Ah, the Good Old Days(?)
Los Angeles CA - July 10, 2010 - -
If you were a subscriber you would know that this was the topic in this month's Newsletter. If not, there's a handy form at the bottom whereby you may join the ranks of Those Who Subscribe.
Recently, we at LAJingles.com have been busy with adding a new computer to the editing room. With lots of giga-this and giga-thats, this computer will assume the duties of handling the multi-track master files, and generating the playback for musical productions. From this computer, the tracks will be sent to inputs on the mixing console where the sounds will be shaped and seasoned, then sent to yet another computer, where the final master will be recorded, mastered, and edited to create the finished product. This is much the way it was done back when the big multi-track tape recorders fed their tracks in to the console, and then on to two-track tape machines to become the final master.
To say that this sounds like a step back may be a fair analysis. After all, what we have done is take the creative recording process out of the computer box, and have inserted a human being in the flow as a necessary part of the production chain. We have made it imperative that a skilled operator sits in judgment of every volume change, every wave of echo, and every bit of stereo spread that goes into an LAJingles.com production. It seems to us that this kind of step back is actually a long jump forward, and our initial tests are audible proof that it is the right thing to do.
It's great fun to sit behind the big mixing desk again, punch buttons, twist knobs, push the gain sliders up and down, and listen to the music come alive through the big control room speakers. but to say that the computer functions only like a tape recorder would be not quite true. In fact, it's the blending of human skill and the efficiency of the new gadgetry that makes our current musical productions, well, fun.
The best of the old, and the best of the new. Nostalgia may have its appeal, but, as far as I'm concerned, the "good old days" are yet to come.
Next: Straight Talk About Jingles
Go back to blog welcome page
