The stage versus the studio. Live versus layered. Each has its strength, each has its weakness.
Live is raw, it’s real, it’s human.
It’s flawed, it’s moody, it’s fickle. Sometimes disastrous.
The studio is focused, controlled, yet unpredictable. Creativity at its zenith.
Yet stifling, draining, repetitive and stale, oftentimes sucking the soul out of the spark that once was a great idea.
Studio albums can be cultivated into cultural monoliths fit to change the world and those who live in it. Dark side Of the Moon. Physical Graffiti. Sgt. Peppers.
Live albums can take you there – Peter Frampton, Kiss Alive, Live at Leeds.
The studio makes you carve and create and explore and refine.
The stage makes you prepare and prepare and prepare and then…abandon.
Not to be compared but to be complimentary.
Indulge me.
The live (with terrible sound from a camera mic) – be imaginative.
The studio. Listen and compare. Be gentle. But be honest.
‘Sharks Teeth’ Live
For me, a good live performance is what makes the difference between a band I’ll see once and one I’ll see a dozen times, or between just listening to one CD and following along through their entire career. I’ve always had the belief that music should sound better in person, and when I don’t get that experience from an artist, they quickly fall off my radar. There’s so much you can do and add and create in the studio, but at the end of the day, I think that live chemistry, when it’s there, sounds and feels better than any bell or whistle a perfect track could sport. It’s just something you can’t ever reproduce.
yeah julie, always comes down to that human element being the core of it all…
Live music is about the performance for the audience, it’s being there and being part of a group of like minded people etc. For the performers, its adrenaline and feedback from the audience. Live is cool, loud, crowded, hot, disorganized etc. Even with really good sound systems, live is a mess.
Studio, is like layers of perfection, an air bushed photo.
Both are pleasing, both are art.
The studio links routes me through iCloud, at which point it’s not immediately clear how to download the file…
Sorry Bruce, old link. Fixed now.