MTF Week 9 10/05/2007

Genre Based Production

Genres have their own clichés.
This week in our music technology forum Steve discussed what bands are well known in different genres and the trademark production techniques used in these recordings. As a producer Steve gets bands/artists from all sorts of genres. For example to create a great blues recording Steve will go on a diet of listening to great blues recordings and take the production techniques used as a good place to start.

Funk is a genre was represented by The Meters, James Brown, Bootsy Collins, Funkadelic, Groovalicious and Kool and the Gang. The first beat of the bar is commonly emphasised and the musicians drift around the beat.
U.S. ‘90s funk is clean with reverb packed on the drums. Bands like The Red Hot Chilli Peppers are incredibly compressed, using room mics on the drums. In contrast U.K. funk sounds a lot darker, deeper with a close microphone placement on the drums to give a proximity effect. U.S. drummers may record in a large “live” room whereas U.K. drummers may record in a small relatively “dead” room with a dry sound. Australian funk like Skunkhour takes from both countries and Steve thinks it is actually roughly half way between both techniques.

Reggae is symbolised by Bob Marley and the mix has brightness, lots of hi-hats, keyboards/guitars - one on beat/one off beat in opposite speakers (radical panning), clean guitars that are very compressed and use of Flangers and Phasers. Rhythmic delays on the snare, hi-hats or cymbals are quite noticeable.

SKA is typified by Madness and The Specials.

Blues as we know it originated from the Mississippi Delta with such “Bluesmen” as Robert Johnson, Lead Belly, Muddy Waters, John Lee, Willie Dixon, BB King and Buddy Guy. Earlier recordings used an overdriven Shure “Green Bullet” Harmonica Microphone to get the vocal sound. In the 1970’s blues assimilated into rock and roll and Stevie Ray Vaughan often used Leslie speaker boxes for that Hammond organ feel.


Jazz is all about capturing the musicians in the room. It has little compression, no thumping kick drum and solos that are meant to heard. From Miles Davis’ “A Kind of Blue” with his horn sax sounds (even Wah on his Trumpet) to Diana Krall “Live in Paris” jazz is to be enjoyed live and is recorded as such.

Hard Rock is compressed during and after recording again and again. Big attack, slapping bass guitar and doubled guitars hard rock has come along way from the mid range raspy brightness of Thin Lizzy and the early Metallica albums.

References:
Music Technology Forum-EMU Adelaide Uni, Lect:Steve Fieldhouse