On Blunderbuss, His Solo Debut, the Analog Purist Makes Spur-Of-The
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On Blunderbuss, his solo debut, the analog purist makes spur-of-the-moment choices and proves that you don't have to buy into the loudness wars to make a Number One record BY KYLEE SWENSON GORDON MAKTNG A gut decision has never been hard for Jack White. "If somebody asked rne, 'We're going to record a guitar part in a hotel room: What do you want in the room?' I'd say,'I want a lS-watt amp with a reverb, that Supro guitar, a ribbon rnicrophone, and a reel-to-reel,"'he reveals. "somebody else would say, 'Why don't you bring down ten of my Les Pauls, three Stratocasters, a Tele, four of the Silvertones, the Marshall, a TWin Reverb, six other amps, and we'll record 45 guitar tracks. And then I'n.r going to go on vacation and you engineers pick the best one."' While n-rany famous guitar players like to surround themselves witl-r nearly endless optior.rs, that's not a process that appeals to White. He's most comfortable making resolute selections made in the blink of an eye. "I make my decisions early on and eliminate right from the get-go so I don't have to make those choices down the road, because that just makes it harder on you," he says. The youngest of ten siblings, White took on a love for rock, blues, and country and started out as a drummer in local bands in Detroit. The singer and multi-instrumentalist has since paid his dues leading the White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and the Dead Weather, and he's col- laborated andfor produced artists ranging from Alicia Keys and Loretta Lynn to Conan O'Brien, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, and even In- sane Clown Posse. His latest project is his first solo effort, Blunderbuss, which debuted in April and was his first album to hit Number One on the Billboard 200 chart. OB.2OI2 EIVIUSIC AN.COIVl 19 \ '\s\ la Et\4ustc AN coM 08.20t2 He also heads up a record label and store, Third Mar.r Records, as well as his owr.r studio, Third Man Studio, ir.r Nashville. He loves vir.ryl, ancl he likes to prodllce expensively made nov_ elties such as liquid-filled and triple_decker t'ecords. "I want to make those thir-rgs exist,', he says. "I want to put vir.ryl in kids, hands.,' White is also an analog_tape loyalist, nos_ talgic for- the days before the aclver.rt of DAWs. "Yoi-r just didn't have any choices to labor upon ,,When back then," he laments. people say, I like this guy's record, but it,s overproduced,, ,What irs a producer I think, does that mean, overproduced?' I wouldn't want someone to say' 1ln1 about my music, and I don,t ever-r knor,r, what that word means. All I cnn think of ,opportunity., irs a synonym of that word is And that can be a bad thing for some people.,, The forn.rer chief engineer for Blackbircl Studio in Nashville, Vance powell_who en_ gineerecl and rnixed Blunderbuss at Third \{ar.r-is a bit r.nore outspoken on the subject of "opportur.rity.,' "To me, the biggest thing destroying modern rnusic is that no one will make a f,**king deci_ sion," Powell says with a laugh. ,,,I,ve gotta have irll rhese tracks and all these playlists ,cause ol cliffelent takes we might want to changc it later.' No! Don,t do that. Just say, '\-es! I bolclly go forward with this.,And thrt's tl.re great thing with Jack is that he nrakes bold decisions.,, To Powell, the lack of commitment in record_ ,.That,s ing'these days stems from fear. what putting ,,I offthose decisions is,,' he says. have tliis niotto, and that is, Just because you can do it tloesn't mean you should.,Just because you can irligl and tweak and tune and make a perfor_ rrirnce perfec! that doesn't mean you should do it. Humans are humans. The world I live in and machine that works ludicrously slow, and .lcfinitel1, it,s tell you: Just go with your gut. you're going tl.re world Jack lives in, sometimes tl.re just really to hard to punch in and out on. Some_ be \\'itrts are tl-re diamonds, wrong sometimes, but in the end so to speak.,' times you get vou,ll at it, sometirnes you clon,t. There least know Por.r.ell also believes the that you went with what you felt old tools to be tried have been times when we didn't and I,rn like, was the right thing to :nd rlue: "Egyptians built pyramids, and they do at the time.,, 'Well, we really liked that part, but now it,s .ii.ln't have ar-ry laser saws or huge trucks or gone. I'm sorry., And he'll just go, ,It,s okay. In the Live Room B lunderbuss :iirr thing'. And those things are pretty cool. We'lljust was largely -Z,rri3is.l do it again better."' tracked Let,s put it this live at White's Third Man Studio, way: We sure haven,t While White goes with his gut, he,s also apt with few overdubs. The lriit ;rnvrhing cooler that will still be standing studio includes two to change his mind about things like arrar.rge_ :t: 5.t)00 r.ears.,' 2-inch 8-track Studer.AB00 tape machines ments. And when and that happens in an ar-ralog a stereo-modified R!.cording in an analog studio, it l.relps that Neve desk originally from studio, it's nothing like a quick pro Tools Shuffie. \\ nir.. is I confidentp;uitar a broadcast studio in Johannesburg player and musician It takes hours. South And when he doesn,t change l.ris .,::J loe.sn't r.r-rind losing ,,Many Africa. The Studers run at the superslow good takes. times mind, he'll occasionally ,.There,s rate of regret it later. 7-1/2 ips. 'You get I r:n c' rrctualh' recorded over something we an hour and six minutes on a a consequence to making quick decisions,,, . .:c.1." Porr'c.ll ,,We're he reel of tape, and it has a clense, says. working on a tape effected sound,,, says. "But it's like any mentor or parent will ,,What Powell asserts. goes in isn't exactlv what ?o .. ,.r a:2012 CHALLENGING STEREOTYPES On tour tor Blunderbuss, White brings two bands: one with all-female musicians and one with all-male musicians. "l said, .What if I had two bands, and neither of them knows if they're going to play that night?"' he explains. "The idea behind the experiment is that it's really shaking things up. lt's been a really funny, strange learning experience for everybody in the camp. The novelty of it competing with the reality makes you think. You have people vocalizing stereotypes, like,'l saw both bands, and lthought the girls were gentler and warmer.'And l'm like, Are you craiy? The girls are kicking ass. They're playing twice as loud as the guys last night.' lt's funny' Sometimes people's preconceptions overpower what they're seeing and hearing with their eyes and ears.,' comes back, but what goes in is enjoyable. It tapes of outtakes. There's not an abundance doing, all these cats would have gone and allorvs you to be able to make a great-sounding of extra material, though. "If you take a White learned 'Jezebel'offof YouTube, would have rock record that can be played really loud if Stripes album like Elephcnt: There's only one come with a preconception of what it would vou want because there's none ofthat digital take of every song," White says. "That's it. If it have been, and they wouldn't have brought the harshness. We listened to 15 ips, and we were didn't sound good, we just erased it." urgency or excitement to that scenario." like, 'Wow, that sounds great.' Then we listened In the past few years, White streamlined That sense ofurgency played out repeatedly to7-l/2, and we were like, 'Wow, that sounds his decision-making process even more by through the course of recordingBlunderbuss. really. interesting."' producing 45s for other artists. "I started The album's first single-a quiet, drum-less Although only four of the 13 songs on this thing called the Blue Series where an ballad called "Love Interruption"-was record- Blunderbuss went to more than eight tracks artist-say, Tom Jones-would come into the ed live, in a2ox24-foot room, in one take. The (maxing out at l4), the track limitations still studio in Nashville, and I would ask, 'What full band recorded it once, but they ended up left plenty of decisions to be made.'you have do you want to work on?'And he would say, using the pared-down version with White on to make hundreds and hundreds oftaste 'I would like to do "Jezebel,"'this Frankie vocals and acoustic guitar, singer Ruby Amanfu choices all day longwhile you're working,' Laine song. I'd be like, 'Okay, what if I got singingbackups, and Brooke Waggoner playing White says. "If you're recording one song, and a harp player in here, pedal steel, a drum- Wurlitzer. Clarinet/bass clarinet player Emily 'r'ou have a few musicians with you and a four- mer, maybe I'11 play acoustic guitar?'And Bowland overdubbed her parts later.