Once upon a time, a wise man I knew said that in order to correct the failures of our different communities, the first thing to do was to recognize and face those failures. So inspired by those wise words I sent to the editor of “Modern Drummer Magazine” an article I titled “Alfred Nobel and the Invention of the Microphone”. It didn’t work out.
On the article, I mentioned how, unfortunately, the use and abuse of microphones and amps, in the long run, has created serious damages in the good taste and eardrums of the music listeners. All of that with the support of too many sound engineers and the consent of some musicians (mainly percussionists) who seems like they are convinced that the louder, the music is heard better since the volume is supposed to be a synonym with energy. So, I naively thought that a well-known publication like “Modern Drummer Magazine” would be the ideal vehicle to awake drummers, as well as sound guys, percussionists and electric players to the fact that they crossed the volume line a long time ago, and that it is about time to do something about it. But for some reason said magazine refused to publish my article. Too bad.
“Paquito, ¡Nos hablas al alma de las innumerables victimas de esta fenomenologia! (you speak to the soul of the so many victims of this phenomenology!)”, wrote Colombian pianist Hector Martignon after reading a preview of my article.
I thought about this problem a million times, said Brasilian Trumpetist extraordinaire Claudio Roditi, while soprano Brenda Feliciano mentions on my FB page that “Many a vocalist has been a victim of this noise-volume syndrome. I’m just one of them”.
A few years ago, the legendary recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder, who made all those famous recordings for Impulse, Blue Note, CTI and Atlantic with Coltrane, Monk, Hubbard, Rollins, Miles, Lee Morgan and all those hip jazzmen of the 50’s and 60’s, had the guts to say to a journalist that ” Jazz pianists don’t want or don’t know how to get a decent sound on the piano”. And to a certain point, he was right.
Nowadays it is not easy to find jazz pianists with the elegant, delicate, yet swinging sound of Kenny Baron, Teddy Wilson, Makoto Ozone, Alex Brown, Renee Rosnes or Bill Evans. There is no doubt that some of the faults lie on the drummers that everyday play loud and louder, forcing the pianists to bang on the keys, to ask for more volume on their wedges and thus destroying the inherent acoustic character of the instrument. So I wonder if that was one of the reasons that Nat “King” Cole and Oscar Peterson many times didn’t use a drummer in their trios.
On the other hand, the only way to play in tune and blend on an ensemble is by listening to each other, but how in heaven can I listen and play in tune with the guy next to me if all I can hear around is guitar, bass, and drums acting like if on a gig with Grateful Dead or Metallica?!
With no need to mention names; the other day I went to listen to the supposedly “acoustic band’ of an unquestionably outstanding drummer, and when they started playing, the volume of the PA system for that tiny club was more than enough to be used at the Yankee stadium for amplifying “KISS.” But people in attendance didn’t seem to be bothered by that at all, so everyone took out their ear plugs and enjoyed until the last note of that set. Meaning that people are getting used to decibel abuse all around the world. And I ask myself if finally, we made them addicts to that deadly volume drug. Scary symptom isn’t it?!
Paquito siempre hemos seguido tu trayectoria que solo un genio musical como tu puede recorrer tan complicado pentagrama y sin perder tus ideales. Mucho “ache” para ti. Tus amigos Leonel y familia.
Dear Mr. D’Rivera,
Thank you for your article. Thank you also for your music and your charisma. I was fortunate to see you play many years ago in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Bowl. It was a wonderful experience. While I believe your article is directed to musicians I think the issue can be applied to many areas of life. Everywhere you go these days it seems to be loud or louder. The grocery store, the shopping mall and even libraries seem to be louder with the beeps of check out devices. Your concern however can also apply to children and schools and their music programs. So often schools are not equipped for sound and especially the use of powerful speakers, amps and the like. People with very little knowledge use this equipment very loudly around young children. I worry that children are not being educated on ways to protect their hearing especially music classes. There are a few organizations out there that try to spread the word to avoid noise induced hearing loss and tinnitus. It would be nice if everyone could make the sound easier on the ears. We would be able to enjoy the sound for many more years.
I think a lot of recordings are overproduced with electrical equipment. Band music should be reasonable for the space that the group is playing in.
Loud music is a tragedy. Thank you for posting this.
Thank you, maestro! I have enjoyed no small number of your live performances and had the good fortune to experience my own compositions brought to life by your compatriots Mark Walker, Oscar and Paulo Stagnaro. Recently I went to hear a colleague perform solo and couldn’t overlook his reliance on electronic devices. These have become as ubiquitous as the decibels you condemn. I ask why guitar and the human voice are insufficient to inspire an audience, to deliver an artist’s vision? Performances reliant on electronic scaffold might as well resort simply to prerecording.
Fortunately my article “Alfred Nobel and the Invention of the Microphone” saw the light on the pages of the Down Beat Magazine issue of June 2015. And as an interesting piece of information, someone just told me that Roy Haynes prefers not using a reference monitor to force himself to play softer in order to hear the natural sound of the piano. Isn’t that a great move?!