mtf week 8: Genre land

FUNK!

• Two primary, distinguishable kinds (American and London),

Features of early American funk include:

• Dry and somewhat distorted recordings
• Extreme use of pan
• Clean recording
• Compression and reverb

UK funk on the other hand, uses:

· dry sounding drum kits

· darker sounding recordings

· ‘mixing in layers’ (a concept that intrigues me…I think I might explore that for one of my major assignments)

· subliminal messages embedded in the music.

Australian funk outfits usually meet the American and UK styles midway. Regardless of the style of funk, the first beat is always heavily emphasised. Essentially a ‘live format’ that requires little or no postproduction. A good funk recording is one that accurately catches ‘the Groove’[1].

Reggae.

• Guitar and keyboards panned through opposite speakers.
• Compression on ‘clean guitar’
• phasers and flangers on keyboards

I was interested to note that some of the sounds I was familiar with in music by artists like Gorillaz are an evolution of a reggae/hip hop fondness of rhythmic delay on snares and cymbals (these effects are prominent in Dub music).

The Blues

• Close micing on pianos.
• Harmonicas are recorded with shure Green Mics.
• The likes of Xavier Rudd tap on an old suitcase and mic it up for a backing track.
• Natural sounding music with little postproduction.

Jazz

• ‘live’ music. Anti postproduction, pro gathering an entire ensemble in a nice, echoing hall and (with some strategic mic placement) recording the thing and leaving it well alone. A good Jazz recording captures the sound with minimum embellishment.[2]

‘Hard Rock’

• ‘smiley curve’ in the EQ. (Lots of bass balanced with lots of treble)
• Compressed guitar solos
• Lots of attack (or ‘click) on the drum kit

Nifty tricks used by hard rock artists include:

• panning guitar and distorted bass through left and right (Rage Against the Machine)
• Using protools trickery to put their listener on edge (System of a Down)
• Double tracking of vocals

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[1] Stephen Fields, MTF week 8, level 4 tutorial room Shultz building, Adelaide uni, 9/5/07

[2] Stephen Fields, MTF week 8, level 4 tutorial room Shultz building, Adelaide uni, 9/5/07