taking a break from working 10 hrs straight on a song called "horseshoes and hand grenades"- here are some more things I find to be true that may help others of you in the fight to get a great sound out of less than ideal recording environments.
1- garbage in/garbage out- (IE_ the you cant polish a turd rule) we all know this rule- but everyday we still think the compressor, eq or enveloper will fix this SOB when really I should of sang it better, played it better, or wrote a cooler part
2- less dammit. less. - a mastering guy told me once- if you would take away about 3 instruments and resend this to me I will remaster it for free cause you have a great tune but you buried it. knowing me I probably added 5 more parts and paid him overtime. but he's right. most of these guys are right we just never listen. please god listen.
3- perspective- taking a break is cool. walking away is cool. path of least resistance. einstein used to take lots fo breaks. he would go back and the goods would arrive. we cant hear anything if we have been working solid without eating or sleeping. those mixes sound like hell. and half the time that brilliant idea only makes sense to you cause you were hearing it after turning green obsessing over some other problem no one really cares about. in recording as in life- we spend 90% of our time on the 10% of stuff no one else gives a hell about. I think glen ballard said this first. I notice that coming in after a day off I can hear everything that sucks in my mix alot more clearly than if I would of worked 7 days a week straight.
4- finish the song B4 you record it...if you have a great song (and we all know somewhere inside whether it is good or not) the song itself will tell you what it needs- sometimes so fast you can barely keep up. The times I struggle it's cause I didn't conceive a great tune BEFORE putting it in the computer. If the song or itself is crap no part is gonna make it sound right- and nothing in your arsenal of gear can fix it. the trap of all this great software is thinking some premade loop is gonna save us. the heavies make their own loops anyway- and you can hear in a heartbeat when someone is working off someone else's creation. it dosent ring true. it is a beautiful law of nature that when someone is channeling something new others can sense it in the work (and don't give me that nothing is new under the sun- they day I stop getting goosebumps at a concert/film or reading a new book... shoot me).
if I would spend more time out in my yard with a journal and an acoustic and less time in the studio- all my gear would magically sound better- cause I would have the song before I started messing with 1000 patches. this dosent always apply to soundtrack work or treatments on songs where the sounds inspire the next step- but if you are basing your recording around chords and lyrics and a band sound- get the tune right and dont be afraid to push against a song for weeks if you believe something really is there. sometimes "great" only appears after "very good" has been cursed at several times.
4- it aint the gear. I physically write on my gear with sharpies. I write the settings on the tube pres- I scribble on the guitars- keyboards- who cares. I learned this from wade hate. the second you make things to sacred you have erected a pillar that gets in the way of creating. making things a little messy subconsciously reminds me that the whole process is organic. the gear isnt the currency- heart and soul is (dont lay up treasures on earth etc.)- I am the worst about this... DO NOT buy and sell the stuff thinking it will save you. the big machine has us convinced we need more shit to make things work. I think we need less shit. I have tried a million mics and I am recording most of my new record with sm57's on several insts (guitars- banjos- percussion and sometimes vocals). some mics sound amazing BECAUSE they sound "bad" and think out the sound in the right places to make the guitars sit in the mix. I used to record everything with good pres when sometimes crappy pres sound cool. sometimes the poor recording from the road has more soul than the redo at the studio with the right gear- and people want soul not precision. my last record was waaay too perfect- too cold - too thought about- and I'm having a blast getting it "wrong" this next time. I am also getting to record about 5x more songs by not thinking every song has to be the HIT. no one can judge what is gonna move people worse than the artist themselves. don't let the gear be the excuse and get back to work. moby recorded all of PLAY with a 57. chili peppers did all the drums on blood sugar sex magic with 57's. they are good enough. my first mic was a 57. it will be my last one too. ok- well that sm7b does look cool too...
5- keep your gear when you can- I just used a $90 classical guitar I bought at jim starkey music center in wichita, ks eons ago. it was the perfect sound and worked better than a nice acoustic I have. I have sold off all kinds of things for road cash over the years and I miss some of it. IE dont sell all your old gear- especially if you can't get real money for it. I find myself looking for old things that had a unique vibe all the time. If really know what a piece of gear does or who it plays- that has a value to it. if it's got your love in it then dont get rid of it. new stuff sounds new sometimes. yes this may be in my mind- but whatever sentimental hocus pocus keeps you moving forward will help get the track done and keep you from burning out or spending all your time at the music store- which I HATE.
6- dont drink 5 cups of coffee and not eat and expect not to rush the drummer
7- screw removing that noise in the background. it's fine. more and more people like REAL over clean recordings every day- and pop radio being so sterile only pushes us to want to hear REAL recording environments. I got computer hum and barking dogs trying to creep in all the time. use a noise gate and forget about it. I am recording all my electric guitar amps out in the laundry room beside my studio so I can hear myself think. it sounds awesome in there. of course I have been wearing the same jeans for a week but...
8-creating latency- here is a way to hear your guitar tone while you are playing through a loud amp in the same room without having to record and play it back- put a delay in line and set it for as long as possible- play and then listen- adjust pick ups- amp etc- play - listen. I wish someone would of told me about htis one years back. all of you probably knew this but it's exciting when you first find it.
if any of this helps please buy a shirt, little red doll or donate a few bucks to the cause here.. http://www.goodingmusic.com/music
thanks and good luck brothers and sisters..
gooding la,ca nov 2010
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