F'kin' Engineers!

Posted by: Chayro on 28 October 2006

I'm listening to "Easy Walker" by the Larry Fuller Trio. Good band, with Ray Brown and Jeff Hamilton. What bugs the sh*t out of me on this record and many others - those f*%kin' engineers insist on panning the drums all over the stereo field. The hihat is hard left, the ride is hard right, which is not even how the audience would hear a right-handed drummer. It screws up any sense of realism in the recording. IF the engineer is attempting to capture any semblance of a realistic image, I can't imagine why they would do this. All they would have to do is listen to Brubeck's "Take Five" to see how drums should be recorded, at least from a spacial perspective.

I have no idea what these engineers are doing, other than listening to asshole producers, which is entirely possible. If it's their own idea, they should have their ears cut off. Figuratively.
Posted on: 28 October 2006 by Adam Meredith
Musica delenit bestiam feram

... or not.
Posted on: 28 October 2006 by Chayro
Well put, but I assume you did call this area "Padded Cell" for a reason? Obviously an overreaction to a small thing caused by other stressful factors during a hard week of work.

Better than taking it out on one's family, though. That I won't do.
Posted on: 31 October 2006 by joe90
Couple of things Charyo:

What if the drummer is LEFT handed?

and

The drums on Take Five is the WORST example of musical excess: letting a drummer have a solo for that long is just plain WRONG.
Winker
Posted on: 01 November 2006 by Chayro
Joe - that's why I wrote, "from a spacial perspective". The last 3 tracks on that album, which nobody listens to, are my favorite.

In any case, you never heard the extreme panning on any of the old Blue Note records. In real life, drums appear to come from a single point, not with the hihat and ride cymbal 8 feet apart.

As to the right hand, left hand thing. Some engineers like to record the kit as if they were sitting behind it and some from the listener's perspective. It really doesn't matter what side the cymbal is on. It's the distance that bothers me. Seems like a little thing right now.
Posted on: 01 November 2006 by JohanR
It's very popular with the piano to. I listened to the first Aloi/Linn recording with Carol Kidd yesterday. Very good music and sound, only let down by the ultra large piano.

JohanR
Posted on: 02 November 2006 by Chayro
By far, the worst piano engineering job, IMO, is Midnight Sugar, by the Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio. It sounds like someone cut a hole in the soundboard and you're sticking your head up into the inside. Really horrible. Not to mention Yamomoto's amateurish playing.

Hard to believe it was such a popular audiophile must-have in the 80s.