Buddy Holly's Label Problem

As long as musician have been signed to record labels there's been misunderstandings about what's in the contract, almost always by the artist. What's unusual is when you actually have an audio recording of the disagreement. What's even more unusual is when this recording is from way back in 1956 and it involves the legendary Buddy Holly.

Here's the setup. Buddy and his band were spotted by a talent scout opening for Elvis and signed to the Decca label out of Nashville. Decca had them record 5 tracks with famed producer Owen Bradley, but no one liked the result, so Decca declined the option on Buddy's contract when it came up for renewal. Buddy was OK about being released, but wanted to be able to use the songs that he recorded, so he called the president of Decca to get permission. He also secretly recorded the call, which is what you're about to hear.

Decca refused to let him use the songs (which included what became his huge hit, "That'll Be The Day"), which is understandable since they wanted to recoup the money they spent. Holly eventually got around the deal by recording the songs for a subsidiary of Decca under the name of the band "The Crickets," which is probably why Decca never took him to court, which they probably had the right to do.

I spotted this video on the great Musicianscooler blog. Dave Jackson of Musicians Cooler recently did a couple of interviews with me regarding my Music 3.0 and How To Make Your Band Sound Great books. Thanks, Dave! I'll post the links when the interviews go live.

To Click (Track) Or Not To Click

One of the perpetual questions for a producer is whether to have a band use a click track when  recording basic tracks. Over the years, the decision to do so has become easier as a whole generation of players has grown up playing along with a click or loops, so it's a lot easier to find drummers who are more comfortable, and therefore better able to perform, with a click.

Here are the benefits to cutting a track to a click:

1) The tempo is more even so the song can feel better as a result (more on this later).

2) Because of the even tempo, it's easier to cut between different takes to obtain a superior performance.

3) During mixing, it's easier for the engineer to time delays and reverbs to the track so they blend better.

The major downside of cutting to a click with a drummer who's not comfortable with it is that the track can sound stiff and machine like. If the song doesn't feel good, none of the above benefits matter much.

While it's easy to believe that every hit song has an even tempo, that's not the case at all. I found the following graphs on a post called "In Search of the Click Track" that had some plots showing the tempo deviations from the average tempo for a number of songs. It's pretty easy to see where machines set the tempo and where it was all human clock.

The first example is a comparison between a Police song ("So Lonely') and a Britney Spears song ("I Love Rock n' Roll"). There's a huge deviation between Stewart Copland's playing (he's always been ahead of the beat and it sure is in evidence here) and virtually none in the Britney song, which is obviously a machine.

If we look at "Ya Ya" by jazz great Art Blakey, we see that the guy is as solid as a rock and as close to perfect as a human can get without playing to a click.

Charlie Watt's playing on "Sympathy For The Devil" is all over the place, but it's always felt pretty good to me and I never would have thought you'd find a deviation like this. It's a 17 bpm difference between the beginning and ending of the song!

But Nickelback, on the other hand, is obviously playing to a click, and the time hardly budges.

The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" proves that Keith Moon was playing along with a sequenced synth (you can see him wearing headphones during live concert videos of the song). The thing is, he could really do it well as he still made the song feel good, even despite his unorthodox style.

So what can we learn from these charts? If the feel is good, so is the song. Tempo variations are mentally overlooked by the listener under the right circumstances, and a solid steady tempo doesn't necessarily sound boring. Each song is unique, and therefore the question of "To click or not to click" remains unanswered because there is no answer.

I believe that the difference between a good drummer and a bad one is how good his internal clock is. That is, if the drummer can play steady and even within himself (where the snare and hat always hit in the same place relative to the kick drum, despite the tempo), the drummer will be considered "solid." I think these charts prove that what makes a song is not a tempo thing, it's a feel thing. A good drummer equals a good feel, but a good drummer may not always equal a good tempo.

7 Tips For A Better Rehearsal

Regardless of where you're at in the musical food chain, rehearsals are an essential part of your life. One of the major differences between a pro and an amateur is in rehearsal technique. Here's a quick checklist to make those rehearsals go a little smoother so you can get a lot more accomplished.


1) Have an agenda. Know what youʼll be working on before rehearsal even begins. It saps so much energy out of a band to argue about what you're going to do when you have to decide at the rehearsal. Learn something new, work out something that doesn't sound right yet, but keep moving forward. And plan the next rehearsal at the end of the last one.

2) Know your parts before you get there. You canʼt concentrate on playing with the band if you donʼt know your parts. This applies more to cover bands, but can also apply to bands that play their own music as well. Usually the songwriter will record at least a rough demo before the band gets together to work it out. If you work out the changes and get an idea of where the song is going beforehand, there'll be a lot more time to experiment so you can perfect playing with the other musicians during rehearsal.

3) Concentrated on the details. It's not just the changes that make the song, it's all the other things that take it to the next level. Learning to play dynamically and concentrating on the turnarounds, builds, attacks and releases make all the difference in the world in how the song finally sounds.

4) Stop immediately when thereʼs a trainwreck. Address the problem while itʼs fresh. Don't let a mistake go by, especially if the player or players making it aren't aware of what they're doing. Remember the golden words, "How are your playing it?"

5) Work on the most difficult part first. Start as close to the part that's giving you trouble as you can and donʼt stop playing it until it works. Repeat until you get it, even if you have to play it slower at first, or softly so you can hear yourselves better.

6) Donʼt rehearse a song to death. Give it a break and come back later. One of the worst things that a band with their own music does is play the same songs every rehearsal. Give them a rest, especially if you've been playing them for a long time or out on gigs. Don't worry, you won't forget how to play them.

7) Rehearse your show. Before you play a gig, rehearse the entire show, including what youʼll say in- between songs, sound and light cues, etc. This is what a major touring band does and that's why they can nail it from the first night of the tour onwards. The less you leave to chance, the better your show will be.

Just by following these simple techniques, you'll find that not only will your rehearsals be more productive, but your shows as well.

Abbey Road Studios For Sale - A Video Tour

EMI Records has had a tough go of it since the investment fund Terra Firma purchased it right before the world economic collapse a couple of years ago. What made it particularly difficult for Terra Firma is the fact that they borrowed most of the money for the sale from Citibank. Now TF needs gads of money to pay off Citi, which means they have none to invest in just the thing that drives the record business - new artists.

So EMI has been in a death spiral. It can't pay it's bills and artists with half a brain won't touch them with a ten foot pole. What can they do? Sell off parts of the company, of course.

Now comes word that the revered Abbey Road Studios are now on market, according to an article in the Financial Times. The studio, which was purchased in 1929 for about $160,000, reportedly will bring in tens of millions of dollars, since the brand name is worth far more than either the studio or real estate. That will hardly put a dent in the more than 5.5 billion dollars still owed to Citi, but the studio is bound to prosper more away from EMI than within it. If you're not much into music history, Abbey Road is where some of the biggest selling records of all time were made, including most of The Beatles recorded output, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, and many many more.

So if you're thinking of buying a studio, let's take a look inside Abbey Road.



Notice a few things in the video (you never see the entire complex - only the entrance and studio 2).

1) All the equipment in the hall. This is something that you just don't see much any more, but it was a pretty common sight in the days of the multi-studio complexes.

2) The analog tape machines, both in the hall and in the studio. The studio also had an old Sony 3348 digital tape machine as well.

3) The console is at right angles to the window viewing the studio. This was also common in studios of the time, but practical too, since you'd never be able to see in the studio if the console was placed traditionally in front of the window.

4) The control room is high up on the second floor. It sure was easy to see just what was going on in large studio like Abbey Road #2, but I imagine the assistants must get pretty tired having to climb those steps all day.

Whatever happens, let's hope that Abbey Road lives on and on. It's a special place.

If you read my Music 3.0 blog, sorry for the cross-post, but I thought the topic fit for both.

A Mastering Master

On Friday I finished up the new SNEW record that I've been producing with a mastering session with Eddy Schreyer at Oasis Mastering in Burbank. Eddy's been my good friend of many years, but he's also long been the mastering engineer of choice for stars like Prince, Van Halen, Eric Clapton, Kenye West, Christina Aguilera, Black Eyed Peas, Bob Dylan and many many more. Since I only do a music project every year or so these days, it's easy to forget just how great he is at what he does.

I've learned a lot about mastering from Eddy over the years, and much of it has made it into "The Audio Mastering Handbook," but as I've always said, just knowing how to do something doesn't make up for the ears and experience of an elite mastering engineer. All it takes is a session like I just had to realize how important a mastering master like Eddy really is to a project. Mastering tools today are very powerful and in the wrong hands can destroy a project instead of making it better. In the hands of one of the elite mastering engineers like Eddy (there are only 5 or 6 of them), the project will end up sounding better than you ever thought it.

One of the cool things about Eddy is that his method of working is still evolving along with the equipment he uses. It's pretty easy for anyone to fall into a pattern that works and just stay with it, but Eddy's getting better and better and I think he's doing some of the best work of his career. Here's an example of his evolution:

1) He now uses an all digital signal path. Part of both the mystique and ability of the professional mastering engineer used to be the high quality analog and digital outboard gear they had available. Even if a project originally resided in the digital domain, the expensive outboard gear was a key ingredient in the final result, since you couldn't get the same quality any other way. Oasis still has a wide variety of high-quality outboard gear, but it's rarely used these days. Eddy's entire signal path now lies in the DAW, with the excellent UAD plug-ins the ones most used.

2) It's always been pretty normal for a brickwall limiter to sit last in the signal chain to protect from any digital overs, but Eddy has eliminated it completely from his signal path while still getting as much level as ever by using multiple compressors. This results in a competitively loud record that still breathes dynamically and doesn't feel squashed. Getting this much level without the help of a limiter is a feat that only a rare few mastering engineers can accomplish.

3) It sounds so analog. Another reason that the pros used their analog gear whenever they could is because digital just didn't sound that good, but Eddy manages to make it sound so analog even with a signal path that's all "in-the-box."

4) This point isn't so much about evolution as much as an observation on how a "mastering master" works. As said before, the variety of ever-so-powerful tools on the market make it pretty easy for someone without the skill and experience to really mangle a song in the worst possible way. A pro like Eddy makes a lot of relatively small moves that make a huge difference in the end. It's amazing how .5 or 1dB here or there and a dB of compression here and there can make such a difference. In the case of the SNEW record, suddenly parts that were buried were now defined, vocals and guitar solos that seemed just a bit low came to the front, the low end between the kick and bass guitar evened out, and everything got punchier. These mixes were great before (thank you Ed Cherney) but Eddy just took them to another level.

I'm sure that you want to hear examples, and if it wasn't for an embargo, I'd play you some before and after. That being said, there'll be some examples when the record is released, as well as an interview with Eddy and Gene Grimaldi (he just mastered the Lady GaGa hits) in some future posts. And if you like hard rock, I'm sure you'll be hearing a lot of the SNEW record very soon. It's a killer.

The 8 Constants Of Vocal Recording

By my count, there are 8 “constants” that we find in vocal recording. These are items or situations that almost always prove to be true. Just keeping them in mind can save you a lot of trouble in the search for a sound that works for you and your vocalist.

Here are a few tips taken from The Recording Engineer’s Handbook and the upcoming Music Producer’s Handbook to help you get a great vocal sound quickly and easily without any of those nasty side effects.

1) Your mic selection, amount of EQ, and compression used is totally dependent on the voice you are recording. Setting up the same signal chain for everyone might work sometime, but best to keep an open mind (and ears) before you settle on a combination.

2) The best mic in the house doesn’t necessarily get the best vocal sounds. There is no one microphone that works well on everything, especially a instrument as quirky as the human voice.

3) A singer who is experienced at recording knows which consonants are tough to record and knows how to balance the them against the vowels to get a good final result. A singer with this kind of experience will make you look like a genius.

4) With a good singer, many times you'll get “the sound" automatically just by putting him/her in front of the right microphone. On the other hand, with a bad singer (or even a good singer that just doesn't adjust well to the studio), no amount of high priced microphones or processing may be able to get you where you need to go.

5) In general, vocals sound better when recorded in a tighter space, but not too tight. Low ceiling rooms can also be a problem with loud singers as they tend to ring at certain lower mid range frequencies, which might be difficult to eliminate later.

6) Windscreens are actually of little use when recording a vocalist with bad technique. There are two different sorts of people in this category: the people who have never sung with sound reinforcement, and the people who have developed bad habits from using a mic on stage.

7) Decoupling the stand from the floor as well as the microphone from the stand will help eliminate unwanted rumbles. Often times a microphone isolation mount isn't enough. Place the stand on a couple of mouse pads or a rug for a cheap but efficient solution.

8) Just marking the floor with tape might get the vocalist to stand in the right position in front of the mic, but she can easily move her head out of position. An easy way to have a vocalist gauge the distance is by hand lengths. An open hand is approximately eight inches while a fist is about four inches. By saying, “Stay a hand away”, the vocalist can easily judge his distance and usually doesn’t forget (see the grapic on the side).

We'll discuss vocal recording in more depth in a future post.

The Making Of "Sympathy For The Devil"

I love watching how other people record since each session is so unique. What works for one artist or band probably won't work for another, or even for that same artist at another time and place for that matter.

But I especially love to see how some of the songs that we've come to know as "classics" were recorded since everything was a lot more primitive in some ways (the limited number of tracks available), and lot better than today in others (the higher sound quality).

Here's a video I recently found that's worth a look. It's the Rolling Stones recording their classic "Sympathy For The Devil" at Olympic Studios in London in 1968.  There are a number of things to be aware of when watching:

1) Note how large the studio was, and the height of its ceiling. This was common for most studios of the time.

2) Note that the control room was raised so it overlooks the studio, also a characteristic of studios of the time.

3) Notice how everyone is playing the basic track together, and aside from some baffling, they weren't particularly concerned with leakage since all the instruments are placed relatively close together.

4) Notice how the song changes shape as they go along until it becomes the song that we know today.

5) Notice how Keith Richards ends up playing bass while bassist Bill Wyman plays percussion.

6) It's interesting that the lead and background vocals were recorded at the same time, probably because they only had a single track for vocals. It's also interesting that Mick is singing into a Shure dynamic mic (it looks like a model 565, which was a common PA mic of the day), instead of one of the many large diaphragm tube mics that we so revere these days.

Pedalboard Maker Bob Bradshaw

A while back we were lucky enough to do an interview with pedalboard maker to the guitar gods Bob Bradshaw for the Guitar Universe television show (I'm one of the show's producers). While even some mainstream manufacturers have delved into this product niche, Bradshaw's pedal boards have long been the gold standard and are the key to the on-stage and studio rigs of such guitar luminaries as The Edge, Steve Lukather, Eddie Van Halen and David Gilmore, to name just a few.

Besides pedalboards and their associated switching networks, Bob's Custom Audio Electronics now also makes their own guitar preamps and amplifiers, as well as a whole range of specialized pedals and ancillary devices.

Bob's a fascinating guy who's truly dedicated to his customers and their sound. I think you'll enjoy the interview.

Notes On The Superbowl Half-Time Show

Before the Superbowl fades away into a distant memory, I thought I'd provide some quick notes on the halftime show with The Who.

1) The staging was fabulous. Whoever designed the elaborate staging should be getting more recognition because it was really unique and inpressive. It's hard to believe that it was put together in 4 minutes and even harder to believe that it actually worked having such a short setup time, though they reportedly used 600 volunteers to get the job done.

2) The entire stadium singing along was so cool. Everyone singing "It's only teenage wasteland," and "Won't get fooled again," gave me chills from all the energy. There's been some really great halftime performances before, but I don't remember anything that dramatic (of course, I'm a big Who fan).

3) No fake crowd this time. One of the things that ruined the previous halftime shows for me was the fake crowds in front of the stage with obviously staged enthusiasm. This time the staging was too big for that, and thankfully it was in the dark so it was even more like a real concert.

4) The Who played pretty well. They're a great live band that gathered steam as they went along. Roger Daltrey was in the best voice I've heard him in for a long time as he hit all the notes even though he has to strain to do it any more. My God, these guys can still rock hard in their mid-60's! "Hope I die before I get old," indeed.

5) Zac Starkey is a great drummer. That's Ringo's kid playing drums and he's all too overlooked. Zac is the best drummer The Who has had since Keith Moon died. Of course, it helps when your father is a world-class legend (who is vastly under-rated himself). Word is that Zac even took lessons from Moonie when he was kid, so it appears he was destined for this.

In a related note, I thought that Carrie Underwood's rendition of the nation anthem was really great, despite the clunker of a last note. She has some real pipes and a lot of guts to go out there by herself without backing musicians in front of 106 million people. I wasn't a fan before, but I am now. Her producer Mark Bright raved about her in a recent interview for my upcoming book The Music Producer's Handbook. Now I know why. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

The Digital Portastudio - A New Twist On An Old Friend

This post may look like a review, but it's not since I've never used the following item. It was brought about by a post on Wired regarding some products from the recent NAMM show. Nothing caught my eye except for one product that I missed at the show - Tascam's 8 track digital Portastudio.

There are few times when an obsolete product gets a successful revival and facelift to where it becomes a modern and useful version of its previous form, but Tascam has continually reinvented one of the most useful devices for a musician to ever hit the musical instrument market - the Portastudio.

Tascam invented the portable recording studio category and literally started a revolution in 1979 when it delivered it's Model 144 Portastudio, an awful sounding 4 track recorder that used cassette tape as storage. Musician's didn't care about the audio quality though, because it was the first time that they could inexpensively record multiple tracks to get an idea down or even make a demo. Despite it's limitations, artists like Bruce Springsteen, John Frusicante, Primas and Marilyn Manson managed to use the device to record material that eventually made it onto their records over the years, so maybe it wasn't as bad as everyone remembers. It was a great learning tool though.

When computers became cheap and powerful and recording software a must-have for every musician, the lowly Portastudio fell by the wayside as an entire generation became computer savvy and their desktops and laptops became their recorder. Even though Tascam continually updated the product, eventually even taking it into the digital age, it was still hardware and the musician of the day wanted to record with software.

But soon everyone discovered the limitations of the software recorder. It was sometimes unreliable, given to the quirks of the computer foundation it resided on. It certainly wasn't portable (or not as portable as we were all lead to believe), and if you ever tried to capture an idea quickly on a computer DAW, you know that the idea is usually long gone by the time the computer starts recording, thanks to any number of maddening roadblocks.

That's why I think that this new DP-08 Portastudio is so amazing. You get 8 tracks, it records on flash memory, it has a built-in stereo mic, it has a built-in reverb, and runs on AA batteries. With a price of only $300 retail, this is a device that should be a no-brainer for every musician to own just to get those musical brainstorms recorded quickly.

The DP-08 has some limitations in that it only records 2 tracks at a time and is only 16 bit, but if ever there was a must-have for an artist as a digital scratchpad, this is it. If only I had one of these 25 years ago.

Standard Session Procedure

There's a standard session procedure for every studio musician, and it's the difference between a real pro and an amateur.


While many of the following items below also apply to playing live, there’s a different emphasis that centers on professionalism in the studio. All items apply to every recording session, with the possible exception of recording in your own studio.

• Arrive early.  You should always arrive at least a half-hour before the downbeat of the session. This means that if your session starts at 7PM, you need to be there at 6:30 or earlier to be ready for 7. You can’t expect to get there at 6:55 and for everything to be cool. If the session starts at 7PM, find out if that means load-in time or actual downbeat time. Remember that if you keep your employers waiting, you probably won’t work for them again.

• Turn off your cell phone! The session should be your main priority with as few distractions as possible. One of the easiest ways to achieve this is to turn off your cell phone. If you leave it on, not only do you risk ruining a good take if the ringer goes off, but talking on the phone is the best way to stop the momentum of a session in its tracks, and it’s so disrespectful to everyone else at the session as well. Don’t even bother to put it on “vibrate” since this will cause you to lose your focus just as easily as when the ringer is on. Turn it off, then leave it outside the studio in the lounge so you won’t be tempted to use it.

• Make sure your instruments are in good working order. This means that you should have them professionally checked so that every note plays true without any unwanted noise.  

• Make sure to check your tuning to the “A” of the track. If the song isn’t tuned to the standard A-440, there’ll be a tuning note recorded on the track for you to tune against. The tuning of your instrument is really easy to overlook when you’re tracking because sometimes being out of tune isn’t that obvious, but it will bug the heck out of you (not to mention the producer and composer) every time you hear it played back forever and ever it it’s out of tune and you didn’t take the time to fix it.

• Warm up quietly. You’ve got to warm up and everyone expects you to, but try to be quiet as you can so you’re not a distraction. The quieter you can warm up, the more everyone will appreciate it.

• Don't make any unnecessary noise. The less talk, the better. Don't leave your earphones uncovered or turn them down when you don’t have them on your head. A little courtesy like that can go a long way.

• Don’t complain about the temperature. It’s never going to be perfect for everyone, so it’s useless to even bring this up since it just becomes a distraction. The only exception is that if it’s so cold that it physically impedes your playing or cause problems with your instrument.

• Stay awake! Listen to everything that’s going on and be ready to play at all times. If you’re playing with other studio musicians, watch the leader and stop playing when the leader stops.

• Don’t talk after a take until the engineer or producer says it’s OK. Nothing can either ruin a take or make a lot more work for the production team than someone thoughtlessly making a comment at the end of a take. Even if you think the take will have to be done again, keep all comments to yourself. Sometimes a take that feels bad to you can feel great to everyone else.

• Always seem interested in the music. It’s easy to get a little complacent when your chops exceed what you’ve been called to play on, but try to get beyond that feeling. It’s best to have only enough chops for that particular job. Nothing more and nothing less. Showing off is a good way not to be asked back. And try not to look ahead on the chart when you’re playing, it’s a good way to loose your place.

• Stay out of the control room. Unless you’re specifically asked, stay in the studio. And if you’re asked to come in to listen to a playback, don’t eat the booth food unless offered. It’s not necessarily there for you!

• Make any charts, notes or cheat sheets beforehand. Once again this comes under the heading of being prepared. If you have some time before the downbeat of the session, ask to hear the song (if there’s a demo or you’re going to be doing overdubs) so you can make a chart or notes. You don’t want to be wasting anyone’s time for something that could so easily been done beforehand. Also, if you have to mark your charts, do it so anyone can read it later, so make all your notes legible.

• Don't pack-up early. Don't leave until you're officially excused, and be sure to clean up your area when you’re dismissed.

Following these tips will take you a long way to being hired again the next time.


For more on what it takes to be a studio musician, check out The Studio Musician's Handbook.

10 Tips For Making A Living Playing Music

Danny Barnes has a nice post on his blog about making a living playing music. It's long and little difficult to read because of the layout, but the information is really good. Let me select some points of his that I consider important, but I'll put them into my own words.

1) Keep your expenses low. Most musicians do this already except they spend their excess funds on gear (I know, who can resist?). The idea is to be able to keep a roof over your head, pay your taxes, have health insurance, and even put a little away for a rainy day. If you make a bunch of dough, you'll know how to deal with it already, and if you don't, you still won't have to be selling your gear to make a car payment.

2) You must build your infrastructure. Your infrastructure consists of a lawyer, bookkeeper, CPA, doctor, mechanic, instrument repair guy, and a web guy, plus a backup for each one. If you're an artist, also include a manager and an agent. Having someone around who will always tell you the truth no matter how much it hurts is also a good idea.

3) Keep 2 things in mind when making a deal. No matter whether it's with another person, club owner, manager or company: a) make sure any arrangement is always win/win, and b) make sure that either of you can walk away at any time and it'll be cool.

4) Don't be afraid to do other things to make money in the short term. You need money to live, you need it to feel good about yourself, and you need it to advance your career. Stop mooching off your family or girlfriend.

5) Keep working on your art. Keep studying, rehearsing, practicing and learning. You can never learn enough and you're never as good as you think you are.

6) Keep your art your main focus. Remember a phrase that has always kept me going and kept everything in perspective: "Art is something you do for yourself. A craft is something you do for everyone else." A musician needs to maintain his art to feel good about himself. Don't give yourself completely away to the craft side of music or you'll begin to hate it.

7) Do everything you can to build an audience. If you have an audience, gigs, managers, agents and just about everything else you need to work in the music business will come looking for you.

8) Be wary of musicians that tell you how great they are, or only talk about gear. If you truly are great you won't have to tell anyone, they'll tell you. If you only talk about gear, it means that you're avoiding what could amount to a meaningful or helpful relationship.

9) Learn to write songs. Not only is writing fulfilling, but it gives you many options to make money beyond just being an artist. Publishing is one of the few areas of the music business that is still actually doing well and will probably continue to do so. It also helps you maintain your "art."

10) Don't give a CD, or send music or a press kit to someone unless they ask for it. The chances are almost 100% they won't listen to it or read it anyway, and you'll probably ruin any chance of them asking for it in the future.

Danny has a lot more points that you might like to read about. He's speaking from experience, which is always the ultimate teacher.