Creative Audio Processing
03 - Image criteria : adaptation to "non realistic" music

 

 

Now that we know more about what is "good" in classical music recording, let's see how we can extrapolate to other kinds of music. Recording classical music is trying to get an image of something which was at some point "real". We have an original sound scene, and we adapt it so it's viable on a record. But record music is not always a reflection of reality, far from it. In fact, most pop music and electronic pieces are "autonomous" pieces that exist on record first and then must be adapted if they are to be played live. We will refer to this kind of "record first" or "record only" music as "acousmatic music". This is a reference to Platon : the philosopher used to talk to his disciples from behind a curtain, in order to emphasize on his speech's content, without visual interference - in music, without any "real" player.

 

Many "realistic" criteria remain valid : - Evidently, Panning still makes sense - this is a very important notion in any stereo mix. - Transparency and Definition are also still valid. In fact, Transparency & Definition are valid whenever there is recording. - While Width, Depth and Relief maybe less important, they still remain interesting guides when mixing. But there is a major difference. In classical music recording, we could speak about a "good<->bad" axis : for instance, lack of Definition could be always be considered as a problem. In "acousmatic music", there is no such "good<->bad" axis. Instead, this "quality" axis is turned into an arbitrary scale based on aesthetic options. In acousmatic music, deliberate lack of Definition on certain sounds can be a choice - it's not possible to say that old fashioned samples in Massive Attack music are "bad" because they are less well defined than the other parts, more modern and thus more Defined. In that case, the use of badly-defined old samples is an aesthetic choice. In this kind of music, it is also widely common to have entire parts of the mix or the song that are mono. Does that make the mix "bad" because of a reference to the Panning criteria. Evidently not : it's only a question of style. In the recording/production of "acousmatic music", many criteria are relative and linked to aesthetic choice.