j.hall wrote on Sun, 01 January 2006 18:40 |
electrical wrote on Sun, 01 January 2006 16:39 |
Have you ever listened to a record and thought, gee, this sounds too natural? Too much like the real thing?
I haven't. I have thought the opposite though, more often than not.
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see, i actually have.
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Granting that you might once have thought that, it must be incredibly rare. Or do you also prefer Cool-Whip to creme chantilly?
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the interesting thing to me is that you honestly believe you are neutral.
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I would never suggest that I am "neutral" in a million years. Of course I have some effect on the records I work on. Of course I do. It is the fact that it is so difficult to avoid having a detrimental impact that makes the job so difficult. I think the unavoidable effect I have on records is enough, and I don't feel the need to control the process or impose my aesthetic on it any more than that.
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your records sound absolutely 100% like the band in their practice space.
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I've never said that, and I don't know if that is a worthwhile goal, as bands generally don't like their practice spaces. I think the records are as close to
what the band wants as I am capable of. They generally
start with an un-manipulated representation of the band. Sometimes they finish that way, sometimes not. It's a good place to start, and I don't understand what would be better about starting someplace phony.
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and that you think you can actually facilitate anything the band wants sonically.
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I'm pretty good, actually. I can do most things in the studio.
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every person on the planet hears sound differently. so what you think a band sounds like and your opinion of being totally neutral in the process is going to be totally different for some one else attempting to do the same exact thing.
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That's one of the things that makes it hard. I need to understand what the band is shooting for, and that requires me to listen actively, critically, and be aware of what the band is listening for as well.
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so, peter gabriel and soul coughing are complete crap and deserve to have, in your opinion, dated and cliched albums.
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Oh no, I don't think they deserve it. Nobody deserves that. But they ended up with dated, cliche-riddled albums.
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but low (and band you have worked with in the past) is not crap and thus should be respected and given a product that sounds exactly like they would live in a church?
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I think every band should be allowed to have precisely the record they want. As an aside, Low are incredible. Geniuses.
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so if peter gabriel hired you, would he still be crap, and deserving of a cliched dated record?
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Being crap (or not) is up to him. Not imposing my own set of cliches would be up to me.
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and if other people really thought you were neutral and could make a record sound like whatever they wanted, why did low hire tchad to mix trust and not you?
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Because they wanted to. What the hell are you asking? Low get to make their records however they want. I think Great Destroyer is a really good album, and I think that's Low's doing.
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i also finding it interesting that engineers that are using compression more then you, are considered bad in your eyes.
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Most engineers use more compression than I do, and not all of them are bad. Most
bad engineers use way more compression than I do, but that's tautological, because using more of anything is a sure way to get bad with it.
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so all these other AE's that are horrible at their jobs but some how still working with bands that sell millions of records they will just go down in the history books as cliched and dated. where things cut in the 50's, 60's, 70's are not dated or cliched?
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Not the good stuff, no. I'll take Patsy Cline's "Crazy" and you can have "Material Girl." I'll take AC/DC, and you can have Interpol.
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you stand as this planet's sole champion of an uncliched timeless record?
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Where do you get this stuff? It isn't about me. It's about not willfully imposing extra-musical crap on a band just because you're working on their record. I don't care who does it. Anybody doing a good job for the band and not trying to have his way with their record is doing fine by me. On a fundamental level, it's about respect. Have respect for the people who hire you and their lives' work.
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you honestly think people hire steve albini for the sole reason of getting aneutral sounding record.........i think you're lying to yourself. people hire you for "that thing you do" just like people hire me for the same reason.
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What exactly is that thing I do? Seriously, if there's a thing I do, and that's what gets me work, I'd love to know what it is, so I can advertise that I do it. Name this thing I do.
It seems you have created a vision of me that suits your arguments against it, and this matters to you. I'm sorry I'm not like that, and I don't believe or act in a way that would fit this image. I don't like disappointing people.