I was poking around the Mailboat Records site this morning and enjoying the version of Margaritaville that Nadirah Shakoor sang in the [auto-playing!] Flash music of the site. It was recorded live and it sounds like it. The acoustics are very warm. You can hear the music bouncing off the walls.
It made me recognize that these acoustics are part of what I admire in the old Squirrel Nut Zippers’ Hot record. It was recorded in a house in New Orleans – and again, you can hear the musicians in the room. Same goes for this Jolly Boys songs I have. The stand-up bass sounds like it’s right inside your head. And the O Brother, Where Art Thou record wall full of this – it’s a great record.
Recording studios think they’re improving the sound when they dampen the acoustics so that all you hear is the source. But that’s not the way music is really played, or enjoyed. The lack of these acoustic details puts a barrier between the artist and the audience, saying “what you hear isn’t real – it’s plastic.” It’s the audio equivalent of the airbrushed pin-up: sure she’s cute but she’s not real.
I think artists and producers should make an effort to put more acoustics in their recordings. It’s only natural.