REACHING FOR THE NEXT LEVEL
ROB LONG BREAKS THROUGH THE BARRIERS KEEPING YOU FROM SOUNDING LIKE A TRUE MUSICAL LEGEND.
It’s likely that if you’re travelling the path of making music – be it playing, writing or recording – you’ve at some point found yourself at a crossroads, or at the foot of a mountain that seems impassable. It can be very frustrating when you're trying hard to get your work to the next level, but feel like you just keep hitting a wall.
Any creative pursuit involves constantly seeking to develop and improve your work. In a nutshell, your work will only ever be as good as the weakest link in it. It could be the song, the performance, the instruments, the recording gear, the engineering, the mixing, the mastering... There's a lot of variables, is what I'm trying to get at.
Sometimes it’s just a matter of stepping back and taking a critical look your processes, and identifying what’s holding you back from achieving your intended goals. This is possibly the trickiest part, as it often involves some critical self-analysis and possibly some confronting realisations.
The simple fact is that very few people can do everything themselves! People often try to take everything on in order to save money and/or to maintain full control of the creative process. Obviously it’s just fun, too. Each stage can be
part of the creative process, so why shouldn’t you explore them all?
However, if you’re not getting the results you want for whatever reason, breaking things down and diagnosing the issue is mandatory. Before you start criticising your work, sometimes it’s healthiest to actually note what your strengths are – what are you happy with? Analysing what got you started on the path is often a good way to begin.
Are you predominantly a writer, singer, instrumentalist, a tech nut or gear junkie, or an enthusiast who loves being involved in music but doesn’t actually perform? Your strengths will no doubt lay in the area you’re most familiar with, and your weak spots will be the polar opposite!
Those technically minded may be more focused on the ‘knob tweaking’, and may actually play the PC better than they play the guitar. On the other hand, I had a client who was hell-bent on making his own product from beginning to end. After a huge investment in time, gear and building materials, he threw in the towel and handed his project to me. Some people just don’t do the tech side very well – it's okay!
The first step is to ascertain whether the issues are mainly musical or technical. Even if you’re
an experienced producer, it’s interesting to go through the process of asking yourself some questions about your work!
POINTS OF REFERENCE
We hear music constantly, but achieving excellence in audio and music requires listening at a whole new level. If you sign up for an arts degree, one of the most impor tant aspects of the course is studying the masters. It’s not that you want to emulate others, but simply building knowledge of what’s come before you, and how it was achieved.
Doing an A/B test with what you consider ‘successful’ work is a great way to set a benchmark for your own material. It’s not just lifting ideas, it’s hearing what options are out there and studying the way they’re executed.
This is typically a producer’s role – they are hired to bring the ship home using a combination of musical and technical knowledge, and communication and interpersonal skills. They know when a performance is in tune, in time, believable, dynamic, emotive, and the performers is committed and giving all they can. They also know when an instrument is right for the track, when the tone is working and when it’s being captured correctly by the engineer.
ARRANGEMENT
Putting all the elements of a track together without overcooking it is a fine ar t. The starting point is to clearly define what it is that makes the track interesting in its most basic form – then capitalise and enhance that where needed, without swamping it with superfluous elements that take away from the original idea. Generally, less is more. The spaces between notes are music too. Everything needs a reason to be there and a space to dwell in.
PLAYING AND PERFORMANCE
This is really where the magic lays. In all honesty, if you don’t have this, you don’t have anything! There’s obviously a truck load of variables on what constitutes a great performance. It could be water-tight grooves; a dynamic, expressive vocal take; a wall of sound that throws you against the back wall; or an intricate, complex instrumental part executed to perfection.
Pitching and timing are always important, but commitment is the most essential ingredient. This is why sometimes the scratch vocal is actually better than the final, as the artist was in the zone, and less inhibited. A good producer will coax musicians and artists to work to their highest ability. They’ll have a sixth sense about how far they can push things without crossing the line and burning the performer out.
At the end of the day, it’s about taking your time and investigating why something doesn’t sound like you want it to sound during the
tracking stage. That’s the time to address it, not at mixdown!
DON’T HESITATE TO DELEGATE
This is really when things get moving. Knowing when it’s time to call in expertise in a particular area is one of the most liberating points to reach. Whether it’s for time efficiency; to introduce another influence, texture or skillset; to produce a better artistic or technical result generally; or just to have a fresh set of ears; experts in all fields will seek out peer advice and assistance where necessary, rather than cut corners.
Another great benefit of incorporating skilled friends and professionals is that you can learn by observation – and it may just be that next time you’ll know how to do it yourself! There are producers out there who really just getting by via knowing who to call to take what role on. They assemble great teams around the artist.
GEAR LUST
Obviously you need gear – and the right gear – but the myth that expensive, big name kit will always produce perfect results is one of the biggest misconceptions in the music industry. I’ve heard self‑produced works of art made on a modest setup that were way more engaging on every level than some expensively produced projects recorded in dream studios.
The difference is the way the music is put together, and the level of care and attention to detail. Basically, someone who has a clear vision from the outset, and the patience and dedication to bring it to fruition, even using the most basic setup, will beat a poorly planned, production‑heavy ‘expensive sound’ every day of the week in my book.
ENGINEERING TO STAY ON TRACK.
At some point in your life, spend some time in a pro studio with a pro engineer – and pay attention to every detail! Sure, you may never have the luxury of the gear list and choices that they might have, but the techniques work across the board – and that’s where the gold lays.
Getting the sounds into the box at the highest possible level is arguably the most important stage of the process if you’re hoping to end up with a great product. Fixing it in the mix should always be a last resort.
It’s important to learn what a good sounding tracking space sounds like in its many variations. Some are live. Some are tight. Some are a balance between the two extremes. Above all, you need know when it’s wrong. Likewise, you need to know what good reference monitoring really is, how much it really costs and what you really must do to achieve it.
Learn what mic positioning and pickup patterns do for a recorded sound and experiment as much as possible. It’s astounding the difference that a few centimetres in either direction can make!
Things like gain structure, headroom at the preamp, phase and drive all need to be fully understood if you’re self‑engineering. Knowing the difference between a ‘clean’ sound, and a ‘coloured’ sound is critical. You want to be able to manipulate things sonically by taking advantage of every possibility to bring out the character you’re going for, not just fluke it!
MIXING
One can’t oversimplify the mixing process – it’s definitely a dark art with infinite variables, and sometimes things can get messy and need a lot of work. A good starting point is realising whether you’re colouring something, or trying to repair it. Check out your raw tracks in fine detail – individually and as a rough mix. If you get the raw tracks right you’re almost there. If your mix to sounds 80 percent of the way there when just playing back the raw tracks with all of the faders at unity, no effects or mixing and only the pan knobs set to centre, you know you’re winning!
The better your raw tracks are, the simpler the mixing will be. Theoretically, all you’ll need is some spice and space to get it where it needs to be. A lot of engineers suggest not spending too much time on individual tracks though – treat the piece as a whole.
There are so many variables in recording and producing music. What works for one person may be the wrong direction for the next. Always seek out people who know more than you do, ask lots of questions, and experiment as much as you can. You can’t learn to swim by walking around the pool!