being honest with clients

There have been countless moments where someone walks into the studio, sees the microphone collection or fixates on some piece of equipment that they find pretty, and just beyond a doubt believes that I’m some kind of magician who has infinite knowledge of every facet of music making known to man. As much as my ego would love to start rattling off intellectual buzzwords and over-explaining every little thing just to impress (often I do this not realizing what I’m doing just because I’m passionate about the subject), keeping your cards close to your chest is HUGE. Not that the point of all this is to have power or manipulate people, but I’m often reminded of one of Robert Greene’s 48 laws of power; always say less than necessary. This leaves an air of mystery to your craft that will endear people to your process, and take your opinion more seriously.

Now, the important word here is necessary. Communication is the biggest source of conflict in any relationship, and a long deliberative talk with your clients is one of the most important determinants of whether they will be satisfied with the product, or often more importantly, whether they will enjoy their time in the studio with you. When goals align is when magic can happen. During these conversations is when it’s most important not to lie by omission. I often have rappers come by the studio to record vocals to a beat that’s typically just a WAV file. And as much as they’d love to work with a producer that can whip up a beat magically before their eyes, that aint me babe. And I tell them this beforehand. In fact, I make sure to remind them multiple times so when we’re actually recording, I don’t feel pressured to do something, and they aren’t deluded to the point to ask me to do something that, well, I simply can’t do at the level that I’d be comfortable having someone pay me for.

When it comes to your strengths, however, is when you need to practice restraint. And I suck at this. Sometimes just feeling out the room and gauging reception of an earbeating about my fuzz factory pedal is the only way to know if it’s warranted or necessary. When someone books studio time with me, I always say ‘my toys are your toys.’ So occasionally I’ll need to explain how something works. I have to really hold myself back from continuing to explain beyond the bare minimum. If I go too far, I’ll remove the magic from the sonic experimentation and knob twiddling, or, even worse, turn the client off from using the toy to begin with because they associate it with with this weird guy’s obsession. You know, like when you tell someone you like a song from an artist and they start reciting their wikipedia entry. No way you’re listening to that band now, it’s this guy’s thing and this guy’s thing alone. People like it when they feel like they’re the one discovering this new thing that’s personal to them.

One final and obvious note; don’t say what you don’t know either. This happens most often when you’ve already captivated someone’s attention and you’re riding the high of impressing them. Stupid ego shit. I find that I often don’t even notice when it happens until after I’ve said it. I’ll be like, ‘wait is that me just speculating about the internal componentry of this preamp or did I hear that somewhere?’ Often it’s a moot point and they probably were zoned out from what I was saying anyway, so I just leave it.

So, bottom line, be completely transparent with what you don’t know, reserved with what you do know, and don’t let your desire to be impressive lead you to say stuff that’s not true. And I think these go far beyond consulting and freelancing; they can be used in countless interactions you have every day.

thoughts on authenticity

I have a theory that everyone implicitly knows when art is genuine. Of course, there are a million little variables that can affect someone’s reception of artistic content when they’re consuming it, but if you’re completely engaged and present with the thing (even if you never went to art school or don’t know music theory or whatever) you typically know implicitly when a song or painting or poem feels contrived or lacking in meaning. But authenticity almost never comes from the same place. Speaking from a musical perspective, the lyrics may be jibberish but the music and vocal delivery are traditionally well-produced, like this, or the opposite may be true, where the lyrics are rich with meaning but the musical delivery is just poor (usually this is found in outsider music like this). But it’s equally obvious in both these examples that there is little to no adulteration, filter, or backseat driving (typically from a label) poisoning the artist’s work. They have a vision and they’re executing it, that’s all.

Sometimes the meaning in a piece of art can come from being devoid of meaning, just look at this one. Like this example, intentional meaninglessness is found often in brash pop music, and a commonplace practice in the mid-late noughties or post-bling era hip hop, where the aggression and playful haughtiness of artists like Fat Joe or 50 cent gave way to borderline parody music, semi-mocking a life ‘In Da Club.’ LMFAO weren’t trying to copy someone else, they were riffing on the hedonistic nonsense of the past ten years with earworm hooks that have withstood the test of time.

Direct copying, however, is almost a surefire way to fuck up your chances of authenticity. Odds are your favorite artist’s motivation to create their art will not be yours as well. At the risk of being divisive, just listen to literally anything by these guys and tell me it doesn’t sound exactly like who it obviously sounds like. This said, every artist is in some way a pawn to their influences. There is no way Phoebe Bridgers, Beck, or Parquet Courts would have been at all the same without Elliott Smith, Prince, or Television, respectively. And you can hear these influences blatantly in their music (listen to Adore and Debra back to back, even the damn subject matter is the same). The difference is all of these artists are distinctly themselves, and the best artists do so throughout their entire discographies. Especially Beck, who makes it a point to change his sound with every album.

When it comes to a mindset to don when you’re going into writing or producing or even just conceptualizing a new song, album or project as a whole, there are some themes I’ve found that kind of come on a spectrum. So, for your pleasure, I made a crappy bell curve.

There are probably many other elements I could add to the ends of this curve, but I find these to be the main offenders that can totally fuck someone’s chances of making some kickass art. Now you might be asking, “Hunter, ya lil fuck, there are so many artists that have traits at either end of the spectrum and still have a worldwide fanbase.”

There is a big difference between authenticity and music industry success. When looking at strictly success, this is one instance where two wrongs can indeed make a right. Here I’m actually going to be divisive, so ya ready? As a principle, Djent stinks. This popular subgenre of metal is basically ALL virtuosity, with very little else going for it. All the kicks and snares are typically perfectly snapped to the tempo grid, the guitars are at once the result of meticulously curated pedal chains, and the same time the same metal tone you’ve heard over and over again. Vocals are usually completely autotuned and the lyrical content is so vague that it’s impossible to identify with whatever sentiment they’re expressing. Still, this lowest-common-denominator element is the reason it’s so easy to identify with it if you’re a long-time metalhead (although I find that when I’m really into a genre, my tastes start becoming more and more experimental until I’m basically listening to chaotic nonsense. All roads lead back to chaotic nonsense for me). We like what we’re familiar with in general, but is Djent authentically sound? I posit, (while there are a few exceptions), emphatically no.

I’m going to leave it at this for now, I might make a part two at some point. peace!

It BEGINS

I’m starting a blog in 2023, look at me and my anachronistic ass. I’m excited to have a spot where I can lay out my ideas in a more type-blast format. I thought a podcast would have satiated my need for an outlet like that but I’ve always been more articulate via written word anyway. I plan on making one post, maybe two posts a week for this, if for no one but myself. Topics will probably range anywhere from producer-client relations to tinnitus. Hopefully, it doesn’t just catalog my descent into madness or workaholism or something. I’ll try and spare the sometimes negative internal dialogue as well cause who wants to hear that? Anyway, thanks for checking out the site and spending some of your attention currency here.