kenny wrote:Hi Terry - good job with the Seamus M. recording. I'm finding all of this very interesting, but certainly a bit above me at the moment.
Don't let that worry you (or anybody else!). You are probably accustomed to using a word processor for writing. And maybe a video editor like Photoshop for images. A DAE (Digital Audio Editor) is essentially just a word processor or video editor but for sound. You just need to get your head around sound. To be able to think practically, objectively about it. Low notes, high notes, midrange, presence, distortion, hiss, boom, thin, rich, warm, dry, brassy, dull, strident, woolly, hum, compressed, thin - hey, I reckon I've captured the entire experience of our lives in Irish music! Or folk music in general for that matter.
Interestingly, sound is one of our earliest and finest senses, but vision often blinds us to its importance. Sound is of course the medium of musicians - yet more people take images of us playing in sessions than record our sound!
I remember a telling instruction back when I was learning about community radio (I worked in that field for many years and enjoyed it immensely). The writer opined that sound is a thin and easily damaged link between presenter and listener. If anything weakens that link, the listener loses touch. The magical connection is broken. The weakening factor could be something technical - like hum, hiss, distortion, stridency, popping, dullness, etc. Or it could be a weakness in content or presentation. Saying things like "hello listeners" was an example. Listeners are enjoying a unique experience - 1 to 1 with the presenter. It's a let-down to be reminded that you are just one of many. Audio presenting is a bit like engaging in books - the "suspension of disbelief" is a significant issue. Listening to audio should be magical, not challenging.
So, for all those reasons, anyone seeking to present sound needs to do whatever they can to make sure that the sound doesn't present significant, even impenetrable barriers to the listener. Sound is paradoxically the most intimate of media, yet the easiest fractured. I think we in traditional music are more forgiving than most - sheesh, when I thing about what we've been served up over the years, I think we should be issued medals!