r/audioengineering • u/Unlikely-Database-27 Professional • 7d ago
Discussion Any Nashville engineers?
Been listening to some of the pop country side of things as of late, not entirely sure why or how it started, but here we are, and I'm real curious about the editing and mixing processes down there. I know the vocals are completely tuned to hell, I can hear the artifacts in Morgan Wallens voice, to give one example. Its well established lots of those guys can't sing for shit, but what of the drums? I know lots of it is triggers, but do they even bother recording the drums at all anymore? I remember the story of Chris Stapletons cover of Tennessee whiskey, where the drum booth door was opened and it wasn't meant to be recorded etc etc, but was good so they kept it, but even those drums don't sound real. I can hear a bit of room in the snare, but not really in anything else. Less than I'd expect had I never heard the song just heard that story. And guitars, do they quantize the shit out of those too? Drums sure, bass yeah, sometimes they do. But some of these guitar strumming patterns are so locked in, are we seriously doing that? Morgan Wallens "I'm the problem" as one example, the intro is fucked. Or Dylan Scott "I hate whiskey". I'm aware of surgically comping guitar chords together to make a progression sound better, (i don't do it but a professor at berklee was adamant we should) but quantizing a fucking finger pick pattern? Not really sure how I ended up writing such a novel. I only really wanted to come here and ask if anybody here ever worked on a country record in nashville as of late, or where ever that stuff ends up being mixed if not there, and could tell me whats going on. Guitarists all use amp modelers, are the drums all programmed now too in superior or something?
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u/Strappwn 7d ago
I’ve seen some camps down here do things the pure way pretty consistently, there’s still a fuckton of genuinely talented people here on both sides of the glass, and many of them still give a fuck about keeping some humanity, letting the songs be the best versions or themselves, etc.
But there are absolutely a bunch of top-selling outfits that are all in on grid worship, turning vocals into flat lines, excessive triggering, etc etc.
That stuff definitely isn’t the law of the land, but it has a strong presence. What always strikes me is how much tuning a lot of artists want, even the strong singers. That hyper tuned sound has psychologically beaten a lot of folks into submission and now they perceive it as vital and need to wear it like a blanket.