>
> Most assuredly every writer does not like every editor he/she is ever
> assigned to work with, but I've never been in a position where I just handed
> my manuscript to an editor and said "Here, change it at will." There's a
> give and take there, much like what El Presidente Gracey described.
>
Looking back on this thread (that was Shane excerpted above, and below),
it's becoming evident that of the many facets of music we can discuss
around here, production is perhaps the most slippery. Since music
appreciation is inately subjective, and, lacking personal testimony from
the participants, it's impossible to really know how a producer and artist
are collaborating, arguing about production is sort of like arguing about
which primary color is prettiest. And I started the damn thread! Anyhow,
in my own arbitrary, subjective head, I do prefer to maintain the myth
that the artist is the one calling the shots on production. As for Chet
Atkins, since most of the artists he worked with wound up receiving
similar arrangements for their tunes, I'd say that's fairly good evidence
that he was calling the shots. That doesn't mean the artists had a problem
with his choices (though I don't know that you can assume perfect harmony
on those choices either).
>
Yes, young upstart writers don't always get the luxury of choosing their
> editor, but a good editor worthy of the job title doesn't take the writer
> out of the editing process-- indeed, the writer is the key ingredient in the
> editing process.
>
As an editor, and a writer, I'll just say that it pisses me off when a
writer leaves all the work to me, as an editor. The final product is going
to look a lot more like what the writer intended, if he or she thinks it
through, and does internal editing him or herself, before handing it to
me. So, maybe in the same way, I prefer those producers who gently usher
the artist through the process, and expect the artist to call the shots on
fundamental issues, such as, do we use a 40-piece orchestra, or just call
in Del McCoury et al. With the caveat, of course, that sometimes my sense
of how the record came to be is fabricated in my own head, molded with my
own preconceptions and dispositions. -- Terry Smith
np Bobby Bare/Chet Atkins again. "The Game of Triangles" is a killer song.
I'm wondering how it would go over here in the late 90s. It has one line
that goes something like this, "A woman can't steal a husband who's happy
at home." Yikes.
