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Sound Engineers


Lorraine
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The reason why this interests me so much is because, to me at least, a song is a creation. It's a work of art. It begins in someone's mind, makes its way to a piece of paper (only if they know music - in the case of the Eddie Van Halens of this world, I don't know what they do - play it on tape I guess), and from there goes to a demo tape which in turn gets spruced up until we have the finished product on an album. Sometimes that journey is quite extensive musically - the demo bears little resemblance to the finished product.

 

I just find the entire process fascinating. If I could have chosen a talent, that would have been what I would have chosen for myself.

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Who are the best sound engineers?

 

Many engineers work with artists of a particular genre (often associated with a 'sound'). There's not necessarily a best, it's more about who is influential, who helped start a trend, etc. Not all that different from figureheads in rock. There's bands and/or rock artists that always come up in various conversations.

 

Here's a wiki list to get you started.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_engineer#Notable_audio_engineers

 

It would probably be easier to start with a few good sounding albums (like previously mentioned -- Dark Side was Alan Parsons, Aja was Bill Schnee among others), and look into the engineer for that album. Many interviews can be found online too.

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On the topic of recording engineers, this is from Brian May's book Queen in 3-D, from p. 69, about Mike Stone, engineer on A Night at the Opera and a couple of albums following:

 

"Mike had incredible ears for blending sounds. He would just gently touch all the tone controls on the desk . . . and would magically make things blend together in the right way. Quite amazing! He started off as teaboy at Trident Studios, which is the way things were done in those days. You didn't go to university to learn how to be an engineer. You did your apprenticeship by signing up as a teaboy in a studio, and if you were very lucky and worked hard for a long time you got to be an engineer. When Mike was an assistant engineer he was already tuned in to us, and we recognised his talent. In fact the final mix of "Keep Yourself Alive," which is the mix that is on the single, I did with Mike, and no one else. Somehow, instinctively, we knew what we wanted, but it was Mike who had all the technical expertise. He'd just picked it up, playing around in dark time in the studio."

Edited by toymaker
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Classic Albums, Aja:

 

A good'en

 

Thank you I was looking to see yesterday who the sound engineer was for The Police albums, especially the one for Synchronicity. Never heard of the man, but he seemed very popular and even won a few awards for his work.

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You see, they "heard in their heads" what they wanted the song to sound like.

 

I am finding this video amazing. The trouble these musicians go to perfect these albums and we listen to them with little or no appreciation to all the blood, sweat, toil, and effort that went into making it.

 

By the way, I see Walter Becker died of esophageal cancer: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/walter-beckers-widow-details-steely-dan-co-founders-swift-illness-death-120254/

At the time of his death, this hadn't come out. I just looked it up and found the Rolling Stone article.

Edited by Lorraine
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You see, they "heard in their heads" what they wanted the song to sound like.

 

I am finding this video amazing. The trouble these musicians go to perfect these albums and we listen to them with little or no appreciation to all the blood, sweat, toil, and effort that went into making it.

 

The effort is remarkable. It's fascinating to hear all the layers one by one, and to hear what was left out.

 

How about the use of Michael McDonald's voice?

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You see, they "heard in their heads" what they wanted the song to sound like.

 

I am finding this video amazing. The trouble these musicians go to perfect these albums and we listen to them with little or no appreciation to all the blood, sweat, toil, and effort that went into making it.

 

The effort is remarkable. It's fascinating to hear all the layers one by one, and to hear what was left out.

 

How about the use of Michael McDonald's voice?

Yes. He said he had a hard time doing his own harmony because the notes were so close together - when he had to record the next one, it was hard to keep on the new note.

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Jeff Lynne, Trent Reznor, Ted Templeman, Berry Gordie, Mutt Lange, Dr Dre, Brian Wilson, Brian Eno, Quincy Jones, George Martin... Great visionaries that got the most out of musicians and technicians.
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Al Kooper is another all time great

I remember him. I loved the first BS&T album. My friend and I, when we were 15 :), went to the CBS building (I think it was CBS) in Manhattan to see him, but he wasn't there.

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The reason why this interests me so much is because, to me at least, a song is a creation. It's a work of art. It begins in someone's mind, makes its way to a piece of paper (only if they know music - in the case of the Eddie Van Halens of this world, I don't know what they do - play it on tape I guess), and from there goes to a demo tape which in turn gets spruced up until we have the finished product on an album. Sometimes that journey is quite extensive musically - the demo bears little resemblance to the finished product.

 

I just find the entire process fascinating. If I could have chosen a talent, that would have been what I would have chosen for myself.

In the 80's people used 4 track machines and 8 track machines. Steve Vai recorded his whole Flexable album on a Fostex ¼ inch 8-track machine in 1984.

 

As for whether engineers go to school, a lot of producers and engineers are musicians themselves so that's one way of learning what sounds good and what doesn't. For instance producer and engineer Andy Sneap is a guitarist. He's engineered and produced many albums bands like Exodus, Accept, Judas Priest, Napalm Death, Testament, Nevermore, Obituary, Kreator, Arch Enemy, Opeth, Megadeth, Slayer and so on. Before that though he was the guitarist in Sabbat and he is now a member of Hell. Right now though he's playing guitar for Judas Priest on the Firepower tour.

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Here you go, Lorraine. The making of 10CC's "I'm Not In Love". Recording genius.

 

 

I never knew they were saying "Big boys don't cry" until this moment. I thought she was saying "Be quiet, Requesting quiet." Was never good at understanding lyrics which is why I never paid much attention to them.

 

Remember this song well. It always makes me sad hearing it, and it will always remind me of the attorney I worked for at the time in NYC. Fun days.

 

Thanks, Goose! :)

 

But now I'm crying. :(

Edited by Lorraine
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Here you go, Lorraine. The making of 10CC's "I'm Not In Love". Recording genius.

 

 

I never knew they were saying "Big boys don't cry" until this moment. I thought she was saying "Be quiet, Requesting quiet." Was never good at understanding lyrics which is why I never paid much attention to them.

 

Remember this song well. It always makes me sad hearing it, and it will always remind me of the attorney I worked for at the time in NYC. Fun days.

 

Thanks, Goose! :)

 

But now I'm crying. :(

One thing I love about good music is its ability to move us. And I've found that the people I find most interesting are those that are moved by good music. Like you.
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Good thread! Excellent replies.

Something that should also be noted and understood is the role of an engineer and a producer. How those roles work together to create the finished product is important to understand. While many producers are engineers, and many engineers are producers, their roles are different in the recording process.

 

In short, a Producer creates a vision for the product, whether their own vision or that of the band, and oversees the process to make that vision happen. This includes everything from sounds, tones, and instruments, to song arrangements, lyrics, composition, and mixing. When you listen to a finished song, you're hearing the producers vision (version) of that song.

The Engineers job is to capture the producers vision. This includes everything from operating the recording console, external processors, tape machines and digital mediums, to microphone selection/setup/placement, signal routing, and room acoustics. When you listen to a finished song, you're hearing the sounds captured by the engineer.

 

As you can see, they are different roles, and the differences are worth understanding.

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Good thread! Excellent replies.

Something that should also be noted and understood is the role of an engineer and a producer. How those roles work together to create the finished product is important to understand. While many producers are engineers, and many engineers are producers, their roles are different in the recording process.

 

In short, a Producer creates a vision for the product, whether their own vision or that of the band, and oversees the process to make that vision happen. This includes everything from sounds, tones, and instruments, to song arrangements, lyrics, composition, and mixing. When you listen to a finished song, you're hearing the producers vision (version) of that song.

The Engineers job is to capture the producers vision. This includes everything from operating the recording console, external processors, tape machines and digital mediums, to microphone selection/setup/placement, signal routing, and room acoustics. When you listen to a finished song, you're hearing the sounds captured by the engineer.

 

As you can see, they are different roles, and the differences are worth understanding.

 

I did wonder what the difference between the two was, and I thank you very much for telling me. I did notice that often an album will have more than one sound engineer.

 

The entire process sounds to me like this is a field that you can't go into without the talent for it. It's a gift the same as all other talents.

 

It must be very hard for all of those egos to work together, especially when the producer tells the band that's not what he wants. But apparently it can be done. There are so many masterpiece albums out there! :)

Edited by Lorraine
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