Recording Arts

Musical instruments are carefully created to produce sounds at the right pitches with interesting timbres. Musicians must practice for many years to produce music rather than noise. When the sounds of instruments are combined, there is a risk of noise, so that a conductor of a group must know how to blend musicians and their instruments to produce a pleasing mix. Similarly, a recording engineer sitting at his mixing board must have the knowledge, taste and tools to arrive at a good mix.

In my view, noise is often presented as music. It is easy to make noise. It is difficult to make good music. My goal when I make recordings is to create music. I often simplify arrangements to leave space in the mix. I almost never allow crash cymbals and many drum parts are silenced forever.  Electric guitars with distortion pedals do not exist in my  universe. Music can be loud and exciting without becoming noise, but too loud, too long is never good. More About Noise

Composing and arranging a composition is just the first step toward a final recording. A musical score has multiple staves for multiple instruments. In the digital domain, a software sequencer and an audio recorder have multiple tracks. Composing can be accomplished by playing in one part at a time or writing in the parts when MIDI sound modules are used. The advantages are many, but most of all, the music  is heard as it is composed. MIDI is a marvelously powerful tool for composition. When a keyboard is used as a MIDI controller, any instrument can be played. MIDI files replace musical scores and can edited or rearranged with ease. Midi tracks can be viewed and printed as a conventional score. I use all midi possibilities when I compose, arrange and mix composititions. Learn More About Midi  Learn More About Synthesizers

Mixing is the art of adjusting the volume and stereo placement of the tracks. There are a host of sound processing functions that form sound mixes into a finished product.  In the past sound processors were expensive pieces of hardware that often filled racks placed close to the mixing board. Now sound processing can be done with software. At Persona,  sound processing options are too numerous so that discretion in their use is essential. A wise sound engineer knows that you can easily ruin good music with indiscrete sound processors. Skillful compression is highly regarded. The excessive use of the two most common effects -- chorusing and reverberation -- is to be avoided.  The proper placement of sound in acoustic space involves knowledge, patience and art.  See More about Sound Mixers

Mastering is the process of assembling a number of songs into an album which is a meta level composition. In the best case, an album contains compatible music selections, with consistency in volume, panning and complexity. Music albums are now produced to create and sustain a mood. You don't want heavy metal playing in spa designed for relaxation. Music is often used for dance; ballet music can be light, varied and sophisticated without drums. An all night disco wants hip hop and trance dance tunes with strong drum and bass tracks to sustain the groove.