Tuesday, August 29, 2023
Recording Success: Taking Elemental Steps Can Make A Big Difference
ProSoundWeb: Have you ever wondered why some recording artists and producers are more successful in the studio at accomplishing their goals than other people who are equally or more musically talented? As a recording engineer, here’s what I’ve noticed about successful people in the studio.
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3 comments:
I found it very interesting reading this article. Though I don’t plan on pursuing this field of work, I (like many) often listen to music; the recording process seems so complicated and thorough, which I’m sure it is. I was surprised to see at first that many of Rudolph’s points seemed fairly straightforward. But while reading, I was reminded of their significance. It makes sense that if there wasn’t respect in the studio, or focus, or any of the other important elements, it would be much more difficult for a recording artist to become successful in producing their music, and ultimately becoming successful. The idea of having a vision is really intriguing, as I wonder how musical artists, or composers first come up with their “epiphanies” as Rudolph referred to them. Maybe it’s similar to how us designers discover our ideas, though often it seems as music can appear ‘from thin air’ rather than being researched or searched for within a script. However Rudolph did mentioned how Daryl Hall and John Oates “wanted to pay homage to their favorite R&B songs,” and so it seems that often music can be derivative. I guess like all art, it comes from an idea that comes from other art, or something we’re exposed to in the world.
This article gave me more reasoning to confirm something I think about very often: talent will only take you so far. Many people possess an immense amount of natural skill for a craft, but they won't be able to successfully implement it unless they also possess the skills that the author of this article named: hard work, focus, respect, and fully giving themselves to their work. I think a lot of people both in and out of artistic fields are turned away from certain disciplines because they believe they don't have enough natural talent in order to be successful at it. While this is true in some cases, if they are respectful and willing to put in the work and focus, there is a solid chance they will be able to find success. Natural talent is neither the single determining factor for success nor fully necessary in order to be successful.
Success is such a subjective thing. In order to reflect on this article I feel I have to define success in this article as being well known and popular. That being said, I think it does touch on some important aspects of trying to ‘make it’ in a field that is known as ‘tough’ to break into. An important anecdote that I particularly liked was, “I’ve never worked with anybody who had all the pieces of the “vision puzzle” in place when they came into the studio — it’s impossible.” As I am going into this design focused year, I have been very worried about creating substantial themes or concepts. This article has provided me with some comfort as I was reminded that in order to succeed you need to be able to experiment, within the process. Nothing is ever going to be perfect on the first try and I can’t get discouraged if my first idea needs to be changed or expanded upon more.
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