Aphorisms on Recording

I began writing this collection of Aphorisms while living in England working on several King Crimson albums with Robert Fripp. Robert had written a large collection of aphorisms about art and life and I decided to write a collection that focused on recording. -Ronan Chris Murphy

Aphorisms and apparent truths about making records.

(a work in progress by Ronan Chris Murphy)

• There is no such thing as over-production, only appropriate and inappropriate production.
• Emulation is always a compromise.
• The only endearing elements of emulation are found within the artifacts of its failure.
• The quality of a recording is governed by the performance.
• Sometimes people who know less than you about making records are right.
• There is often an inverse relationship between the sound quality of a pop rock mix and the number of times over 2 the drummer strikes the snare drum per bar.
• The sound of a mix is seldom the most important element.
• Snare drums that ring are pitched instruments. Just like flutes.
• The abstention of studio effects is an effect.
• Guitars over-driven from digital racks or amp emulators will dominate or be submissive to the group. There is seldom a middle ground.
• Great records are made by great people, not great studios.
• If you don’t have the answer to a recording dilemma, the music probably does.
• If the music does not have the answer it is probably not music.
• What you can throw away is often more important than what you can add.
• The factual integrity of a recording decreases exponentially with every mic and tape track used
• There is always a producer(s) on a record.
• Recording techniques that compromise the quality of the performance are always inferior to those that enhance it.
• Some of the records you loved when you were younger sound horrible and you never noticed.
• You are making the soundtrack to some one else’s life.
• If you require academics to defend your music, you have already lost Music as an ally.
• Recordings without goals usually go no where. Recordings with goals rarely go where you plan, but they get there.
• Good “composition” does not always result in good music.
• Many people mistake “drums sounds” for “production”
• The fact that the “CD” can hold over 73 minutes of music does not mean that the “album” wants to.
• The general public thinks records by famous people sound better than those by non-famous people.
• Perfect recordings seldom make for perfect records.
• Production and adding effects are not synonymous.
• Sometimes not participating is the greatest contribution you can make
• A good producer knows that sometimes going away is a contribution.
• Appropriate production is bringing to the project what it needs, clearing away what it doesn’t, and not touching the rest.
• The question “Why?” should be asked before “How?” or “When?”.
• The music is more important than any one in the studio.