Last year I was lucky enough to get to sit in and watch some master session players in Nashville cut a tune. It was incredible. What came out of the speakers sounded mixed at the onset. Everything just sounded as it should. The engineer leaned over to me and said, "I have the easiest job in the world". And he was right. Great performances make the rest of the process easier. If you have a great song, arrangement and performance, the job of the engineer can just be presentation.All too often I've seen artists rush in and out of the studio with decent, but not great performances recorded. They might have fronted the cost to track at a world class facility, mix with a chart topping mixer and master with one of the greats, but the album only sounds 'okay'. Their album releases, but is not met by the level of excitement they hoped for.
Where did they go wrong?...
People are still triggered by emotion and experience. If the performance isn't there, no amount of fancy microphones, vintage gear, experienced processing, or level balancing is going to add that into the track.Great performances of great songs arranged well make for great records. Put in the time required to get these three 'pillars of the production process' right and the rest of it will be much easier.
"Sing from your soul...that's where the magic is"--Quincy Jones
