There are some

[Joseph Hanna]

folks out there who for whatever reason can pick up a musical instrument and simply and effortlessly make a joyous sound.

Doesn't matter the choice of guitar or amplifier or string or pick or keyboard or mic or pre-amp or tube or class a vs b or Digi vs Logic or compression issues......no heated debate about Neve vs Harrison.....just none of the weight we tend to fuel these discussions with.

I know Paul McCartney wrote Yesterday as a very young man based on an melody floating around in his head and pounded out quickly on a piano he had in his living room. The fact of the matter is I'll live the rest of my life embracing that melody and in short it'll never leave me.

Indeed nothing less than brilliant. Watch an old clip of the Beatles doing Yesterday live a Budakon in a VERY difficult audio situation using electric guitars and it's still a brilliant melody.

It's just that the miracle that is that song (and others) sometimes makes me realize that the software AND perhaps the hardware I choose has so very little consequence.....so VERY little consequence.

I just wish at times we could temper the endless converter/pre-amp ect, ect discussions with a little music talk. Not end the gear talk.... just temper it with some great music discussions.

I'll start.

I just finished listening to John Williams "Memoirs of a Geisha". There is power and harmony and massive dynamics and moving bodacious moments...kinda takes me (in a way) back to the power and dynamics of Dark Side of the Moon.

Most compelling.

What are you folks getting inspired by these days??

 

[starbuck26]

Funny how thinking about how to record can keep you from thinking about what it is you're actually playing...

It all comes back to simplicity... When you're listening to a song for the first time and you know in your bones where it will go next. There is only one place to go, and that place is the right place.

I've been listening to the new radiohead album. Not my favorite of theirs... not mind blowing like Kid A was, which seems so long ago. The one song I've been listening to on repeat is "The Reckoner." When the voice and drums drop once again after that free part in the middle... beautiful.

Nice when some stupid little song gives you those goosebumps. Nice to know you can still feel them.

Good post.

 

[Dani Pace]

I've always felt that it is the song and the musicians that make great recordings more than the recording gear and processing. If more people played like they want it to sound rather than relying on how it can be "made to sound" there would be more real music out there. It seems to me that far too many people consider the recording (and processing) as making music when more attention should be given to capturing and reproducing the music being played. The myth of "we can fix it in the mix" has warped many people's perception of what recording is supposed to be about. There is no doubt that good studios and good engineers make better recordings, but great songs, played by great musicians, in those good studios make great recordings.