The Triangle of Direction
An artist comes to you with a song and wants to record. What direction will the project take? What will it sound like? Do you have a vision for it? This is where the Triangle of Direction is incredibly useful.
The relationship between the points on this triangle critically shape every record making process. Becoming aware of it will save you time and help you more confidently direct the sound to make great records.
The components:
Song: The lyrics, melody, and chord changes comprise the song. The song is the habitat in which the production lives. The song trumps the other two factors in the pyramid. It should guide the sonic direction more than any other factor. The saying, “A great song makes a producer’s job easy” is very true. It is also the benchmark for every other dimension of production. For these reasons, it’s at the top of the triangle. If you attempt to ignore the song and solely lean on voice and references to guide the sound, you’ll end up with something disjointed at best.
Voice: The artist has a voice. I’ll call it a voice, but it may be a primary instrument. It can be the sound of the lead singer’s voice with the backup singer. It can even be the collective sound of the whole band playing and singing. It’s the sonic element that would still be present even if the music were a different genre altogether. This is the second most important factor in the Triangle of Direction. Voice colors the whole project and gives significant guidance to the other components of the Triangle of Direction. If you ignore the character of the voice and lean too heavily on song and references you can end up with something that sounds a bit karaoke. On the other hand, if you lean too heavily on this parameter you will end up with a project that is overly focused on the ability or vocal characteristics of the singer.
References: References are the last of the three factors, but this component is the most misused. References can inspire a project to reach new heights of creativity or they can derail an original idea and hijack the production process with improper comparison. Many times, references are the artist’s favorite songs by other artists. References can also include the artist’s prior music. One of the challenges of references is when they have very little in common with the artist’s voice and songs. In that case it’s a producer’s job to discern what can be gleaned from them for the project. Lean too heavily on the references, and you’ll end up ignoring what is unique about the artist and their songs. The end result will be a watered down version of the reference. If you ignore the references, you risk straying too far from the sonic territory the artist had in mind. This can result in many rounds of revisions to rein it in. The best way to use references is to let them guide the overall flavor but not the ingredients.
The Sweet Spot: In a perfect project, you land in the center of the triangle on a sound that is unique and well suited to the artist’s voice and songs, with easy association to some of their favorite references. This is the sweet spot.
How to Employ the Triangle of Direction:
Now you know the three points of the triangle. How do you use it? Does the voice fit the songs perfectly while the references give a fitting sonic territory to both? If so, you’re ready to start recording. If that’s not the case you’ll want to assess the situation. First, determine how big your triangle is. Sometimes the references are so different from the voice and the songs that your triangle will look more like a tipped over steeple. Other times the songs and the references are in the same camp but the voice feels out of place. I typically determine which of my points is fixed and which ones have flexibility. Making the triangle smaller is very helpful to landing on the sweet spot. Do you need new references? If not, can the songs be rewritten subtly to feel closer to the references? Are there some small coaching adjustments that will pull the voice closer to the songs and references? Of course, these decisions should be made in conversation with the artist.
Bermuda Triangle: There are circumstances in which a production team fights hard to reach one point of the triangle without regard for the other two. Usually it’s the references they chase while forgetting they are anchored by the artist’s voice and particular songs. This chase has no end. You may not drop off the map like the infamous Bermuda Triangle, but you will be quite lost. No matter how close you get to the references, the greatness you enjoy about them will be out of reach because the artist has their own voice and their own songs. As a producer, explaining the Triangle of Direction to the artist can be very helpful in order to avoid a Bermuda Triangle situation.
Of course, no work of art is a mere formula. There are factors at play that no framework can account for. That’s one of the things we all love about art. This concept, however, can help get your next record started down the right path.
Happy producing!
PS: Before you decide what direction the project will go, you have to decide whether or not to work with that particular artist. Deciding who to produce is what Steve Lillywhite (producer of U2, The Rolling Stones, and Dave Matthews Band) calls the most important production decision of all. In an upcoming post I’ll talk about how to make that decision.