Audio Engineering Writing Assignment

Audio Engineering 1                                                                            

 

I’ve chosen to listen to the “Voice Inside My Head” off the Dixie Chicks’ Taking the Long Way album.  The song opens with just acoustic guitar in what I think is acoustic spread.  As I listen, my ears are drawn from speaker to speaker with the different accents.  However, I couldn’t tell what exactly they did to produce the effect.  Four measures in the steel guitar comes in, adding more of a country feel while smoothing out the overall feel.  The steel guitar sits in the right and toward the front of the 3D ball until the vocals come in at eight measures, where it is no longer present until later in the song. 

           

            The vocals enter with the drums, which added to the acoustic guitar creates a very spacious sound.  The drummer plays very straight forward, so that you naturally focus on the vocals which are present but not overly so.  Both the drums and vocals feel a little dark, but what I found particularly interesting is that my first instinct was to say the drums weren’t dark at all.  It wasn’t until focusing in on them that I noticed the mellowness in the snare.  The same goes for the vocals and other instruments.  They don’t feel muddy, and in fact sound quite clear to me, but they aren’t bright either.  It’s an interesting combination that creates this feel of being in a carpeted room without feeling confined.

 

            The bass guitar comes in centered at 16 measures, or 8 measures into the first verse.  If you aren’t looking for it, however, you can easily lose track of it.  It quickly falls into the background below the acoustic guitar and drums providing a solid backdrop for the vocalist.  During this time, there is an occasional electric guitar providing accented strumming at the end of phrases. 

 

The final instrument to be brought in comes in during the bridge.  I’m honestly not sure what it is, outside of being an electric guitar with some effects on it.  This is also the one part of the song that disappoints me.  Personally I find this guitar distracting and not in agreement with the feel of the song.  All of the other instruments are relatively dry and organic, so to add something wet to the mix feels odd.  Even though it isn’t any more forward than the acoustic, my ears are drawn to the left and can’t let go of the guitar.  It competes with the vocals which are actually quite interesting in the bridge.  In my opinion, this is the only real flaw in this song, and is disappointing to see happen. 

 

The only piece left is the backing vocals which come in during the chorus and also in the second bridge.  Many times throughout this album the backing vocals are panned left, but in this song are mixed center, though farther back.  However, they aren’t mixed too low, so there is still some interaction between the lead and backing vocals.  There is a change in vocal quality during the second bridge, with an effect that smoothes everything out vocally. 

 

            Overall, I enjoy the feel of this song.  The subject matter is slightly dark, but not overly so.  The energy matches that reflective place where you are questioning decisions and their implications.  If I just weren’t distracted by the effects placed on the electric guitar, I would be much happier with the song.  But I guess even Rick Rubin can’t make everyone happy all the time.