indiegrab_360 wrote: Thu Mar 09, 2023 6:26 pmI think you misunderstood what I was trying to say.

I'm saying if you put on an album to listen to it from start to finish... and each song was recorded with different gear through different interfaces... at different locations... There's gonna be less uniformity to the sound of the album. Pretty much like album production 101 type stuff, but hey, what do I know?

When you single out one specific song you're missing the point of what I was trying to say. But you're entitled to your opinion. And maybe I wasn't as clear as possible.

Not really.

To frame this in the exact terms you are laying out, take a minute and think over Sticky Fingers.

Right around "No One..." puts that record on, and says to themselves "Boy, this record lacks uniformity of sonics and is amateurish..."

Or Physical Grafitti...

I don't really think that many folks are sitting there listening to it, and talking about how it was a downer that didn't just record the entire thing at Olympic Studios because then it would have sounded less amateurish.

Or the first two Wilco records...

I don't really think that folks ever seriously sit there and take points off of the overall score of Being There because it lacks the sonic uniformity of A.M.

Or the Queens Of The Stone Age record Songs For The Deaf...

I don't think that it is somehow "Lesser..."/"Amateurish..."/"Whatever...." just because they started it it one studio and wound up having to finish it in another.

Yeah the list of multistudio project albums is incredibly long. Although it's worth noting that most of the ones we know about were handled by engineers who eat, sleep and breath that stuff. For a less experienced engineer it could turn into a series of songs where some just sound kind of worse than the others, but that's also the least optimistic view.

losthighway wrote: Thu Mar 09, 2023 8:15 pm Yeah the list of multistudio project albums is incredibly long. Although it's worth noting that most of the ones we know about were handled by engineers who eat, sleep and breath that stuff. For a less experienced engineer it could turn into a series of songs where some just sound kind of worse than the others, but that's also the least optimistic view.

Well yeah, I mean everything changes when you're in a band, so many more people involved in how the end result turns out. You can't control what happens.

*But if I'm by myself DIY-engineering my own album and I fuck up the sound of my own album through impulsively selling equipment and thusly downgrading fidelity, it just presents the possibility of a worse result. That's the original thought-line of what I was trying to convey. And if it takes years to produce an album, it often isn't all recorded the same exact way. Sometimes you need to sell that $2000 preamp you just tracked 7 songs with, and use it for rent money. And if you happen to record more material without the preamp, bottom line you're hindering uniformity (for better or worse, but it's still changing what could've been uniform).

Obviously with an unlimited budget or a super high budget from a label (or even with incredible engineering skill) this isn't automatically going to happen every-time you switch locations, microphones, setup and all the equipment. And really it's all about the music at the end of the day too.

I bet if you dig into the exact production notes on these multi-studio project albums, there's at least a few examples of the second location's engineer matching the equipment via the label's budget. Like, "Oh, they used such and such preamp for the first half of the record... We're going to need to purchase one of those so it sounds the same."

Maintaining uniformity and just getting the album recorded in one place, with one set of equipment ....as a rule (or starting point, really).... avoids this conversation entirely. Isn't this basic shit? Why is this so hard to understand? But that's not how it works every time, sh*t happens.

Just for fun, lets say you've just tracked a 10 song record at a decent local studio, with pro-level gear and hand it to me, your label A&R and I say, "This is great, but I'm going to delete the first half, destroy those masters and.... Demand you re-record those songs with this--" and hand you a Macbook and a Presonus Firepod. You're gonna be bummed. Or not. Who knows. I've said it all.

As of this week, finished up tracking and mixing a solo album I started work on around February of 2022. It’s eight songs clocking in around 26 minutes. I would sometimes use different mic set-ups or pedals, amp settings, guitars and pickup selections, etc. while doing one track to the next, so sonically, it’s varied enough. The songs themselves differ from each other in structure and temperament while also sitting pretty okay as a whole--I spent time getting the sequence in its most agreeable state. The music doesn’t strike me as a wretched or desperate person’s solo record, or something for want of purpose, ideas, or vibes, even if “the world out there” ends up not having much use for it.

So make no mistake, I 100% don’t regret making this little album, giving all of this recording business another go.

Having said all of the above, I honestly put myself through A LOT of personal discomfort to make it. A vantage point many people seem to like to assume is that of the unflappable world beater who can take anything on, is never fazed by circumstance or psychological duress, etc. Maybe for some people, that’s their experience of things while doing a record and playing in a band or bands, I dunno. But this production had a lot of up and downs and involved a lot of unpaid labor, and I wouldn’t blame anyone experiencing even half of that shiz to call it a day. (Keep in mind though, I’ve also been at work on another book, and don’t’ have a live/work space free of nuisances and interruptions, and my life isn’t super charmed or eventful.)

So maybe all of this ^^^ is a roundabout, self-important way of saying that it’s good to “keep the dream alive,” however modestly, if one feels up to the task, but it’s also understandable why someone couldn’t be arsed to take on such things.

DaveA wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 4:31 pm
Having said all of the above, I honestly put myself through A LOT of personal discomfort to make it. A vantage point many people seem to like to assume is that of the unflappable world beater who can take anything on, is never fazed by circumstance or psychological duress, etc. Maybe for some people, that’s their experience of things while doing a record and playing in a band or bands, I dunno. But this production had a lot of up and downs a

Every fucking time. I've got the zen of songwriting shit down (as some of my posts have semi-arrogantly shared) but finishing a recording to publish/print is guaranteed to have some gauntlet of difficulty, retrying, self hatred/doubt, procrastinating.

The band I play drums in, is not my baby so it's way less stressful. We just sent our first single to FM morespaceecho for mastering after the singer/guitarist/songwriter/band daddy lost his MIND over a guitar solo (retracked twice at my studio, then a hail Mary home recording when the deadline came up). I felt like a doula just holding his hand and telling him to breathe. We all need that.

losthighway wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 6:25 pmEvery fucking time. I've got the zen of songwriting shit down (as some of my posts have semi-arrogantly shared) but finishing a recording to publish/print is guaranteed to have some gauntlet of difficulty, retrying, self hatred/doubt, procrastinating.

It's a strange thing to even try to convey to others who aren't in the exact situation, and even then each person might experience it differently. These moments, where things get wonky and overly taxing and only through sheer tenacity and some kind of "faith" does something get resolved (if you're lucky) . . . oof. Granted, it isn't always like this; sometimes things are painless and easy and nothing to fret over or keep you up at night. But them hitches . . .