Recording Protocol: Bad Edits.

There's nothing wrong with a bad edit, man.

Listen to "Revolver". Or "Pet Sounds". Or my beloved "Reggatta de Blanc".

"Revolver" is particularly fascinating because multitracking was sorta the new vogue and they almost went out of their way to make things sound overdubbed. Jesus- "Taxman" sounds like George set up a boombox next to a really good mic and just sang along to the track. I love that. The first two Police records have these edits obviously done to the two-track master that cut off reverb tails and stuff. Really hamfisted. Guys was cuttin' with a rusty-ass blade.

Bad edits are beautiful. It takes a lot of work nowadays with digitable to make an edit sound bad, but it's worth the time.

When I was recording on cassette four-track I used to take the blade to the cassette tape!! Ha ha ha! Just to be cool.

When we edited analog on the block, we always cut it at a wide-ass angle so each track would cut a fifth of a second after the last for smoothness. Smoothness! Yuck!

Oh, and that edit in "Strawberry Fields" that everyone's always on about? It's actually a brilliant edit. That one don't count, being all good and shit.