A sound engineer in your DM: three keys to "perfection"

Hello, let's make this brief presentation, because I'll be here for a while and you'll have time to get to know me: my name is Bosito and I have an “absurd” obsession with music and sound technology. I inhabit the confines of Telegram and like, from time to time, to sneak over to Twitter, where I have found a community. And when I tell you that I'll be here for a while it's because Magazine AM:PM It has opened a space for me to talk to you about the culture of audio (especially in Cuba, which is little or almost non-existent). For the last eleven years that universe has been my refuge and now I want to share it with you. So this will be a section that will come directly to your inboxes. The recipient: all Cuban producers, musicians and engineers; and the readers of this magazine in general, of course.

Without further delay, let's begin; because today I would like to talk to you about three key conclusions that I have reached during my career in audio; those that have allowed me to maintain a healthier work life and prevent problems from "affecting me" with the same ease.

Note: The order of these conclusions is important, each eventually leading to the next.

1. It's the ear, not the equipment!

When we start in this race, we are bombarded with recommendations and advertisements for countless expensive plugins, hardware units, microphones and instruments essential to sound like a famous engineer or musician. In reality, the real magic is often in how those tools are used, not in the tools themselves (although some are definitely better than others).

Think of it this way: The 1959 Les Paul may be one of the best-sounding guitars of all time, but in untrained hands it won't sound any different than a $50 knockoff. When many engineers, myself included, look back at the long list of hardware and software purchases they've made throughout their careers, they almost always comment that the 90% was unnecessary. Here are some tips to avoid making those mistakes:

Invest first in solid foundations

When I walk into a new studio, the first questions I ask are, “How does the room sound?” and… “how does the room sound?”. The first in the recording context, and the second in the monitoring context.

A good mix largely depends on two things (besides the quality of the song and the musicians, of course): recording accurately so you don't have to "fix" it later, and monitoring accurately so you can make sound decisions. correct mixes when you finish recording.

If the recording space doesn't sound right to begin with, or if the sound coming from your monitors echoes around the room and completely cancels out in certain frequency ranges, then what's the point of having a microphone or system? monitoring of 10 thousand dollars?

The truth is that in a well-cared room, even the cheapest microphones and monitors can sound like a million dollar. My advice: before you go out and search for any expensive old equipment, invest in building basic glass wool panels and bass traps for your space; place them strategically to reduce reflections and frequency build-ups.

You'll be amazed at how much your recordings will improve right off the bat and how little you'll need to do in the mix to make them sound decent when you're not constantly fighting coloration from your inaccurate monitoring.

An experienced ear can do a lot with very little.

One of my favorite engineers of all time, Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Rage Against The Machine, Linkin Park), uses no external EQ, no compressors, no gates, and just relies on what's built into his SSL console. Sure, an SSL console is a luxury not many of us can afford, but you can honestly achieve the same results on the drum snare, for example, by using just about any of the awesome SSL console channel emulation plugins available on the market. market today. There are no excuses!

Like Andy Wallace, when you take all tool-based decision making out of the equation by limiting your options and your mix is based on a series of quick, simple, musical reactions with minimal overthinking of inconsequential details, then the mix resulting is also often “simply musical”.

Reducing the amount of “stuff” we use during the mix not only saves money, but also time wasted deciding which of the dozens of 1176 emulations will work best on that track, or if it should. Just scrap the 1176 idea you've been thinking about for the last half hour and have a gunfight with some of the Fairchild emulations. [Sigh].

My point is that once you can listen to a sound, determine what's wrong, and make a quick decision on what to do with it, you should be able to use just about any tool to get the job done in minutes—even seconds—if you're really familiar with it. she.

2. perfection is subjective

Many engineers have reference material that they consider “perfect”, goosebump-inducing mixes that accentuate the emotion and lyrics of the song.

In my opinion, albums like Hysteria (Universal Music, 1987) by Def Leppard; Random Access Memories (Columbia Records, 2013), by Daft Punk and Paper Airplane (Rounder Records, 2011), by Alison Krauss —RIP Mike Shipley— are perfect productions with perfect mixes.

The point is that my idea of “perfect” is not always going to coincide with the client's “perfect”. As much as I am inspired and aspire to always produce flawless mixes, sometimes the people you work with will simply have a different idea of “perfect”.

Maybe they're working with a garage-rock band that loves the raw energy of Nirvana's In Utero (DGC, 1993), for example; or a rapper who loves the distorted and lo-fi sound of Mercury, from Ghostemane. So what to do in those cases? There are other tips:

-It's his music. In the end, we get paid to help them produce a product they're happy with.  

-Happy customers = more work. Satisfying them, even on small and objectively “dumb” requests, can mean the difference between a customer who will return and recommend them and one who will try their luck with someone else. I make a clarification: you should always express your opinion if you think it is a bad idea, but do not press.

-If you really feel like you're not the right person for the job, don't say yes. Nobody forces them.

-Learn to let it go. The moment I began to care more about what my clients wanted and less about my aspirations, the stress decreased and the business increased.

3. Completing frequently is the key to success (and happiness)

While "perfection" is subjective, does this mean it's unattainable?

Perfection is a fun thing. Here's a crazy theory I've always thought about: the difference between "perfect" and "imperfect" is 1 %, even less. The problem is that making that final little jump between the 99% and 100% can often take as long (if not longer) than the 0-99 % and then you're just reaching subjective "personal perfection."

When I started getting into sound engineering, I would compare my mixes to those of my heroes. I often got frustrated, remixing my songs dozens of times, before finally giving up and moving on to a new project.

This cycle was repeated for a few years. With learning, that 1 % grew and so did my doubts. I wasn't about to release material unless it sounded like something Chris Lord-Alge, Andrew Scheps or Michael Brauer had done, so nothing was 'finished'. This is terribly dramatic, I know, but it wasn't so dramatic for a young man who gambled everything to "make it" in the music business.

Finally, one day I got my first paying customer. The deadline was agreed and upon receiving the down payment I fooled myself into thinking “this time it will be different”. The deadline has come and gone. I offered excuses. A week or two later I gave up and handed over the mixes after falling short of “perfection”. To my great surprise, everyone involved in the project loved them. Of course, there were revisions, which I was obviously reluctant to apply—unjustifiably, since “I always know what's best”. [facepalm].

After that episode, obviously, he wanted more. And one project led to the next. With each song, my mix times decreased and my confidence and ability to let things flow better increased. Five years have passed since then, I have worked with several successful artists in Cuba and often mix/master more than five songs per week. My mixes are still not perfect. They probably never will be. But they are much better than they were in the beginning, my clients are happy and I have made a good career doing something that I am really passionate about.

Conclusion: the 99 % is really good. The 90 % is really good. Even the 80 and 70% is great. They have to start somewhere and unless they learn from their mistakes, they will never grow and regain that last one percent of quality.

TL;DR: Stop blaming your lack of equipment! Start caring about your customers' wishes! Prioritize progress over perfection!