Making Music: Conversations with Record Producers, edited by Larry Crane and John Baccigaluppi

Expand

Making Music: Conversations with Record Producers, edited by Larry Crane and John Baccigaluppi

Producers have been responsible for most of the memorable recordings of the past 70 years, guiding recording artists to be their best and, sometimes, guiding them to places they never imagined. Tape Op magazine has been the Guitar Player of production, conducting serious and comprehensive interviews with leading producers. Making Music collects 24 of those discussions.

“I’ve made great records in toilets, and I’ve made terrible records in the most expensive studios in the world,” said Steve Lillywhite.  The man in the control booth for U2 and Peter Gabriel added, “There’s no set of rules about how a person produces records.” Enthusiasm for the music being produced is crucial.

Brian Eno was fascinating as always in his interview. The tape recorder was his first instrument; he thinks of music in terms of plasticity—sound is “malleable, liking painting,” and like a painter’s canvas, a producer can continue to add or alter the sonic color scheme. Why did U2 and Talking Heads call for his services? It was “because they like to work with someone who encourages the new things they want to do, rather than the things they have done.”

Contrast Eno’s plasticity with T Bone Burnett, who stated, “I don’t really like recordings.” He’s wary of the technology and would prefer to document the musicians live, capturing their best moments. Burnett added that recent studio wizardry can’t compare to what George Martin achieved by cutting and splicing tape. “The restrictions of analog lead to all sorts of wild creativity.” Many producers see themselves as the musicians’ enabling best friend. “I give the artist what they want,” said Tony Visconti.

Some of the boredom of contemporary pop music results from the recording process. Are ProTools too easy? Does digital have no edge? One of the problems, Joe Boyd said, is that “you don’t feel it is taking place in a room. It’s taking place in cyberspace or in an electronic environment …a dead space.”

Get Making Music on Amazon here.

Paid link