[LAD] automation on Linux (modular approach)

[fons at kokkinizita.net]

On Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 09:28:59PM -0400, Tim E. Real wrote:

> Ralf is saying, if you flub a note, you haven't mastered your part!
> A recording is: The artist plays, you record. End of story. 
> It's a much more 'live' affair, like recording an orchestra for example.
> Tweaking notes! That's for pop, eh?
> 
> It's only Rock and Roll... But I like it... Like it... Yes I do... 
> Solos are hard. Sometimes many takes, just to get that bad note or phrase.

It's not that black & white. Tweaking things is not only
for pop, and the 90% produced without automation that I
mentioned before refers to pop music, not classical.
Having to switch between tracks or adjust levels during
a mix is not a big deal. And when it really gets too
complicated there are lots of other methods besides
automation, and usually easier to use. That was already
the case in the analog tape days, and much much more
today.

For one, you don't have to mix a song in one single run,
you can do it in pieces and edit them together. In the
old days that meant cutting and splicing tape, today it's
a trivial thing to do. In Ardour, it's also easy to assemple
parts of multiple takes of a e.g. solo into a single track
and give each part its own gain, all without automation and
without destroying anything. 

For a nice account on how things were done without computers
see <http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1995_articles/oct95/queen.html>
I've never done anything *that* complicated, but the techniques
described in that article were common practice in those days,
no engineer would panic or complain when having to use them.

Ciao,

-- 
FA

O tu, che porte, correndo si ?
E guerra e morte !