Recording - April 2011 - 6

Note to faithful writers: When sending your letters by email, please remember to include your name and where you hail from.
Just in time for our issue on drum replacement...
Dear Recording Magazine: I have been a subscriber for a number of years now, and I love the magazine, especially the how-to articles. As of right now, I am in a conundrum; there has seemed to be, particularly in metal music, a real fad of having the drums and/or other recorded parts replaced by sound-replacement software or samples. I know that sound replacement software can save your butt in a pinch. So can Auto-Tune, for that matter... I have done so during a couple of late night mixing sessions. But I have used it in the lightest sense. The problem that I’m running into is the moral issue. Let me see if I can clarify the word ‘moral.’ Let’s say that recording studio A records a band and everybody does their parts as close to perfect that they can get, but the drummer lacks the chops to get a spectacular performance. The drummer is really good, but the consensus in the Metal genre is, the tighter the better. The leader of the band agrees with studio A’s engineer that they could use a sound replacement program to clean up his drums. Unbeknownst to the drummer, the leader of the band and the engineer have replaced his entire drum track(s) with the software. The drummer does not find out about this until the demo CD is released, and we are talking about at least 1000 CDs. The drummer is not happy, but he has to keep it hush-hush, lest the other members find out and they have a complete all-out war fearing that their parts have been replaced also. During all this the fans of this band do not know that the drums, are in essence, ‘fake.’ The moral issue is, if you were a devoted fan of a particular band, and you found out that certain parts of a $16.95 CD were fake and not the actual musicians, would you, as a fan, demand your money back because the said ‘fake’ part was the God that you looked up to? The preceding incident got me thinking about the Milli Vanilli fiasco back in 1990. The group’s debut album had earned them a Grammy Award for Best New Artist. But their Grammy was revoked after it was revealed that the lead vocals on the record were not their own. With sound replacement software and various other sampling software out there, we might get ourselves into the same predicament. Auto-Tune and sound replacement programs have their place, but as sound engineers and home recording enthusiasts, we have to try to keep the human element in recording and not to rely on technology to replace the drummer or vocalist because they just can’t get perfect. Isn’t that what practice was for? Isn’t that what we, as musicians, strive for in our playing or singing, was to be as perfect as a human can be? I may be just ranting because I come from the old school of recording and playing, back in the early 1980s was my band time. “Practice, practice, practice” was all I ever heard from music teachers and recording engineers. You have to be good enough with your weapon of choice to record in the studio, otherwise you just can’t get in. Here are a few questions that have plagued me to answer that I’m going to throw your way: Do you feel that we are in danger of losing the acoustic natural ambiance of the drums or any other instrument, by using sound replacement software? Why is the Metal genre so obsessed with ‘sounding tight’ by using sound replacement software instead of practicing to be perfect? That’s how you become tight. There is nothing like playing your most complicated song live in front of 200 people or so, and all of your band members are jumping and running around on stage and you all nail the song perfectly! Are we, as musicians, becoming that lazy or have that tight of time constraints that we have to use such software to save our own butts? Is recording, producing and engineering in danger of becoming a lost art form because of technology? If I offended anybody, good! Years ago you used to be able to say what was on your mind without the worry of offending anybody... and OK, I just fell off my soapbox. You guys at Recording keep up the good work! In the words of an old concert promoter, “Love ya, babe!”
Wade Campbell Wade’s Mad Lab Recording Marion, IL

Wade, thanks for the letter, and thanks for reading. My take on this subject is that as you’ve pointed out, sound replacement has its place. What if the drummer absolutely slams his performance with fantastic dynamics and feel, but for whatever reason, the sound of the kit miked in the room just falls short? That’s the engineer’s lack of practice, not the drummer’s! And if each hit can be carefully replaced with a better-sounding hit, preserving the feel and power of the drummer’s performance and resulting in a better record, then I say, “Why not?” If the drummer truly is a monster, the fans will love the album, and they’ll love hearing what he or she can do when the band plays live. Everybody wins. We are always in danger of letting the technology get in the way of creativity; that was true in the 1980s you tout so strongly, when MIDI came along, and it’s true of other technologies we have today. As always, perspective and moderation are the key.—MM

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RECORDING APRIL 2011

Recording - April 2011

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