MTF, Week 4, Discussion of Production

I felt that this week’s class was great as it further expanded the topics we discussed last week. What I especially liked were the questions Steve asked us and the responses that I heard during the lesson.

For example, while talking about matching producers to artists I was thinking about my own opinion, which was- regardless of whether or not both producer and artist are great, the most crucial aspects would be communication and team work. Even if you know all the best techniques to use, or you have the best recording voice, it’s a waste of time if you’re not able to put your point across to the other party.

I was so relieved to hear that I wasn’t the only person feeling a bit lost when it came to hearing the different techniques used in a track. As Steve mentioned, it’ll take time to develop our hearing memory and also fine tuning our critical listening skills (Fieldhouse 2007).

While I’m on the subject, I was getting a bit nervous last week as I was trying to hear a trademark sound in the music samples I had chosen for my presentation and for the life of me I just couldn’t get anything. I swear it was like hitting a brick wall! It could be due to the genre of music I’m listening to is different to the genre Steve presents in class?

In any case, I’ve decided to just go by instinct and just talk about what I perceive to be a “trademark” style. I mean, as Steve said, our ears aren’t as developed as his so I’ll just warn you to be prepared for some serious amateur-ish analysing!

Another question Steve asked was, “If you were stranded on an island and you had a choice of either one great song with average production or one average song with great production, which would you choose? I wasn’t thinking outside the square and chose the first selection as I thought I could listen to a great song I loved because I can’t actually tell the difference between a bad and good recording! Then after hearing what others had to say I realised they were right! Firstly, you’d get sick of the song quickly and secondly if you chose the latter, you’d learn to appreciate it eventually AND have the bonus of a great production (Fieldhouse 2007)!

I think particularly with this class I’m going to have to be patient since we’re dealing with topics that are related to production. Sometimes I assume it’s a skill we can learn overnight but at least I know I’m not by myself!

Reference List
Fieldhouse, Steve. 2007. “Introduction to Producers.” Lecture presented at University of Adelaide, 22 March .