Recording Industry

Each year, millions of musical recordings are made and sold throughout the world. Such recordings enable people to listen to a wide variety of musical styles, including classical, country and western, jazz, blues, rap, and rock. They also enable musicians around the world to learn about one another's musical styles, instruments, and songs. A number of spoken-word recordings, such as instructional records, comedy albums, and dramatic readings, are also made and sold.

Several companies dominate the manufacture and distribution of popular recordings in the United States. These companies, called the "majors," include BMG Music; MCA; Polygram Records; Sony Music; Thorn EMI; and Time Warner. Many well-known record companies, such as Atlantic, Chrysalis, Geffen, and Motown, are administered by larger companies. In addition, a number of small independent companies are important in certain segments of the industry, including bluegrass, folk, and gospel music.

Before recording. Performers who do not write their own music obtain a composition from a composer. Composers protect their interest in a song by copyrighting it and by assigning it to a publisher. The publisher promotes the song for the composer.

After an artist has decided to record a song, a copy of it is given to an arranger. The arranger adds instrumental or vocal parts, changing the music to suit the artist's performing style. An artist and repertoire (A & R) executive, who works for the record company, oversees artists and their recordings. The responsibilities of an A & R executive also include listening to demonstration, or "demo," tapes from new artists, deciding which artists to hire, and choosing which songs to record.

In a recording studio. A recording session involves the work of musicians and technicians, and their assistants. These individuals are directed by the recording engineer and the producer. The recording engineer oversees all technical aspects of the recording session, such as choosing the recording equipment and arranging the placement of microphones. The producer makes artistic decisions about the overall sound of the recording based on the tastes of the music-buying public. The producer's duties also include reserving the studio, hiring musicians, and keeping track of how much money each musician is paid.

Popular recordings are usually made in two basic steps. First, the song is recorded part by part on tape. Next, the parts are edited and combined into a single performance.

Recording. The singers and the drummers, guitarists, and other instrumentalists needed for a song are recorded with separate microphones. These recordings are made with professional multitrack recorders, which can record dozens of separate tracks (channels of sound). Each musician is usually recorded on a separate track. The tracks can be played back alone or in any combination.

The parts of a popular recording are often recorded at different times. A process called overdubbing enables engineers to add one sound layer after another to a recording. The background sounds of a song, such as drums and rhythm guitars, are usually recorded first. As the remaining parts are recorded, the musicians listen to what has been taped through headphones. Vocal tracks are usually recorded last, though a rough vocal track may be made first to guide the instrumentalists.

The mixdown. Once all the parts have been recorded, the tracks are edited and combined on tape electronically with a recording device called a mixer. This process, called the mixdown, reduces the number of tracks to two. Two tracks are needed for stereophonic sound.

With a mixer, an engineer can control the overall sound of the song. For example, mistakes in the recording can be corrected by erasing unnecessary or undesirable parts. Various aspects of sound quality, such as loudness and tone, can be adjusted for each track. The mixing engineer can even rearrange vocal and instrumental segments of the recording. The mixing engineer tries to find a sound balance that will work well on home, car, and portable stereo playback systems, and over the radio. Many mixers have computer controls that can "remember" track arrangements, enabling engineers to experiment until they achieve the desired sound effects.

More than one version of a recording may be made. Recording companies often remix popular recordings to make them better for dancing. In addition, special versions of a song may be used as a soundtrack to a music video to help promote a recording.

Mastering refers to the processes used to create copies of the recording for use in the mass production of such products as compact discs and cassette tapes.

The mixdown process produces a new recording, usually on tape, called the master. The sound information on the master tape is eventually transferred to a number of production masters, which are used to quickly duplicate the information on blank tapes or on discs. Different mastering techniques are required for each type of product. For information on how sound is stored on various products, see Compact Disc; Tape Recorder; Phonograph.

Live recording involves installing portable recording equipment at a concert site. Few actual live recordings are made today. Such recordings do not have the excellent sound quality of those made in studios, where an engineer can carefully record the elements of a performance. Most recordings that are labeled "live" are actually combinations of parts from many live performances, often with studio recording segments mixed in.

New musical releases are often promoted by a music video or by a concert tour. In addition, it is important that new songs are played over the radio, because that is how many people first hear new music.

An artist receives a royalty from the record company for every recording sold. A royalty is a percentage of the price of the recording. Composers and publishers receive mechanical royalties for allowing a song to be recorded. In addition, the owner of the song's copyright receives a performance royalty whenever the music is used on radio or television. Performance royalties are collected by several large societies, including the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Music, Incorporated (BMI).

The sale of pirated recordings costs recording companies and artists millions of dollars annually. Pirated products include bootleg records made by secretly recording a live performance and records and tapes copied from an original recording without permission.

The Recording Industry Association of America presents awards to artists who sell a specific number of recordings. When 500,000 copies of an album have been sold, an artist receives a gold record. A platinum record is awarded when sales of an album reach 1 million copies, and a multi-platinum record is given for sales of 2 million or more. In Canada, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences annually gives the Juno Awards.

After World War I ended in 1918, records became a popular form of home entertainment, and by 1938, sales had reached $26 million a year. During the 1940's, recording tape was invented. As a result, the length of recordings was no longer determined by the wax disc blanks of three or four minutes duration that were being used at the time. The long-playing (LP) record was then introduced. Stereo records and recorded tapes were first sold during the 1950's and 1960's.

Manufacturers introduced digital recording systems in the 1970's. In digital recording, sound is broken down electronically and assigned a digital (numerical) code. Digital recording produces sound with almost no background noise or distortion. Audio compact discs, which play prerecorded digital sounds, were introduced in 1983. By the 1990's, CD's had largely replaced phonograph records. Digital audiotape (DAT), which achieves the same superior sound quality as the CD, became available in the United States in 1990. In the early 1990's the digital compact cassette (DCC) and the minidisc were introduced. Both provide near-CD quality sound. In DCC and minidisc recording, sounds that cannot be heard by the human ear are sifted out electronically. This enables more music to be stored on the tape.

In the 1980's, music videos became a new means for promoting songs and artists. In 1990, the recording industry agreed to place warning labels on recordings with lyrics that might be considered offensive to listeners.

Contributor: Ken C. Pohlmann, M.S.E.E., Prof. of Music Engineering, Univ. of Miami.

See also Compact Disc; Phonograph; Stereophonic Sound System; Tape Recorder.

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