I still don't understand the relationship between the label and the artist when it comes to how a cd is recorded?

Anybody have Michael Brecker's "Pilgrimage"? It sounds like analog vinyl. Very well done, not HOT, not compressed. It's on Heads Up yet there are other bigtime artists on Heads Up where I found the recordings rather hot and compressed. So who's controlling it? The artists or the label?

Search on the CD after the technical producer. Executive producer: Darryl Pitt, associate producers: Dave Love & Wulf Muller.

Right, so are those Head Up employees? Friends of the bands? I don't have the cd in front of me but I thought Steve Rodby had his hands in it too?

Darryl Pitt was Brecker's long-time manager. Dave Love is president of Heads Up International and responsible for many productions of this label.

More information about the recordings is published here:

http://mixonline.com/recording/tracking/audio_michael_brecker/

Thanks for the link Hans - very interesting story. No info on mastering but everything else about the recording process was discussed. I heard that Metheny worked on this music some more after the fact - Pro Tools makes that possible, for better or for worse.

Tony and Steve - thanks very much for the good words about "Grace". Also, I know that you guys, like me, are discerning about sound quality so I especially appreciate your comments about that element of my new CD.

Yeah, Steve, I don't really understand how this belief that louder is better started but all I can say is that once you get off that road, you really wonder how you ever got on it. I think it boils down to fear on the record labels' part (and sometimes the artists too), fear that your record won't be as loud as the next persons and somehow people won't perceive it as full and strong. But what really turned me around was a friend of mine who has great ears and notices everything who said to me - "Oh, when a CD seems a little softer, I just turn it up a bit". So why do record labels, producers and artists continue to choose to compromise a great mix just to make it 2-3 db louder and much more compressed? I for one simply won't do it.

Regarding the Brecker CD (what a fantastic CD!) - since it was conceived/perceived as a more stright ahead, acoustic project, I think it was mastered accordingly. But I think all music sounds better with all of the original dynamics!

Wulf mueller is VP of marketing at Universal for classics and jazz, or at least I thought he was-- is Heads Up part of Universal?

Either way, not responsible for the mix either!

I also read that Leslie. May be there are two Wulfs. Wuw wuw.

Ken I'm absolutely corresponding with your statement about dynamics. Don't let it go to red.

Regarding the "fear" factor, I wonder if it has anything to do with so many "fans" wanting amplified bass. They buy super woofers. They crank it up until the sound is distorted and the rest of the instruments are drowned out.
They talk about liking "that bass," but are clueless as to what a bass (acoustic or electric) is supposed to sound like.
Is it possible that these amplification and compression issues are an industry response to that particular market?

Very interesting point, Woody.

There is no question in my mind that the bottom end particularly suffers when compression and brick wall limiting are over used in the mixing and/or mastering process. It's bad enough when it happens to the sound of an electric bass but when an acoustic bass is squashed, it loses the heart and soul of it's character. I worked very hard on the acoustic bass sound on "Grace..." to keep it full and present but always natural and "woody". That said, it always starts with great playing on a great acoustic instrument, recorded with a great mic.

I think that the bass content can have a lot to do with a listener's overall perception of the fullness and loudness of a record. But achieving it through compression and artifical coloring (EQ) ultimately makes the listener's ears feel fatigued.

If this is an industry response to what it thinks the public wants, it's just part of an overall desire to be the loudest, hottest sounding product out there.

Yes, no doubt...the compression just kills any natural decay of the instrument timbre, which, like Ken just said fatigues the ear.

Woody, I agree and we've touched on this before. I don't have stats but the VAST MAJORITY of music listeners out there (if not in their cars) use an Ipod with the $5 provided earbuds. I'm somewhat shocked that such a high percentage of people are content with this set up but it has much to do with lower expectations and how the music is marketed and how it is played in clubs. Hip hop and rap is still very popular and the main sound attribute is bass and impact...quite easy to sloppily duplicate with cheap earphones. When I was growing up, and certainly before the digital portable age there was FAR more diversity in music listening "set-ups". Few used the same headphones. You saw more people wearing Beyer Dynamics, Grados, AKG's and Sennheisers because they were sold in brick and mortar audio stores but those no longer exist. Probably 80% of audio listening gear is currently sold through online internet stores. This plays right into the dumbing down of the listening experience. Run down to Target, Best Buy or Circuit City and pick up some "Marshmellow Earphones."