It's not just about the music ..

Experimentation in music production is great. It produces new ideas and possibilities and takes us in directions we hadn't thought of before. If musicians can improvise to create happy accidents and discover new progressions and riffs, then so can we.

But how often do we remember to do this? Sometimes we try new ideas out when producing or mixing, but mostly we just reach for plug-ins and settings that have worked before. It isn't always the best time to experiment.

How often has someone told us that us recording enthusiasts should stop obsessing about our gear and start making music. Sure we love music, but we also get a thrill out of a superb reverb algorithm or a beautifully designed filter.

In fact, here at PSHB we can spend hours just fiddling around with a compressor, EQ device or time domain effect. No music gets recorded but it's just as enjoyable. One of our colleagues has never made a finished LP, but he still spends most days in his studio. He JUST LOVES SOUND!

We think it's good to experiment when we are NOT working on a production. Try opening up a favourite reverb plug-in, or patch in that old hardware unit, and experiment with settings and effects. We can easily while away several hours messing around with a Drawmer DS201 (there's loads going cheap 2nd hand!), a delay, and a simple synth plug-in.

Today we are messing around with a beloved Yamaha REV500 and an old Korg SD1000. Who knows, we might just discover an effect that inspires a whole new musical genre! Or we might just go to bed at the end of the day with nothing more than a smile on our face.

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Why is learning sound recording theory important?

We know how it can be. Books, web articles and videos full of explanations and diagrams that make our brains hurt! And all we want to do is make some music. What has technical theory go to do with the creative process?

It's true, we can open Logic or Reason and start to make "professional" sounding music without any underlying understanding of what terminology  and control labels such as 7kHz, LFO, Phase Reverse or Modulation Width actually mean.

No, you don't need any kind of theory knowledge to make some kind of music. What you need it for is in order to achieve PREDICTABLE results.

Professional sound recording engineers earn their money by knowing how to get predictable results. Most of their activities involve being able to realise someone else ideas. A client wants a synth patch edited so that it has a duller sound during the transient. Do we know which control to reach for? Perhaps they want automatic zero crossing point detection disabled as a feature of some sound in their glitch track? Do we know what a zero crossing point is? What about increasing the pitch modulation range of a flange effect? Is that Modulation Frequency, or Intensity, or maybe Width?

Some times we want to experiment and add some randomness when designing sounds. We all love a happy accident and are quick to claim authorship of a lucky break! It's important to try new things, break the rules and go against the grain.

But without theory knowledge, a lot more tasks become frustrating. At worst we can't achieve what we want, and at best our creative flow is interrupted.

If we are serious about creating the best recordings we can, and want to realise the sonic effects we imagine, why wouldn't we take the time to learn the theory? Musicians spend years practicing their instruments, arrangers spend years learning to read and write music.

Learning sound recording theory can only ever be empowering, liberating and yes dammit eye-opening and awe inspiring! (There, we've said it!).

Thanks for reading and watching
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