3 ms·

I worked in a recording studio for a few years, and my impression is that for pop production, a lot of sound experiments are not reproducible. There are certa

I worked in a recording studio for a few years, and my impression is that for pop production, a lot of sound experiments are not reproducible. There are certainly fundamentals (e.g. understanding microphone design and placement techniques) but the random factors loom large. Success depends less on applying principles in a straightforward way and more on being able to recognize when something is compelling and doggedly experimenting until something clicks. The story of the TR-808's design feels familiar.

burntrelish1273 8y ago
Like RF design: some science but mostly trial-and-error "art."
puzzle 8y ago
You're right. The guitar sound in Dire Straits' Money for nothing is an experiment that couldn't be reproduced in another studio in NYC, even when placing microphones and speakers in the same random locations: https://www.soundonsound.com/people/classic-tracks-dire-straits-money-nothing https://www.soundonsound.com/people/classic-tracks-dire-stra... And Phil Collins' gated reverb drums, one of THE sounds of the 80's, were discovered through another random placement of microphones, although (un)luckily this time it was easy to reproduce: https://www.vox.com/videos/2017/8/18/16162440/recording-studio-mishap-shaped-80s-music https://www.vox.com/videos/2017/8/18/16162440/recording-stud...
scns 8y ago
I concur. Made some music with a buddy and his ARP 2600, tweaking the knobs. Suddenly we both started dancing, ecstatically. Then the pitch started to drift downwards, detroying the vibe for me. He worked the machine and told me it is the same as before, but it did not feel as great as before at all.
tabtab 8y ago
Re: a lot of sound experiments are not reproducible. A lot of early Moog synthesizer users complained about the inconsistency. They'd get a "great" sound in the studio, but on stage it sounded different. It was one of the reasons for slow adoption by general pop groups. While many musicians thought they were "cool sounding", their inconsistency kept them out of mainstream. Kraftwerk often made their own circuits so they could control and tune them as they saw fit. It's one of the reasons why they were (arguably) first with the "80's sound" in the 70's.

burntrelish1273 8y ago

Like RF design: some science but mostly trial-and-error "art."

puzzle 8y ago

You're right. The guitar sound in Dire Straits' Money for nothing is an experiment that couldn't be reproduced in another studio in NYC, even when placing microphones and speakers in the same random locations: https://www.soundonsound.com/people/classic-tracks-dire-straits-money-nothing https://www.soundonsound.com/people/classic-tracks-dire-stra... And Phil Collins' gated reverb drums, one of THE sounds of the 80's, were discovered through another random placement of microphones, although (un)luckily this time it was easy to reproduce: https://www.vox.com/videos/2017/8/18/16162440/recording-studio-mishap-shaped-80s-music https://www.vox.com/videos/2017/8/18/16162440/recording-stud...

scns 8y ago

I concur. Made some music with a buddy and his ARP 2600, tweaking the knobs. Suddenly we both started dancing, ecstatically. Then the pitch started to drift downwards, detroying the vibe for me. He worked the machine and told me it is the same as before, but it did not feel as great as before at all.

tabtab 8y ago

Re: a lot of sound experiments are not reproducible. A lot of early Moog synthesizer users complained about the inconsistency. They'd get a "great" sound in the studio, but on stage it sounded different. It was one of the reasons for slow adoption by general pop groups. While many musicians thought they were "cool sounding", their inconsistency kept them out of mainstream. Kraftwerk often made their own circuits so they could control and tune them as they saw fit. It's one of the reasons why they were (arguably) first with the "80's sound" in the 70's.