I have noticed that more and more bands, acts, and artists want their recordings to sound more live, and more raw than the now conventional “Polished” pop record. All of the little imperfections from a live recording are exactly what makes it that, “Live”. These are what we love to hear, a vocal gone slightly sharp, one note in the guitar chord that gets pulled and slightly bent, the push or pull of the drum beat that creates the pulse for the entire song. Nothing major of course, nothing that would be considered “WRONG”, just imperfect. Its these little nuances that show that this is a REAL drummer, a REAL vocalist with a great voice, REAL people making music together.
It takes alot of courage to record and release a live recording. No musician is hiding behind any studio trickery, it is very exposed, yet very intimate. Those slight imperfections in recordings are what really portray emotion. For example, you could have a perfect take of a guitar solo with one little string slip, or scratch, but if that is the take that FELT right, it probably is. It is very easy to get to a point while recording where someone is performing take after take, and will not be satisfied with their performance because they are thinking to hard about achieving perfection, and not enough about the raw emotion of the song. If you are walking into a live session, (or any session), you should know your parts so well, that you are not thinking about tuning or timing, they come naturally, and instead are focusing on the performance and emotion of the song.
Take bands like The Stokes, Oasis, or absolutely anything that Jack White has ever been involved in. The reason that bands and artists like these are so widely liked and respected is because there recordings are not about being perfect, they are about the feel. Its a group of musicians, put in a room with some microphones and let loose. Jack White has even been known to record a song, and put it right to tape without re-takes, edits or even mixing.
For this very reason, the new indie wave excites me. Alot more bands, alot more raw, alot more feel and emotion. I hope that it continues for a long time!
