Sigh.... I hate recording sessions... and most of the musicians that I know also detest them as well. There are so many reasons for this... but for me, it is a sort of culmination of music by committee that sometimes infects a group. Well, it isn't always like that but somehow, many sessions do end up being like that...

All the ingredients are there for a testy time... throw in perfectionist characters, a desire to produce a lasting record of an interpretation of a work, limited time and crappy work hours, the well-balanced (ha ha...) capacity of most musician characters to deal with stress, and the unforeseen challenges that will inevitably get in the way... and you have all the conditions necessary for a terrible time.

Limited time is always the starting point... and that is always going to be a constraint of budget... you have to pay the musicians, the venue, the recording engineers, and also any extra costs associated with that... food and accommodation for instance. So, what would have been a leisurely week long recording session in the past would need to be condensed down into a 2 day speedrun.

So, that means that every second counts... and when that is the case, maximum efficiency is going to be of paramount importance. That means everyone needs to be hyper-alert... ready to start immediately and be able to follow the flow of change and instructions from the artistic direction without discussion. And if you have ever worked in a group... there are always going to be invariably some people who will need to pontificate... or just aren't keeping up, meaning that questions need to be answered multiple times. Of course, when you have a well-oiled crack group of players... things get fixed and adjusted on the fly without words needing to be said... it is like a group of individuals become one single organism, as a coherent whole but with independence... it is a really beautiful feeling, and one that you really treasure when you find it!

Then, due to the difference between live performance and recordings (a lasting record rather than a splash of colour in time...)... well, there is the desire to do the best version and interpretation possible. And that is the problem that I personally have with recordings... they aren't real. First of all... they lack that indescribable "thing" that live performances have... sure, live performances aren't flawless, but that is forgiven as there is a connection between players and the audience as we all experience a moment in time all together. With a recording... that is not there, and the recordings lack that "thing" that makes music... well, music. There is no connection... and we shouldn't kid ourselves, these things aren't flawless either... by the time that they reach the "consumer" (one of my most hated words...), they are a Frankenstein monster of edits. But that is what the recording industry has foisted upon us... so that they can sell the "looks" of music, but that is a rant for a different time!

Anyway... where was I... ah yes, perfectionism... the enemy of all things. Now, I don't at all advocate for just crap either, but when the technical perfection is achieved at the cost of "character" and "liveness", well... I personally consider that to be an unacceptable loss.After all, if that is what we are after... then we actually don't need musicians and the unpredictability of live recording.... just use a computer and a sound library.

Then there is the ever present danger of unexpected delays... which combined with the highly adaptable stereotypical musician archtype... well, leads to giant stress and crankiness. Take for instance... cold venues, unexpected noise (from cars, planes, and mowing machines...)... that eats into the time... and we end up doing 2 minute sprints of recording whilst watching carefully the incoming and outgoing flights via a plane tracking app!

... and in the end, we have a recording... that people buy, thinking that it is music. To be honest, I rarely listen to any recordings that I have ever made.

Personally, I have the opinion that IF we are going to be making a recording... then it is a dirty, live, no edit version... just play the piece several times, as if you were playing for an audience. If there HAS to be an edit, then it is just stitching two large takes together... but other than that. Nothing else... sure, it won't be as polished... but it is definitely genuine, a real captured moment in time... and not a weird patchwork of multiple moments.

I can also be found cross-posting at:
Hive
Steem
Publish0x

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