Live Music Recordings and the Element of Surprise

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“Subtle material like those which exist in recordings of jazz and other improvisational music becomes more interesting and meaningful upon relistening.”

– Brian Eno, The Studio as a Compositional Tool

"Live music recordings" are simply a music recording approach that harnesses the ease and immensity of digital recording equipment with the freedom of improvisational music. The basic idea is that you'd improvise a new composition from the beginning of the recording process, track by track, until you achieve completion. 

The purposes of recording live music or of recording improvised music are to improve the sensitivity of the musicians or composer and to exploit the element of surprise. Recordings of live concerts and classical music clearly illustrate this principle in action.
 
What's wonderful about digital recording equipment is that it allows the solo musician, composer, or unstable band to  transcend time by freezing music in a digital universe. This is extremely useful because any new musician can come in at a later time and fill in the missing parts in a piece of music. The solo artist can also perform this function by creating the illusion of multiple players by multi-tracking.
 
The way in which he would achieve this is whenever a new track is going to be added to the piece he, in effect, acts in the capacity of a new player coming into the recorded ensemble with his own perception of what the piece should sound like or with what he would like to add to it. This psychological approach will increase the chances for another layer of the element of surprise. 
 
The new player infuses an existing piece of music with his unique signature of creative energy, technical skill, and emotional expression (style). All of these factors are injected into the music he adds to and the surprises manifest as he reacts to the twists and turns of rhythm and melody. In my music, I don't worry as much about getting each part just right, rather I'm concerned with capturing an energy or solidifying an idea. That's the only thing worth recording.

Recording live music includes the idea that chance events and musical accidents might stay in the recording as a way of authenticating the actual "live-ness" of the music recording. The advent of affordable digital music recording equipment leveled the playing field in terms of sound quality. That means for good or bad all music can be recorded at more or less the same quality. On some systems and software the mixing and mastering process can be completed with the touch of a button. So what's going to determine what's good or bad about a song will only be the strength of the composition and the level of musicianship.

Another way to think of the studio is as an environment where music recording is done as opposed to a place that determines what music will be made. The difference between these two viewpoints is one of quality - freedom vs. restriction. The element of surprise must be preserved at all costs. So when producing live music recordings you have to balance spontaneous performance and rehearsals. Rehearsing should only be used as a way of determining the possibilities within a song, while the recording process should unleash the live energy of the musician that allows him to spontaneously arrange the material he discovered during the rehearsals.

The field for digital distribution and marketing of music has also leveled a barrier that stood between the composer / musician and the consumer. Now the lines of communication are direct and open to all. With this barrier gone too, the quality of the composition and musicianship must be stressed on any recording that gets made. Average songs and mediocre musicianship can become popular, but they don't last and are easily replaced by other average songs and mediocre musicians.  A vicious artistic cycle.

Live music recordings can bring the living energy of an artist through the music to the consumer. The little imperfections, outtakes, and minor variances all give a digital recording a "live" feel. And when they are permitted to remain in a studio recording, all those little things a composer didn’t intend to be in a recording take on an added significance when listened to over and over again. No consumer listens to music they like only once. Instead, they listen to it many times over a period of years, so the music grows more meaningful as they change from their experience of living. As they grow, the music they listen to also changes and takes on deeper significances.

Now if you do decide to edit or erase little imperfections or musical accidents be very selective and only remove those that interfere with sound quality and not those that reduce technical skill or emotional expression. Sometimes it’s the chance events and musical accidents that become the reason why an audience falls in love with a recording. Good music is always used as an essential part of life to highlight meaningful events and important moments in a person's life.

  

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Related Music:

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Related Articles:

The Computer Music Man: Top 10 Arrangement Tips for Home Recording Artists

Art and The Emotional Rollercoaster
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Marc
http://stereothesis.com/

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Intensity of Emotion in Art

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The intensity of emotion is best expressed by using the dynamic methods of an art form. Every creative subject has its own formalized approaches for dynamic usage, but in general dynamics are tools we can use as options for increasing or decreasing the amount of emotion flowing between artist and audience.

Because the flow of emotion is a bi-directional adjustments occur in two locations: within the artist's and within the audience's mind. In both of these locations you'll find points in which there is an emotional impact and a feedback signal. Both of these effects change by manipulating the types of emotions in question with their artistic dynamic equivalents.

The emotional impact of a dynamic component in art also occurs in two ways: suddenly and gradually.

In some instances, a sudden impact will manifest as a punch or direct influence with no subtlety about it and in others it will occur as a harmonious and seamless emergence within a work of art. In contrast, a gradual emotional impact will usually seem to come from a far distance or an unexpected angle by slowly drawing an increasing amount of the audience's attention to it for a pleasing surprise.

Using dynamics as a diagnostic tool is a way of testing, measuring, and adjusting the intensity of emotion in an art form.

Gradual change or a sudden impact basically comprise all types of dynamic categories, but it's the combination, structure and timing of each of these elements that alter the distribution of emotional intensity in creative work.

By pushing some dynamic factors to extremes and reducing others to levels where you'd hardly notice their presence, you begin to get a feel for how each factor will interact with every other factor you're using.

Here are a few dynamic components that an artist must control in any of his creative works that give him the power to alter the intensity of emotion as well as the emotional impact that is their product.

Color

Texture

Volume

Depth

Balance

Timing

Tone

Grammar

Velocity

Style

Flavor

Harmony

Shape

Size

Height

Melody

Line

Whatever approach an artist uses to generate a new and unique work, it is very important that the work expresses a clear statement and definite idea that is truly the artist's creative vision. A simple concept, short phrase, ingredient list, color scheme, or dramatic theme are all great places to start.

From this point on it's easy to begin testing different dynamic components to determine the results of each experiment. Note taking can be extremely helpful and invaluable during this part of the process so as to trace your line of progress.

The process will soon accelerate and bring you even closer to the end product. Each line of progress will reveal some new element, an interesting combination of factors, or an unusual result that can be re-created and explored at a later time.

One of the most important keys to forming successful pieces of art is by illustrating in its structure how the result developed or grew. The combination of elements should form a harmony or balance of factors that seem like they couldn't have existed apart from each other or that they somehow always belonged together.

Now, because the artist's mind is the site in which such discoveries occur, it's only proper that all credits and proceeds should flow directly to the individuals that made such discoveries possible.

Ultimately, the goal of experimenting with various dynamic elements is to make discoveries through unexpected surprises, marvelous accidents, or clever feats of chance that couldn't have been planned in advance. This is the realm of game-changing artistic products, which are truly ground-breaking, and that usher in "the new" and sets trends.  

Every artistic idea possesses a little piece of the artist himself and becomes imbued with part of their life energy. This is part of the alchemy of creative work, where the artist extends himself into the work of art and the piece begins to take on a life of its own.

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Related Music:

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Related Articles:

Art Force and Attention Loops

Catharsis and the Creative Process

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Marc

http://stereothesis.com/




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“Crossroads” Guitar Battle – Steve Vai vs. The Karate Kid

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Besides the strong association that we make between the Karate Kid and every time we see Ralph Macchio in another role, the movie “Crossroads” was surprisingly well done. Although the movie is at least two decades old, it’s still a good movie about the passion music can fill a person with for learning about it, composing it and performing it live. Like most movies about music, this one too is timeless. You can watch it at any time in the future and still feel that it’s a relevant film for musicians and composers in any age or era. Albeit, it would probably be viewed for the human interest and most notably the history of Blues music.

“Crossroads” is a story about a young man who wants to come into his own as a guitarist and in order to do so begins a journey of self-discovery. He enlists the assistance of a guide and along the way starts to develop a love interest with a wayward young woman. Much of the music that gets performed within the movie as part of the plot is very well done, especially the pieces with slide guitar. [Note: The original score was written by legendary guitarist and film composer Ry Cooder. Check out his score for the long forgotten movie “Trespass.”]

As the journey finally reaches its end, the climax scene features a guitar battle between Steve Vai (virtuoso shredder) and The Karate Kid. At first from the looks of things it appears that the Kid is in over his head, but in the end defeats the master guitarist with the one ace in his pocket – his classical guitar training, which you’ll remember from earlier in the film. The feel and look of this film is similar to that of “Ray” and “Black Snake Moan.”

Marc

http://stereothesis.com/




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The Sound Artist’s Secret Weapon: The Mystery of Effects…Unveiled

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Believe it or not it took me a long time to search for an adequate demonstration of how effects can be used to atmospheric or intensified sonic qualities for the guitar, voice, and other instruments. In this video, the singer, songwriter, and guitarist Ali Handal shows how easy it is to begin with a handful of effects and just by stepping on a single guitar pedal you can dramatically increase the force a guitar can put out emotionally and in terms of texture. As you watch this video pay attention to the way she describes the sound of each effect by itself and when blended with other effects. Watch how she talks about different effect families and which ones she classifies as “dirt,” “swirly,” and “pretty.”

Finally, pay extreme attention to the playful and experimental attitude she expresses as she tries out different combinations of effects just for the sake of finding out what they sound like. This playful or experimental attitude is so important during the invention or compositional phase of songwriting because it keeps us, as artist, open to new sounds and encourages us to learn how to use these sounds for new songs.

In my experience, whenever I come up with a new effect that seems impossible to control, I find that what I’m having a hard time doing is playing something I’ve already recorded or played with some other effect or without an effect, and trying to get the new sound to fit into an old or very different creative context. So what I’ve found is that sometimes when you combine effects and come up with a unique effect with unusual qualities, you have to treat the new sound as if it were an instrument and try to play the sound by letting it re-mold your typical playing style. In other words, you’ll sometimes have to relax and allow the sound to force you to play another way than you’re used to so that you can control the sound and eventually get something out of the effect.

So let’s see how Ali Handal goes about using some of her favorite pedals and develops interesting blends of sonic qualities.

So what did you think? If you got something from the video, leave a comment and share what you learned?

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Related Music:

Ghost Funk

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Related Articles:

Music and Trance States of Mind

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Marc

http://stereothesis.com/




To support Stereo Thesis with a financial donation, click here.

Bonus Material: The Overflow of Creativity: Why Artists Need to Find New Areas to Conquer, New Worlds to Explore

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Here are 4 links showing many examples of actors turned musician and musicians turned actor. Among the ranks of these passionate and hardworking actors and musicians you’ll find personalities like the following:

Actors turned musicians

Actors turned musicians, more actors turned musicians (8 more people), even more actors turned into musician.

Musicians turned actors

Musicians turned actors (40 people)

Some of the celebrities I wasn’t able to find on any of these lists, but I was able to remember include artists such as:

Keanu Reeves – actor and bassist for the band “Dogstar”

David Bowie – musician and actor featured in the movie “Labyrinth”

Steve Martin – musician, author, actor

Joss Stone – singer, songwriter, and musician. Actress featured in the Showtime series “The Tudors”

Bret Farve – professional football player, actor featured in the movie “There’s Something about Mary”

Billy Bob Thorton – actor and musician

Will.I.Am – musician (Black-Eyed Peas) and actor featured in "X-Men"

Sasha Grey - porn star and musician (aTelecine)

Beyonce – superstar singer and actress featured in "Austin Powers"

Tyrese – singer and actor featured in "Transformers"

Tom Waits – actor and musician

Chris Isaak – musician and actor featured in "The Chris Isaak Show"

Gavin Rossdale – musician and actor featured in the movie “Constantine”

Eric LaSalle – actor, author, and director

This list is not intended to be definitive by any means, instead it is provided to be illustrative of the ideas I presented in my article "The Overflow of Creativity: Why Artists Need to Find New Areas to Conquer, New Worlds to Explore" and of the sheer number of artists who needed additional channels of creativity to pour their emotions and imagination into.

Marc

http://stereothesis.bandcamp.com/