number of additional ProTools tracks
(a bunch more of iPods, using the early analogy on this page....) And
there, you'll have it - a groovy drummer recording a groovy drum track
on your music. He then FedEx's the hard disk with your song, now including
his contibuted drum performance, back to you, you pay him (not sure which
order this occurs in!) and bob'syeruncle. Plus you still haven't mixed
it yet - you can decide how loud you want drums in the mix when you get
it home.
But the cool part is this: Kevin won't do that
cut and paste thing with his drum tracks recorded at his studio. You are
guaranteed that what he sends you will be a complete performance of his,
from beginning to end. (He will do more than one i think, but whatever
he records and sends you back, will be a complete 'take' from beginning
to end - no spliced in bits.) He contends (and many will agree, mostly
mystical
types like myself....) that there's a certain magnetic continuity to a
musical performance, it's an event, in real time captured forever, and
when people start cutting and pasting to make it a more 'perfect' performance,
this ineffable 'vibe' is lost. You mightn't hear the difference, but you
feel it, maybe consciously, or maybe just as a vague sense that something
is missing or undirected.
End of speech.