By Minus 1 of Underground Parliament
Musical Sound Quality
I have been a lover of music ever since I can remember [same as most of you out there]. But it was not until I started getting into writing and recording music [as a lyricist/recording artist], that I began to think about the notion of “sound quality”. As most of you might agree, there is almost always a noticeable difference between the overall recording quality of known, famous, mainstream or whatever artists… and ones that are up-and-coming, unknown, low budget, local and whatever else… sort of artists.
In this case, although we may be discussing the idea of “sound”, I personally have understood and explained this dilemma in a “visual” way: Consider the difference between the visual quality of a motion picture film, and that of a sitcom or soap opera. Notice how a motion picture film has a distant, grainy, sort of quality that makes it what it is—and notice how a sitcom or soap opera has a close, clean and glossy look, as if captured with a HD handheld camcorder, giving it that cheap homemade look.
Well, for decades I was on a quest to find that motion picture look when it came to my own sound quality. Having talked to a number of DJ’s and producers, the only answer I ever got was something in the line of “… major recording artists have access to million dollar studio equipment” or “… the original recording has to go through some long and complex filtration process to bring it to that industry standard sound quality you may be looking for” and all kinds of other stuff.
In feeling more and more hopeless, to the point of wanting to give up on recording all together, I had the pleasure of speaking to a talented DJ/Producer [who also happens to be a very close and dear friend of mine] about all this. His reply to me was in this exact quote: “… it’s never about how expensive your equipment is… it’s all about having the right equipment, and what you can do with them.” He also went on further to explain that the “style of hip hop sound” we were into required certain equipment that would get the job done [but that it would be totally up to our own imagination, talent, and effort to bring it to that level].
Based on my friend’s suggestion, it was not until Eksperiens and I built our own studio, and began recording our own sound that everything changed. During this experimental process, it did not take long for both of us to realize that the quest for that “industry standard” sound had come to an end. In a relatively short amount of time, we noticed that with the correct writing ability, vocal delivery, delay, reverb, and track mixing on our part, yet with the right equipment, that “million dollar studio sound” had gradually laid in the palms of our own hands :)
Not long after this, Eksperiens also began to take interest in producing our own beats… which then naturally led to the entire recording and mixing process of our songs. We are now able to put our own ideas together, and Eksperiens executes these ideas in almost an effortless fashion [as he is now my favorite producer/engineer] :) What a blessing!
Our Current Sound Quality
Throughout this five-year-long journey of ours, Eksperiens and I have come to a certain agreement towards the overall sound quality of our music [especially regarding our upcoming debut album]. Even though we now have the ability to produce “industry standard” quality of music, we have come to the realization that just about 50% raw and homemade quality [in contrast to the motion picture quality] is still required to make our music sound the way we want. In other words, our particular type of music requires a 50% “garage-band” sort of element [for lack of a better word] to live to its fullest potential. Hence, the 50% refers to the degree of quality for each track, and not the number of tracks on the record. This is perhaps something that the listener [especially music critics] will notice throughout the entire composition. Furthermore, they may also notice that not all the songs on the album were produced with the same sound quality, as if each song was recorded in a completely different environment; yet all gathered together to form a compilation record—that is exactly the point! This allows each song to maintain its own integrity to its own particular mood that it yearns to portray, rather than having to conform to the quality of every other song on the record.
Update on Lost In Transition
The album is now recorded and going through the final mixing process! I will keep everyone updated during each step towards the release :) Thanks guys!
