The Heroism of Retreat

There is a pretty legendary story that gets talked about in the studio world. It’s a story revolving around some of the greatest studio minds of their era (and possibly history), working on what many would consider one of the greatest songs on one of the greatest records of all time. The main characters in the story are legendary producer: Quincy Jones, Micheal Jackson, and Mix Engineer, Bruce Swedien.....and if you haven’t already guessed it the album was Thriller and the song was Billie Jean. As the story goes: Bruce Swedien had just finished his second pass of the mix for the song and he called Quincy Jones into the room to review. Q said that the mix was almost perfect, and asked Bruce to do another pass with the bass brought up a little, and Bruce did just that. Then Quincy listened to that mix, and asked Bruce to give some love to the snare....and then the kick.....and so on. This was in the days of analog tape so every mix was printed down to 1/2 inch tape. Ninety one mixes later (Yes, you read that right. 91. Ninety One. Nine. One) and it was time. Everyone gathered to listen to this new and improved hotter mix of Billie Jean...and everyone loved it. Well, almost everyone. Quincy asked Swedien if he could review some of the older mixes of the song. So, Bruce went to the archive tapes and retrieved some earlier mixes. Quincy asked to review mix 2, and that was the one, mix 2. Two out of ninety one. Billie Jean, one of the Biggest Hits on one of the greatest selling records of all time, with a dream team of talent from session musicians, Q as the producer, Prime Micheal Jackson (and even guest feature from a Beatle and an anonymous guitar solo from Eddie Van Halen). And there were nearly one hundred revisions to the mix....and they went with mix number two.

Now there are all sorts of lessons that I take from this story. One is that revisions are always part of the process, and that no record or mix ever feels perfect in the moment. We are trained, especially in the studio, to listen for the things that we like less. And no matter the situation...if I’m looking for something i don't like I can always find something. I was just watching an interview with the late Rob Reiner, and he was talking about how there is a shot in the Princess Bride that makes him cringe because of some lens flare....something that has brought so much joy, and magic to generations and all he can see is the one thing he could revise. Another thing that I take from the story is that one revision will always lead to the next one...adding more salt could require adding more sugar to balance it. But, what i am focusing on for this blog is the creative bravery of the retreat. The thought that Quincy Jones had for a moment that maybe even he is fallible. That maybe he lost a “great mix” in pursuit of the perfect mix or “the hot Mix” as Bruce Swedien put it. I’ve been as guilty of this as any of my friends, clients, or contemporaries. I have certainly found myself mixing the life and humanity out of a song only to backtrack and try to discover where it all went wrong.

I’m writing about this topic today because of a realization that I had. It was with an experience that i was having with AI prompts. Realizing that AI was just prompt by prompt dragging me deeper and deeper down a path that i didn't want to be on. As Artificial intelligence tools are used more and more in the creative world, music and media included, it is important to remember that It does and will continue to take you down into your wormhole your prompts might redirect it from time to time, but we almost certainly find ourselves getting deeper and deeper into the auditory version of “uncanny valley”. At no point will AI find its humility and say “maybe I’m on a wild goose chase and should go back to mix 2”. (many clients have heard me say that the eraser is just as important as the pencil, but thats a whole different blog to be written) Creativity is in many ways an act of reckless bravery, and sometimes the bravest thing that we can do is retreat; to realize that we are revising the humanity out of something that was great....until it was perfect.....perfectly awful.