BTEC Level 3 Music Technology

Unit 14: Listening Skills for Music Technologists.

By the end of this session you will

Recognise negatives and faults within recordings and live performances.

Identify errors in production or performance

Clearly define 3 negatives/faults.

Performance

When listening to a performance, what possible faults/negatives do we look for?

Typical Performance faults

Keeping time Intonation (Sharp/Flat) Variations in Tempo/Pitch Incorrect notes.

Performance Example

Coldplay – The Paralympics Closing Ceremony 2012.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tlek13UE72w

Coldplay

What faults did you notice?

Example 2

Emeli Sande – The Olympics Closing Ceremony 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsVIzK1VLdo

Emeli Sande

What faults did you notice?

Production Faults

What faults are we looking for in recordings?

Production Faults

Reverb issues Pops and clicks Editing Mistakes Microphone and Headphone Spill Rumble and Excessive Low Frequencies Matching Tracks

Examples

Led Zeppelin – Since I’ve Been Loving You

http://www.hometracked.com/2007/08/23/10-recording-bloopers-that-made-the-album/

Led Zep Answer

John Bonham’s notoriously squeaky bass drum pedal.

Jimmy Page discussed the squeak in a 1993 Guitar World interview:

''The only real problem I can remember encountering was when we were putting the first boxed set together. There was an awfully squeaky bass drum pedal on “Since I’ve Been Loving You”. It sounds louder and louder every time I hear it! [laughs]. That was something that was obviously sadly overlooked at the time.''

http://www.hometracked.com/2007/08/23/10-recording-bloopers-that-made-the-album/

Example 2

John Lennon – 'Working Class Hero'

http://www.hometracked.com/2007/08/23/10-recording-bloopers-that-made-the-album/

John Lennon Answer

Here, the tonality changes completely at 0:10, and again at 0:30.

Lennon supposedly recorded a demo on his home tape recorder, and at mix time, he and Phil Spector (who produced the track) preferred the emotion in the home recording for one verse only

http://www.hometracked.com/2007/08/23/10-recording-bloopers-that-made-the-album/

Example 3

Christina Aguilera – 'Beautiful'

http://www.hometracked.com/2007/08/23/10-recording-bloopers-that-made-the-album/

Christina Aguilera Answer

As Aguilera sings, you’ll hear a faint rhythm track in the background.

This is headphone bleed – sound leaking from her headphone monitor into the microphone.

Example 4

The Dixie Chicks – 'The Long Way Around'

http://www.hometracked.com/2007/08/23/10-recording-bloopers-that-made-the-album/

The Dixie Chicks Answers

On the word 'parents' the use of Autotune on the vocals is clearly present.

'Autotune is a powerful tool, to be sure, and used on the right material, it can enhance a recording. But here, it’s noticeable and distasteful.'

http://www.hometracked.com/2007/08/23/10-recording-bloopers-that-made-the-album/

Example 5

The Police – 'Roxanne'

http://www.hometracked.com/2007/08/23/10-recording-bloopers-that-made-the-album/

The Police Answers

This clip plays two phrases from the 2nd verse of Roxanne.

Compare the reverb tail at the end of “night” and “right.” The first decays naturally and cleanly, the second ends abruptly.

Most likely, this is the result of a vocal punch-in or comp, where the reverb was recorded directly to the track, rather than added during mix-down.

Task

Open up your listening log. Use the internet to research songs and look for

faults in either performance or recording List these tracks in your listening log, and

annotate the track with your negative observations