Chapter 1
Impulses Are Good. They Tell You What Not To Do
Scott develops what he calls "prescriptions" for his projects. He describes them like this: "They're ways of getting into a piece without the confusion of too many choices. The approach can be as literal as limiting the types of equipment or selecting certain colors and images to get at a theme. This really started when John Vanderslice asked me to remix his Cellar Door record, which became MGM Endings. I simply needed a way of approaching each piece without becoming consumed with too many "what ifs." Around this time I felt like I was just shooting from the hip and repeating weaknesses I wanted to move away from. For me, the only way to do that was to move against my impulses. I decided on prescription #1: if it seems strange, keep doing it. It was a healthy change. Pulling up faders can lead you anywhere, so what if you only allow yourself to pull up two and execute every possible manipulation before advancing on the remaining faders?" I ask Scott if such a deliberate approach blurs the lines between "engineer" and "producer." He responds that it doesn't much matter and, above all else, he is simply someone who is intrigued by sound.
Solter tells another insightful tale. He was setting up for a tracking session with John Vanderslice and listening to Vanderslice strum what was to become "Trance Manual" from Pixel Revolt. Believing the song wanted to be more than an acoustic strumming affair, Solter began hearing a clock-like quality in Vanderslice's playing. The clock motif soon grew into bells (the kind played by gloved people in church). Solter contacted a local church and arranged to have some bells available for the next session.
Chapter 2
"I Am Deathly Afraid Of Being Dull"
Central to understanding Scott is understanding the difference between rules and parameters. Parameters form an artistic architecture that gives a project shape and direction. "Rules," on the other hand, are the domain of how-to books. I mention it mostly for this simple reason: Scott is not afraid to use exaggerated EQ during tracking. "I make things sound bright," he says without a trace of shame. "I make sure there's 5 and 6 kHz on everything. I EQ everything all the time. The virtue is not in being a 'purist.' The virtue is in the fact that you heard the need for something to happen and you made it sound fucking awesome." When I register my disbelief at his nose thumbing at the trend of recording flat, he scoffs. "I got an email from a Japanese kid who lost his virginity to the Lazarus record," referring to 2004's Like Trees We Grow Up to Be Satellites (The Backwards America). "That's more important to me than recording flat." The whole conversation ties back to one of Solter's prime motivators: hatred of dull sounds. It seems simple and maybe even obvious, but it's a thought that bears itself out beautifully throughout his body of work. Many of our great sonic architects have signatures, whether deliberate or not. Scott's defining characteristic might be that he's a thrill-seeker, constantly looking for ways to surprise himself.
Chapter 3
Water Is Gear
I wonder aloud how Solter orchestrated something as sublime as "Fade Out to Little Arrow," one of the crowning tracks from the Court and Spark's Bless You CD. I wonder if the crystalline, liquid sound came from the mic preamps, the microphones themselves or maybe the mixer or the tape machine. Turns out it wasn't so much the microphones. Or the preamps. Or the tape machine. So what was it? Water. When Scott says "water," he's talking both about the idea of water and the actual physical presence of water. For him, the conceptual plane must be adaptable to the real world of getting sound to tape (maybe the simplest way to say this comes from Solter himself when he says, "I'm a very literal person!") When a song's operative word is "water," does it mean you simply picture water during tracking? No. It means you get a water jug and you hold it between guitar amp and mic, creating a sort of seasick guitar tone. Water is no longer a concept. In a very tangible, literal way, water is in the music.
Chapter 4
Hands Are Gear
Scott's not big on "What kind of mic did you use?" conversations. As he puts it, "'What kind of mic' is 1/32 of the entire question. What kind of pick, what kind of strings, what kind of guitar... Just the guitarist moving the right hand closer to the bridge alters the sound." Amen.
Chapter 5
No Excuses
Solter feels a special allegiance to drummers who know how to tune drums. He admires guitarists who engage in what he calls the "laborious process of finding the right amp." He explains, "I've had guitarists tell me that tone is for guitar geeks and then be audacious enough to ask for a certain sound."
Chapter 6a
Commit
The recording notes on John Vanderslice's website explain that send/return effects are not used on some of the Vanderslice recordings. It's a point that nicely underscores one of Solter's maxims: he's not afraid to commit to an idea. He frequently prints effects, letting those decisions shape the sound of a song. Once I was stuck on a mix. I asked Scott for advice and he told me to run the drum sound through a low-pass filter and then build the rest of the song around the resulting submerged sound. It occurred to me that the guy believes in the moment — instinct and faith. Of that particular advice (filters being one of his favorite tools), Scott said, "You want to have that kind of power when you're designing sound." On the other hand, Solter is quick to point out that he's just as willing to go the send/return route if it suits him — as it often has in his remix work. "I'm a huge fan of adding anything, anytime, anyhow," he says. "Don't worry about fucking up. Don't worry about doing 'the wrong thing.' Don't worry about 'Is this weird, is this lame, what will people think?' When you're by yourself in the studio, you're awesome. The trouble happens when you start worrying about how your fans or the public will react. Don't fill your head with that kind of crap. You don't have an ounce of control over those things. If you did have that kind of control, I'd hope you were doing more important things than making a record."
Chapter 6b
More On Commitment
"All methods are valid," Solter continues. "The thing that has to be behind it is a total commitment. Don't interject future doubting. Don't think, 'What if it's not what I want?' I like commitment of sound when it's the product of present enthusiasm in creating a sound. Sometimes people record dry because they're wary of committing to something and think they will change it later. I absolutely disagree. I would never work that way. You should only put on tape something you feel attracted to, whether it's normal and clean or completely crazy, modified sound. Be so present that you're committing what you like at the moment. I don't believe in not committing to something because of fear. If you're working on the song right now, what are you feeling right now? Where is your interest in the song at that moment? Why are you recording the bass if you don't know what the bass should be? Why aren't you outside mowing the lawn? I don't want to record if I'm not sure what I want."
Chapter 7
Collaborate
"The ideal role for me is some kind of collaboration," Scott says. "This could be anything from arranging and orchestrating to tone-shaping. I don't consider myself a "musician" as much as "musical," but I prefer collaborative situations where each person's strengths and potentials are played up in the recording. A free exchange of ideas is a good place to start. It's taken me a while to learn all this."
Chapter 8a
Tape Is Cool, But...
In one of my first conversations with Scott, back around the time of Vanderslice's Life and Death of an American Fourtracker, Scott enthusiastically explained to me why he loved tape. He explained that "infinite sampling," as he called it, will always be better than a technique that only takes occasional snapshots of sound. It made sense then, and it still does. But when I recently asked him about this again, in the wake of both digital improvements and tape manufacturer meltdowns, his stance had understandably changed. "I use both mediums," he explained. "My personal standard is that I should know the mediums as well as possible, whether it's cutting tape, navigating the computer or filtering with a wire recorder. All sound is good sound; you just have to put them together as compellingly as possible. Not an easy task. I would say this though — I'm a little bummed by some naïve opinions about analog. The notion that analog machines are limited and that you can't, say, edit on tape like you can on a computer is bogus. Any real experience with tape machines and other analog devices proves this notion wrong. The strength of any sound is the strength of one's commitment to create it, regardless of the medium." Recently we talked about this again, wondering how or if Tchad Blake's fabled low- end sounds have changed in the wake of Pro Tools. (The verdict? Maybe, but he's brilliant either way.) Scott opined that tape captures more extended high-end, low-end, and harmonic content. However he quickly added, "That's of course if the machine is in good working order, headstack is in good shape, properly aligned, de-magnetized, clean, etc. This is the three-dimensional sound people hear when comparing the formats."
