When I was studying sound recording back in the early 90's, our instructor gave us a pithy bit of wisdom which has stuck with me across disciplines for nigh on thirty years.
But before I share, I need to define terms, as those have changed a bit.
But before I share, I need to define terms, as those have changed a bit.
For our purposes, a studio session had three parties in it: the talent, the engineer, and the producer.
The engineer is what I was training to be. The producer was paying for the product, and the talent was very happy to be invited.
The engineer is what I was training to be. The producer was paying for the product, and the talent was very happy to be invited.
So:
"The producer always knows when there's a problem, but never knows how to fix it."
"The producer always knows when there's a problem, but never knows how to fix it."
It's a version of "the customer is always right," and my job as an engineer was to listen to the producer, humor them a bit (maybe by turning a few knobs per their suggestions,) and then think my way through to the core problem, and fix THAT.
So, I've kind of come at this the long way round, but these days I look at the scene around me, and I'm definitely the producer.
I know there's a problem, but I don't know how to fix it.
I know there's a problem, but I don't know how to fix it.
Now, a good producer (per the terminology defined earlier) *knows* they don't know how to fix the problem. But they ALSO know that the problem won't get solved if they don't tell the engineer that a problem exists.
"The brass isn't brassy enough"
"The vocals aren't popping"
"This sounds like shit. Is there a shit slider you bumped? It's sounds like you bumped that slider all the way up."
Granted, some takes are more helpful than others.
"The vocals aren't popping"
"This sounds like shit. Is there a shit slider you bumped? It's sounds like you bumped that slider all the way up."
Granted, some takes are more helpful than others.
Anyway, when I "get political" here, it's not because I'm the engineer who knows exactly which slider to pull down. It's because I can definitely hear a problem, and the more I listen, the clearer it gets that somebody needs to move a whole bunch of these sliders.
(I should point out that a good producer knows that sometimes the problem is "this isn't the right engineer for this band" or "this isn't a studio I'm going to work with anymore." That problem typically outs itself with the engineer saying "nah, it's sounds fine to me.")
Now's a good time to share one of my favorite FAR SIDE comics: 
