Is Clarity more important than making a song?

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crimsonhawk47

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I was listening to some tracks from Sting the other day.

Now it's hard to maintain a clear picture of modern music and then Sting, as he has had a ridiculously long career and has definitely gotten more modern with his latest release.

But I was listening to some of the tracks, especially the chorus of A Thousand Years. Those tracks just do not have the same clarity that more modern productions have.

This is obviously personal preference, but I was also reading about The Wall Of Sound. This seems to still be used in pop production. One such example is Alex Da Kidd (Radioactive, Words I Never Said, I Need A Doctor).

Listen to words I never said. The drums practically disappear in the chorus. Now we know those songs were billboard-charting-whatever-super-nonsense-hot. I'm not saying you should be taking tips from pop music if you don't like it, but I don't see why every instrument needs to be heard if the record sounds good. Especially since a Wall Of Sound production can still have dynamics, it just means the Wall Of Sound comes and goes. A couple of Alex Da Kidd's tracks have the bass only come in on the chorus. I think it's really cool when a track sounds kinda big without being clean. It's like the whole track is one instrument.

Your thoughts?

*edit* I seem to be editing posts a lot lately. I do mean all of this with the giant asterisk that the vocals are coming through cleanly (except for maybe some hardcore metal where they'd prefer to have the vocals less focused, as some bands do). I'll also periodically throw in tracks I consider to be more of a wall of sound.

Pretty much anything made by Alex Da Kidd
Kings Of Leon - Use Somebody (at the chorus)
 
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I have never quite grasped the idea of every sound crystal clear and audible in the mix at all times. To me, music starts from a line that I make up in my brain. And each sound is being born from that line and spread outwards, upwards and downwards, all seemingly being as much a part of the sound that comes before it as after. One sound comes out of another and merges with the next. Like the music itself looks like the spectrum of frequencies being flung out into the stereo image like solar flares.

I don't like overly clear mixed tracks as they tend to sound separated and when the line in my head is not there and I can't hear melodies in between rhythmic elements that aren't really there, I'd say there's something fundamentally wrong with the musical piece in question and I think for myself, that it can be traced back to unnaturally separated sounds.

To me each sound should lead into the next in a somewhat liquid fashion.

We're essentially toying with the frequencies of the universe when we work with audio, and in the universe, everything is connected.

So my answer would be no, quite the opposite actually. Making the song is much more important than clarity.
 
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Yes clarity is important if you are after that sound from the jump, if not then dont worry about it, i used to beat myself up trying to make everything clean. Don't use to many sounds at any given time and you will have space for everything.
 
Clarity is important. But it cant be more important than making a song....if you didn't make a song what is there to give clarity?

I think the end goal of a production is the whole track to breathe as one. Whether its clear or muddy is the style of production and genre
 
Wapiti said:
Clarity is important. But it cant be more important than making a song....if you didn't make a song what is there to give clarity?

I think the end goal of a production is the whole track to breathe as one. Whether its clear or muddy is the style of production and genre
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Of course, you know what I mean. I don't mean literally the non-existence of a track. I mean should the track even be considered a good production if there isn't perfect clarity, and if it isn't should you keep it to yourself or change the production.
 
crimsonhawk47 said:
Of course, you know what I mean. I don't mean literally the non-existence of a track. I mean should the track even be considered a good production if there isn't perfect clarity, and if it isn't should you keep it to yourself or change the production.
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That's where I think it comes down to "normal people" and music producers. I say normal people I mean the average people who don't actively listen to music. I think muddy mixes are absolutely passable, every producer is learning and every mix should be an imporvement in some way in theory. I think it is amazing when you see an artist/producer progress in their mixing skills from release to release. But music should never be disregarded if it's muddy. However there is still a line between muddy and sludge.

Just my opinion though
 
Not everything in a mix needs to be clear. Particularly in dense mixes, some things are just meant to run together. I'm producing a pop record - we laid down electric guitars on the chorus. I had the guitars lay down the same riff on an acoustic and double it up. The average listener will probably never identify the presence of an acoustic guitar on the chorus, but it will aid to a bigger fuller sound when the record is done.

But FYI, Wall Of Sound is absolutely not used commonly in modern records. It's a bit more specific than just lots of layering.
 
it depends on you and the music you are mixing. Before I used to hear a song just as one big blend, a complete package. Nowadays after reading and learning so much about mixing, I can see how the producers mixed their stuff and each sound really stand out now, because I examine what I am listening to. Which is sad, because some songs I liked before, Now that I know how to mix, i'm like "they could've mixed that one better."

But sometimes people put to much stereo , which creates huge gaps between each sound and makes it seem as if it's not one song, rather multiple instruments playing at the same time.

I think when people mean clarity, is that one sound won't cut off another. In the song, "words I never Said", true the drum gets covered by everything else during the chorus, but you can still hear the kick and the snare, it's not like the other sound have completely covered the drum.

Clarity is about being able to hear every sound, EQ so that muddiness to come and **** up your mix.
 
Agree ^

Mathew makes a point though which is what i was saying, it depends on the sound you have or are making. Is it dense/thick? Sparse and spacey? just depends..
 
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