"Put some more snap in the kick," a reverie

[joelpatterson]

It's crazy the odd, chance things that you'll hear that stick with you, that become the mantras of your life.

I remember watching a TV movie of the Carpenters, not particularly a paragon of anything musical as far as I know, and there was a scene in the recording studio, and a throwaway line: "We're trying to put more snap in the kick drum." And then later on in the movie, another scene in a recording studio, and you hear the same line. "Gotta put some more snap in the kick drum."

Given the overall quality of the movie, I just assumed that slip-shod production had landed the same line twice, and by the time it was edited it was too late, and who would care anyway?

Then, later, I devised a conspiracy theory that Richard Carpenter, the surviving one, was trying to reach through the morass of this pitiful flick and offer some useful advice, maybe the secret of their success?

Anyway, this thought stuck with me--capturing a smooth, identifiable snap off the kick, translating that into the mix, creates a real solid, y'know, credibility for a song. It's a character that brings a mix into the realm of the worthwhile, rather than the attempted and failed.

I was reminded of this yesterday, mixing a free-for-all jam session with a dozen guitars and a whole stage of music students. When I finally got the kick to behave, the whole thing just fell together. All its other faults were negated. The music was happening, joyful, a great sea of rock and roll feeling.

Now, tell me your mantras.[/b]

[w_]

My current mantra is "No Pussyfooting." Meaning, when there is a decision to make, just sit, think about it, make a decision, and make that decision work. No self-sabotaging indecision allowed to slow down the writing process.

[mjau]

Joel...with all respect, I think you may be digging way too deeply into the Carpenters movie for a message. Or maybe you're just drinking a lot of coffee lately...

My mantra lately has been "Know when to quit." I think that this is an essential lesson to learn for all project studios.

[thecongostudio]

I prefer the general idea of "Experiment until it becomes more of a hassle rather than an improvement." I spent over 2 hours the other day playing with a snare sound and I ended up scrapping the whole 2 hours worth of plugin and outboard settings, only to settle on the sound I got in the first 10 minutes of playing around. Sometimes, it's best to know your own limitations on top of wanting to experiment with sound.

[JASIII]

When I hit a snag my mantra is "listen to something you like and try to take away from it what you know made it sound like it does and apply it"

[Punkity]

From someone's signature here:

"Keep it stupid simple"

[magnetictape]

serve the song.

[djimbe]

embrace the bleed...

[scott anthony]

sounds like a (insert intrument here) to me...

[Rick Hunter]

strong enough for a man, but ph balanced for a woman.

[vvv]

My secondary mantra is to avoid listening to, mixing or recording or playing in, on or around "free-for-all jam sessions."

For my primary mantra, see below.

[djgout]

my only mantra is *i've gotta knife* i've even made t-shirts and stencils about town, complete with a knife....

*i've gotta pea* would also be a great mantra, especially if you were holding a can of peas.

[ahpook]

always make the guitarist do it again....

(on a different track !)

[Monkeyfist]

BETTER TO HAVE IT AND NOT NEED IT, THAN TO NEED IT AND NOT HAVE IT!

OR,

ONCE YOU GET LOCKED INTO A SERIOUS DRUG COLLECTION, THE TENDANCY IS TO PUSH IT AS FAR AS POSSIBLE.

[JGriffin]

"Everything louder than everything else" is a favorite.

Another good one has been:

"If it happens once, it's a 'fuckup.' Twice, it's a 'choice.' Three times, it's a 'style'."