Getting The Best Out Of Musicians In The Studio

I'm just finishing up proofing a new book called "The Music Producer's Handbook" and I thought now might be a good time for an excerpt. Here's a section called Getting The Most Out Of Musicians that's a few simple observations that have served me well over the years. There are also a couple of other excerpts on my website.

Even if a musician is completely comfortable about his environment and headphones, there are things you can do to help him take his performance to another level. Unless  you’re a studio pro, most musicians can be very self-conscious about what they’re playing, especially after hearing a playback that uncovers some flaws they were unaware of until that moment. It’s important that their confidence doesn’t flag and it’s directly up to you to keep that from happening. Here are a few tricks that will help.

• Stay positive. Regardless of how badly things might be going, how off-key someone is singing, or how out-of-the-pocket someone is playing, never be negative in your body language or your comments. Remarks like, “You suck,” or “That really sounds bad,” don’t ever help the situation and can even completely undermine a performance. If something isn’t going as well as you think it should, give the player a reasonable chance, sit him down for a listen in the control room, then firmly but respectfully describe why the part isn’t working.

• Explain what’s wrong. Players hate it when they’re just told to, “Do it again,” without any explanation as to why you think what they just played wasn’t good enough. If the take wasn’t a keeper for any reason, explain what was wrong in a kind and gentle way. Statements like "I think you have a better one in you," or “I’ve heard you play it with more excitement before,” might work if you can’t put your finger on the problem, but players appreciate it if you can be specific so they can concentrate on that part the next time they play it through. “You’re falling behind the beat every time we come out of the chorus,” is an example of a specific statement. If the player continues to get it wrong, make sure you play the part for him so he can hear it clearly and understand what you’re going for.

• Keep the studio talkback mic on. Communication is one of the most important, yet sometimes overlooked parts of a successful session. Players hate it when they’re speaking to you from the studio and either you’re not aware that they’re trying to get your attention, or you simply can’t hear them. Make sure that the engineer puts up a dedicated talkback mic in the studio and that it’s turned on immediately after every take. It’s important that you don’t miss a single word.

• Keep the control room talkback mic on. Players also hate when there’s long periods of silence from the control room after a take. They might see a conversation going on, but if they can’t hear it, many players get insecure and feel isolated. You may be having a conversation about what kind of take-out food to order, but as far as the player can tell, you’re talking about how bad his performance was and how you’d like to replace him. Get rid of the insecurity by latching the control room talkback so he can hear you all the time between takes. Once again, communication is the key to a successful session.

• If a player asks to play it again, let him. You may think that the player just nailed the ultimate take, but if he feels he can play it better, he usually can. Players inherently know when they’ve messed something up, were late on a chord, mis-fingered or ghosted a note, or slowed down during a roll. Maybe you didn’t hear it, but the player knew it. Let him go again. This is a lot easer decision to make nowadays than it was back in the analog tape days, thanks to digital recording. Back then, you might only have space on tape for a single take and you might loose a take that was great if the next take didn’t work. That kind of pressure on the producer has now been lifted, thanks to your favorite DAW.

RE/P And Sammy Davis Jr.

Recording Engineer/Producer (RE/P) was perhaps the best audio production magazine ever. Way ahead of its time, RE/P began in 1967 and served the professional audio community with excellent articles during a time when the semi-pro and prosumer markets were mere trifles to the audio community.

As is usually the case, founder Marty Galley sold out to a large publishing conglomerate, and within a couple of years the magazine was out of business around 1989. Still, the info in the magazine is as good today as it was way back then (although the writing is a bit rough). I'm proud to say that I was a contributing writer towards the end of the good days of the magazine.

Here's an article reprint from RE/P regarding a live tracking date with Sammy Davis Jr. Even if you don't like or care about The Candyman, it's still a lot of fun to read. I get a kick out of the mics they used (lots of Sony C-37s), the 16 track console and tape machine that was such a big deal at the time, and of course, the type of magnetic recording tape they used.

Here's the article on ProSound Web, entitled "Wally Heider Recording Sammy Davis Jr. Live At The Now Grove."

If I can find the articles I did for RE/P (there were only a couple), I'll post them next week.

7.1 - The Revolution That Never Came

Surround sound in the home is a sad story. Once I had high hopes, but now I prefer to think of it as a noble experiment with only industrial uses.

I was a big proponent of 5.1 surround sound. I even worked exclusively in that side of the business (working on over 120 music DVDs for artists like The Who, Iron Maiden, Neil Young and Todd Rundgren) for 5 years and was the West Coast Bureau Chief for the now defunct Surround Professional magazine. But 4 years ago, I gave up.

The consumer just didn't care about the higher quality or the sonic envelopment that surround sound provides. The "audio sculpture" that gives you such a great user experience seems to be lost on a culture that doesn't care much about quality any more. It's convenience they're after.

After a big push by both the music industry and consumer electronics industry, everyone in the music business saw the writing on the wall and gave up. Reluctantly, so did I. It wasn't worth the fight any more. I went from being one of the biggest proponents of surround sound on the planet to someone who now thinks stereo is "good enough." I've even disconnected my 5.1 playback system at home. Sorry, I'm not interested. Too many heartaches, and I no longer want to take one for the team.

So I have to laugh when I read about 7.1 being the next new thing in consumer electronics. In my heart and ears, I know it's a lot better than 5.1, and I know that adding yet another height channel speaker makes the sound even more realistic, but the sad fact is, the only people who want this is the audio equipment manufacturers who think they have something new to sell.

Consumers had a hard time finding space for 6 speakers, so what makes you think they'll be able to find it for 8?

And consumers never were able to place the surround speakers in the right place anyway. Most listening spaces don't allow it because there's always a couch or chair or wall or doorway in the way. Why do the CE manufacturers suddenly think that the typical consumer's listening room can now ideally place yet 2 more speakers?

Wives hated the extra speakers and the wires connecting them. "Unsightly," "Ugly," and other similarly descriptive words and phrases were common. Don't you think they'll have some choice new ones (like "Get the hell out of the house and take your speakers with you") with the arrival of a 7.1 system?

No, 7.1 was a revolution dead on arrival. Don't hope for a sudden change in the consumer's collective heart. It's just not going to happen. Let's all enjoy the 5.1, 6.1, and 7.1 (and beyond) systems at our favorite theaters, amusement parks, and war games simulators instead.

How Vinyl Records Are Made

Although they've not been the music delivery medium of choice for almost 30 years now, vinyl records are far from dead. In fact, their sales have increased every year for the past 5 years now.

While vinyl will never make a comeback, it's certainly not going away as a new generation of listeners discovers just how good music on a record can sound and how much fun the liner notes are to read. So here's an interesting video for you die-hard collectors regarding how a vinyl record is actually made.

And if you're really interested, there are two links at the end of the post that point to part 1 and 2 of 1942 film at the RCA Victor record plant.



RCA Victor record plant movie - Part 1.

RCA Victor record plant movie - Part 2.

My Music 3.0 Interview on Musician's Cooler

Dave Jackson of Musician's Cooler was kind enough to interview me again for his podcast, this time regarding my Music 3.0 Internet Music Guidebook.

To hear all about the different stages of the music business, social media management, and measuring your online success, check out the podcast.

Click on the podcast link right above the picture of the book.

Thanks, Dave!

How Much Difference Does A Snare Drum Head Make?

According to Ross Garfield, otherwise known as The Drum Doctor, the single most important thing that you can do to make your drums sound great is to install new heads. But which ones? There are so many to choose from, that it's really hard to tell which ones are correct for the type of music that you're playing.

But we're lucky that we're living in the age of instant video, since Gear Guruz posted an excellent video comparing the sound of different snare drum heads. Don't equate the one that sounds better in this video as the best one for you though, since the sound only applies to the particular song, but do listen to the major differences between heads.