what about the opinions of 'experts' that differ from that ? For me this is the
point - that it is the material that matters & like it or not the music / sound
that we respond to is made, mixed & edited in all kinds of different spaces -
with or without headphones & with a wide range of speakers.
I'm all for quality of course, but this is an individual choice. I have good
speakers (a few different pairs in different rooms) & a pair of good headphones
- the same pair I use in the field.
As i've said before, I don't have any issues with anyone who chooses to build a
studio space or an acoustically treated space - each to their own of course,
but in 35 years of involvement & interest in field recording in its many
different forms & on all levels, it has been proved to me over & over again
that material can communicate even if its been mixed in less than what some
folks would describe as 'ideal' circumstances. I think my concerns when any
aspects of a craft or art form gets herded towards some 'ideal' is that what
happens is, whilst precision becomes more achievable to more people, things
tend to edge towards a mainstream, middle of the road approach & less personal.
Perhaps one of the difficulties with this conversation on this particular group
is that a large number of members are mainly interested in the, technically,
'best' recording of a certain species or environment. For many people however,
whilst getting good & powerfully eloquent recordings is a focus, what they are
aiming for is an emotive or creative impression of the location.
We are talking about something that isn't set in stone here & I think for me I
find it both interesting & I confess a bit puzzling that anyone would take
pleasure in listening to bird song (for example) in the 'real' world & then
take a recording of the same back to a studio setting & try to 'perfect' the
sound of the recording. Its a personal view point of course but to me we
already know that we can't capture a 'neutral' recording - they are always
coloured by mic, recorder choice etc & therefore, if one lets go of that to
some degree, what becomes more interesting is capturing something of the
experience of being in that location at that time.
When it comes to editing (& I should declare here that it has been my approach
for some time to do not processing - I top & tail & on rare occasions might eq
out some hiss if the mic used has not performed as i'd have liked, but thats
it) I do this on headphones simply because i'm listening for any 'problems' -
ie. not natural or man made sounds in the location but mic pops or other such
issues. I tend to live with recordings for some time before I do anything
public with them & therefore I would guess that the way I 'listen' to them
critically for the most part involves playing them back on the same system I
listen to every day.
so, back to the advice of experts bit & with the understanding that this is
another can of worms, what's an expert ? & what happens when some say one thing
& others say another ? I know were discussing fine hairs here but, for example,
I sometimes get referred to as an expert in field recording & I always say i'm
not because we are all engaged with listening to a world we don't control. We
can gather knowledge of course but the moment we assume we know exactly what
we're doing is the moment we've lost the most important point - to let go of
our human need to dominate, control & make assumptions of what is / will happen
& instead engage more closely with the listening & the simple act of being in a
place for a period of time. Expert - urghh. We're not plumbing in a sink here :)
--- In "hartogj" <> wrote:
>
> The definition of "mixing" was confusing from the beginning of this muddy
> thread.
> Is mixing limited to only the combining of separate sounds or tracks, or is
> the meaning extended to include other post production processing techniques
> that may be applied to an original recording?
>
> For critical analysis and fine adjustments of any recording, I will go along
> with the experts on this group who have in the past many times recommended
> good monitors and good headphones, and an acoustically treated space.
> Listening with two more different pairs of good headphones is better than
> using only one pair. I liked Bernie's description of his studio made without
> parallel walls or ceiling.
>
> John Hartog
> rockscallop.org
>
"While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie Krause.
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