Talk to me about using the studio as an instrument...

[sides]

I have a project due in my American music class. The topic is "Using the studio as an instrument". The idea is to explain how the studio is used as an instrument, instead of instruments being used as a studio.


So far, it's been hard to find much on the topic. I've done a lot of research into the creation of electronic music, dance music and modern day dubstep and EDM. My question is, am I really hitting on the topic? Being that music isn't exactly my specialty, I figured that there wasn't a much better place to ask for some advice or pointers.

So, if you were given a project with the topic "Using the studio as an instrument", what topics would you focus on? Thanks in advice for any help! I'm not looking for someone to do my research for me, I just need a little help being led in the right direction.

[CRAZY-HORSE]

I doubt you will get any supporters here....
We are real music fans who listen to real music played by real musicians who play real instruments and not computer generated sounds which are without "soul",are "cold" and have no "emotive feel"

[RonniePistons]

I would focus on how to use studio knowledge as an instrument for the song. Don't let the recording process take over. Know the boundaries. I hate over-produced music. So I always look at the recording studio as just another instrument. Use just what you need to capture the essence of the song. Anything more is unnecessary. That is when things become sterile, cold, and without soul. Not sure what the person above is talking about. I'm pretty sure he didn't read the question. The recording studio SHOULD be an instrument and nothing more.

[jazzboCR]

I totally agree with C-H on this subject AS IT IS POSED. However let's take a deep breath and a step back, and acknowledge that certain studios have acted as a sort of instrument. Think of all the great George Martin's using one or two studios, or Phil Spector's or Stax/Volt's, Sigma Sound in Philly (thank you, Billy Paul) or 3-4 of the Hollywood studios. I'd argue that their configuration functioned as an instrument--subtle, only unconsciously heard, but certainly a main presence. That final product coulda been sliced/diced/macerated and mixed but the original came from somewhere (even into the digital recording age), and the better producers knew how to use a studio to great effect. None of these guys used the studio in lieue of anything, but rather that extra enhancement. To show I'm not a Troglodyte, think of all those great punk/garage recordings coming out a storage facility room with all those egg cartons taped to the wall...It ain't the meat, it's the motion...and I second that emotion.

[evilB]

Hi Sides,

I would look at the effect a recording space has on the sound of a recording - Jimmy Page talking about zep 4 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWI9bMe7gHE.

I would then look at the musique concrete where tape recordings were the sliced/diced and spliced to make new sounds/music - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4ea0sBrw6M

Then I'd look at pro-tools and other recording programs that have given the power of composition and performance back in the hands of the creative - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcjcVcgu1-U

Once you've looked at those then look at the backlash that has happened for things like Auto-tune, punch-in (adding a correctly played passage in to a spot where a mistake has been made on an otherwise correctly played passage). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGiaAiIELME
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d2NJ8OG...redirect=1

Then make a conclusion on where you stand on the studio as an instrument.

OR Pick one of those areas and find several examples that show the studio as a creative instrument (either directly or indirectly).

Sounds like an interesting project have fun with it.

[jazzboCR]

Dave Grohl had a whole documentary last year on one particular studio and a particular piece of analogue equipment in it. It was certainly a case of a studio being used as an instrument. Search "Grohl" here later for the post on it (toot toot--the sound of me blowing my own horn). When your paper is done, consider posting it here, OK? For the benefit of other budding musicians and producers.

[sides]

Thank you guys so much for the ideas! I'm coming along nicely. Now, I need to focus on the 21st century. I've covered autotune, synthesized music and double tracking. In what other ways is music either created/modified in the 21st century? Is there anything major that I left out?

[jazzboCR]

"Authentic" is a real slippery term. We want studio doings to be perfect because they will stand in isolatio forever; at the same time, such as AutoTune introduce a totally fake element because they can hardly be reproduced live without some exposure as fake/irreproducible (see the humiliation suffered by singers lip-synching at concerts). It's easy if the whole schmear was made synthethically to begin with--but then I wouldn't touch that music with a 10-foot barge-pole. I am not anti-techno, just about using it in a context where there's some emotional feeling overall, not just some chilly rendition that could be done on a karaoke machine--show me some sweat and tears, a minor mistake, some extra slithered slid on the fingered strings, something human. We humans are easy to please but give us something, anything to connect with, i.e. an unintended bent note once in awhile.