Tech-Speak

Most folks are in the dark when it comes to sound engineering. That's because you have to be a genius to understand it. I've been doing it for twenty years, and like most things that I do, I've been making it up as I go along and so far, so good...but I have learned a few technical-type terms that might be of interest; perhaps even of use.

DARK: I'm sure you have heard bands referred to as being dark, i.e., gloomy or depressing. Bauhaus and Joy Division were dark bands. Lou Reed's Berlin (tips to EotR) and Neil Young's Tonight's the Night are dark albums. Nick Cave is dark, but he's so ridiculous about it that I have a hard time remembering how cool "Release the Bats" was...anyway, there's an actual technique that recording engineers use to get that "dark" sound.
It involves keeping the microphone out of direct sunlight. For certain Death Metal (Carcass, for instance) the preferred method is to record inside an actual coffin, which is why so many of those guys sound like they are singing with a mouthful of mud; it's not mud, it's actually gravefill. Keepin' it Real!
For the typically angst-ridden musician , a drawn curtain will suffice. The darkness is in your heart- but nobody understands that, man. That's why you are such a tortured artist.




BRIGHT: This is often mistaken for 'shrill'. In fact, the only solo album released by Shrill Spice was titled 'Bright '(whatever happened to the Spice Girls anyway?)
Some guitar amplifiers have a "bright" switch, as do some boombox radios. Ideally, on the guitar amp, it's a slight boost in the more audible sound frequencies of the guitar (usually slightly hi midrange), making it 'stand out' during leads and stuff. In reality, it's often another word for "piercing , squealing feedback". On the radios, the 'brightness' button is used to counteract the 'loudness' button and vice versa.
In a commercial recording 'bright' is the technical term for the recording of cheerful instruments- steel drums, xylophones, kazoos, those wind-up noisemakers you see at New Years...and it's hard to record a kazoo in the dark -why, I can't explain- so a light of an electrical nature is employed to augment the sun's muted rays. A steel drum recorded in shadows has the funereal sound of a distant tympani- turn on a light and dance around a little. No one is watching.

FORESIGHT: This is the hardest part about sound. For my purposes,it involves making sure that all of my microphones and other gear are actually working and that there is enough space in the room for the musicians to set up.
This is something that they don't seem to teach many nightclub soundmen. While I was setting up the mics for a radio show, our guests were being held hostage by the short-sighted ineptitude of the guy doing their soundcheck at the club- so all my foresight was for naught. I felt like setting up microphones- I was in that sort of mood- so it wasn't a total loss.