A Need to Recognize the Art--and Science--of Recording

Regarding the 1989 new artist Grammy, Robert Hilburn misses the mark with his “worst idea” idea--that is, giving the best new artist of 1989 Grammy to the real singers on Milli Vanilli’s “Girl You Know It’s True” album because he thinks the group’s visual impact swayed voters.

As a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (and formerly, albeit briefly, an L.A. chapter board of governors member), while certainly not speaking for the organization, I know I reflect the thoughts of many members by unequivocally stating that my vote last year for Milli Vanilli had absolutely nothing to do with the act’s appearance.

Quite honestly, and to this day, I don’t know if I’ve ever given more than a passing glance to any of their videos. I do know that I thought their album and the singles from it were terrific. In comparison to the competition and based solely upon what I heard in each case, I cast my vote for the artists who performed on the Milli Vanilli album.

And for Hilburn to suggest that academy members vote for sales rather than for art is also off the mark. As hard as some members may try to hear as many records as possible, they can only relate to what they’ve heard. Certainly they’re subject to the added input of radio, and possibly they can be influenced by repetition, whether intended or desirable. This seems unique to NARAS members due to the pervasiveness of music on radio--as opposed, for instance, to the product stimuli to which motion picture academy members are subjected.

What’s going on here, I believe, is an almost universal failure--the academy included--to recognize that in many fields of music, most recording involves the creation of an illusion. It needn’t be a deception, but it is an illusion--from the editing and splicing of “takes” in a classical performance to the multi-tracked, effects-laden efforts that constitute a pop record.

Although recording is indeed an art and a science, it’s not generally about capturing a perfect reproduction of a performance and hasn’t been for many years. In fact, making a record is analogous in many ways to making a motion picture, but the magical elements of recording aren’t recognized as such. Wasn’t the Beatles’ awareness of this a strong factor in their decision to stop touring? Didn’t they realize both the futility and the foolishness of continuing to perform their records on stage? To my mind and ears, such realizations didn’t diminish their studio accomplishments one whit.

I think this skewed perception relates to the ways in which records are marketed. Audiences need heroes and sex symbols, so the record companies gladly provide them. Critics need art and artists (as opposed to entertainment and entertainers), so record companies try to provide these as well. If the illusion were “exposed” for what it is, this revelation might be damaging to the sale of records.

On the other hand, record producers George Martin (Beatles) and Phil Spector (Ronettes, Righteous Brothers, Ike & Tina Turner) might be regarded by the public with the same degree of respect and adulation generally afforded such film directors as Steve Spielberg and George Lucas. Moreover, the art and craft of songwriting might again be restored to its rightful prominence once the myth of its being the exclusive domain of performers is also exposed.

This is not to say that phony credits have any proper relationship to the record-making illusion. Such misrepresentation stinks (but if you carefully examine the history of the record business, you’ll find many cases where the people on stage or in front of the cameras weren’t the ones in the recording studios).

As a person who loves records, I suggest to everyone who cares--including the academy, whose glitzy TV presentations do little to illuminate the craft--that the art and science be identified and recognized for what they are. Of course, we’ll have a different set of heroes. But absent much of the showy nonsense that currently prevails, perhaps we’ll also have a lot more terrific records.