Monterey Jazz Festival Records

GIMME 5: Five Questions About Monterey Jazz Festival Records
ISSUE 2, DECEMBER 07

With Simone ‘4MuLA’ Giuliani
A&R Asst./Digital Audio Editor at Monterey Jazz Festival Records

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Question 1: Tell me, what exactly is “digital editing” and with respect to “live recordings” why is it even needed, let alone important?

4MuLA: What they call “digital editing” is a very delicate process. It consists in preparing a recording for publication and with the use of digital tools, refine it to fit the best industry standards. In plain English, it means making a record sound better when the original quality is somewhat compromised. As far as live recordings go, the digital editing process is essential because it brings out the spontaneity and nuances of certain moments captured on tape that would be otherwise hidden by noises and disturbances present in the original recording. In this specific case, some of the Monterey Jazz Festival recordings originate from different sources: sometimes portions of a full performance may have been recorded on a 10” reel tape and some others on a 12” reel. Jason Olaine and I often have to match the different tape speeds and take care of other anomalies, so that when listeners will enjoy the results they won’t know where the cuts are. Our job is to make the listener’s experience unique and sometimes -oftentimes- it takes a lot of surgery. That’s why we feel so honored to be a part of this whole process. The bottom line is, and always will be, to retain the full integrity of the live performance.


Question 2: What are the most challenging and rewarding aspects of this work?

4MuLA: The biggest challenge is to preserve the spontaneity of the recordings and deliver the magic of certain moments intact, while keeping a very analytical mind-frame. Of course, as Murphy’s Law goes, often an incredible performance sounds horrible sonically and a less inspired one has superb audio quality: here the human factor plays a huge role. The biggest personal reward? To sit back, relax and listen to the edits done on the Miles Davis Quintet concert of 1963.
Find the one in ‘Stella By Starlight’ if you can. I smile every time I hear it. I don’t think there could be a greater reward than honoring the genius of these music legends other than presenting their work, today, as it was really meant to be heard.


Question 3: How has your background prepared you for such technologically delicate and musically sensitive work?

4MuLA: I am a composer/music producer and this enables me to fully understand all the dynamics and interactions between the performers. There’s a lot more on these tapes than a simple static recording: these cats were single-handedly making history on the stage of Monterey Jazz Festival, year after year. Putting on musician’s ears gives me a privileged viewpoint on the whole affair. On the technical side, I have been cutting, pasting and chopping up samples since I was 17-years-old and I think this has built up a huge confidence in me when dealing with audio material. I firmly believe that when you are editing there are only solutions, not problems. If there’s a problem, it’s there to be solved.


Question 4: How did you come by this job and what are you looking forward to?

4MuLA: I received a call by label GM Jason Olaine at the beginning of 2007 asking me if I would like to help him out with ’some live recordings’. Almost a year later, I’m still here digging gold in the vaults of Monterey Jazz Festival Records and couldn’t be happier. It’s a constant thrill to guess what will be found in the next batch of tapes, since there are so many hours of unheard recordings. I just checked out the rough mixes of the Holland/Rubalcaba/Potter/Harland performance at the ‘07 Monterey Jazz Festival and they are just marvelous, it will be a great record to work on for 2008. Things to look forward to? Finding the Miles Davis’ tapes of 1969 -if they exist at all-. And having a glass of port with Clint Eastwood.

Question 5: When you are listening to these raw tapes, what are you listening for as an an A&R assistant and as a digital editor?

4MuLA: I think that the magnitude of the idea behind Monterey Jazz Festival Records could be underestimated by the public if not presented the right way and as an A&R assistant I make sure that all the recordings that we pick are always making a strong artistic statement, regardless of the stature of the artist or the year of the performance. There are no limits to what this project can achieve culturally and it’s a relief to know that part of the profits made from the releases are being re-invested in jazz education programs. It’s the perfect answer to those who ask where jazz is going. There is incredible talent out there and while Monterey Jazz Festival is contributing to push them forward it is, at the same time, honoring the legacy of the ones who paved the way and I humbly feel a part of this process. In my opinion jazz is changing as a musical language according to the times we live in, exactly as it was happening during the times of these recordings; they should be seen as colorful snapshots of those days. While working on the A&R side, I want to make sure that each listener will hear and feel exactly what was happening on stage at that precise moment. A joke by Dizzy can go a long way. The digital editor in me comes out to eliminate any technical problems that might prevent all of the above from happening: digital editing simply facilitates the process of delivering these gems to audiences worldwide.

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CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT ‘GIMME 5′ Issue #1 with Tim Jackson & Jason Olaine