In this other thread: https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=848917 we started talking about the podcast Dissect, but it has evolved into a discussion about Series that break down music or other content in a fact-based, How It’s Made sort of way.
One of the best of these is Rick Beato’s Everything Music. The guy is a music instructor, deep into theory, jazz, etc., so can speak to that, but focuses on stuff non-musos can grasp even if the theory specifics sound like Charlie Brown’s Teacher. He. loves all music and can unpack a Soundgarden or A Perfect Circle Song really well. Thanks to pulykamell for pointing it out.
As part of his video series he has this: **Music Production - Andy Wallace Mixing Techniques. **Music Production - Andy Wallace Mixing Techniques - YouTube
Warning: this is inside baseball. In unpacking how this one, involved-in-EVERY-thing mixer, Andy Wallace, did his thing, you “won’t be able to unhear that” - it’s like learning where Strawberry Fields is sped up, slowed down and chop-edited. If you don’t want to spoil your magic, don’t read stuff like this. Cool?
I knew Andy Wallace was involved in everything. I knew Geffen had him remix Nevermind and that is part of what led Cobain to go with Albini for In Utero. I assumed he was one of THE guys who pioneered the LOUD mix, where everything is compressed into a narrower dynamic range so the entire sound can be pushed up louder. In fact, I thought that was the 90’s sound - that is what defined it, like use of a Chorus, out-of-phase guitars, synths and gated drums defined the 80’s sound.
This is far more revealing. The two big things I picked out were first: Andy Wallace heavily processed the bass after the track was recorded, and he always used a chorused bass sound. Man, once you hear what standard approach he took in adding a specific sound to the bass track after the player recorded it you will hear it in everything. I thought of it as a trend the bassists all followed, not the imposed edict of just one guy.
But the second is even more of a head twist for me: he replaced a track’s actually-recorded drum sounds with the exact same drum sample sounds, across some of the most famous songs we know. Beato toggles between a Rage song and a Linkin Park song and you hear that the snare, kick and toms are the same. Beato also shows how it’s done: with new tech back then, you could use the actual-recorded track’s drum hits to trigger the sample, so its sound was the dominant sound, but fit perfectly with the recorded drum’s timing.
My brain still hurts processing this. I have NO problem enjoying each of my faves from this period - a great song is a great song. But not fully appreciating how deep the connections were - those have been “hiding in plain sight” all this time - and again, now that I hear it, I hear it - that’s the mindfuck for me. It is cool, and interesting, and puts a perspective on the business of music, and it makes me think about how Wallace shaped the sound so he could package it up as loudly as possible. I just had no idea to what extent he did that. This rates a Keanu “Whoa.” in my book.
There should be a documentary to unpack this and include interviews with the various bassists who’s “sound” was not their own. Or drummers who must have had their melons tweaked when they heard “their” drums on the final cut. How was all of this processed behind the scenes while I was consuming each Wallace-mixed bon bon, blithely unaware?
If you knew this stuff, feel free to share, point and giggle. It was news to me.