So I came across this article today and this is the place to share it?

http://www.pro-tools-expert.com/home-page/2016/8/8/music-production-perfection-is-overrated


TLDR: "It seems we have confused excellence with perfection and they are not the same."

what do you guys think?

 

i'm on your horse there

all you hear nowadays are these stupid as fuck trap hihat rolls in every song, which is of course programmed to the grid.

even as a stylistic element, it just sucks.

and this streamlining and perfecting thing going on makes music boring and factory.

on the other hand, you want to deliver a perfect song, right?

but can imperfect make something perfect? or should we forget the term perfect altogether?

 

It's obviously true, that a perfect production can't replace musicality.
And personally I've always preferred good ideas with bad sound to polished turd.

But I wouldn't call it "perfection" anyway to remove all traces of expression and personality from a performance.
"Overproduction" may be a better term for that. For many producers it seems to be easier to go by the book than to rely on their own hearing and taste. To know when it sounds good enough, but not too sterile requires musicality and vision.

 

i had a client, he was insisting on making 15 vocal takes of him and then cut the best parts out and sticking them together.

I'm not working with him anymore.

 

This is a problem for you? I don't have any experience working in a studio, but I put an extraordinary amount of effort into building my music from the sound design upward and I can't imagine working with someone who isn't willing to put this much effort into recording and mixing a track when he's being paid for his time.

I do exactly this every time I record and usually listen to all of them 2 or 3 times, then pick the best take and comp in any exceptional parts from other takes. Is this really seen as being unreasonably burdensome? Are you working in a DAW that doesn't have take comping features?

 

Im not a professional in a High end studio so its just my experience working with a singer songwriter, who thought that there is that magic syllable in that one take he might do in the future, that will make his song amazing.

But he was wrong. this never happened and every take got worse and more over articulated, his first 3 takes where the best and usable in one piece.

I would prefer a good performance in one or 2 with maybe some overdubs over some "every awesome word cut together" performance because it sounds more natural. but you need to be good to do that ; )

 

You would be surprised how close good musicians and vocalists can get to perfection timing and pitch. It's not about perfection over natural errors, but more about expression overriding perfection when necessary.

Some people are technical and want perfect timing and machine timing gives them that, some people prefer looser timing and they can get that from a performance or even from machine timing now which can incorporate swing, LFO modulated timing, envelope effected tuning, etc.......

Just adding errors and mistakes doesn't make anything sound magically better, but choosing to not be perfect to express something that can translate through sound as a feeling or idea ... that has always been the point.

 

John Petrucci is a highly regarded guitarist that I can't stand because he's so goddamn perfect. There is never any single unwanted noise, nor any rabid vibrato or mistakes produced by caring more about expression than technique. He's just a robot to me, as if there was a midi track playing a sampled guitar.

It's a shame because I love his solo work and has great phrasing. But nothing he plays moves me at all no matter how many times I listen to it.