Working on this recording this weekend I was reminded of a guiding maxim for recording drums: feel trumps tone – every time.  This is sort of the opposite of physics or thermo dynamics.  It basically says that when you are trying to marry two or more instruments together in a song, you should always choose the instruments with the best feel; even if that means sacrificing the version with the best aural recording quality.

I won’t bore you with the particulars because it gets into all kinds of boring, mic technique engineering garbage that doesn’t really matter.  I think the overall lesson is the important thing.

When we listen back to some of the greatest recorded works ever – Robert Johnson, John Bonham, Frank Sinatra – it’s seldom those with the best sonic fidelity that send us over the edge with delight.  In fact, some of my recording engineer pals would say that these performances sound lousy.  Yeah, friends, but they feel great.

People don’t feel sonic fidelity, engineers do.  People feel performance, they feel passion; people feel feel.

Go with the best feel.