Recording Artist Advocate: Brain, What is brain?

That’s a line from an old Star Trek. You may remember the episode where Spock’s brain is stolen and used to keep a society’s infrastructure working. I think it replaced a broken AC unit or something like that. (Those control boards are expensive and the repair guy was light years away. And it was the weekend.)

Anyway, they rescue his brain and put it back in his body with the help of a teaching machine that could make anyone a genius… at least for a little while.

The people in that society had become docile and simple minded after generations of having everything done for them. One of the most simple minded learns the complicated brain surgery and does all the work while “Bones” watches with his usual weird/amazed/horrified look. As soon as she finishes up she forgets how to do it and goes back to her regular life.

There is some social commentary there for us today, and it’s really amazing that the writers thought about that so many years ago, but that’s not what I meant to talk about.

We have access to that “Knowledge Machine” right now. Really, there is no longer an excuse to say, “I don’t know” about anything.

Ask the Google about anything and its right there; the answer and several conflicting opinions in less than a second.  

Last night I needed to create a click track that would change several times during a song. I couldn’t remember how to do that in ProTools. But in a few minutes I had it done after watching a YouTube video from Graham at The Recording Revolution.

Someone, somewhere, has made a video or written an article about anything you want to know.

What do you want to learn? How are other bands promoting themselves? TuneCore has hours of videos with fantastic advice from industry leaders. I really can’t believe how much they give away – for free.

There was a time when knowledge was guarded and doled out a little at a time. Not anymore.

If you want to know, it’s there for you.

Recording Artist Advocate: 2 is better...

Once I recorded a guy who was so consistent in his singing and playing that we actually couldn't tell the difference between 2 takes. I finally pasted them on different tracks and lined them up together to compare. At first I thought I'd just made a copy of one track, but they were slightly different. 

That is rare. And when you are stacking vocals or layering guitars it's not uncommon that you have to massage the tracks a little to make everything line up right.

One solution with guitar parts is to feed the signal from the guitar into several amps at once. The resulting tracks will line up perfectly and each amp delivers it's own unique sound.

But you can't just use a splitter cable, and even pedals with multiple outputs can be a problem if the outputs aren't isolated. Nasty hums and ground loops can result. Lift the ground from one of the amps and you could get a shock when you touch your mic.

There are several boutique solutions, some with 5 or more outputs. But they can be expensive, and do you really need that many outputs? Through guitar playing friends I found a simple fix. Google "Lehle" and you'll see several solutions. 

We've used the P-Split and the Dual Amp Switcher. the Dual also has an output to feed a tuner. The best thing about these splitters is the high quality isolation. Your tone is preserved and noise floor kept as low as possible. 

Stacking or blending tones is not new, but there are smarter ways to do it. Get the best sound you can and do it safely.  You're welcome.  

Recording Artist Advocate: Christmas Shows!

I hope you've booked some Private Christmas Parties. It's like picking up money off the ground.

Every holiday has these and you need to be playing as many as you can. Those people who like your music, and can afford to put on big parties, can be very good for your career.

Pay attention. Even the guy who wants to put on a show so he can be a big shot is still paying you. So what if he gets a little full of himself and wants to make announcements during your breaks. When he goes long that's less time you have to play. You're still getting paid!

Oh, and here's a tip: schedule your finishing time at 11:00 instead of midnight. That way you have agreed upon pay and you can always play the extra hour for more money... and they'll always want the extra hour!

Put "Private Party" on your website calendar when these are scheduled. (Or even when they're not) It lets people know you do private parties and may get you some inquiries.

Since most of your regular gigs are Friday and Saturday, book as many weeknight "Specials" as you can. You may get to the point that instead of getting together to practice, you're getting together to do shows and making extra bank. 

Private parties are some of the most intimate shows you can do and those people can be some of your best fans. Treat em' right and it will pay off for a long time. 

Recording Artist Advocate: The Journey Continues...

Some time ago we started working with an acoustician to make the control room here at Rough Wood Recording Studio better. It's always been good, and I've been able to improve it incrementally, but there has always been a bump here and there in the very low frequencies. Just one of those things that bugs me, but I've been able to work around it. 

Acoustic Fields showed me a way to work on the low end and still have room left in the studio. Some low frequency sound absorbers are several feet thick. I'm building some very heavy low frequency sound absorbers that are surprisingly thinner. So far there are 4 placed in the room and I have to say it's already made a big difference. Eventually there will be at least 10 of these diaphragmatic absorbers in here. Maybe more. We can't wait to hear it finished. (...if you can ever be finished.) 

Any room you play in will reflect sound back unique to that space. You've probably noticed it from venue to venue. Some rooms are a pleasure to play in and some just aren't. A good sound person will make the most of anywhere you play. They are definitely worth their pay.

Here's hoping you find good places to play and your shows sound great.

When you want to sound your best, recorded, come hear yourself at Rough Wood Studio. 

Recording Artist Advocate: Let's take a picture...

We were in Nashville many years ago when a door was accidentally left open allowing a group of fans into what was supposed to be an intimate meet-and-greet with a top level artist. It started out as a great event with a lot of one-on-one time and turned into a giant wave of fans. To his credit, the artist realized it was going to run past lunchtime and had an assistant order a bunch of pizzas. So it cost him 5 or 6 hundred dollars, those people will be his fans and tell that story from now on.

When you make it big will you respond with the same skill or will you throw a fit that things aren't happening the way they were planned. I promise that if you treat people like they don't matter, they will make it their mission to tell everyone they can. You may even have videos floating around of your tantrum.

On the other hand, if you do handle these situations well, you've got an army of fans spreading the word about how great you are. Research shows that people don't believe hype or advertising any more, but they eat up testimonials.

Real matters more than ever. Go straight from the stage to the merch table. Sell and sign everything you can. Let people take pictures with you and get those e-mail addresses. Follow up and offer special stuff they can't get anywhere else. Smart bands have private videos only available to people who gave an e-mail address. Those "insiders" influence others and can put you over the top. 

If you are superficial, the fans are all the same. But if you really pay attention and engage with them, you will see a great group of unique people who in turn see something special in you.  What more could you want?