Bands opinion Vs Your opinion

[pitoga]

After happening this to me a couple of times, I was wondering what you do in this kind of situation.
Aren’t you sometimes very satisfied with the outcome of a recording/mix and then comes the band and wants to change things that in your opinion just will “smudge” the whole thing together or just kill the overall tone of the song. What do you usually do in this situation? I tend to finish doing what they want and even sometimes releasing something I’m really not that proud of. Most of the times these comments come from bands that are recording for the first time or recently formed bands, I’ve noticed that with more experienced musicians they always “think” or imagine the things like in my “idea” of the mix. Could it be that maybe most of the time the guy complaining about the guitar sound is the guitarist and the guy complaining about the drums is the drummer and so on? It’s like they can’t have an overall view of the song. They just want their instrument to sound the best.
Maybe I’m just talking bullshit and it’s my ears that are wrong .
But does this happen to you too?

 

[AudioPhile777]

I usually tell band members, that unless someone else in their band mentions the very same thing, its just their ego... granted I try to be tactful when approaching this type of situation.

 

[guitarguru777]

Perfect example of this for me is the last band I recorded. The singer wanted to do "White Chapel" type vocals, you know the kind where you cant understand a fucking thing! Well the rest of the band wasn't happy with it, So I gave this little 19 year old a lesson in the origins of this type of vocal. Starting with Posessed, up through Death, Suffocation, Napalm Death, Morbid Angel, and Carcass. From there I moved into newer bands like Lamb Of God, Black Dahlia and he finally got it.

It really took a shit ton of work to make him understand the difference between GOOD Growling vocals, and GREAT Growling vocals. Now I don't know how the rest of you feel but for me Randy Blythe from LOG is the fucking shit when it comes to that stuff. You can understand everything he says and that takes some fucking talent.

The kid eventually turned around and started bitching his vocals didn't sound FULL enough so I tweaked some BS knob in the DAW, I think it was an unarmed scratch guitar or vocal track, and said hows that? He immediately goes O yea man that's perfect!

Problem solved ....lol

Oh and 1 more thing I always tell them .... HEY ITS NOT MASTERED YET! The n00bs will always take that as an excuse and say Oh will that make it better, I say yes and the conversation is usually over by then ...lol

I also try and not OVER produce the band. The band has a vision of course, your job is to make that vision come to life. Talk with them extensively before recording, find out what bands they like the production of and find out how it was done. Then you can tweak your vision that little bit to make everyone happy.

 

[pitoga]

Yeah the trick with turning any knob and then saying "and now is it better"? Almost always works. One problem too is that they expect it to sound totally professional and perfect even if their playing wasn't, and assume the computer will fix that. I don't know why but almost every guitarist I had the opportunity to record (except of my brother) where just picking the string randomly and putting the finger on any fret in the scale XD then they go like WOA what a virtuoso solo XD! It’s just the metal scene in my country (Peru) isn’t that “good” in my opinion. They’re to conformists when it comes to the technical aspect of a song. But when it comes to pop players or jazz or Latin, they’re tons of excellent musicians.

 

[Let it burn...]

Always be professional. Normally, I make some good decisions in the first stages of production and I always tell them why I'm doing something like ORTF overhead micing on a metal record. When they ask something, answer professionally and make sure you have the right knowledge.

Well, why do all this? You earn the band's trust this way. They know that the decisions you make are just and I often found that I had more "power" production wise when it came to difficult decisions. In the end, you are the "boss" but never let the band know that . Recording is 50% knowledge and gear and 50% social skills.

 

[JayB]

The kid eventually turned around and started bitching his vocals didn't sound FULL enough so I tweaked some BS knob in the DAW, I think it was an unarmed scratch guitar or vocal track, and said hows that? He immediately goes O yea man that's perfect!

haha o man I can't believe people fall for that shit they must seriously have no ears

 

[Dalinkwent48@aim.com]

haha o man I can't believe people fall for that shit they must seriously have no ears

Ive done it to a few people as well, more so in live settings, the singers always want the vox turned up so i specifically make sure to leave one channel open for "placebo-mixing".

Let it burn is 110% dead on with what he said. If you're respectful with the band and level with them and explain why you're making the decision that you're making. 6 times out of 10 they will agree with you and you will end up getting more control over the project.

 

[metalfanat1c]

I always say this to anyone I'm recording: "Ever heard the phrase 'you can't rush perfection?' Well, there's things I have to do that'll make this sound like Satan raping a freshly Baptized baby, but these things take time."


Works most of the time.

 

[Paulie!]

I have a general rule of No One is allowed to comment on the volume of their own instrument...

-P

 

[jeid]

I'm recording my own band just now and my drummer is very opinionated.

Nothing a quick beating can't fix