Fun_People Archive
30 Apr
Quality with a capital "K".

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 98 13:14:18 -0700
To: Fun_People
Precedence: bulk
Subject: Quality with a capital "K".

X-Lib-of-Cong-ISSN: 1098-7649
Forwarded-by: Nev Dull <nev@bostic.com>
Forwarded-by: "Humphries, William" <WHumphri@epri.com>
From: the liner notes of Ben Folds Five, 'Whatever and Ever, Amen,'
1997, Sony/Epic/Caroline.

"This recording was made with the utmost care and professionalism.
Microphones were chosen and placed in the general vicinity of each
instrument in order to capture the sonic characteristics of the music
performed. Each instrument was tuned before and often during the recording
sessions and arrangements were rehearsed or at least discussed.

"The lyrics or text were created to detract from the repetition inherent in
modern instrumental pop music. Iambic pentameter was not always an option,
however when possible, the last syllable of a line was manipulated in order
to rhyme with the last syllable of the preceding line. Where this technique
has served to distort the meaning of the original text, the fuzz tone of
the electric bass guitar of a virtuosic drum fill has been inserted to
detract the listener temporarily from the actual song.

"Finally the best takes were chosen and the others were culled and thrown
away or erased, otherwise this record could have easily been hundreds of
hours long; much longer than the generally accepted running time of a modern
commercial recording. Every measure was taken to keep this record mistake
free. The mixing engineer, Andy Wallace, who has mixed many top notch famous
recording stars, often took the initiative and muted or "ducked" miss notes,
and unsavory textures.

The band and producer are confident that your money was well spent on a
album relatively free of major sonic and musical problems.

© 1998 Peter Langston