What It’s Like to Make a Record Together

1. First, I make sure you’re comfortable.

Before every session, I go grocery shopping. Pita chips. Hummus. Turkey jerky. Seltzer. Water. Hand sanitizer. Everything you need is already there when you walk in. Same as if I invited you over for dinner. You wouldn’t have to bring anything. You’d just show up.

The studio is the same. Don’t think about anything except the music. That’s the whole point.

2. Then I read the room.

I’ve been bartending for over 20 years. I know what it looks like when someone walks into a room and doesn’t feel comfortable. I can see it in their shoulders, their hands, the way they set up their instrument. And I know how to fix it. I’ve been doing it every night for two decades.

3. Then we stop worrying about perfection.

Three takes. That’s my number. If we don’t have it by then, we stop. We take a breath. We come back.

I’ll never tell you a take wasn’t good enough. I’ll say, that sounded great, let’s do one more. Because if you’re standing there thinking the clock is ticking and every minute costs money, you’re going to play safe. And safe is boring. Nobody’s best work comes from pressure. It comes from feeling like it’s just music and we’re just hanging out.

4. Then we make decisions that serve the song.

Once, The Slackers were writing a song in the studio. Six pauses where the whole band drops out and kicks back in. I told them: that’s incredible live. Keep all six on stage. But on the record, I’ll give you one.

They said, what if we stop early in the song and once more before the last chorus? I said okay, two. Because now it makes bookends.

It came out really good. That’s the job. Knowing what works live and what works on a record. You’re inside the music. I can step outside it and hear what a listener would hear.

5. Sometimes less is more.

One song came to me with over a hundred tracks. Sixteen guitar parts. The previous engineer had tracked everything with every safety net imaginable.

I found the two guitar parts that served the song and let go of the other fourteen.

That’s usually how it goes. The things that aren’t there make the things that are there important.

6. Everything comes back to one thing.

[DESIGNED AS A VISUAL]/ Music hierarchy designed as a visual (pyramid, staircase, or stacked text

The song is more important than the performance.

The performance is more important than the recording.

The recording is more important than the mix.

The mix is more important than the master.

A great song will carry you through everything. That’s why I start every session with the same question.

What serves the song?