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[iain44s]

speaking of which there is an interview with bob rock in this months sound on sound magazine

[Tav]

Is it worth reading?

[iain44s]

its ok...im not a fan so it didnt interest me that much...its basically about all the techniques he used to record st anger.
there was one a couple of months ago with rich costey about recording absolution by muse...that was cool. he is an incredible producer with some interesting ideas...

[Mouse]

Originally posted by Tav:
Producers even help out with things such as choosing amps, effects and other things. For example Bob created the amp tent which Metallica used on the Black Album to get that amazing crunch...he also did the wall of foam for Jasons bass and gave Lars a table of weird percussion to play with.

But Bob Rock also has seemed to have some negative affect on the band, as a lot may argue

[LonelyHunter Alister]

in a sentence, the difference between a band playing live, and a record, is the work of a producer. An engineer twiddles the knobs, and gets the sound that the producer wants

[eat your parents]

Originally posted by iain44s:
alot of the time a separate mixing engineer is essential...the producer has been working on the stuff so long already and knows it so well that it is hard to get decent perspective on the mix...the fresh ears of a mix engineer can really breathe new life into a recording. also a good producer doesnt always make a good mix engineer...mixing is an art unto itself i suppose.

So what's the difference between someone who is a mixing engineer and someone who masters tracks?

[spellchecker]

I'd say a mixing engineer is responsible for how the material is actually recorded, helping with microphone positions, singing/vocal techniques, guitar/amp choices, effects choices/compressor setups etc. for vocals.

i'd say someone who masters tracks is responsible for making sure the output of the final mix is even, presentable, normalised and representative of the ideas a band took to the studio in the first place.

[Tam o' Shantie]

mastering is a completely seperate aspect. Mastering is taking the final stereo mixdown (ie the finished tracks you get from the studio) and EQing, compressing, limiting etc to ensure the final product sounds as good as possible - ideally, bright and punchy and loud, as well as 'smoothing out' all the tracks to sound as similar as possible.

Originally posted by Tav:
Producers even help out with things such as choosing amps, effects and other things. For example Bob created the amp tent which Metallica used on the Black Album to get that amazing crunch...he also did the wall of foam for Jasons bass and gave Lars a table of weird percussion to play with.

someone owns a year and a half in the life of metallica...part 1.

[lepeep]

there is a classic bit on a frank black bootleg playing an acoustic set (in Itally, If I remember correctly), he's playing a pixies song, and stops in the middle, he says : "and this is the bit that Albini cut out"...and plays a whole new part no fan had ever heard before....

That's the power of a "producer"...

Has anyone ever read the article that Steve Albini wrote about how Producers work ?
"the problem with music"....now that should get some blood boiling.

http://www.negativland.com/albini.html

some other interesting links:

http://www.alexnewport.com/interview.html

http://www.music-law.com/