Recorded Accompaniment and the Extinction of Live Musicians

Live musicians and accompanists may be an endangered species.  Why?  Many theater and music programs, due to budget constraints or other reasons, are trading in their live accompanists and musicians for pre-recorded accompaniment tracks.  The increasing availability of recorded musical theater accompaniment tracks makes this a cheap and easy option for a theater director who wants to put more money into a fancy set and costumes.  A local school near me is using recorded tracks instead of an accompanist this year, after several years of using accompanists.  Several local churches are increasingly using recorded tracks with their choirs. Even the Red Hot Chili Peppers admitted to using a pre-recorded track at the Superbowl this year!  It seems that recordings are all the rage.  We have the technology, and the sound equipment, so why not?  We can give everyone a perfect performance and fake it, or lip-sync, although I don't think I could fake it on my piano.  So what's the problem with all this recording madness?

The problem is that it's not real!  

I think our technology has made superficiality comfortable to us.  In our virtual, hyper-edited realities on Facebook, Youtube, and TV, we are ok with fakeness.  We project falsely perfect worlds in our electronic media, making everyone think that perfect is the only way to be.  Does this have anything to do with the fact that depression has reached epidemic levels in our country?  I think so.  Back when I taught piano, my students were so used to hearing perfect, edited recordings on the radio, they couldn't be satisfied with their performance unless it had the same degree of flawlessness.  I had to keep reminding them that all that stuff they hear on the radio is not a real performance, but the result of many, many takes and many hours of studio time.  But that is another rant for another day. 

Back on track.  It's time take the megaphone and give my loud and brazen opinion on the matter:  

LIVE MUSIC IS ALWAYS BETTER!  Canned music always degrades the performance.  It also gives the audience the message that music must be absolutely perfect, or it's not good enough.  And it gives the accompanist who is sometimes replaced with a recorded track that he or she it not good enough. 

In the 13 years I've been a musical theater accompanist, I've been lucky to work with several directors who understand the value of a live accompanist or pit band.  This has helped me to stay gainfully employed as I utilize my piano skills.  Here is why accompanists or a live band are more desirable in performance:

1. Live music is impressive and more exciting.  It has the wow factor that recordings don't.
2. Trained musicians need employment!  Yes, we need to work!  Don't replace us with recordings!
3. A live accompanist or pit band can slow down or speed up with a singer who is not on tempo.
4. A live accompanist can transpose with a transposing keyboard if the key is too high/ low for the singer.
5. A live accompanist or pit band can skip ahead and find the singer when s/he skips a few bars.  This does happen, and a pre-recorded accompaniment can spell disaster in these instances.  
6. There is no substitute for the human factor, and the energy and feeling that a live band or accompanist projects.
7. A singer can decide to spontaneously hold a note extra long for impact/ expression, and the musicians can adjust.  This adds an extra element of freshness that recordings don't have.  Each performance is unique and is not controlled by the timing of the track.
8. In theater, the time it takes to accomplish action or dialogue sometimes varies, and musicians can lengthen or shorten musical underscoring where needed. 

I do invite your comments on the matter.  Chime in!

Home Recording: Cables Matter!

"How do I get my computer to record my digital piano?"

I get this question a lot.  And I have been known as the cable doctor over the years, making numerous house calls to configure my friends' computer to piano connections, whether they desire to record audio or MIDI.  Oftentimes, I find that they don't know what kind of cables to use or where to find them.  If you have a digital piano and you want to make pristine recordings, the number of rings on the end of the cables matters a lot!  You'll want to make sure you're recording in stereo sound, and this is where most people make errors when choosing cables for home recording.  You will not be able to record in stereo if you don't have the right number of rings on your cables (see below)!  These are the two products you'll need to do home recording.  How much is it going to cost?  About $20 or so:

1.  Hosa 1/4-Inch TRS Male to Dual 1/4-Inch TS Y-Cable 4 Meter :  My favorite cable for recording!

2.  Hosa 3.5mm female TRS to 2.5mm male TRS adaptor (ok, the one in the picture below is not the exact one I linked to here, but it has the right specs and will work fine). 

The cable set-up below makes nice stereo recordings.  For you techno nerds, TRS means tip, ring, and sleeve and is just a fancy acronym for a stereo jack with both R and L signals.  TS is a mono cable that is missing that second ring, and therefore only has a single L signal (mono).

TRS = 2 RINGS = STEREO
TS = 1 RING = MONO



Keyboard to Computer Cable Diagram (www.freethepiano.blogspot.com)

 

Now you may be wondering what software to use, and how much it will cost.  For basic home recording, even semi-professional recording, I use freeware called Audacity.  Audacity is freeware that is available as a free download from the Internet.  It also has basic editing tools which I use all the time.  You can make mp3s and even compress them to a small size that is convenient for e-mail and web.  But don't forget to download the LAME mp3 encoder also!  More on this in another post...