The louder something is, the harder it is to ignore.

An easy enough concept,

Loud siren?

Loud screams?

Loud shouting?

These are things that are either designed or orchestrated specifically with the intent of being hard to ignore or miss.

But before I continue to depict a horrific accident with my above list of 'things you can't ignore very easily', let’s do some role play for illustrative purposes…

Scenario One

Imagine you were having a debate with a friend about the price of bananas in the UK. They are 10p more expensive than you think is reasonable.

While debating this truly important issue, you start to become really annoyed that your friend isn't taking you seriously. Your friend then moves the topic on and begins talking about "how the Wii was the best console ever made'.

"THE PRICE OF BANANAS IS REALLY CRITICAL AS OUR ENTIRE CULTURE IS FOUNDED ON BANANA PRICING" you scream violently at your friend, interrupting him.

In this scenario, you've raised your voice to be heard over someone else.

Simple, effective, timeless.

Shouting always gets the job done, and while it's a bit distasteful - it's pretty common. I'd say it's more distasteful than it is controversial.

Scenario Two

In an alternate dimension and household, two friends are having the exact same argument about bananas.

'Friend A', who we'll refer to as ANDY - begins to rattle on and on about how the USA are blowing up every third banana shipment 'due to spiders' or something like that. But 'Friend B' who we'll refer to as BARRY, doesn't really care about spiders.

Barry does though remember a really important point that he saw on BBC News last night.

So, Barry begins talking about this, with the hope of PWNING Andy on the finer statistics on spider-related deaths.

But Andy doesn't stop talking… even though Barry had decided that it was his turn to talk. Sadly, in this scenario - shouting isn't an option for Barry, as in a serendipitous twist for Andy - Barry just had throat surgery and can’t currently shout .

In this alternate dimension though, Barry is fully certified wizard. So just *clicks* his fingers, and within a second - the volume of Andy's voice sinks low.

Andy realises what's happened, and is horrified by Barry's application of magic on his voice…

These scenarios reflect a version of events that I believe is actually quite similar to music production.

Quite a stretch yes, but hear me out here!

In our universe, normal conversations (or arguments…) can operate similarly to scenario one (shout to be heard). Whereas music production operates quite similarly to scenario two (the use of ‘magical’ powers to be heard) - wherein Barry the Wizard becomes Barry the Producer.

Barry the Producer has the ability to choose exactly the things he wants to be heard, except it's not in conversive debates - it's in his mixes.

In very select circumstances, Barry possesses the magical powers to raise or lower the volume of others - although be it through faders in Pro Tools. Barry decides exactly 'what gets heard' within his mixes. Of course, those being mixed by Barry are consenting to having their volume &sound manipulated and adjusted in service of the product – but I feel Barry might be going a little bit OTT at times.

Let’s listen to one of Barry’s productions, Taylor Swift’s seven:

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Oh and Barry’s real name is Aaron Dessner (the producer of seven and the vast majority of Swift’s Folklore album).

Let’s begin to tie a bow on this,

Taylor Swift's seven. A song which starts with a mix that is admittedly rather emotive.

Some very nice piano, lovely doubled tracked guitar and layered vocals - and even a small string ensemble peaking around the corner, casually joining the campfire.

Everything is at peace in this introduction. And then the 40 second mark hits.

It's almost liked Dessner slapped a button labelled "cash cash money, don't do anything funny".

After the button gets slapped at the speed of light, the mixing aesthetic takes an intercontinental flight [what an epic rhyme] from ‘lovely indie mix’ to ‘here’s the star of the show, everyone be quiet and give them the limelight.' 

Any presence of idiosyncrasy surrounding the mix disappears, and it moves into what I see as a pre-meditated, stock mix template labelled ‘pop music’.

This view of mine can be attributed to an issue of personal taste, but the music that I truly love doesn’t seem to be forced into undesirable mix positions just to ‘pass’, like a version of BBC One’s ‘Hole in the Wall’ except it’s the ‘Music Production Edition™’.

That’s the thing about art (which naturally includes production). It shouldn’t have to (and in my personal style’s case doesn’t) conform to a ubiquitous template [something that I am quite certain that occurs within the mainstream music sphere].

My belief is that seven’s introduction wanders close to a style of music that requires authenticity, and it actually achieves that. However almost immediately afterward, it betrays the opening aesthetic – by shedding its authenticity simply so it can modulate into a ‘premeditated pop mix’.

Dave Pensado, in his production series Into The Lair [link to episode] – has referred to the ‘classic pop mix’ as having “a disconnect between [the vocalist] and the track. My ears are drawn too much to [the vocalist], and not enough to the groove.”

I mean take a listen to some of the following mainstream top 40 tunes – which all seem to follow a similar mixing template with vocals dominating the mix.

It doesn’t have to be this way though! Here’s some songs that don’t have such predictable mixes!

Anyway, back to seven.

After the 40 second mark, there are a few things happening with the instrumentation which I find to detrimentally juxtapose the authenticity of the opening moments.

-         The centre of the stereo field becomes reserved in its vast majority solely for T-Swift herself,

-         the instrumentation is pushed to the sides,

-         the volume of the instrumentation is also lowered.

Now my issue isn’t that the centre of the stereofield is where the vocals sit, and nor is it that the instrumentation is mainly occupying the side channels.

My issue is that the vocals are both louder, and mixed in a way that makes them seem more significant than the rest of the instrumentation. Especially having this bundled alongside a mix that is so predictable that anyone can find many songs that occupy a very similar mixing aesthetic.

And maybe that’s fair enough, I mean if you really pay attention to the backing instrumentation – you might notice that it’s not doing anything particularly revolutionary, and nor does it have to.

I’m also not saying there aren’t situations which benefit from having the vocals be louder/more noticeable than the instrumentation, but seven just feels like it just moves to this ‘default mixing position’ simply ‘because it works’.

Well, does the mix actually work? Technically - yes, it does. It’s of an industry standard, there are no technical issues – everything is audible and clear. But it also makes me feel slightly uneasy.

I think it comes down to the following;

I worry that having the vocalists ‘louder’ than everyone else communicates an incorrect and largely commercial set of desired mix attributes. A set of mix attributes that place vocalists on a higher plane of importance than the instrumentalists that often make up more than 75% of the substance of most songs.

There’s a balance to have, so why can’t mainstream music seem to find it?

Well, one thought I’m having is that that they’re using music as a medium to market an artist (or brand), instead of creating amazing music and marketing the music based on its own merits.

Mainstream music has long been a place where the name and voice behind the music, matters more than the music itself – and it just feels like a race to the bottom. It’s marketing through music, and I detest it.

There is so much good music out there that I’m constantly discovering, and the vast majority of the time I listen to amazing music and don’t even know who the artist is.

Does having such a global following, allow the quality of music that comes from mainstream artists to be lower than those that don’t have a platform of global proportions? Perhaps it is that unknown artists have more they need to prove, so they invest heavily in creating the best product they can. Where as successful global artists, have already done the hard work – they’ve made their fortunes by this point – so perhaps they don’t have to work as hard to maintain it?

In any case, this all came about because I felt betrayed by Swift’s seven. It opened very appropriately and kept within the rough traditions of what I might refer to as ‘an indie mix’. And then, almost as soon as I had dropped my guard, and accepted it based on its opening merits – it shanked me in the ear.

But I digress, perhaps there’s time for mainstream music to learn more humility – and give instrumentalists a bit more focus than they usually seem to get. Let’s, as producers – use our ‘magical powers’ for good, and strike a balance that is artistically warranted.

In wise words reminiscent of Pensado,

My ears are drawn too much to the vocalist,

and not enough to the music.