OFF: ABB, _Fillmore East, 1970_

[Hulsebos A]

On Jul 8, 11:41am, Paul Mather wrote:

>Actually, it's a bit harder than that.  Two separate performances are
>unlikely to be recorded the same, especially if they are recorded years
>apart using different equipment.  Even something simple like getting the
>levels the same across all instruments isn't a given.  Suppose the
>guitar is way up on performance #2 relative to everything else.  If you
>don't do something about that in your spliced version, the splice is
>going to be pretty obvious.  But, that's easy to solve (assuming you
>have the original, unmixed tapes).  What is harder is the "ambience"
>problems imparted by different recording equipment (mics, console,
>etc.): splicing a recording made on a 48-track digital recording truck
>with something made on a 4-track analogue deck is going to pose more of
>a challenge, especially since more of the mixing will already have been
>done on the 4-track during recording, due to limited number of channels.
>Even the latent noise characteristics of the media used to record on
>will be different across different time periods, and must be equalised.
>Venue will also make a difference (e.g. inside a piano vs. inside a
>studio:).

Absolutely. In practise, you'll probably hit a good deal more of
these roadblocks.

>That's why it's much easier to edit down performances than to do those
>gonzo splices that Zappa did.

Nicely put. How many people would know he did those things? Maybe if they
did, they wouldn't cast him aside as a mere deranged artist.

>"Rubber Shirt," IIRC.  "Yo Mama" is another cut-up, on the same album.
>_Does Humor Belong In Music_ is pretty rampant with the stuff, too.  It
>gets pretty ambitious (but a bit obvious:) on the _You Can't..._ series,
>e.g. making Flo & Eddie play with the 1988 "big band."

Which brings us back to the question: when would you call a recording a
"live performance"? I don't think that it matters much: even on a live album,
you're still not _there_, so you're missing out on a whole lot.

Just see it as two related art forms.....

Cheers,
        Arjan H
--
Disclaimer? Whaddayamean, disclaimer? This is 1998!

            Arjan Hulsebos -- arjanh at cs.vu.nl
For more info (last updated June 5,1998): finger -l arjanh at top.cs.vu.nl