Throughout his career, Jack White has felt a strong need to do things the old-fashioned way, which has often meant that he’s made things more difficult for himself than they needed to be. For example, in a new Rolling Stone cover story, White talks about mixing a Dead Weather album without the use of automation, meaning that to use effects like reverb on certain tracks, they had to apply those tweaks in real time. If they messed up, they had to start over again from the beginning of the song. This automation technology, by the way, has existed since 1973.
On Boarding House Reach, though, White has finally decided to use easier modern recording and production techniques, and Chris Rock was the straw that broke the camel’s back. From the story:
“But it was Chris Rock, who did a set in Third Man’s event space last year, who really got under his skin. ‘Nobody cares how it’s done!’ Rock told White, in passing. He was joking, but not really.
‘I wish he wouldn’t have said that to me,’ White says, shaking his head, ‘because it’s haunting my days. Because I’ve built my whole artistic creativity on this. But he’s right, because nobody f-cking cares! Even musicians don’t f-cking care. You know?’ He describes showing ‘modern musicians’ his setup — the tape reels, the vintage Neve recording console — to which they respond, ‘Well, I’ve got a computer.’ White bursts out with that laugh.”
He goes on to explain the modern conveniences he’s taking advantage now, which include the use of Pro Tools for editing. In the full story, White also talks about covering a song from Al Capone, rap music, and his thoughts on DJ Khaled, so read the whole thing here.
