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From: 5121cdd@houxm.UUCP (C.DORY)
Newsgroups: net.audio
Subject: AES Workshop
Message-ID: <939@houxm.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 15-Oct-84 13:58:47 EDT
Article-I.D.: houxm.939
Posted: Mon Oct 15 13:58:47 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 16-Oct-84 06:48:30 EDT
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ
Lines: 68

I attended a workshop at the AES Convention this past Monday which was
of great interest to me and I think of interest to many of you netlanders.
The workshop was entitled "Recording the Classical Repertoire: Pickups and
Putdowns".  It was chaired by Jerry Bruck of Posthorn Recordings and
had four other panelists from the industry:  Thomas Frost (formerly head of
CBS Masterworks , now an independent producer), Bob Ludwig (V.P. of
Masterdisk in NYC), Paul Goodman (Senior Engineer for RCA Red Seal),
and David Hancock (independent recording engineer/producer).

The principle question put to the panelists was: "What is the most
important aspect in recording classical music?"  What the equipmentphobes
in the audience wanted (a war on mic techniques and what the best
monitor speaker is) was not to be had at this discussion.  These issues
did come up, however, but the prime issue was on the music itself and how
it related to the technical issues.  The point was made that audiophiles
(and especially the audiophile mags) don't: (1) understand the complexities
and compromises involved in recording music and, (2) care as much about
the "music" as they do the "recording".

The recording engineer and producer have a number of special interests
that they must balance to just walk away from the recording session
with a master tape that is usable not to mention produce a finished
product.  The pure goal of the engineer and producer is to  capture
as much of the essence of the musical performance as possible on tape.
There are, however, a number of factors involved that make this goal a
moving target.  The first, and absolutely most important, is money.
Very few businesses are in business for things other than money --
when decisions come down to it, money decides.  Music, and the arts
in general, have accountants looking over everyone's shoulder making sure
the costs are kept in line.  Straight recording scale, per musician,
is now $200 per 3 hour session -- only 45 minutes of each 3 hour session
can be used in a commercial product.  Therefore, for a large symphony
accounting for musicians, principles, conductor, hall rental, royalties,
etc. the cost of a recording session is $K per minute!  When the market
for classical music is what it is, it is very difficult to make a
profit.

The prolific use of multi-miking is due primarily to this issue of
cost.  It is cheaper for the recording company to splice and remix
several disjoint performances than to take the time, set up just a few
mics and make the orchestra play it right.  Another problem is the focus
on note-perfect performances.  Recording Co.'s (as well as the performers)
are obsessed with "perfect" performances -- often times at the expense
of excitement and continuity of musical thought.  The musicians in these
ways are pricing themselves out.  Many labels are going to Europe for
their symphonic recordings.  It seems in the old country that musicians
would rather work than not.  As well, some of the smaller companies
(i.e., Telarc) are recording some of the smaller symphonies (i.e.,
Cleveland, Utah, etc.).  In this case the label has a little more relative
weight to throw around.  Telarc isn't as pure as the new-fallen snow either.
Jack Renner uses "spot" mics when he feels necessary to augment his
3 omni Schoeps main pickup (by the way, "when necessary" is almost always).

This brings up another important issue,  the playback equipment that the
"average" person uses -- this is definitely NOT Krell and Appogee!
Some claim that this is why spot miking is necessary.  Most speakers
(as well as listeners) are not sophisticated enough to pick out the
fine detail without help.

Overall, the focus was on the "real-world" classical music recording
industry -- bringing to light some of the myths and fantasies that some
have.  (Monster Cable isn't nearly as important as mic placement which
takes a back seat to turning a profit.)

Conclusions?  There were none -- we're just trying to figure out what
questions to ask.

Craig Dory