‘Recording In Progress’ Celebrates The Art Of Music Recording And Ponders Its Future – Decider

Outside of live performances, every note of music youve ever heard in your life has been electronically processed before reaching your ear. Recording, mixing and mastering capture passing moments of inspiration, maximize their sonic potential and preserve them for perpetuity. The technology to do this has been constantly evolving since the birth of recorded music in the second half of the 19th century. Microphones and portable tape machines enabled the recording of folk music in open fields and hotel rooms in the 1920s. Later, deluxe recording studios were designed to audio-friendly specifications. Eventually, luxury live-in facilities were built where artists shut out the world for months at a time to immerse themselves in the creative experience. Nowadays, people record music at home on their laptops, upload it to the Internet and become superstars.

The 2018 documentary Recording In Progress champions the professional recording studio and examines how its been impacted by digital technology, both good and bad. It was directed by Justin L. Fisher, a musician and audio engineer who is a veteran of St. Louis SmithLee Productions, a full service commercial recording studio that has weathered many of the storms currently embroiling the music and recording industry. It is currently available for streaming on Amazon Prime.

Recording In Progress describes the recording studio in mythical terms, the holy mountain where musical ideas are magically transformed into artistic masterpieces. Producer Matt Ross-Spang compares them to Templar Knight churches, audio technology professor Mark Rubel calls them temples of sound, and studio engineer Jason McEntire describes them as a the safe space for an artist to go. In theory, the perfect studio should provide an environment where the musician can focus solely on their performance and offer limitless sonic opportunities to ignite their imagination and bring their compositions to life.

At their peak, recording studios were built from the ground up with clinical precision to maximize their audio quality and comfort level. They required lots of space and expensive wood for live rooms, isolation booths and control centers. Recording equipment cost a lot and many studios were stocked with top of the line instruments the musicians themselves couldnt afford. As engineer Gary Gottlieb tells us, We could have anything we wanted. We had all the best studios, we had all the best gear, the best musicians, the best engineers, the best producers, the best writers. Recording wasnt cheap and artists were often at the mercy of their labels to fund recording sessions.

Starting in the 1980s, advances in digital technology made recording both more affordable and more portable. A decade later, digital file sharing would ravage music income streams by essentially making all recorded music free. While streaming audio was seen as an updated means of distribution, its current royalty rates only benefit the biggest artists. Recording studios felt the pinch from both sides, as record labels cut their recording budgets to offset losses and artists were increasingly able to deliver home recordings that were good enough for release.

Producer Eric Mixerman Sarafin says, the music business is just a little microcosm of the fucked-up-ness of the whole fucking system right now. As in many industries, wages have stagnated since the mid 1980s while costs have gone up. The key to survival for todays recording studios has been to adapt. While some studios now offer a wider range of services, from television scoring to record manufacturing, others have downsized. Is it a perfect solution? No. Has something been lost? Yes. As Gary Gottlieb notes, a generation of listeners and musicians who have only ever heard music on earbuds or the speakers on their laptop, dont know how good music could sound. Tragically, many legendary recording studios have closed.

While Recording In Progress has no shortage of curmudgeonly middle-aged men lamenting the state of music, its also realistic about where the industry is going and acknowledges the benefits of the new technology. The democratizing effect of laptop recording and Internet marketing has enabled a new generation of artists who, in the words of Guns N Roses guitarist Richard Fortus, are unaffected by labels and producers and people telling them how it should be. Musicianship and recording quality sometimes suffers but not everyone wants to record at a state of the art facility or create immaculate recordings. Home recording allows musicians to be off the cuff, according to St. Louis musician Andy White, who says, It can be cheap and shitty and still have personality.

While Recording In Progress has no shortage of curmudgeonly middle-aged men lamenting the state of music, its also realistic about where the industry is going and acknowledges the benefits of the new technology.

While Recording In Progress intentions are beyond reproach, its execution could be better. Beautifully shot, it has an overabundance of incredibly smart people saying very intelligent things, so much that it reminds one of a highlight reel rather than a narrative documentary. At around an hour, it feels rushed and Fisher would have done well to focus on less for longer. However, his affection for the subject matter and optimism overcomes any flaws. Rather than dwell on an idealized past, the film accepts a complicated future, where the recording studio has transformed from, a fancy place with beautiful wood walls and floors, as Gary Gottlieb says, to anywhere where talented people get together and create.

Benjamin H. Smith is a New York based writer, producer and musician. Follow him on Twitter:@BHSmithNYC.

Watch Recording In Progress on Amazon Prime

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'Recording In Progress' Celebrates The Art Of Music Recording And Ponders Its Future - Decider