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Lest anyone misunderstand my last post, when I talk about listening to other cds while thinking about what ours should sound like, I don't mean to say that I want us to sound like that artist. I am listening purely for the production techniques. No matter how we do it, we will certainly sound like School for the Dead sounds. I wouldn't want it any other way.
But imagine the recording as a picture. Each song is a scene that we are recreating. Perhaps the five of us are in the scene. There's Brian walking a giraffe, Tony jumping over a mailbox, Ken juggling happy puppies, Max as a merman with an umbrella, and me covered in bees. That's the song.
Now there are a number of ways for this picture (song) to look.
First: What's the background what's and foreground. Are we outside? Are we on a stage? In outer space? A desert? A jungle? A church?
Second: Where are we situated? Who's in front, who's in back? How much of each of us can be seen? Where's the focal point? What are we wearing?
Third: What are the colors like? Is it black and white? All neon? All mish-mashed or all matching? Saturated or muted?
Fourth: What is the viewer's perspective? Are they on the ground, up in the air, close-up, far away? Do they feel like part of the scene or an observer of the scene.
Fifth: What kind of picture is it? Is it a photograph, or painting, or sketch? And what kind of photograph or painting or sketch? Is it realist, surrealist, cubist, impressionist etc?
So, if you had an idea that you wanted to make a picture of that scene, you may be walking through a museum and your job might be to figure out what you want it to look like. You get ideas form different works on the walls. You don't necessarily want it to look like those pieces, but you might get some ideas of how you want it to look.
That's what I am doing while listening to these other albums. I'm not sure if anyone has come up with a classification system for different modern-music production styles like they have for different two-dimensional art genres. Maybe that's my new job.
Great, a new job.
1 comment:
Here's one opinion:
Music can certainly be both other-worldly AND warm and home-like. When I think of "Murmur" what strikes me is that each songs sounds at home with itself.
For example, if you want reverb, you ask yourself which song sounds like reverb would be "at home" with it. What song is inviting each effect? That, to me, is how you make a song sound warm and homelike.
Those visual images you mentioned, on the other hand, are interesting but not especially "warm". They are more surreal. I think visualizing makes the music kind of disconnected.
And if you make the songs sound like what is sounds like in your head rather than what the band sounds like, I think they will sound more rustic and authentic.
Just a few fuzzy suggestions. Good luck with the songs.
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