Being a recording engineer as well as a musician, sometimes I think I hear sounds or music differently than other people. I’m not saying I hear things differently than everyone, I’m not that arrogant because there are many engineers that are also musicians. Being both though, means you will never hear a song or sound without finding a beat or rhythm to it. Sometimes it even gets slightly aggravating hearing things a certain way when someone is trying to explain to you what they hear, or a way they think something should sound. The hardest case of this that I can think of is when working with songwriters that only write lyrics. I have worked with many of songwriters like this and once in a while you get that one that, once the music has been written and recorded by studio musicians, thinks things should change because now it doesn’t sound the way they hear it in their head, or a vocal line is easier to say a certain way so they want the music changed. Sometimes they are right. Who could actually say anyone is wrong in this case. “The beauty of art is that its a creative process, you can’t do anything wrong.” The problem with that statement is that anyone who has studied music theory or has a degree from a music school, will argue with me till they are blue to prove I’m wrong. That it can be wrong because theory states otherwise. In a way I understand because notes and scales work together with other notes and scales but I could never argue that someone is wrong for being creative. Creativity and experimentation is how a lot of new music is made. This all relates to the point of an artist hearing something differently than the engineer when in most cases the engineer is there for the purpose of capturing the best performance, to the best of their ability, knowledge, and equipment. A musical arranger is the one who should be having this conversation with the artist. Most artists don’t even know that such a person exists. At the same time a lot of younger artists do their homework by listening to popular songs in their genre and actually mapping out the arrangements, which is a good idea if you know what you are listening to, but then we end up with copies and copies of songs that might sound slightly different but feel exactly the same. Welcome to modern pop music. A poor arrangement can completely ruin an otherwise good song, just as an exceptional arrangement can make a bad song listenable, sometimes. It is the arranger and the producer that make the call for changes after the fact so give your engineer a break. The engineer is your only friend in the studio while you’re recording, remember that.
Throughout all of the stages of making a song, from the original lyrics scratched in a notebook, to the first piano recorded in the living room on a phone, to the final production and release of the finished product, it is important, although sometimes very difficult, to maintain a creative vision. I can think of at least one, probably more times per session with an artist or group where I can see immediately where the creativity is lost. When recording a Rock and Roll song usually, not always, it starts when a drummer has to do too many takes. People get frustrated easily and let their emotions take over, which is bad for the music, unless your recording a Death Metal or Hardcore song that was written with anger anyway. This is a good time to take a break. Most times when this happens I’ll comp together what clips I have and do a quick edit and mix of the drums to be able to let the drummer hear how it will sound after some editing. Sweeten it up for him by getting that kick to thump and snare to crack and get some reverb on there. After the break let him listen to what it is going to sound like and more often then not it puts them right back into that creative mind, making them bust out two solid takes in a row. The same will happen with guitar players. The hard part of that is that doing too many takes of a guitar is very tiring for the player. Hands start to cramp and hurt which makes the playing sloppy and in turn makes the player angry. The “sweeten the sound during a break” trick isn’t as effective for a guitar player because they have their amp screaming and overdriven and it should sound good already. I’ll make them stop and I try to run through some hand stretches with them, which sometimes is accepted, other times they tell me I’m an idiot and just hit record and they’ll get it. Whatever rockstar. Anyway its better if they find a way to get relaxed. It makes for a better sounding recording in the long run. We don’t want to get into bass players so I’ll get to the hardest person to work with and help maintain creativity, the singer. I’m generalizing here but the singer always seems to already know what to do and never needs to warm up, never needs anything, until they need everything. More reverb, more delay, I forgot water can someone get me some, I just ate before i came so can I start a little later? Whatever, the singer wrote the lyrics and will usually find their way, most do not respond well to any coaching or outside ideas. The fact is though, that this attitude from a singer can completely kill the engineers creativity. This is an issue for the whole song. I mention this because it is important to remember as the engineer, these aren’t your songs. There may be some of your thoughts and ideas involved but don’t get emotionally attached to the songs or artists because once that happens, any negativity will start to be reflected in the recording and that isn’t a good thing. The best advice I can think to pass along, whether you care what I say or not, is to keep positive vibes. Joke and have fun but don’t make fun, don’t hurt feelings. If the environment stays positive then the people are more likely to stay positive and more likely to produce something great.
