Prisoners of a Sound Cage: changing trends in acceptable sound quality of recorded Liturgical Music and its pastoral and liturgical effects.

I recently read a 2 part article called ‘Sing a New Song’ written by Jim McDermott that appeared in the Jesuit US Publication America.

The article tracked the rise and enduring legacy of the St Louis Jesuits and was a fascinating insight into the development of Liturgical Music since Vatican II.

Upon reading the article, I went and found myself a vinyl copy of the first St Louis Jesuit record – Neither Silver Nor Gold – which was released way back in 1974 [a year before I was born!].

I listened and was amazed at what I was listening to.

Many of the selections I was familiar with – others were new to me. But this wasn’t what caught my ears. What struck me was not so much the songs – it was the sound quality and production that immediately hit me. And from a sound quality/ production point of view, the record was very basic and what I would consider below average.

Early on in Part 1 of McDermott’s story, he mentions that…‘songs on their first album [Neither Silver Nor Gold] were recorded in a church basement or someone’s dorm room. On some songs you can hear a refrigerator door clicking shut in the background when the room’s occupant go for a drink…’

Indeed, the sound was very raw and what I might even consider amateurish.

But to leave the discussion at such an accusing level – is not to acknowledge the full picture of why it sounds the way it does.

We know, through McDermott’s article that the St Louis Jesuits were under pressure from people all over the world to actually get their songs ‘out there’. St Louis University was frequented from people all over the world who went there to study, who while there, were exposed to the music of the St Louis Jesuits and took with them unpublished hand written copies of music. Essentially, their music was in circulation and popular even before it was distributed in recorded format! The title of the release speaks to the ideology and circumstances surrounding its conception and construction. It takes its name from the Acts of the Apostles: ‘I have neither Silver nor Gold, but what I have I offer to you’. (3:6). Further, many of the group were approaching the end of their studies at St Louis University and would soon be ordained and sent off into pastoral ministries.

So there seems to be various mitigating factors that contributed to such a seemingly slap dashed effort: lack of money and resources, lack of time and the huge demand that was coming in from all over the world.

Yet, their efforts as far as poor sound quality was concerned – had no apparent effect on people’s hunger for new and relevant liturgical music. It didn’t stop people buying the record and it didn’t stop people using the music for liturgical celebrations. Perhaps way back in 1974 – the rawness of what people were hearing didn’t matter at all – because it was new, fresh and exciting.

But times change…as does what people consider to be acceptable sound quality.

What was released in 1974 and recorded amateurishly would, frankly, not see the light of day in 2005…which raises all kinds of interesting questions. We’ll explore some of these shortly.

By way of contrast, I have recently purchased the latest offering by Marty Haugen – ‘That You May Have Life’ which is a musical setting of stories taken from the Gospel of John. This recording is technically flawless. The production techniques are pristine, the musicians are the cream of the crop on the GIA roster. The mixing of various instruments and different voices is superb…and there certainly isn’t the sound of refrigerator doors closing shut in the background!!!

You could go as far to say that in 30 years, the professionalism that has evolved with audio recording in many instances has similarly created a culture of perfectionism that leaves no room for even the slightest musical deviation or irregularity. What one might call the ‘earthiness’ of recordings produced in a bygone era are now what would be labeled as un-releasable market product.

I myself have spoken with store managers of religious bookshops who play Liturgical Music in the store – who refuse to play recordings of some local Liturgical musicians, not so much because the songs are bad – but because they sound terrible.

How have we arrived at this point where we have such high expectations of the way our Liturgical Music [in recorded format] must sound? Firstly, technology has significantly improved over the last 30 years. Recording programs such as Pro-tools have lifted the bar on not only how we record, but the quality in which we hear it when we listen to it. Gone are the days when recording a song in a studio, you had to get the song in one take – and if you dropped a note, you had to start all over again. No! If mistakes are made today in the studio, a studio engineer/ producer simply goes back to the point of error, deletes the mistake and ‘drops’ the artist in at that point to re-sing or re-play that particular section of music. Purists might call this cheating. Others will call it a God-send and time [and ultimately money] saver.

How else might we have arrived at this point?

Record companies such as OCP and GIA, who have capitalised on the success and popularity of artists such as the St Louis Jesuits have cornered and captured a niche in the music market place where people expect quality product for the money they fork out to purchase music. Just because we’re dealing with Liturgical Music doesn’t mean it needs to sound lousy! On the contrary, I’m sure the large companies would think that precisely because we are dealing with Liturgical Music – which ultimately is used to praise and worship God – it needs to sound perfect and deserves nothing less!! So, it seems, the big companies such as GIA and OCP have a fairly legitimate agenda for the way in which Liturgical Music sounds – which includes its production techniques.

From where I stand [!] – it seems as though in 30 years there has been a big change in the way Liturgical music has been recorded - and the way it sounds when we ultimately hear it through our speakers…and this has changed the way people use recorded liturgical music – but also what they expect to hear when they go to Sunday Mass. I think we have become so used to the excellence of sound production that it has begun to taint our appreciation for the real life music ministers hard at work in our parishes and that we have become prisoners of a ‘sound cage’. Let’s explore this.

As common as it is for there to be real people playing Liturgical music at any given Mass on a Sunday in my parish [and I’m sure this is the same in many other parishes all over the place] – it is as equally common for there to be not a Liturgical Music Minister – but a new breed of individual who we might like to called The Minister of the Play Button. [!]

This fascinating bunch of people either find themselves in their position due to last minute cancellations of Music Ministers – and desperately feel the need to present something to the gathered assembly. Still, others may even offer to simply select pre-recorded music to play at Mass – not because of any last minute apologies given by the real life musicians – but because they want to contribute in some way to the celebration [which is a very lovely and admirable thing to do]. And while they may choose hymns that gather a sung response from the assembly – there are issues going on when this happens that need to be raised.

More often than not, the music that is played on CD by these Ministers of the Play Button is taken from such sources as ‘As One Voice’ [in Australia] or other hymnals that have accompanying volumes of CDs (As One Voice is the best example). Without getting all political, [but let’s face it], the bulk of material in these hymnals [particularly Gather Australia] is comprised of (particularly) GIA and to a lesser extent OCP compositions. While the songs are excellent for worship purposes, the fact they are artists signed to the rosters of GIA and OCP means that they have been recorded and produced brilliantly and sound perfect to the ear. David Haas gets thrashed. Bernadette Farrell’s ‘Everyday God’ is seemingly an eternal endurance and new comers such as Lori True and even local Australian John Burland get a spin too. People are happy to select and play this stuff because it sounds so good. People are happy to sing along with it [even if it’s not the same as singing along with real musicians] because it similarly, sounds really good.

On the surface, there seems to be no issue. Great music being played that sounds great – what’s wrong with that?

I think there are serious ramifications at play in such scenarios that threaten to undermine the integrity of the liturgy. The 1982 document ‘Liturgical Music Today’ issued by the Bishop’s Committee on the Liturgy of the National Conference of [US] Catholic Bishops says this about the issue pre-recorded music:

‘The liturgy is a complexus of signs expressed by living human beings. Music, being preeminent among those signs, ought to be “live”. While recorded music, therefore, might be used to advantage outside the liturgy as an aid in the teaching of new music, it should, as a general norm, never be used within the liturgy to replace the congregation, the choir, the organist or other instrumentalists.’

…But we know that it does. And as a result, I would argue that such music played at liturgy through the sound system, that has been produced and sounds absolutely flawless, has the very real potential to raise the standard of what the assembly expects to hear from other music presented to them by the real life musicians…and in a way that is impossible for the average Liturgical Music Minister cannot hope to replicate.

More and more – I speak to people, students and even other Music Ministers who speak of Liturgical Music being played live that ‘doesn’t sound good’ or is a distraction and hindrance rather than a liturgical aid. Has our reliance on pre-recorded music at Liturgy contributed to occasionally dismissive views on the quality of our Liturgical Music Ministers? Are we judging the musicality and the sound of musicians playing at weekend Masses against the impossible perfection of pristine sounding recordings?

The effects are Liturgical but also pastoral – as the welfare and encouragement of Liturgical Music Ministers may well be being compromised. Encouragement rarely comes in my experience if things don’t sound good. Unfortunately, people in the pews are happy to say how much they don’t like the sound of a Liturgical Music Minister to others, but rarely say this to the face of the artist in question in case those involved have their feelings hurt. And while I’m not solely blaming the changing trend of CD sound production as the only reason for this, I do believe it is one of many contributing factors.

In our pursuit of ‘good liturgy’…have we gone too far? Are our hopes for a perfect sounding Liturgy given way to unreasonable expectations of our Music Ministers?

Perhaps we should start making Liturgical records that once again have compulsory ‘refrigerator doors clicking in the background’ and see what comes out in the wash!