3. The Key to Success / Digital Period / As a Producer
 
///// The Key to Success /////
 
----------- You have worked satisfactorily in the musical environment.
 
I think I have done everything I’ve wanted to do. I accomplished my primary purpose: working as a producer, working with various conductors and orchestras all over the world, and working with various young Japanese artists and supporting them. I worked with Hiroko Nakamura and Keiko Maebashi who are representative artists in Japan for more than ten years. In SMF I enjoyed working with excellent staff.
 
----------- What is the secret of your success? Would you give me some advice for young students such as myself?
 
I don’t have a secret, but I have tried to make a goal and to fulfill it. It is said about learning English the same as music. When I was young I felt the necessity to study English and took English classes at school. My English helped me to realize working with Yo-Yo and many other conductors and orchestras. If I could not speak English my achievement would be less than half of now. One other thing I feel very much recently is about respecting relationships with others. There is opportunity in every association in a certain project, so I want to work comfortably with others helping each other.
 
----------- I agree. It is basic for every work situation. Now, let me ask another aspect. You seem to have devoted yourself classical music so far. Don’t you have an interest in other genres of music, for example, pop and rock? How about the Beatles.
 
As a matter of fact, I have mainly lived in the world of classical music. The Beatles may have visited Japan when I was in my second year of junior high school, but I was not interested much. Later when I was a University student, I listened to Simon & Garfunkel a lot. I also like Jazz music. I have worked with some Jazz musicians. Though I don’t bother with the classification of music, most music I like belongs to so-called classical music.
 
///// Digital Period /////
 
-----------When CDs became the main medium for recording, was there some change as a producer?
 

Sure there was. Balancing was totally different in this medium. In short, in records we cut the material by copying from the master tape. The original cut record in turn becomes the source of the cutting copy for general records. In this process, the angle of cutting tends to be insufficient and as a result, the high notes and low notes changed a bit. So, usually, we enhanced these two areas of the notes to avoid the problem in our recording process, which is what I called balancing.

On the other hand, in CDs, the sound of the master tape is able to be copied on them without being distorted. So, if the recording is for making CDs, I can control the balance of the sound more naturally, almost the same as we can hear in the recording studio, than for records.

Some twenty years ago when CD coping was started, some people said that the sound of CDs is metallic and cold or not warm like the record’s sound because it is digitalized. I think the reason for such an impression is not due to the digitalization, but because the producer recorded the sound just like recording for making records. Because that type of recording tends to emphasize the upper and lower tones, and when the CD is replayed as it is recorded, the listeners felt it was metallic and cold.

 
---------- I’m interested in recording techniques, too. You created about sixty CDs as a recording producer. And you have been lecturing under the title of CD recording simulation, in part of the program of the Hamamatsu International Piano Academy for three years from 1996. Were you a recording engineer at a same time?
 

I’m not an engineer. I am rather an amateur in mechanics. I totally depend for that side on engineers. Our relationship can be described as this; an engineer is responsible for hard while a producer is responsible for soft. My job is the same as a superintendent in the building of a plant. My job starts by planning what I want to make, for example, what I use and what kind of music I make artists play. The most important thing in this part is, I have to be fond of the artists and their music. Then naturally, the goal of my job is fixed to introduce the artist to as many people as possible, in other words, what album shall I make for the best sales. Then, the preparation of the actual recording starts. I find an accompanist, like a pianist, decide on the recording engineer, make reservations for a good recording studio or hall, and if it requires a piano, I reserve it and a tuning technician, too. If the recording place is distant, I have to make reservations for hotel rooms for the artists and staff and buy tickets for transportation. Of course it is inevitable to prepare several versions of music scores for recording the music.

You asked about recording engineers before, the engineers are very important staff comparable to the artist and the producer. The sound of the recording is decided by the combination of the artist, the producer and the engineer. It is just like the relationship between an actor or actress, director and cameraman in the movie business. Engineers are working in not only recording companies, but also TV and Radio Companies, and studios. They are a very important part of the music business.

Let me tell about the scene of recording in the style of reportage. First, the first day of recording. In the morning we bring recording machines and a piano. The microphone and recording room setting begins. The tuning technician tunes the piano. Now, the artist comes. All is set. Decisions about the sound before recording are important. The sound decision is a process to decide the level of tone and echo effect. The recorded sound always varies depending on the distance between a microphone and the instrument, the height and the setting of the microphone, the angle and the structure of the studio for even one microphone. I also decide the echo of the hall and the balancing of the total sound. The producer is responsible for this sound decision process.

When it comes to the next step, the recording session, the job of the producer is, making the artist play comfortably and making them do their best. I have to decide whether the quality of the performance is good enough for the sales and if so, I assure that the performance is good. During the recording, I listen to the performance carefully while checking the score. Is every note played well? Can any small noises be heard? Because CD are played repeatedly, little noise or slight mistake is annoying for the listeners.

That is why we edit the record after recording. While the artist is performing, I always think about which take should be used in this part and which in an other part. I write down these ideas on the score. The term `take` means the length of one non-stop recording. It can be a whole piece of music, or just several measures, which is stopped in the middle of the recording. I count each recording as take 1, take 2, take 3 so that I can use any part of the performance to complete the best music. I write the take I can use on the score and check whether every part of the music has recorded well or not to avoid building a house without walls. After I check that every part has been completed, the recording session is finished.

After the recording session, which usually lasts several days, the engineer and I start editing together in a studio. On average, the edit of one CD takes fifty hours work. That is, six days if I work eight hours par day. It is common for editing to take more time than recording. Using the score on which I have written, and the notes of each take, I make the final master tape.

Besides making the master tape, making the jacket of the CD is also the job of the producer. I decide the concept of the jacket with a designer, and ask for a cameraman, reserve a studio for taking the picture, then ask liner notes of a writer. After these materials are completed, I take them to the printing company and review the prints. Then, finally, a new CD is born

 
---------- How do you communicate with artists as a producer? How do you solve the problem when your opinion differs from the other business staff.
 
The recording staff like me should stand between the artist and the audience. For the artist, I am a spokesman of a listener, and for the listener I am a spokesman of the artist.

At first, it is most difficult when the producer decides the repertory. I have to look for the music the artist wants to play and listeners want to listen to. It is easy to find what the artist wants to play but the latter is not easy to find. It can be only decided by what is the sale of the CD when it comes to the market. So, it depends on the producers marketing sense. Sometimes I have to persuade an artist to play certain repertory in order for the expecting market needs, and an other time, I have to lead audiences to listen to the best part of the artist by accumulating the individual projects. If a producer lacks such market sense, he or she may work following only an artist’s requirements or otherwise force his own taste on the artist.

In addition, the sense of the producer is need for the balancing in the recording session. Most performers listen to their sound close to their instrument, while the audience listens to the mixed sound sources some distance from the instrument and the echoed sound from the surrounding hall. Generally, the player feels good when the direct sound formed by his or her instrument is large and the echo is small. But sometimes such sound is felt to be a little to stark for the audiences. In the position of audiences the echo makes the sound soft. If the echo is too much the sound became dull just like the sound in a bathroom. To balance the direct sound and the echo is essential for good recording. If the producer accepts the artist’s insistence only, the resulting sound may be too sharp though you can hear the details of the performance. On the other hand, if you accept the audiences favor only, the sound may be blurry and not original even though it is heard as beautiful.

Talking about the relationship with other staff, about the repertory, there needs to be understanding also of the advertising and sales staffs. There often occurs disagreement in some points, but what makes the produce’s decision right is the sales of the product. When it comes to the recording session, I always respect the opinion of the engineer and I ask the opinion of the tuning technician. Basically, I decide by consulting with the artist and the engineer, but I never set the balance that the artist definitely disagrees with.

My relationship with the artist, (but this is not only limited to the artist) is that I always want to be equal to anyone I am working with. However a great performer the artist is, I try to communicate my opinion, and no matter how young and lacking experience the artist is, I don’t treat him or her with contempt. As I said before, I want to respect them as professionals and do a good job with a good relationship.
 
///// As a Producer /////
 
---------- The hall, Simoda Simin Bunka Kaikan in Japan <http://www2t.biglobe.ne.jp/~shinora/prof/work/work3.htm > has a good reputation for its sound, and pianist, Michie Koyama has recorded several CDs there. You produced her recording of piano concertos. In general, how do you choose the hall? One reason may be financial. What are others, for example the humidity in Japan? Do you ask the artist’s preference?
 
The choice of the hall is very important. There are some. principles. 1. Good sound effect, 2. No noises (Unbelievably, there are many halls with the noises of subways, air conditioners and outside traffic. The recording microphone catches tiny sounds, so the recording condition is more sensitive than for the concert), and 3. A reasonable rental rate.

Usually, the recording plan is decided three to six months before the recording. Most halls begins accepting reservations more than one year in advance. So when it comes to the halls in Tokyo, it is almost impossible to rent a hall for three of four days in sequence. In addition to that, in the halls in Tokyo, the concern is how is the hall sealed because the hall is, sensitive recording microphones pick up the noises of the town. And many performers like to record in the quiet countryside situation staying with the recording staff. Today many recordings done in halls in the countryside.

But I haven’t really used the hall you mentioned before. When my subordinate producer recorded Koyama’s CD, he used the hall and I went to look at his work one-day. My favorite halls used for recording were Hamamatsu Act City Middle Hall and Matsumoto Harmony Hall located in Japan. When I recorded in Milan, I looked hard for a good place for recording, and finally found a big church. It was the place where Mozart stayed several months in his childhood, and also the Requiem of Verdi was first performed there. It was fun.

Humidity is always the problem. It is inevitable when you records in Japan. So I try to choose convenient seasons (avoiding the rainy season and summer, they are humid and it is too dry in winter), but in some cases I have to record in those seasons because of the artist’s schedule. In my experience, I keep air conditioner working twenty-four hours to avoid high humidity in the night effecting the instrument, and in other cases, I spread a bucket of water on the stage and mopped it to improve the dry condition in the winter.