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Tag Archives: recording

Loop mode: improvisation is composition is recording

Before digital recording media, recording artists faced a tradeoff between spontaneity and perfection. Recording take after take until the performances are spotless can quickly suck the joy and energy out of the music. But the kind of sloppiness that goes unnoticed in a live performance can get on your nerves after many repeated listens. It’s [...]

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In A Silent Way is a remix of itself

My friend Leo told me that he always faces a conflict when shopping for jazz records. He wants to show love for working musicians by buying their newer recordings, but then, he could always just pick up another Miles Davis album and know it’s going to be ridiculously good. Probably my favorite Miles album out [...]

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When The Levee Breaks

The drum intro from Led Zeppelin’s “When The Levee Breaks” is, as far as I’m concerned, the very embodiment of The Awesome Majesty Of Rock. [Audio clip: view full post to listen] John Bonham’s staggeringly heavy drum performance was recorded by engineer Andy Johns in Headley Grange, a Victorian-era poorhouse in England. Bonham played a [...]

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Digital audio is just long lists of numbers

How do you get sound in and out of a computer? There are two steps. You have to turn the sound into electricity, and then you have to turn the electricity into numbers. Turning sound into electricity At the physical level, a sound is a rhythmic vibration of air molecules. Your ears can detect subtle [...]

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