Week 3 - Rheia

I am actually not sure what I am picking up in the Neve intensive that I could take to other intensives. I am not sure that's there is anything skill wise... The biggest thing I picked up was jamming a C414 inside a piano for drum reverb. When I saw that I think I actually said "What the fuck?" out loud. But it was also incredibly obvious too. That upright piano sitting in the in the live room of the Neve space is essentially a really massive spring reverb.. that you can tune.. That's mental. I had never ever once considered that putting mics inside a piano that wasn't being played was something you could do. Or to tape down keys to tune your reverb. Once it gets pointed out to you it's really obvious, which does make you feel somewhat silly for not considering the giant wooden instrument behind you. I am entirely sure that Trinski does that trick every Trimester with new students and gets the same kick out of the look of sheer surprise plastered across all of their faces.

It's this thinking outside of the box or at least considering solutions that at first don't appear obvious. I think with post productions that will be essential. Working out ways to create sounds from sources that you really wouldn't think to consider. We are creative people and really there should be some expectation that we use our heads and look to odd places for new and exciting solutions. Speaking for myself and at least a handful of the students I have recorded with, I think there can be a tendency use linear thinking when recording. You can be so focused on getting things right and remembering your training so to speak, that really you forget that you should be experimenting and using your brain (or maybe not) to make something unusual happen. We have been shown fundamentals but it's our job to take those fundamentals and apply them in peculiar ways. We are creating after all.

I would say maybe my favorite big name engineer would be Sylvia Massey. Not because of the music she actually makes with artists, I couldn't really care about that but it's her approach to recording I really like. This idea of adventure recording. You're there to create and creating is fun. I read one story where a band she was recording needed some sort of ambient feedback so they mic'd up a cab outside got a really long guitar lead and just threw the guitar off a cliff and recorded that. Apparently it was shit and didn't get used but the idea of that is just so outlandish and amazing to me. Possibly the most rock and roll idea ever.

This is probably the biggest issue that I have in recording at the moment. I read a lot about engineers and producers that use a studio as an instrument. I haven't quite yet worked out how to do that and it's frustrating. I feel that I am surrounded by all these instruments that would aid in my creative endeavours but I just use them to get from A to B without really exploring anything that lies beyond the obvious. Once I get going it seems that time speeds up, all ideas of creativity fly out the window and I develop tunnel vision of where I think I need to go. I am never disappointed with where I end up but I do sometimes get frustrated at not being as competent as what I would like. As a musician I can take most sounds in my head and get them out the way I hear them, as an engineer I can't yet do that, so that can be frustrating.

I do realise that with time and learning this will change. I imagine engineering to be a lot like sex. Early on you're just excited that you're actually doing it. You'd like to think that you're pretty decent but in reality you're probably not. There's also so much more than what you were taught, this idea of getting from point A to B. It's a starting point but once you realise the possibilities beyond the destination that is B and learn to turn off your linear thinking, that's when things get really interesting.

So this is Rheia or rather a video from a record called Rheia by Oathbreaker from Belgium. When we were talking in class today about aesthetics this record and this video in particular came to mind. I did not rate this band before this record. I thought they were pretty average, not doing anything special and then this came out last year and it flawed me. I have actually already written about this for CIU last year but I think for me this record pushes the concept of beauty. Challenging what is normally considered beautiful. The music sort of catches you off guard given that these first two songs are how the record opens. The vocal is so fragile juxtapozed against some pretty fierce guitars but then at the drop of a hat the roles can change. The guitars can become elegant and the vocal a ferocious emanation of emotion, which itself can be beautiful. So I listened to this record while I wrote this tonight. I also emailed Jack Shirley the guy who engineered the record about mixing a record I am about to track for a band of mine. Just because from front to back it is sonically an amazing album.

I understand that there are many that would not find the beauty I hear in this record. So then what is aesthetic?

Maybe wear headphones if you listen to this and don't play it too loud. Nick Wilson probably hates this.