Gotye, Queen Show the Many Ways of Making Music

I enjoy skimming through audiophile websites and Facebook to see what’s happening in the audio enthusiast world. But one of the most frustrating things I read on these sites is that live recordings are the best recordings and the only way to make real music.

This couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Let me preface this by saying that from an integrity and purity standpoint, audiophiles have it right; if a musician or group can’t play music live, their limitations will be exposed. This means a lot to many people, and it should because many modern recordings are pieced together through software with cut-and-paste, auto tune and loop bundles that don’t fully represent the skill that goes into the actual performance of playing a song.

But there are other ways to be creative and skillful when making music, and audiophiles forget that sometimes when discussing musical production values.

Recording studios offer musicians the ability to enhance their creativity, and many of the greatest records were created with the help of recording engineers and producers in the studio. Artists such as The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson, AC/DC, and even newer artists such as Gotye, have gone into the studio and developed ideas into full-fledged songs because of the tools available in studios.

Bobby Owsinski’s Big Picture Blog is one of the most informative blogs I regularly read. Owsinski is an L.A.-based recording engineer, author, musician and technical consultant.

One of the reasons why audiophiles should be interested in what Owsinski writes about is the fact that he is aware of the consumer audio market and is open to what trends are driving consumer audio. This is important for audiophiles because it shows that pro guys are interested in what they are doing. Owsinski also writes about musical production at a level consumer enthusiasts can understand.

Owsinski posted several blogs recently that describe the process in which Queen’s classic song “Bohemian Rhapsody” was made.

It’s interesting to listen to the isolated tracks, especially the basic tracks with the piano, bass and drums, as well as Freddie Mercury’s vocal parts; John Deacon’s multiple bass lines and how Brian May builds up his guitar parts that start in the second verse.

Another thing that is noteworthy in this video is how Queen recorded “Bohemian Rhapsody’s” layered vocal harmonies and the cascading effect they used to build up the “magnifico” part of those harmonies. Of course when the song is stripped down to its core, Mercury’s sense of time and melody really make the song the classic that it is.

Owsinski recently wrote about the methods Gotye went through to record his album “Making Mirrors.” You may not be a fan of Gotye - I fall into that category - but just because the music does nothing for you, Gotye is a creative artist who should be respected because of the processes he went through to make his mega popular record.

After watching the video that describes how “Making Mirrors” was produced, it’s clear Gotye is a dedicated musician who came up with fresh ways to use technology.

Queen and Gotye are examples of what talented musicians are capable of doing in the studio. Maybe more importantly, as Brian May points out throughout the Queen video, there is a certain amount of humanity involved in making a good song or record, and that is what music is all about.

We all need to remind ourselves every once in a while that it’s not about how the music is made, it’s about the music itself and nothing else.