Often, I find myself discussing recording techniques with others. Several times a week, over different conversations, I’ll hear “I like an organic sound” or “we want analog warmth.”
While “organic” and “analog” are nice buzz words, they pose two problems. First, there is nothing organic about recording. It is totally electronic and, at best, magnetic. Second, “analog” is pretty much dead. If you can find working analog recording devices, they are so not in demand that their price tag will most likely deter you into settling for reality.
With recording we always have been, and always will be, working in a realm of illusions.
That, in one respect, is the fun of it all. Recording is a form of fiction with an applied physics component. The ink is the song. The microphone is the pen. Sound waves are the paper.
To get an organic sound, what we do is keep things natural. This is accomplished by having musicians play together in the same room and using overdubbing scarcely. No click tracks. While the sound is not organic, it retains the human sway. It’s alive.
To get an analog sound, there are still quite a few old school devices that can be used on the front end. Tube microphones, tube preamps, and saturation programs can translate a level of warmth to a digital signal.
I’ve been making my way down my “to listen” list of albums. Yesterday, I heard Mirror Ball by Def Leppard. It’s their latest album. It’s a live one. And, a solid performance. Pyromania and Hysteria have a magical studio bigness. It’s one part of why I like Leppard so much. The other part is the impeccable songwriting—a different topic altogether. This sound translates well to the live set, although its much more, well, organic.
Mirror Ball is the best live record I’ve heard in a while. The three new studio tracks are great, as well.
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