A Confession

I'm not that interested in music technology, or as interested as I should be.

OK so I geek out over mics and mixers more than the average Joe on the street, but when it comes up in conversation I get a bit uncomfortable, I basically think I'm a bit of a fraud!

Sometimes I think it's that I'm lazy or don't care enough, but I know that's not true. The thing is I've found the setup I'm happy with at my studio, it does exactly what I want it to do. I like the the compressors, reverbs, delays, EQ's and other tools that I have at my disposal at the Soundmill. If need something I'll get it. I'd like a few more mics, but wouldn't we all? I like getting new plugins and find new and exciting ways to use them but I don't find myself thinking, "if only I had this plugin or that mic then record would be perfect".

When I listen back to recordings that I have produced, any short falls or mistakes aren't to do with not having the right kit but were all human errors. The ones that sound like demos are because the band aren't that great or I haven't clicked with their sound.

In all honesty the best recordings I've done are the ones when the band played well on good instruments and opened up their songs to the creative process. The things that have made a difference in the recording process have usually been the quirks: mics is odd places, re-amping, and yes, busing the signal through filters or a weird delay. But using what I have to hand as a creative tool not letting it dictate my actions.

There is also the Producers relationship with the band. A band that trusts you and lets you into the creative discourse and uses you as a rescourse and not just they bloke who pressses record that's when then creativeity flurishes. It's not always easy, and I don't think it should be, debate and sometimes straight up and down arguments can fule creativeity, push people into making brave and hard choices, while always getting the best out of the song.

Ultimately it doesn't matter if it was recorded at Abby Road or in someones garage with coke cans and some hairy string as long as it sounds great when it's playing through someones crappy home spekers and people want to keep listening to it.

All this said, I'd be lost without my Protools rig!