Steve Addabbo on comping

People think they can do ten tracks, comp it later, and then they’ll have a good vocal. That’s the furthest from my experience. You can have ten tracks that are wrong. It’s just not produced and not finessed to the point where you’re making sure every word counts. There’s diction. There’s clarity. There’s a storyline. There’s an emotional thread to it. There’s an arc of dynamics, and it all makes for an interesting listen. It’s easily swallowed up in our technology today of multitracks, editing, and everything else that can make it “perfect” but meaningless. I think it’s a real danger. I’m not saying digital or analog... I love it all. I’m not saying I don’t comp vocals, but I’m comping from performances. I’m not comping from people just singing it over and over again.