#Soundresearch No. 4 - One mic - Zmelkoow: “Konec sveta”

#Soundresearch No. 4 - One mic - Zmelkoow: “Konec sveta”

I started making #Soundresearches with people I’ve already worked with and that just popped in my head. The interesting thing here is that the band Zmelkoow was always ready to take part in any research. Here I already went from a duo to a trio - three singers and three instruments, all recorded on one microphone.

As you can see in the video, I began using the distance between the musician and the microphone as a balance. The guitar amplifier is farther away so it sounds as if we're being in a room and that gives contrast to the vocals in front of the microphone. The music you are hearing sounded strange to me at the time, as I was used to bringing out the sound I had in my mind. Here the story turned - I had the sound as it was and had to do something out of it. Creativeness.

The view of the world changed. There was no more pondering about what I think and want. In “normal studio environments” we usually seek out what is in our minds. It was very stressful to accept a way of working that was so different from what I was used to. Stepping into a role in which neither you nor the musician know what is happening, was to experience the moment and the feeling of being alive.

This is frankly the moment where the feeling of overpower or knowing dissipates. The ego panics. The producer ceases being a god and is put into a situation where he needs to do something and the only possibility is collaboration. Collaboration not just between musicians, but with the space and things around it. And there begins the realization that if you want to get a specific sound, you need to explore all the possibilities and give it your best - from the adaptation of your playing, the prioritization of what’s in front and what’s behind, to being mindful of other instruments so that they can be heard and to the way you sound in a space. In that moment you take all the responsibility and there remains nothing open, no chance of change. This is the way for us people to get used to making decisions, not leaving things open and giving them endless possibilities. There is no room any more for sweeping stuff under the rug and saying “I’ll do it later”.

We have here what there is. All the fear of the unknown is pulled out of you and in time turned into your virtue. Such meetings are similar to being held captive in a cave. “You are here now and you need to find a solution to get out”. Rank is forgotten, as is who did what and whose idea was best. These look like survival situations - you seek ideas and solutions and no view is considered weird, because the situation itself is so strange, that any possible solution becomes normal and achievable.

#Soundresearches aren’t my best works - they are my lows. I tried out and marked every idea I ever thought of. There were a lot of falls, quite different from what we are used to, marking only our best. We are taught to be successful. And you can achieve success only by building upon a foundation of failures.

To be continued…

Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aLm4CXLS7U