The Dilemma Of The Studio Business

The graphic on the left represents the dilemma of the recording studio business. It's the legendary Electric Lady Studio's rate card from 1994 and it's evidence why so many legendary studios have been turned into condos.

If you take notice, a lock-out rate (meaning the studio is purchased for the entire day) ranges from $2,500 to $2,800 a day. 16 years later, major studio rates are the same, even less if you get a deal.

Now consider that the 1994 rates were about the same as in 1984 and you can see why being in the studio business is not a way to get rich quickly.

As the joke goes - "How do you make a million dollars in the music business? Start with 2 million."

There was a silver lining back in 1994 though. The studio could make some extra dough on gear rentals and magnetic tape, as well as accessories like DATs, cassettes and automation backup media. Today, thanks to digital files, that extra income stream has fallen by the wayside. Everyone brings their own hard drives and CDs so it's hard to charge extra except for a vintage piece of gear.

That's the reason why it just doesn't pay to get into the studio business on any level anymore. The costs to build the studio are more than ever, the cost of the real estate is still through the roof, and you can't even hope to be paid what studios where making 25 years ago, if you do happen to get a booking with a budget.

So be thankful for the major studios that still exist like Capitol, Oceanway, Henson, Record Plant, Sunset Sound, Avatar, and Blackbird and lets hope that there's enough work left to keep them alive.

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A Breakthrough In Subwoofer Technology

As I've posted many times before, loudspeaker technology hasn't had a real technological advance in more than a hundred years. Sure, speaker science has evolved nicely to where it's very efficient and linear, but there hasn't been really anything that you'd call groundbreaking in a long time. We've seen novelties like gas modulated lasers, modulated flames, and vibrating membranes (which still might catch on in the future) that I've written about before, but finally there's something new that really shows some outside-the-box thinking.

Eminent Technology's TRW-17 Rotary Woofer (pictured on the left) doesn't have a cone-type woofer or even cabinet; instead it looks like a fan or propeller, yet it reproduces frequencies down as low as 1Hz, and is powerful enough to be heard more than 3 miles away!!!!! High-end subs are lucky to make down to 18Hz, and the vast majority of subs won't even touch 30Hz on a good day.

How does it do it? The TRW-17 really is a constant speed fan, but its blades are modulated up and down and side to side in order to generate sound. It's a wonderfully-simple design that makes you want to hit your head and say, "Doh!" As a result, the transducer (you can't call it a loudspeaker) can push far more air than any speaker/cabinet combination, and that lets it easily reproduce the 11Hz sound of a helicopter's rotor blades, the real infrasonic shock of an earthquake, or the rumble of everyday wind. If this system takes off, just wait and see how realistic movie sound finally becomes, or theme park rides, or war simulators.

The downside? First of all, the TRW-17 Rotary Woofer retails for $12,900, but you have to build it into a room so it acts as an infinite baffle (a totally closed speaker system). Eminent Technology will take care of all that for you and add the amplifier and cross-over network, but it pushes up the price to $25,000.

That being said, numerous audiophiles with too much disposable income have already installed the unit, but so have museum installations like Evergreen Aviation's Titan Missile exhibit and the Niagra Falls Welcome Center (you can see why this unit makes sense for them). It doesn't seem like there are any theater or pro audio installs yet, but expect some as the word gets out.

You can read more on the technology behind the TRW-17 here.

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The Beatles "Maxwell Silver Hammer" Rehearsal

Here's another look at The Beatles rehearsing, this time learning a song during the filming of their Let It Be movie. The film hasn't been available since the 80's, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr blocking its re-release due to the fact that it shows some of the dark sides of the band that they feel would hurt their image.

The film put The Beatles in uncomfortable conditions, as they relocated to the cold (literally) Twickenham Film Studios and worked at early movie hours, which didn't meet with their lifestyles at the time. During the filming, George Harrison quit the band, only to return when the band agreed to move the filming to their own Apple studio. As you can see from Monday's Get Back rehearsal, their mood was lifted immediately.

The song that you'll see here, Maxwell's Silver Hammer, would later appear complete on the Abbey Road album.

Things to look for:

1) After Paul teaches the band playing the bass, he then moves to piano. George then fills in the bottom on a Fender Bass VI baritone guitar.

2) Ringo's drums go back to a more traditional miking technique for the time, with a mic on the kick, snare, and overhead.

3) Even The Beatles have feedback problems.

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The Beatles "Hey Jude" Rehearsal

Here's a compilation of rehearsals of The Beatles "Hey Jude". What you'll see is snippets of takes 7 through 25, although most of the footage comes from take 9. This recording was not intended for the final recording, but was supposed to be part of documentary regarding the song. Much of the what you'll see never made it into the film.

In the middle you'll see George Harrison, producer George Martin, and engineer Ken Scott in the control room. George didn't have a part to play (reason unknown) so he chatted up Martin in the booth.

Things to look for:

1) Once again, the boys are having fun. It's great to see people (especially our heros) have fun when they're making music. They do seem bored with the process however.

2) Ringo, as always, is his steady self. In most of these behind-the-scenes things, he's always the one no one pays attention to, mostly because whatever he plays just seems to fit.

3) Also notice the drums - the tea towels draped over the toms, and the miking technique. It appears that all of the drums are individually miked, which is unusual for the time.

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"Get Back" Rehearsal - The Beatles

This week I have some great behind-the-scenes Beatles footage starting with a rehearsal for their hit "Get Back." There are two versions - the top one is edited and has much better video quality, and the bottom one shows a bit more behind-the-scenes, but the quality isn't as good for either the audio or video.

There are a couple of things to notice as you watch:

1) The boys are having fun. There are a lot of smiles and laughs, which is contrary to the perceived mood of the band during this period. They are thoroughly enjoying themselves, which is what being in a band is all about besides the music. In fact, that's the thing I miss most from my band days; the camaraderie and the laughs. If you don't have that, you don't have a band.

2) Check out their rehearsal technique. They work out all of the parts quietly before they crank it up so everyone can hear. For those of you just starting out in bands, this is the way to do it.

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A Brief History Of Music Production

At long last, I just received copies of my new book, The Music Producer's Handbook, today, more than a month after it had been released. To celebrate, I thought I'd post an excerpt from Chapter One on the history of music production. I really enjoy doing these history chapters, as I learn so much about where our business came from and what made it become what it is today. I hope you'll enjoy this short piece.

"Although the position of record producer seems like a modern aspect of the record business, the job has been around from the beginning of recorded music. Through the years, the profession has become more refined in terms of responsibilities, but the job has become more complex as well. To illustrate the evolution of the music producer, it’s best to break the profession into three distinct eras which we’ll call “the early record label era,” “the mature music era,” and “the independent era.”

The Early Label Era

Although recorded music goes as far back as 1857, it wasn’t actually turned into a business until around 1900. Because of the primitive nature of the recording equipment, the recordist acted as more of an archivist than a producer in that he (it was almost always a man) was just trying to capture the music onto a medium suitable for reproduction. The composers, arrangers and band leaders of the day had final say in regards to the direction and style of the music, just as many do today.

Several pioneers of the era including Ralph Peer and Lester Melrose (more on them in a bit) began to record less accessible and popular forms of music in an effort to target specific audiences with the music they were recording. The “producers” of this period were part talent scout, part entrepreneur, and part technician, sometimes going on location and holding massive auditions until they found the music that they thought to be unique. They were also some of the people who eventually gave the music industry and record label executives a bad name by stealing copyrights, not paying royalties and stereotyping groups of people with terms like “hill billy” and “race” music.

The Mature Music Era

As the music industry matured, record labels began to employ men (once again, they were almost always men) specifically to discover talent, then shepherd that talent through the recording process. These were know as “Artist and Repertoire” men or “A&R” men that were, in fact, the first vestige of the producer that we know today. Unlike the A&R men of today who are mostly talent scouts and product managers, A&R people of that era were usually well schooled in music, being talented composers and arrangers themselves, and were in charge of everything from signing an artist to finding songs to overseeing the recording, just as many of today’s producers do.

But producers began to have more control over production as magnetic tape became the production media of choice. Now it was easy for multiple takes, and as two, three and four track machines became available, the ability to separate instruments brought a whole new palate of possibilities. For the first time, the producers role became as technically creative as it was musical.

Still, producers of the era were little more than label employees, sometimes not even receiving a bonus despite being directly responsible for the success of the labels artists and their sometimes massive amounts of label income (such as the case between EMI with George Martin and The Beatles).

The Independent Era

As the technical possibilities continued to soar, so did a quiet rebellion on the business side of production. Even though independent record producers existed going back to the 50’s with Sam Phillips (of Elvis, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis fame), Phil Spector, Creed Taylor and Joe Meek, they all had their own record labels and it was lot easier to be in control as a producer if you were the label owner too.

The true revolution began when George Martin left music giant EMI to go independent in 1969. Until then, producers were little more than salaried staff with no participation in the profits they had such a big part in developing. After having to fight for a small bonus after The Beatles literally made EMI a billion dollars, Sir George decided to use his considerable leverage to obtain a piece of the action by leaving his EMI staff position and going independent. Soon many other successful producers followed, being able to cash in on large advances as well as a piece of their best-selling artist’s pie.

But fortunes turned, as they so frequently do. After a while, record labels began to see producer independence as a bargain by being able to wipe out the overhead of a salaried position, and they turned the tables to where hiring the producer became the artist’s expense instead of the label’s. This meant that the label could afford the best production talent in the world and in the end it wouldn’t cost them a dime as long as the record sold.

As time went on, the producer took more creative control, becoming everything from a coach to a guidance counselor to a psychiatrist to a svengali. Some producers like Holland-Dozier-Holland at Motown and Stock-Aitken-Waterman used a factory approach, where the artists were interchangeable and subordinate to the song. Some, like Phil Spector and Brian Wilson, had a grandiose vision for their material that only they could imagine until it was finished. Some like Ted Templeman, Tony Brown and Dan Huff, Moby and Dr. Dre changed the direction of a particular style of music. And some, like Quincy Jones, saved the music industry from itself and started the longest run of prosperity it would ever see."

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Van Halen's Legendary M&M Concert Rider

By now, everyone has heard of Van Halen's legendary "no brown M&M's" concert rider back in the 70's (a concert rider is an addition to a performance contract that covers the needs and wants of the artist). If you haven't, The Smoking Gun actually has a copy of it, and it clearly states under the Munchies category, "WARNING: ABSOLUTELY NO BROWN ONES."

This received a lot of publicity way back when and has gone down in rock history as one of the most self-indulgent demands during a period of perhaps the most self-indulgence ever in the business, but I believe that this demand was strategically placed with a special purpose in mind.

If the band would get to the dressing room and see that their M&M's still had the brown ones left in, they could be pretty sure that their rider wasn't read that closely by the promoter and it was a sign to look for other places where the promoter cut corners. Brilliant!

Concert riders have tamed down a lot in these days of corporate, ultra-professional touring. Lady Gaga's rider, for instance, calls for "a roast chicken, a plate of cheese on ice with a tray of assorted meats, low-fat milk, salsa dips and whole-wheat bread and crackers." Not exactly party material.

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The Beatles "I Feel Fine" With and Without Vocals

Here's an interesting comparison of an early take of The Beatle's hit "I Feel Fine." The first half of the video is a just the backing track and the second is the final product.

1) The take without the vocal isn't the final backing track because the drum beat is different. In the final version Ringo is playing a sort of Latin beat with a tom fill during the verse.

2) John Lennon's feedback guitar in the intro is one of the first examples of that every happening on record. Remember, this was back in 1964, but feedback would become commonplace in rock in only a few years down the road.

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KISS "Detroit Rock City" - Isolated Vocals

Here's one for the KISS Army out there. It's the isolated lead vocal for "Detroit Rock City." The third single from KISS's hit album Destroyer, DRC didn't go anywhere on the charts except in Detroit. That is, until the B-side of the single, Beth, caught fire.

Today, DRC is still a KISS concert favorite, while Beth is.........that KISS song with strings.

1) Paul Stanley's vocal is doubled with a regenerated short delay and long reverb trail. The sound is state of the art for that period in time (1976).

2) Stanley, Gene Simmons and Peter Criss have always sung very well together. In this case, the harmony vocals on the chorus are very tight, especially the releases, which is unusual for the period. Chalk that up to Bob Ezrin's most excellent production (he also co-wrote the song with Stanley).

KISS has always been under-appreciated for its music skills. Tracks like this show you just how good they were, and still are today.

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"Papa Was A Rolling Stone" Isolated Vocals

There has been some great vocal groups in modern music, but none greater than the various versions of The Temptations. Today we listen to the isolated vocals of their number 1 hit and 3 time Grammy winner, "Papa Was A Rolling Stone."

The song has an interesting backstory. It wasn't originally written for the Temps (it was originally given to The Undisputed Truth), but ironically the first line "It was the first of September/a day that I'll always remember/ cause that was the day/ that my daddy died." sung by Dennis Chambers, hit too close to home since that was the day that his father actually did die. Writer and producer Norman Whitfield didn't know until they were actually recording the song, but he used it to his advantage to get the vocal performance he wanted, which ultimately lead to him being dismissed as the Temp's producer.

Also, the song was originally almost 12 minutes long (edited down to 6:54 for the single!) and one of the first "cinematic"style singles played by radio.

1) Wow, are these guys good or what? It's such a pleasure to hear 5 great voices sing so well together. The only rough note I heard on the whole thing is at about 3:00 on "And when he died."

2) I'm not sure how this was recorded, but my suspicion is that all the vocalists were recorded at once on a single mic. That's because the compression clamps down a lot from the single voice to the group.

3) There's also a distorted edge on the vocal as well. They probably couldn't hear it very well in those days, when playback systems and room acoustics were fairly primitive.

4) The reverb doesn't sound that great, surprisingly enough. It's fairly short with no pre-delay, but certainly works for the song.

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Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" - Butch Vig Dissection

Here's another clip from the VH1 television program Classic Tracks  featuring Nirvana, this time with producer Butch Vig dissecting the song that kicked off their career - "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Last December I also posted the backing track to this song that gives you a slightly different look at it, if you want to check that out as well.

Even though Nevermind (the album that Teen Spirit came from) was recorded by Butch, he didn't mix it. The excellent mixer Andy Wallace was brought in, some say at the behest of the record label and others say secretly by the band. Although Andy did lend his great ears to polish it, you can tell by listening to these videos that he had a lot to work with as the tracks were pretty well put together.

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Finally, A Ribbon Mic For Toms?

When I was a young 'un in the recording business, I once tried a couple of Beyer M160 ribbon mics on the toms of a drum kit that I was recording. They sounded glorious - just the sound that I always heard in my head but could never get - until, of course, they didn't. After about a half song, the ribbons blew and the mics had to be sent away to get fixed. It was a difficult lesson to learn that ribbon mics are extremely sensitive to wind blasts, and that while they could be successfully used as overheads, you had to avoid directly miking the rest of the drum kit. But every engineer that has ever tried such foolishness knows just how great a drum kit can sound miked with ribbon mics.

Royer Labs makes an excellent ribbon mic with the R-121 (and other mics in the family), that has a very robust design that can take all sorts of abuse that would normally blow the ribbon in a vintage ribbon mic to shreds, but directly miking toms with it is still out of the question.

Today I lunch with John Jennings of Royer Labs and Dusty Wakeman of the Royer's sister company Mojave Audio (who make some fine condenser mics, if you've not checked them out yet), two great guys who are both excellent musicians and have great ears that I really trust. John introduced me to the new Royer R-101 ribbon mic just beginning to ship, a mic that is so cool in so many ways.

First of all, it's Royer's first entry into the sub-$1,000 category, coming in at a retail price of $895. At that price, John says it sounds very much like the now-standard R-121, only not quite as hi-fi. Certain types of music and certain instruments (like loud guitar amps) don't really require a hi-fi sound, so I don't see that as a limitation.

While I didn't hear it, I can tell you that the manufacturing is very impressive. It feels substantial in the hand as well as a lot more expensive than it really is.

But what excited me the most is that John said that they've yet to blow one up, thanks to a new triple pop filter that the R-101 uses. In fact, he said they even blew a blast of highly compressed air directly into it and it still came away working like a champ.

Could the R-101 be the ribbon tom mic that everyone has longed for all these years? I can't wait to find out. Check out the R-101 page for more info.

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