Many artists are imbued with an intangible quality that makes them compelling to an audience or a viewer. For that matter, many politicians, athletes and business people maintain an intangible aura that often defines their careers as well and — while they may be analyzed, criticized and ostracized for all their quirks and idiosyncrasies — they still preserve a quality that makes them persuasive and successful in their chosen profession. If we examine the strengths and weaknesses of athletes such as Muhammad Ali, Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter, we can come up with very definitive reasons for their success, but while their records might be exemplary, there is still an unlabeled intangible quality that propelled each of them to notoriety, fame and greatness.
I used to deal with a lot of different A&R people at record labels, and when I asked them what it was they were looking for in a prospective artist they would all give the usual answers, such as good songs, great voice and a good stage presence. Although, when they were asked to define a good song, great voice and good stage presence they were hard pressed to come up with a definitive answer, citing only that they would know it when they see and hear it. That said, there have been thousands of people with the aforementioned attributes, but only a handful of these aspiring artists make it to the top and sustain a career. Artists such as Axl Rose, Bob Dylan, Madonna, Britney Spears and Neil Young — to name a few — have managed this feat and I would bet the little money I have that none of them would have made it out of the first round of American Idol or The Voice. Yet they endure — and again I note — it must be due to a quality that cannot be defined.
On the flip side, many of these beloved artists met with rejection when they first attempted to break into the business. This could only mean that the A&R people in charge of finding future stars did not always know it when they saw it, which then leads one to question when the intangible might become tangible. A&R persons who are lucky enough to lay claim to the discovery of a great artist could easily rest a whole career on their one finding — even if they never achieve the same prominence again. This, of course, then brings into question the intangibility of actually being able to recognize the intangible. After all, the intangibility of greatness is not always recognized in a judicious fashion and may even need time to manifest itself. For example, before any of the previously mentioned artists sustained a career, there was no telling that they would even have a career. Think of all the artists and wanna-be artists who barely received any recognition. Was it a matter of the intangible going unexpressed, or was the intangible just so elusive that it went unrecognized?
Defining the Undefinable
The indefinable something that makes a painting by Van Gogh so great was not so easily recognized during his lifetime and, just like the intangible something that makes for one’s great success, there is probably some ethereal essence that goes the other way. Child actors may have the intangible quality at a young age that fully enthralls an audience, but in so many cases, it doesn’t translate into a sustained acting career as an adult. If there is a certain je ne sais quoi that makes for the successful artist, actor or musician, then it’s this same indefinable quality that also comes and goes. For example, there is an intangible quality that still keeps the image of Marilyn Monroe and James Dean burning bright in current culture, even after 50 or 60 years since their passing. Quite possibly if they had lived to a ripe old age, this same quality might not exist.
Defining the intangible value of something is like a riddle that cannot be solved, though chasing the elusive can be an interesting past time. Take, for example, the intangible quality that makes for a hit song. While one could easily analyze the rhythm, chords, melody and lyric of a hit song, the utilization of the same tangible information would not ensure that a hit could be written again using the same elements.
The Intangible Live Mix
In the same manner, an engineer might fail to recall a brilliant mix from a previous show, even though he/she is in possession of all the required tools from the night in question. For some reason or another, that intangible luster is missing. The mix is good, everything is in place and done correctly, but it’s just not the same transcendent mix that the engineer remembers. Sure, there are extenuating circumstances such as being in a different room, the band might be tired or the audience is not as responsive, but those are very tangible things. What is missing is the thing that one can’t quite put a finger on, the unseen glue that takes the whole mix one step higher.
After the show, the intangibility of the elusive mix keeps haunting the engineer as the crew boards the bus to head off into the night en route to the next gig on the tour. The thoughts roll around in his/her head as they ponder ways in which they might have improved the mix. Maybe removing an effect from the vocal channel or using a different plug-in might have made the difference? Possibly a different mic on the kick drum would have helped? Maybe equalizing the guitar differently or changing the threshold on the C6 plug-in across the mains would have made the difference? The minute detail of the mix keeps torturing the poor engineer even after he/she climbs into his/her bunk for a fitful 65-mile-per-hour sleep.
The unanswered questions can keep the engineer tossing and turning. In the morning upon arriving at the next venue, said engineer is anxious to fly the rig to see if there is a bad amplifier, damaged cable, bad speaker or something in the software that was being run. The engineer gets the system rung out and the band comes on stage for the sound check. The session file is loaded, and the band begins to play. It sounds amazing, the mix is perfect and the whole thing feels great.
The engineer is ecstatic that it’s going well and, for the moment, all the demons wrestling with from the night before have been banished from all thoughts. He/she knows that something has changed. It’s nothing big, it’s almost indiscernible, and it may even be that it’s not due to the engineer’s skills or capabilities, but there is a change. Try as they may, they just can’t get a handle on what it might be, and the answer appears just out of rational reach since it is so inconceivably intangible.
