Off the Record - July Edition

There’s more than one way to skin a cat, as the old saying goes.

And following that logic, there is more than one way to make a record.
Or at least, there used to be.

Since the home studio became king, everything has changed. One method, once mocked and deemed unprofessional, became the new standard.

Who could have seen that coming?

Well, many professionals didn’t, I’ll tell you that. Yours truly certainly didn’t.

Home studios were very practical for demos, but that was about it. No true professional would ever consider doing a full record that way.
We were clinging to the fact that artists would still hear and appreciate the difference. And hence, that most of the recording would still happen in the appropriate facility.

That assumption turned out to be true… for certain generations of artists.

But for the new cats, not so much. Kids these days have never even set foot in a professional recording studio. They have no idea what they’re losing.

How do you miss something you never even had?

Mind you, this is not me dissing the new generation. There’s a much bigger issue lying underneath.

The magic of the recording process has disappeared. Most records nowadays are made in the exact same way. And then, they’re mixed to sound as close as possible to the trendiest playlist.
The saddest bit is that these tunes were already produced with that same target.

Oh the irony…

That’s why everything sounds so ridiculously similar now. Everyone is chasing that super polished sound… And by reaching it, they lose every single bit of originality they had. Which wasn’t much to start with, to be honest.

Not long ago, making a record was a unique process.

The band would think about it, the producer would think about it, the label would think about it. Everyone would try to come up with the best possible scenario within the budget.

It was about figuring out what would work for this artist now, for this particular record. Coz what worked for the previous one wasn’t necessarily going to work for this one.

And artists liked to mix things up. It kept them on their toes. Comfort is the enemy of progress, as you well know.

Let’s travel back in time a little bit, and consider the last great decade of our industry. Nevermind & Blood Sugar Sex Magic came out on the same day, 24 September 1991. What a time to be alive.

Many would argue that these two records are some of the finest music recorded in the last fifty years. Yet these two gorgeous, game-changing albums weren’t recorded in the same fashion at all.

Nevermind was tracked in twelve days in Sound City, an old recording studio in Van Nuys that had seen better days. But it had three things still going for itself: an incredible desk, a huge live room, and cheap rates.
The band was super ready, had been rehearsing six days a week for months. They cut everything live. Then Cobain overdubbed the vocals and some guitars.

BSSM was recorded in a Laurel Canyon mansion converted into a studio for the occasion. They installed a desk in the living room, and the band moved in for about a month.
While most of the record was written, a lot of the arrangements and lyrics came from being in the house, secluded. John used the extra time to paint and record his own songs. AK was cutting vocals from his bedroom, gazing at the sky.

These two records were massive successes, both critically and commercially.

My point is, there are many ways to make a good record. And more often than not, you find a good way by trying out a new way.

Let’s bring back the uniqueness of the process.

Get out of your room. Stop producing track after track in the same context. Think about your next body of work. How could you make it different? With whom could you work to mix things up?

If the process is unique, the result will probably be, too. And that’s a memory you’ll keep for the rest of your life.
Because making a record should be a special experience, a string of memories. Not just another thing made in the same factory.

But then again, what do I know…

Sue Me

“I’ve had few good ideas sitting in front of a screen.”

Cole Schafer, 2025.

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