Quote:
Originally Posted by blackened  Most recording engineers are failed musicians. As a musician, I have very little respect for recording engineers. |
You remind me of Bruce Willis's character John McClane in Die Hard 2 in the scene where he (was forced to) wore a sandwich board with an overt inflammatory message in the "wrong" neighbourhood. After reading your post a few times I still think you're pulling a joke
If you really thought about it, once upon a time sound engineers and musicians were ONE, before the advent of recording technology.
I was just listening to Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto #1 over youtube, it dawned on me that at their era and before, music was written and performed with sound balance (i.e. mixing as we know it today) built in as part of the aesthetics.
Composers and orchestrators have to know exactly how to write harmony lines, with which combination of instruments, at what volume (ppp-fff) and how many sections playing etc. Conductors and musicians have to balance the "mix" themselves ("automation"), working with preset seating arrangements ("panning"). The concert hall was the "speakers" because it enhanced and amplified the pieces. That's why I enjoy listening to classical music, everything is so perfectly blended together as a complete musical experience and you don't even think about the "sound" of the music or the song or performance itself as separate components. THAT is real music
I guess that's why in "Tonmeister" degree programmes, students are required to study music theory.
So engineering and music making are much closer related than you think it is or it should be today in the modern age