Recording Expertise

 I did a funny post the other day where I claimed that the "experts" in many fields had lost credibility. I got some pushback but I still think it is true for a couple of reasons: 1, in many professional and credentialed fields the opportunists and careerists have worked their way into the top levels with a predictable loss of objectivity and 2, in many areas of knowledge ideology has also come to the fore and what you are told is to someone's hidden benefit, not to reveal a truth.

But, of course, when these factors are not at play, we still have remarkable and admirable kinds of expertise to admire. Here is one I just ran across. It is a delight to listen to Rick Beato describe how he learned about the insider knowledge of record producing:

In so many fields the practical knowledge you need to succeed is very different from the theoretical knowledge you are going to be taught in schools. Much of the really important things I learned about music and performance I learned sitting across from a maestro in a studio or masterclass. These things are never written down. I'm sure this is true in many fields, but especially in music. You will never learn how to phrase a melody from a book.

Here are a couple of old masters, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Sviatoslav Richter, showing how it's done with Schubert lieder.