Recording - August 2013 - 4

PUBLISHER: Thomas Hawley
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER: Brent Heintz

EDITORIAL

EDITOR: Mike Metlay
SENIOR EDITOR: Lorenz Rychner
EDITOR AT LARGE: Beto Hale
MÚSICO PRO EDITOR: Fernando Curiel

CONTRIBUTORS
Paul Vnuk Jr., Sven-Erik Seaholm,
Joe Albano, Bill Stunt, Marty Peters,
Jon Bare, Eric Ferguson

Time flies...
Here at Recording we don’t make
changes hastily or for the sake of making
changes. For 17 of the 20-some years that
I’ve been on the editorial staff, Mike
Metlay has shared the editorial duties with
me—since early 1996! Time flies when
you’re having fun. Now it’s about time that
Mike also shares this page with me. What
took us so long? Like I said—we don’t
make changes hastily...
You may have noticed that our titles
have been adjusted, to better reflect the
reality of how our tasks have evolved over
the years. Mike is the point man for a number of important chores—editorial schedules and manufacturer relations being just
two of them. Since he’s the man in the
trenches here at the office, the title of
Editor best matches those realities.
Nothing has changed when it comes to
our stated mission and how we plan to
keep fulfilling it: Helping you, the recording musician, make better recordings.
To that end, we focus this issue on the challenges and rewards of recording a band,
preferably as a band, all playing together in
your studio. We also look at ways of doing
this on stage, where the challenges are quite
different from doing it at home.
Live albums have always had a mystique,
being a document of what the band can
really do and sound like. Even if the recorded sound was not optimal, with imbalances
and flubbed notes and intrusive crowd noises, the “You Are There” factor more than
made up for those flaws. Many a band was
defined by a live album. Studio albums
couldn’t always be trusted to reflect that
same authenticity, even long before AutoTune and other extreme tools for “shifting
reality” became available.
Now it’s common to record a band and
upload a final mix (and maybe even sell
hastily duplicated CDs of the show) minutes
after the lights go out. Fans don’t insist on
finessed sophistication in those recordings—it’s the immediacy that counts.
That’s all exciting stuff, and I hope you
get much information out of this issue that
will help you capture a band the way it really sounds, be it on a gig or in your studio.
Happy Recording!

...And we’re having fun!
Hello and welcome! This month, Paul Vnuk
Jr. brings us a great overview of how to
record live gigs, whether as a stereo board
tape or as a multitrack for later mixdown,
and Sven-Erik Seaholm converts a house into
a studio and shows us that with the right
preparation, you can capture the beauty of a
band’s performance pretty much anywhere.
These days we can share music all over the
world in an instant—often for free, whether
or not the musicians want it to be. That’s had
a huge impact on the perceived value of “getting a record deal.” Before the advent of
home recording gear, putting out a record
was a major undertaking, and before the
Internet, distributing music took a huge professional network. Now anyone can do it.
But here’s something that not just anyone
can do: play a convincing, energetic, engaging live gig as a band and get an audience
to scream for more. Live shows, with all their
power and immersion, can’t be replaced, and
bands that can really play can always find
audiences. A live recording becomes a keepsake of the moment, a way to connect with
fans and keep them coming back for more.
Similarly, playing live in the studio to create an album is an affordable way to hold
onto the energy that gets lost in multiple overdubs and sample replacement, and again
steers fans to see a band live and feel that
energy for themselves. If you can capture that
energy and make your band (or bands that
hire you) sound fantastic, you’ve got an
angle on recording that’s not only potentially
lucrative but is artistically fulfilling and a heck
of a lot of fun.
And to me, that’s what this business of
recording is ultimately all about: fulfillment
and fun. As Editor of Recording, I will keep
bringing you hands-on articles, real-world
reviews, and good advice that you can use,
today, to take both your studio and your
recording know-how to the next level.
I’m honored to share Lorenz’s advice and
wisdom as he continues to help guide
Recording as its Senior Editor. We look forward to many years of taking you, our loyal
readers, on that never-ending journey toward
the best possible recordings... and we’re
going to have a blast.
Enjoy the issue!

SOCIAL MEDIA
Brent Heintz, Paul Vnuk Jr.
ART & PRODUCTION

ART DIRECTOR: Scott Simmonds
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Colin Courtney
WEB GOALIE: Colin Courtney

PLAYBACK PLATINUM SERIES
Lorenz Rychner

EDITOR/PRODUCER:

CIRCULATION
Tiffany Sepe

CIRCULATION MANAGER:

ADVERTISING SALES AND MARKETING
DIRECTOR: Brent Heintz
CLASSIFIEDS MANAGER: Colin Courtney
ADMINISTRATION
Thomas Hawley

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE:

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PRESIDENT: Thomas Hawley
VICE PRESIDENT: Brent Heintz

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RECORDING MAGAZINE
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RECORDING August 2013

Recording - August 2013

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