http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_jack_joseph_puig/index.htmlarticle excerpt:
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What I do for a living is make commercial records; that's my job of choice. We are in a service-oriented business. It's true that some people want their CD to be done as fast as possible and for it to sound like everything else. In other words, they like McDonald's, where they're in, they're out and they know what they're gonna get. And yes, it's possible to develop systems where you don't have to change anything and you can move very quickly.
I also have had A&R and bands come to me for sonic creativity. Who wouldn't want to have the luxury of listening to the song, talking to the band, discovering what they're about, what they're going through, what CDs they've been listening to and why they wrote those songs?
You prefer to have input from the band while you're mixing?
Of course, when it's possible. Because you're working with them for only a few days or a few weeks. You haven't made the record, lived with the record like they have. Instead, you've gotta get up to speed - 0 to 180, now!
You're talking about establishing a relationship.
Yes, with the artist and the song. Take Arif Mardin, who is a genius. He always established a relationship with the song and artist. He always knows how to allow everyone to do their best and how to put them on target. He understands the value of the artist.
That's great, assuming you're working with great artists.
Of course. But I believe at some point in the '80s, people who do what I do for a living - mixers or producers - became the stars. It was the beginning of us having managers, percentages on records; everything started to change. And it was no longer the guy recording the record who was mixing it.
I'll give you an example. Take Janet Jackson's "What Have You Done For Me Lately?" Hear that record in your head, then try playing it on a piano. You can't come close to it feeling like the song you remembered. It's all about the sound of the backbeat - the attitude, the arrangement - the way it's put together. The real true artist there...
Was the production.
The production team. Meaning producers, engineers and the mixers. They were really the artists. The computer, which was a large part of the technical '80s revolution, was coming in. Everyone got very engrossed with the manipulation of what we could do to the music. So the focus was not on the artist.
Artists became, in many cases, interchangeable.
We were the artists in those cases. And that's not the total perspective. It got a bit out of control, and that's why it's so important to understand whose wedding it is. Now, I'm not talking about being a wimp. You have to have confidence, and you have to realize your contribution. The artists are the diamond in the rough, and it's their wedding.
But great production is also art.
Of course. What's Thriller? There's no production in Dark Side of the Moon or Kiss from a Rose? Or Abbey Road? I mean, George Martin's a genius. Or what about Led Zeppelin? That's not what I'm saying. I'm pointing out that those records happen when all the parts are in the right relationship. Where they all come to the party. What a great record is about is people coming together making that indescribable chemistry. When it really works on a huge level, it's bigger than all of us, and you don't even know it's happening.
You're lucky to have experienced that; it doesn't happen to everyone.
I've never taken this for granted. I will be able to look back and say I appreciated every moment of it, with respect.
C'mon, you never have those moments when you put your head down on the console and go, "I cannot do one more pass of the song"?
The business doesn't owe us anything. We're very, very fortunate to be a part of it. I get to work at Ocean Way Studios, one of the best recording studios on the planet, with phenomenal artists. They write great songs. They can sing and play, and they have something to say. What's wrong with that?
Who were your mentors?
I had three. The first one is Bill Schnee, who was like my Obi Wan Kenobi. And I always look at Glyn Johns and Arif Mardin as my Yodas. Anytime you do a band's first record and it goes through the roof, and you've been a part of creating their sound, you have done what I aspire to ultimately do - create the blueprint! That separates the men from the boys. Certainly all three of them do that.
I came up in the late '80s, so I knew how those records were made. But I wanted to know how records were made in the '60s and '70s and early '80s. The three of them gave me that education. Each of them gave me a different perspective, and I continue to pull from them all the time. I actually hear their voices in my head sometimes when I'm doing things.
What do you hear Glyn Johns saying?
"Nothing is precious." True rock 'n' roll is not precious. Glyn was very much against the idea of becoming anal over any aspect of a record - down to placing a microphone on a guitar amp. Glyn was like, "Whack it! Just move it `til you think it's right!"
I remember once, engineering for Glyn and spending a lot of time miking a guitar, trying to find the exact spot where it would sound amazing, because I wanted to blow him away. Finally, he said, "Are you done?" "Yes, what do you think?" "It's great. But let me show you something." We walked out of the control room into the studio. He walked up to the amp and looked me straight in the eye. Our eyes were locked, and he took his leg and knocked the mic over. And he kept looking at me, waiting for my response. Which was, in my mind: "You're a dick. You're an asshole!"
And that's when he looked at me and said, "Nothing is precious. Use your instinct. Use your gut. Mike it again and use your instinct." He was right. In two seconds, I had it sounding better.
As simple and mundane as that sounds, it's one of the greatest lessons I learned in this business. That's why rough mixes and demos are so often amazing. You're not thinking about it, you're just doing it.
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Topic: some interesting perspective from an old article......... (Read 10750 times)