Growing up in the '80s, a lot of my recreational listening was done on cassette in the car. Some say that MP3s are the cassettes of today. Do you think MP3s sound better than cassettes did?
See, I'm not so sure that they do. I mean, certainly the store-bought cassettes sounded horrible. But the mix tapes I used to make myself sounded pretty good. Better than MP3s. I say that because I'm going on memory. Cassettes didn't change the fundamental dynamics, stereo spread or reverb tails the way MP3s do. I can promise you that. The thing I like about MP3s, when I finally quit bitching about them, is the convenience, fun and quickness that you can have. But I can't fight for them in any way regarding fidelity or gaining any real information. It mortifies me if someone were to listen to my work to hire me based on an MP3. They sound terrible.
How much recreational listening do you do these days?
Since I've been cutting vinyl, a lot more. I'm back in! I'll go and buy the album or CD if it's something I like. Honestly I don't listen much in the car anymore — music sounds awful in the car to me. It wears me out and makes me grouchy. If I'm listening to music in the car it's something I'm working on.
What are you listening to that you didn't work on, but you really love?
Ray LaMontange's God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise. And his first one, Trouble, that Ethan Johns [Tape Op #49] produced, just knocked my socks off as well. I listened to that album for a while before I realized that the bass and drums were hard panned on opposite sides and his voice is in the middle. That's a good job — it didn't make me go, "Wow, everything is over there!" It wasn't until I was actually in the studio listening to it, trying to decode what they'd done, that I actually caught it. I think that sounds fantastic.
Who else?
Well, Jack White [Tape Op #82]. I love all his records, whether it is The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, or Dead Weather. I just like the attitude that's conveyed in his recordings. They're aggressive in a good way. You can hear that he made decisions along the way. That's something that I think is lost a lot these days. It's great to see 8-track recorders coming back into vogue. Yeah, man — you've got to put your drums on two tracks, and then you're done mixing your drums! [laughter] It's very brave, especially when you don't have to. I dig that. I can hear it and I can feel it emotionally.
