Check this out. When Tiger Woods won the Masters in 1997 he was 21 years old. He started playing golf at three, which means he practiced and studied and worked at it for 18 years.
See that woman there? The one through the recording studio window with the glasses and the alabaster skin? She’s 34 and has been playing the cello since she was 13, which means she’s practiced and studied and worked at it for 21 years.
The business of advertising today follows tried-and-true impersonal profit-making models that all businesses use, such as automation, globalization, computerization and capitalization.
So this music and sound design issue seems the perfect place and time for a little humanity. A little appreciation. And a few words about talent.
There is a tendency among composers toward megalomania. It was true 200 years ago when Beethoven cracked a baton over the head of his concertmaster, and it’s especially true today given the advances in technology, where the definition of a "one-man band" has reached odious proportions.
As a group of artists, we understand the importance that human interaction plays in the creation of music. And we make room for talented individuals to bring their unique perspectives to a recording session. For one thing, each brings with them the entire history of their instrument. A cellist about to perform a Baroque-sounding piece knows that the requirements of bowing, phasing and ornamentation are completely different from those required for a 20th century piece of avant-garde music. A brass player will bring an arsenal of mutes and mouthpieces to be ready to play Holt or Holst.
For another thing, experts will do little things you may not hear, but you will feel, like the way a vocalist "scoops" into a note, or the fact that a guitarist made the subtle choice to use his thumb to hold that low note on the guitar rather than his forefinger. There is really no way to match the level of detail and nuance that experts bring to a session as thinking, breathing, feeling humans.
In a very real sense, talented artists use the same combination of experience and intuition that Tiger Woods uses to hit a shot. He knows which club to play, which stance to take, which grip variation to use, and what kind of swing to make in order to place the ball at the pin based on the day’s playing conditions.
In a recent project for Nike, we wrote the track around a live trio of drums, bass and electric guitars, augmented heavily with processed synthesized sounds. The track builds in intensity and cacophony, but toward the end it reverts back to the raw trio. And the impact is breathtaking. What is crucial to this track is the feel of the live performances by the musicians. Without that live feel we would have most likely ended up with a cold and lifeless beast, a computerized approximation, a sterile "one-man band."
Some of the most fun you can have in this part of the industry is doing a large live recording session. To experience the symbiosis when a group of musicians play together is still an awesome thing. Like watching a beautifully performed Tango. Or seeing your favorite golfer win the Masters.
Food for thought, next time you choose between hiring a composer and licensing a track.
