Talk of the Nation, June 22, 2009 - In his book, Perfecting Sound Forever, Greg Milner explores the evolution of sound. His history covers the analog days of Thomas Edison through the present day of digital recordings, and the quest for sonic perfection.
Technological advances have complicated the debate about the value of the most accurate reproduction of a sound, versus the most enhanced. Whereas Edison set out to perfectly capture a live performance, today's sound engineers have the ability to create recordings from musicians who aren't in the same room — or aren't even alive at the same time.
Milner takes the reader through major breakthroughs and massive failures in recording history. He also digs into specific recordings from Lead Belly, the Beatles, Mission of Burma, Steve Albini and Massive Attack.
Excerpt: 'Perfecting Sound Forever'By Greg Milner
NPR.org, June 22, 2009 - When a sound wave is generated, the mass is the air itself — or rather, the billions of particles that comprise the air — and the elasticity is the natural tendency of the particles to return to a stable position. These are the characteristics of any sound wave, whether caused by the big bang or by John Bonham's drum intro to Led Zeppelin's version of Memphis Minnie's "When the Levee Breaks." Those two particular sounds are alike in other ways: they are both epic and epochal, and each has been cited as evidence of the hand of God (and in Bonham's case, also His right foot). The latter is easier for us to conceive (though nearly as unlikely to ever be repeated), so let's examine the work performed by Bonham, and its effect on us.
You are very lucky. It is sometime in the early seventies, and you are at a mansion in the English village of Headley. The members of Led Zeppelin are here to make their fourth album, and they have invited you along to watch. Today they will record Bonham's drum part for "When the Levee Breaks." The band wants Bonham's drums to have a booming, reverb-heavy sound. (This is an unusual choice for the time, since the trend in records is toward drums that sound dry, with little resonance.) To achieve the desired effect, they place the drums at the bottom of a stairwell, with the microphone hanging three stories up. You are in the stairwell, a few feet away from the drums. The only person who will be closer to the sound is Bonham.
The engineer announces that the tape is rolling. Bonham counts off the rhythm and then slams his foot down on his kick drum's pedal to begin the beat.......
Read the rest of this intriguing article here: NPR.org
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