Capturing the Moment

Two days ago I heard two seven-year-olds singing the very last note of the national anthem in tune after none of the previous notes matched. But that one second was worth waiting for. I got Real Chills.

So how do we mere mortals capture that fleeting moment in the test-tube-like atmosphere of a recording session? Here are some of my favorite butterfly nets.

1. Mix the monitor mixes. Actively mix the recording session headphones so the musicians are playing in the same acoustic environment as the final mix. They will always rise to the occasion.

2. Have as many people contribute as possible. Get everyone involved. If someone so much stops in to ask for directions to Seward, make them sing in the chorus. That's a Phil Spector trick. Get a performance atmosphere happening.

3. Don't wait for the "perfect solo". When you look for it, it's not around. You can't boss these things around. Invite it to happen and most of all...

4. Get ready for the next take to be "the one". Don't rehearse the part until you get it right...rehearse it until the next one is going to be the right one. Learn for how to tell when you are "on the verge".

5. If it doesn't sound right, it's not right. No amount of explanation of why something is right because of passing tones, chord structure, blah, blah, is going to convince a stranger that a weird note belongs there. Fix it now before it infects the song.

6. Don't think that the take you just erased or recorded over was in any way better than the next thing you are going to do. When we get to heaven, along with all of the missing car keys and lost change, we will get to have back all of those lost takes. Don't let them ruin your session; they are merely lost socks.

7. Take five. A refreshed mind is a very good investment. I once watched a producer kill a session by making someone do sixty nine takes of a single spoken line.

8. Always do your best. Never let the session become a "demo session" if you started off doing a single. If you're not doing your best, stop. Even if you end up with less recorded material, end up with stunning music.

9. Perfect tempo is not the same as perfect rhythm. Tempo is the clock; rhythm is the groove. If it felt good without being clock accurate, throw the clock out the window. You're making music, not running trains.

10. Make sure everyone can hear each other - See below..

11. Connect with the other musicians in the session. You need to know your own part well enough to be able and listen to anyone else playing and still nail your own part. Different segments of the song may have different leaders. Follow them.

There is a John Cage story (if I may paraphrase) in which a teacher asks a student to explain a particular piece of philosophy. The student complied and the teacher asked to hear another interpretation. The student gave another. The teacher asked for another. Again and again they went back and forth and finally the student said, "There are no other interpretations." So the teacher asked "What is the underlying principle behind all of your answers?"