Recording with Jack White
One of the greatest musicians of the early 2000s, Jack White has achieved success with multiple bands, most notably with the White Stripes, and with his solo band in the mid-2010s. With numerous awards for best rock song 'Seven Nation Army' (Childers, 2012), White has been one of the most closely observed artists for his recording and production techniques, and renown for his love of vintage mechanical implementations.
Jack White prides himself on his retro style of recording. Not only having an analogue approach, but a more passionate one to have a connection between the musician and what they are playing. White has expressed his philosophy in recording music by stating "If you can't do it in a couple of takes, then it's not a true thing; it's not honest (Newman, 2003)." His successful albums with The White Stripes prove how they did not care for greatly famous producers and expensive equipment, but more limitations seem to be in their favour by the success of their albums.
In more recent years, White still holds great success in his productions and expresses his love for live-band recording against the modern style of digital editing by saying, "The studio I set is designed to record live, the studio I designed is set up to generate that kind of music where we don’t record on Protools so we don’t spend two months clicking a mouse and fine tuning everything. Its just a way of getting something realistic on tape, something soulful and beautiful. It’s the kind of music we're all inspired by and its like our sound we would want people to hear us in that fashion - not chopped up in a kind of pro tools kind of way (Murray, 2009)." Whilst his opinions are seen as retro or stubborn, he still manages to find great success in the modern day with these methods of recording.
Jack White still uses the analogue approach to production as he finds it appropriate to release, not aiming to be heard on television or radio, but instead a vinyl player and other classic methods of listening to music. He states how even with his love of analogue recording that he "releases everything on vinyl as well as on digital. We spend 50 percent of our energy on the Internet presenting what we put out in the digital format. I live in that world, whether I like it or not (Tingen, 2014).” One of the biggest factors causing him to be successful in the modern era is bringing vintage methods of recording and projecting music, as well as indulging himself in the modern digital age of music to keep larger audiences interested in him, and ultimately interested in his ideas of how music should be made and heard.
References
Childers, C. (2012, July 1). No. 7: White stripes, ’Seven nation army’ – top 21st century hard rock songs Retrieved from http://loudwire.com/white-stripes-seven-nation-army-top-21st-century-hard-rock-songs/
Murray, R. (2009, October 30). Jack White Slates digital production. Retrieved from Clash Fashion, http://www.clashmusic.com/news/jack-white-slates-digital-production
Newman, M. (2003, March 29). The Beat. Billboard
Tingen, P. (2014, October ). Issue navigator. Retrieved from http://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/inside-track-jack-white
