They wouldn’t know it if you didn’t tell ‘em

I’ve told the story before about sending a recording to a musical acquaintance/friend that my wife and I had recorded. He called me back a few days later and said he liked the recording. Then he asked “are those programmed drums or did a real drummer play them.” I replied by saying “if you have to ask, what’s the difference.”

I’ve always maintained that the only people who know what you used to make a recording are the people that were in the room at the time. Many funky (as in not so great) sounding recordings were made with high end tube mikes and very expensive recorders and recording consoles. On the flip side some great sounding recordings have been made with a shure vocal mike and a cassette portastudio.

I was watching a YouTube video the other day of a guy comparing the stock microphone input of his audio interface with a 2000 dollar plus tube mic preamp.

You see it all the time, microphones, speakers, headphones etc. All pitting a inexpensive (affordable?) something with a much more expensive version of that same thing.

But to be honest, when I listen to most of those audio comparisons, the sound is so close that I feel it is a waste of time to even compare them. Especially when there is a $2K price for the minuscule difference. And especially when listening over the internet. Now mind you, we’re talking electronics here. There are some electronic devices that last decades. Old EQ’s and compressors.

I do know the argument, recording at the highest sample rate and word length, using the very best microphones, preamps, converters, instruments and acoustic area, even using the best wire and cords all add up to music that, as it passes through the storms of radio processors, streaming servers and mp3 converters, will ultimately sound better because the source was so much more hi fidelity.

But to be honest, there is much marketing thought put into the fact that there are always people who want the best of the best. In fact, we are all ego driven to some extent and when working on their art (music) many tend to go for the best. And there is nothing wrong with that.

It’s just that some times you can get there and not spend so much. Now, there are times that 2000 dollars does make a difference. Take a $125 dollar acoustic guitar and compare it to a $2000 Martin. You can really hear that difference.

Somewhere out there in the millions of bedrooms across the globe, there are folks who have cheap mic’s, a little two channel interfaces, headphones and a laptop with some inexpensive recording software and have little or no experience in recording making some truly interesting music. And that is neat.

There is, I believe, an area where the musical gear you choose can be classified as ‘perfectly good transportation’. It’s not the best, might not be fancy, but it works. It will get you to the place where the spirit of music lives. If your budget is large enough to go for the best of everything, that is fantastic. If it is very limited, choose where to spend your dollars wisely.

Spending time comparing or buying things that cost wads of Ben Franklin’s but only give you a very slight advantage in audio quality has never resonated with me. And I would say it’s okay to think like that.

May Mr. Neve forgive me.

When I acquired my first eight track studio equipment, it was considered ‘pro-sumer gear’ and the term was meant to distinguish someone who spent eight to ten thousand on studio gear verses someone who spends eighty to one hundred thousand. A distinction was made. I chalked it up to marketing guru’s and the ‘only the best will do’ audio elite.

Today with a realistic investment of about eight hundred to one thousand dollars, (assuming you have a decent computer) you can have a set up that can do things none of the equipment of that bygone era could do.

I’ve been listening to many mp3’s in my car as I have them on a player and can fit hours of music on one little device. I do admit that I can here the difference between a mp3 and a 16/44.1 CD but it doesn’t take away from the spirit of the song in my opinion. I can really only hear it in the studio through good speakers.

The way people listen to music today seems to me to be different than twenty years ago.

Mp3 players, music on our phone, Spotify, SiriusXM etc. Even AM and FM radio.

Much of our listening is on the move. In the car, jogging or working out, while at work doing other tasks. Folks in commercial kitchens and laundry facilities streaming music through their smart phone speaker! Or EARBUDS!

Much of the time, the music listened to in those situations can be of a slightly lower data rate or have some musical compressing of the data to make the size of a song smaller to use up less data space.

But the song file is still within three to ten percent of the original recording’s fidelity. And when whatever you happen to be doing at the time makes it so you can’t even hear the difference, it becomes a mute point. Or even if there is a large quality drop due to the device you are listening through...

The ‘spirit’ of the music shines through.

The fact remains that most of us listen to much of our music in less than ideal environments usually while performing another task.

Every one of us would agree that listening to something that moves you, even if the audio quality is diminished, is preferable to listening to something that you have no interest in but is of outstanding audio quality. We may, appreciate the quality for what it is, but we usually won’t invest a large amount of time listening.

We say, ‘oh that sounds great’ and move on.

The spirit of music is about feelings. It’s about moods. It’s about goose bump, hair raising, clenched fist pumping in the air, cry your eyes out emotion.

The spirit of music is about soul. The musicians soul and the listeners soul.

A part of the soul is tapped, and the result is magic.

Yes there is real magic in the world. Not slight of hand or tricks. Real magic.

The real musical voodoo is to take what you’ve got and make a masterpiece. And don’t tell anyone how you did it.