Before I get to the topic of today's post, I want to congratulate our two Grammy winners (the awards were announced last night) eighth blackbird (Best Chamber Music Performance for their strange imaginary animals album) and Judith Sherman (Producer of the Year, Classical for albums including strange imaginary animals and violinist Rachel Barton Pine's American Virtuosa: Tribute to Maud Powell).
I was recently asked to give a symposium for the benefit of a young chamber ensemble on what they need to know about recording.
I thought I would use this opportunity to ask ChicagoClassicalMusic.org readers what YOU think musicians need to know. If you are a musician with questions about the recording process (or things you wish you had known earlier), please let me know what they are. Even if you are not, if you have ideas on what information would be helpful to an artist or group embarking on recording, please share those ideas.
Some of the topics that have been suggested for this symposium are:
--Working with a producer (or what to expect from a recording producer)
--Defining your sound
--Coming up with program concepts (that are marketable and artistically convincing)
--Marketing yourself to a record label and/or marketing your recordings directly to the public
--Choosing a record label / working with a record label -- developing a good partnership
--The download and streaming market
If you can suggest additional topics or ways to refine or expand on the above topics I would be most grateful.
Looking forward to reading your ideas,
Jim
Posted in
Guest (not verified) | Tue, 02/12/2008 - 5:33pm
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»Jim Ginsburg | Wed, 02/13/2008 - 2:33am
Thanks for your question. The beginning of a session is dominated by the producer and engineer getting the sound and is referred to as "Sound checks". I can't speak for other producers, but once my engineer and I get a basic sound we like, we invite the musician(s) to come back to the recording booth to listen to playbacks and comment on the sound -- they know what they want/expect to sound like better than we can.
Once the sound is to everyone's liking -- this may take several playbacks, especially in the case of "mixed" chamber music (e.g., winds and strings together), which can be tricky to balance -- then we move on to actual recording.
At this point, musical considerations take over and the producer works with the musicians to get the best performance possible, while the engineer keeps an ear on the sound to make sure nothing goes out of balance, etc. I hope I've answered your question adequately. If there is something more specific you would like to know, please tell me.
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»Plush | Wed, 02/13/2008 - 1:55pm
As for recording, some topics might be:
developing trust with the engineer/producer
what to expect in the recording sessions
overview of the editing process and how the group can streamline it
what type of sound does the group want?
how to choose a room to record in
how to prepare for the repetitive nature of recording.
Sticking to the basics will help the group to prepare for the task at hand. Then, separately, one can move into a discussion about tactics and strategies for promotion and marketing the recorded sound.
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