Recently, I wrote an article called "The Importance Of Tuning" which addressed audio engineering side of recording guitars in tune.Well, this short little blog is called "The Unimportance Of Tuning".Let me explain.

Today, I attended a funeral.One of the songs played at the wedding was a song I recorded years ago.Actually, it was one of the first songs I had ever recorded.The song is actually quite phenomenal and brought everyone to tears.Well, it occured to me about 10 seconds into the song that something was not right.It turns out that the G string was obviously flat.The guitar was out of tune.Bottom line.

Well, as I said, this song was the one that pushed emotions over the edge for most people.I admit that it's one powerful song in that particular situation.So, what does this mean to a guy wanting to learn to be a producer?

I think it's clear that people aren't only concerned by being moved by a song.If you can write a song that brings out emotion in other people, you've got something.Again, the idea is not necessarily to write a song with emotion in it (that's sort of a given), but to bring out emotion in others (the hard part).

So, maybe the mega modern, perfectionist tuning that some producers feel is necessary for modern music is really a total waste.I know I've certainly heard songs that have had "perfect" tuning and production, but didn't move me.

I'm not so sure that this is an argument for recording your instruments out of tune, but it does seam that a truly great song will overcome flaws in engineering and even tuning.