Technology can be a great thing, but I’ve reached a point that I’ve re-thought my approach to recording and how things ought to sound. It stems from the fact that I’ve been listening to a lot of music produced in one room with 2 or 3 mics, and it sounds fantastic! Zero separation, no dolby, 2 or 4 tracks tops… you get the idea. It also stems from watching a video tutorial on mixing rock music by a big name guy. He definitely knew what he was doing (no doubt about that at all), and yes he was able to explain his techniques clearly, but in the end I thought the music he was mixing still sounded like well polished shit. Or to cop a phrase from Keith Richards, the song sounded “like someone shitting on a tin roof”.
This experience led me to a moment of musical clarity. I asked myself: Why am I more satisfied with tracks I made using a crappy $30 mic, 1 compressor plug and only a bass and treble eq knob, and maybe no reverb at all except for some natural room reflections? True, these older songs of mine definitely sounded a bit more lo-fi, but there is a certain mojo there, and when I stack them up against tracks that I spent a lot of time tweaking (to emulate commercial releases as best I could) they win out every time.
Well, I”m proud to say that it’s back to basics for yours truly. No more “fighting” technology. If all I do from now on is produce some nicely played, and arranged songs that end up sounding a bit lo-fi, then fuck it: I’ll be happy. After all, I’m not trying to chase fame or fortune, I’m just trying to do what I like, and have a good time.
THE BUDDHA RATS 