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Emily Burns
No, I won't be talking about who should play the main roles in the screen adaptation of 50 Shades of Grey, nor will I be discussing Justin Beiber's latest hairstyle, or Lady Gaga's latest appearance in public SANS PANTS (I'm sure you're glad we got that out of the way, right?).......Silliness aside, I digress. What I REALLY want to talk about this week is my new favorite website, Sound on Sound. What does that have to do with "stars" you ask?....Well, have you ever wished that you could've been a fly on the wall during the recording process of one of your favorite songs? Or wished that you knew how on earth a vocal was made to sound so good? Sound on Sound can give you that, and more. Available on their website and through their monthly magazine publication are articles that will get you as close to being that fly on the wall as you could ever possibly hope for (short of weaseling your way into the studio somehow...). These articles focus on a song or album's production, recording, and mixing process. The info that is provided within these articles, comes straight from the mouth's of the people who worked on them! Or, the 'Stars' of the studio, if you will. As far as I'm concerned, the information provided within these articles, is priceless. You could never find this info in a textbook! It's straight from the mouth's of the people working on some of the most popular, well-respected music, ever-period. For instance, did you know, that Elton John's classic, Benny and the Jets, was NOT actually recorded live nor was it written before he went into the studio to begin recording his masterpiece album, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road? The main hook of the song came about from Elton counting off the tempo of another song on the piano and the producer telling him to roll with that as a song idea, instead. Did you know that the song, Rolling in the Deep from Adele's award winning album, 21, features a driving, four-on-the-floor bass drum beat that consists of not only a regular bass drum sound, but also the sound of Adele stomping on a wooden step as well as the pounding of an old marching band drum? Would you like to know what mic's, plug-in's, and signal chains were used to record Robert Plant's vocals on his new group's album, Band of Joy? I sure as hell do....The answers to that last question and many more that you may have about how something was recorded/mixed, etc may very well at some point in time appear in Sound on Sound's publications. They may already have some info there about one of YOUR favorite songs/albums. Who knows? Only you, can go check it out and determine for yourself.....even if you don't find info on music or a song that you love, it's always interesting, and useful to find out how things you may hear all the time (whether you wanted to or not), came to be...GO CHECK IT OUT!
Till next time, stay cool!
E
