RECORDING
Dajaun Martineau is a producer/engineer/writer based out of Toronto, who spent the better part
of a decade as a Senior Staff Engineer at Phase One Studios before going freelance. For his full
discography and more information, visit www.dajaun.com.
By Dajaun Martineau
4 Things That Haven’t Changed
in 40 Years of Recording
P
eople are always excited about the next
new thing – the new piece of gear, the
newest recording technique... Occasion-
ally, new genres of music seemingly pop
into existence from nowhere, and from time to
time, they die off. (Remember bebop?) Despite
being in a fluid art and industry that is constantly
growing and changing, there are a few things that
have remained the same over the last 40 years.
Distortion
A British music storeowner once tasked his amp
tech with cloning the popular Fender Bassman.
The owner’s plan was sell an inexpensive no-name
version for a higher profit. While scrounging for
parts, repair tech Ken Bran decided to swap out
some of the American parts for ones more readily
available in Britain. The British components gave
the preamp significantly more gain than the Fend-
er amps, and the distorted amps quickly became
popular with the local bands looking for a new
sound. The storeowner branded the amps with
his name; Marshall was born and some of those
local bands became icons of rock.
And it’s not just guitarists who’ve embraced
distortion. Early distortion was unavoidable and
could be introduced at every stage of the record-
ing process. Throw too much air at a microphone
and you would have capsule distortion. Turn the
preamp too high and you would end up with
signal distortion from overloading. Cut a vinyl too
hot and you would get needle distortion; print to
tape too hot and you would get tape distortion.
Now we work mostly in digital environments
and can theoretically create distortion-free music,
but it has become so much a part of the sound of
modern music that I don’t think it will ever leave.
We use limiters and compressors “improperly” to
overload the inputs and get that sweet distorted
sound on vocals, drums, and synthesizers. Tape
and preamp emulations have become widely
popular as they recreate the familiar distorted tone
print making music sound “right” to our ears. Al-
most everything is distorted in one way or another
these days. Even digital distortion has become
popular in modern production, with bit crushers
used in every genre of music to do everything
from making a shaker sound bigger to giving vocal
tracks a unique tone print. Don’t believe me? Try
lowering the sample rate and bit rate on a shaker.
Trust me; you’ll love it.
The Yamaha NS-10
Yamaha’s NS-10s were originally designed and
released in 1978 as domestic “bookshelf” speakers.
Their release was considered a failure, as the public
did not enjoy what they heard. Still, a few pairs
made their way into Japanese recording studios.
Greg Ladanyi, known for his work with Fleetwood
Mac and Toto, fell in love with the monitors while
working in Japan and brought a pair back to
California with him. From there, they spread like
wildfire, usurping the Auratone 5C as the new
standard reference monitor in studios.
It is by no means a flat reference monitor; it
is lacking in bass and has a midrange boost, but
there is something very unique about the NS-10
that lets them highlight flaws in any mix.
Despite massive leaps in technology, count-
less A-list engineers still swear by these now
40-year-old monitors.
Synthesis & Sampling
Most of us think of synthesizers as the old “new
thing.” You may associate the word itself with bad
hairstyles and questionable clothing choices. The
reality, though, is that they are so fully integrated
into the modern music industry that we will
never be free of them. While there were early
achievements in synthesis as far back as 1876
with the “Musical Telegraph” and advancements
like additive synthesis occurring as early as 1901
in the “Telharmonium,” the first commercially
available synthesizer hit in the mid-‘60s when
Robert Moog developed Harald Bode’s modular
synthesizer concept into a product that could be
manufactured and used by musicians in a way they
would understand. It wasn’t long after this that the
synth market exploded and that MIDI, a standard
format for all synthesizers to communicate, was
introduced.
Even the modern concept of sampling – stor-
ing a sound and playing it back on demand – has
been around since the ‘60s. The Mellotron had ev-
ery key attached to a tape head, and when a key
was pressed, the head would hit the tape to play
the recorded sample.
In 1969, digital sampling became available
with the creation of the EMS Music System. Over
the next four decades, sampling technology be-
came so advanced that some samplers have be-
come fully-formed DAWs, and it is hard to discern
the difference between a sampler and a DAW at
this point. When you really dig into the history, the
line becomes blurred and you realize a keyboard
controlling tape heads and a computer playing a
sequence of sounds are not that different at all.
The way that synthesis and sampling have evolved
over the last 40 years is impressive, but they are
still essentially the same fundamental processes.
The Shure SM57
Originally released in 1965, the SM57 has design
roots that go all the way back to 1937, when an
engineer named Benjamin Bauer designed the first
single-element directional microphone. The SM57
is now a staple of recording technology and you
can bet that you’ll find this microphone in every
studio and production room around the world.
There are a few key elements that contribute
to its success. The first is that it is just a rugged
microphone. People have joked time and time
again that a 57 could be used as a hammer in a
pinch, and speaking of taking a pounding, the
SM57 has an incredibly high SPL rating. In the 1
kHz frequency range, the microphone can handle
up to 160dB without distorting. NASA measured
the space shuttle launch at around 180 dB at a
distance of 10 m, so nothing in a studio should
ever get that loud. The high SPL handling allowed
engineers to place the microphone much closer
to snare drums and guitar amps than ever before.
Plus, the mic provides a tight cardioid pattern that
rejects sounds coming from the back and sides.
A highly directional, durable microphone that
can handle big volume, it’s no wonder the 57 has
been a studio staple for the last 40 years.
Throughout my career, I have constantly heard
about the differences between the “old music
industry” and the “new music industry,” but in re-
ality, it’s one, constantly evolving thing. I expect
the industry to look very different 40 years from
now, but some things will never change. I can’t
say for certain that the things I’ve listed here will
last another 40 years, but it’s impressive to see
how far they’ve come to date.
CANADIAN MUSICIAN 59