SnowGhost Music

In the previous post, there was talk of the shitty album. Closer inspection of said blog would reveal that ‘shitty’ referred to the overall quality of an album as a musical piece of work. Something that somehow didn’t occur to me at the time, despite the fact that we here at SnowGhost are complete wine snobs of audio quality, was the sonic production value of an album. Obviously, though this wasn’t so obvious to me very recently, the way an album is recorded and how it sounds is crucial to the level at which one can enjoy it. A shitty-sounding album, even if it is full of great songs, is still shitty, right? Or is it a great album that transcends sonic concerns because it is a marvel of songwriting, band cohesion, emotional capture, or absolute introspection?

I recently read a random album review of a random band on a random website. As a middle-schooler might say, it was very random. The reviewer brought up immediately that the album sounded like shit, and that maybe the band even wanted it to sound like shit, but it was great anyway, and isn’t the point of lo-fi Indie rock to scoff at the silly fidelity concerns of the man and just crank it up and send the message?

Um, well, maybe. But back in the day, quality recordings were not just a laptop and a decent microphone away. It used to be that anything put on to tape outside of an actual studio that sounded somewhat polished was pretty remarkable, especially if it wasn’t just a voice and a guitar. I can remember people actually recording band rehearsals with cassette recorders. And sometimes it even sounded decent. This was okay because this was all we had, and we knew that if it didn’t come wrapped in plastic or have a bar code on the packaging, it wasn’t going to sound good.

But things have changed very quickly. People with absolutely zero musical talent can buy a Mac and a few programs and a microphone, spend some time alone with some manuals and instruments, and they can eventually produce something that blows anything recorded in the ‘80s out of the water. So I think it’s fair to say that if your album is recent, and it still sounds bad, then you have indeed produced a shitty album. Recording technology has never been more user-friendly or affordable as it is now. This is not only good because it coincides with the fact that it has never been more difficult to make money from music production, but also because it allows anyone who cares about making good music the ability to do so and have it sound relatively good.

When The Creek Drank the Cradle came out in 2002, it was widely hailed as an astonishing record. Sub Pop had received the album as a 4-track demo from then-unknown Sam Beam, who went by the name of Iron and Wine. The album was so haunting, evocative, heartbreaking, and stunning that it was released as is. I am a huge fan of this album. I agree that it is an incredible album, not only for the songwriting, but also for the production, at least in terms of instrumentation and execution. But from an audio snob’s perspective, it’s hard to listen to. I can’t help but dream about how good it would sound if they could’ve just dragged Sam Beam into a studio and ordered him to re-do it all in front of million-dollar equipment. But it was okay the way it was, and for what he had, he did a fine job.

So fast forward to 2007, and the title track to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s Some Loud Thunder. This track was recorded in a studio with a well-known producer, and yet it is one of the worst sounding tracks I’ve ever heard. It sounds bad intentionally, and this is where I have to draw the line. If you have the technology to sound as good as you can, then why not try it? I’m all in favor of picking a track that had a better vibe or take than one that might otherwise sound a little better, but sounding bad on purpose is ridiculous. And thus releasing anything that sounds like it was recorded underwater or underneath a lawn mower is weak, even if it’s from a home-studio, because we know you can do better. And I don’t care how emo or lo-fi or middle-finger to the man it is, it just doesn’t sound good, and these days, there’s not many excuses not to.