No one likes to make a decision. That’s why
albums are taking three years now. They’ll
record something: “Tell you what, I don’t
think it will work, but let’s keep it until the
mix and make the decision then.” ... Just
make the bloody decision up front.
just sounded quiet. Everything was being
sucked up. We finished up canceling the
sessions and moving to [NYC studio]
Electric Lady, which worked great. So
that’s an example where, yeah, the room
can affect everything.
It depends on the musicians and the
music. With Missing Persons, because
Terry was one of the main writers, he
knew exactly what needed to happen
from the very beginning. Terry wanted
it to appear that the drums were pulling
everything along. He wanted to be ahead
of everyone the entire time. So the way
we worked with him was, it was just him
playing, no one else, no guide tracks or
anything. He just played the track. Once
we got a drum track that really swung,
that felt great, we knew we’d gotten the
basis for the track. Then we started to
overdub things. I felt so sorry for Patrick
O’Hearn, the bass player, because we’d
be doing a take and so often it was just
eighth-notes and Terry would be, “No,
no, no! You’ve got to hold back a bit. I’m
pushing, I’m pushing!” It was so minute
and Patrick was going through hell, but
it all worked in the end.
So in that instance, it was just drums.
Other times, it’s bass and drums, just
going for those. There are obviously
times where I’ve gone for guitars, bass,
and drums. And then I’ve overdubbed
from there. It depends.
You’ve said that the best way to learn
to record is to limit yourself to 4-track
equipment.
Absolutely! It’s the thing of making decisions. Because that’s something that, for
me, is missing these days. No one likes
to make a decision. That’s why albums
are taking three years now. They’ll record
something: “Tell you what, I don’t think
it will work, but let’s keep it until the
mix and make the decision then.” So
you finish up with 199 almost useless
tracks and you’re going to decide at the
end as to whether they work or not. It
makes mixing horrendous. Just make the
bloody decision up front. Have an idea
of the final product and make the decision during the takes.
I always used to do it. We’d be going
through, “No, that’s not the take,” and
