We hear all the time about the ‘rules’ of recording or mixing, whether in general or in particular as regards certain perceived ‘genres’, but are these supposed rules, and your feeling that you absolutely must adhere to them, actually holding you back? In many cases, the producers and artistes who ended up jumping out and defining a genre for a while are the ones who took a risk and stepped outside the confines of what everyone else was doing.
When Cher and her producers decided to use Autotune as an effect on Believe it sounded like nothing we’d heard before, and certainly nothing like what was on the radio at the time. But, by doing something new and risky, they not only gave her a huge hit single, they created what’s now the ‘rule’ for Autotuned vocals on pop hits that we hear all the time.
But someone had to be bold enough to be first.
The Beatles offer us perhaps the most famous and myriad examples of pushing the limits, whether it’s Geoff Emerick using a 15” speaker to record the bass amp or pushing the mics in “too close” (according to EMI standards) on the drums or string section, or recording guitar solos or vocals backwards, or running the guitar solos on Nowhere Man through multiple channel EQs cranked all the way up to make them as insanely bright as possible, or John Lennon’s voice through a Leslie cabinet, or recording the guitars direct inject into the valve desk and surreptitiously overdriving its electronics for Revolution… that list goes on and on.
Some Lead, Others Follow
But the lesson is that they create the legion of followers, and copycats, by being willing to be daring rather than safe, and by constantly looking for what’s different. So it’s a bit sad that too often these days, and, oddly, especially in what are supposed to be the most rebellious and countercultural of genres, I hear such a sameness of approach. Does every metal record have to have the same clicky bass drum and do those drums have to be time corrected to the grid? Do all those guitars have to be quadrupled and scrupulously aligned together? Not that any of these things is intrinsically bad; it’s just the fact that they seem to be rules is the aspect I‘m questioning.
And not to pick on metal, does every pop vocal have to be obviously Autotuned? Are real drums without a loop banned by law? Surely the way to make something special is to be brave enough to break the perceived rules? Of course this extends into engineering arena in the area of fixing ‘errors’ or imperfections as well.
Not everything has to be perfected. I would argue in fact that humans respond to imperfections as emotion. A bit of vocal distortion didn’t stop Alanis Morrisette’s You Oughta Know from being a massive hit; it probably helped it.
Taking Risks
Instead, I think that a lot of people operate more from a place of fear, as if there is an imaginary voice in their heads telling them they’ll be criticised for being a “bad producer/engineer” if they don’t correct everything to within an inch of its life, or that they won’t be accepted in their community if their record doesn’t fit right in with everyone else’s. People respond to the emotion conveyed by your record, not the absence of supposed flaws. The reason to fix things should be that they actually distract from the message, not just because you’re afraid of criticism.
I remember distinctly that when we had completed mixing Cyndi Lauper’s debut album She’s So Unusual, we played the tapes back in the mix room and when it was over Rob Hyman (keyboard player and co-writer of Time After Time) remarked, “Well I love it, but I don’t know who’s going to listen to it!” The point being that it didn’t sound like anything on the radio at the time (by design!). We knew we were taking a risk, but we also knew that if we were excited by it, and the songs were great, there was a chance other people might like it as well.
Who is to say that you “can’t” put distant roomy drums on a metal record; or you “mustn’t” keep a vocal that leans a bit sharp in the chorus of a pop record because that actually gives it an emotional edge? Out of tune guitars never stopped The Rolling Stones and drums that speed up didn’t hurt The Police or Led Zeppelin.
Now just to be clear, none of this is to say that there might not be current trends in sounds or recording that you might want to respect or at least acknowledge. For easy example, the trend seems to very much be towards a lot of low, low bass on records. By all means be aware of what other people are doing and be a product of your time.
But the point remains that this, like everything, should be a choice, because you like it in the moment, not because you feel you “have to”. Who knows, perhaps being the first to use a super distorted lead vocal on an acoustic guitar, singer-songwriter record is a brilliant choice? Someone just needs to have the guts to try.