Recordings aren't literal
There’s nothing “natural” about recording. Air pressure created by a sound source hits an extremely thin piece of metal, which converts it to electricity, which then gets converted into digital numbers and back again. How does this have anything to do with music?
The answer is, it doesn’t, really. It’s a strange and obtuse technical process. It’s certainly nothing to get too precious about, I wouldn’t think.
So I want to encourage you to free yourself from worrying about it! Recording is inherently weird. So what if instead of trying to corral and tame and master that weirdness, we embraced it? What if, instead of a reductive vision of literalism, we embraced artistry and metaphor and theatrics in our work?
You know what’s the most boring recording in the world to me? One that sounds exactly like what it is. An acoustic guitar that sounds exactly, pristinely like an acoustic guitar? Why on earth would I want to hear that? I already know what an acoustic guitar sounds like! That’s like reading a manual when what you want is to be reading a book. It’s safety, when what I want is adventure. It’s the predictable here and now, when what I want is to be transported somewhere I haven’t been before.
I think we can dream bigger dreams. I think we can tell bigger stories — including as producers and engineers. I think we can aspire to more in our work than being stenographers.
Aim higher — jamie