Bobby Owsinski's Big Picture Music Production Blog

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Fender's Plan To Go Public

Yesterday came the news that Fender Music Instruments has filed the paperwork for an Initial Public Offering (IPO), meaning that they intend to sell stock in the company or "go public." Most MI companies aren't large enough to be considered a candidate for an IPO, but Fender's gross income last year was a healthy $700 million, and it is the largest guitar maker in the world by far. What's more, the key is the potential for growth, and Fender has plans to hit the huge untapped Chinese market with a vengeance, which must have lit up the eyes of the Wall Street investment bankers.

Fender hopes to raise about $200 million from the offering, and will use it to pay down it's debt load of about $242 million, and hopefully mean a payday for it's biggest investors; private investment firm Winston Presidio owns 43%, and Japanese distributor Yamano Music holds a 14% stake in the company. The estate of Fender's savior Bill Shultz owns 6%.

Fender president Shultz saved the company from almost certain death by arranging for a seat-of-the-pants buyout from CBS in 1984. CBS had bought it from Leo Fender in 1965 and proceeded to run the company into the ground, by changing some of the great products that they had (they thought they were "improving" them), introducing some ill-fated new ones, and having some very poor quality control. Shultz and a group of investors bought only the Fender name, the patents, and some leftover parts, and basically started the company over again from scratch since none of the buildings or equipment was part of the deal.

I remember going to the very small (maybe 30 people) celebration party in a small Anaheim hotel room during the 1985 NAMM show. I happened to get to talking to a visibly nervous and unsure Shultz.

"Do you think we can make it?", he asked.
"Of course you will. You're Fender. People want you to succeed," I replied.
"I hope you're right," came the not-too-confident reply.

Bill lived long enough (he died in 2006) to see Fender restored to it's former heights and beyond, way beyond. I'm not entirely sure he'd be pleased that the company will no longer be privately controlled, but I bet he'd be thrilled that the company has grown enough in stature to be respected by Wall Street. Let's hope that the IPO doesn't change Fender the way CBS did.

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Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Dave Grohl Shows How To Write A Hit

You just gotta love Foo Fighter's frontman Dave Grohl. Although he sits among the elite of the business, he still doesn't take himself too seriously. Although he approaches songwriting in a very tongue-in-cheek way in this video, he does indeed show a formula that's been used in hundreds of hits since the 20's. Contrived, yes, but sometimes it happens to work.

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Tuesday, March 6, 2012

New Rules For Flying With Instruments

Flying with instrument image from Bobby Owsinski's Big Picture production blog

Musicians, engineers and anyone traveling with expensive gear can rejoice, since the restrictions on airline travel with instruments has finally been eased a bit. Earlier this month Congress finally saw the light and passed The FAA Air Transportation Modernization And Safety Improvement Act of 2012, which should lead musicians that travel to throw a party.

Here's the deal:

Musical instrument will now be treated exactly the same as any other luggage, for better or worse.

If it fits, an instrument can be stored in the overhead bin or under the seat in front of you.

Instruments can be checked as excess baggage at the same fee as luggage if the size and weight requirements of 150 linear inches and 165 pounds are met.

Musicians can purchase an extra seat for that beloved instrument that's either too large or too fragile to be set in the cargo hold.

So musicians lucky enough to do fly-dates put your hands in the air, your job has just gotten just a little easier. If you want to read more about traveling with your gear, read this excerpt from The Touring Musician's Handbook.

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Monday, March 5, 2012

4 Myths About Making It

Hollywood Walk Star image from Bobby Owsinski's Big Picture production blog

Many artists and musicians have a dream of "making it." Usually that means having some measure of fame and enough money to not have to worry about the bills yet have enough left over to be able to buy a few things without having to worry about not eating for the next week. If you want to reach the highest heights of stardom more for the celebrity part of it, then read on, because fame and fortune may not be what you might expect them to be.

Here are the 4 myths about "making it," based upon the number of people I've met and worked with over the years that can be said to be in that position.

Myth 1. You'll make lots of money. It's possible, but it's also likely that you'll work really hard for many years, grossing what seems to be a fortune, only to see the great majority of it paid out to taxes, expenses, money managers, accountants, attorneys and managers. In fact, there have been lots of case studies that found that you can actually make more working flipping burgers sometimes. Read this famous one from producer Steve Albini for an eye opener.

Myth 2. Having money will make your life easier. Maybe, but probably not. Anyone who has money and hasn't been born into it knows that having a lot of money really makes life more complicated. For one thing, you're always worrying about keeping what you have. That means keeping it away from taxes and investing it wisely, two things that can take up a lot of your time even with the best consultants and money managers. Second is that you'll begin to have people trying to get a bit of what you have, either as a loan, investment, or a handout. You'll soon have relatives you never even knew existed coming to you with their hands outstretched. Life without money will seem so peaceful and easy.

As an example, I once had the singer of maga-selling band tell me, "I own 3 houses now, and I can afford to live anywhere in the world in comfort, but I was never as happy as in those first couple of years of the band when I was forced to live in my car." Enough said.

Myth 3. You'll love being a celebrity. At first maybe, until you find that you have to fight for the privacy that you so took for granted before fame. It sounds great to have fans that always want to talk to you, engage with you, have you sign their gear and take pictures with them, but when it's constant and you can't get away from it, you find you're in your own personal prison. Every try to eat with constant interruptions? Ever have people checking out how much of a tip you left in a restaurant? Get used to it.

Myth 4. Your personal relationships will get better. It might sound very cool to suddenly be attractive to hundreds, thousands and even millions of fans. A different girl or guy (or more) every night is possible, if that's what you want. But you know what? That gets old after a while (trust me on this one), and then the problem becomes the fact that it's not easy to maintain a relationship when you're constantly on the road or in the studio. In fact, being a musician on the road is the greatest killer of relationships there is, assuming that you're lucky enough to get into one that you consider long-term. If you think a relationship was hard work before, just try doing it under these circumstances.

Most real musicians just want to be comfortable enough to make the music that they feel in their hearts. Fame isn't what they really want, just the ability to connect with as many people as possible. If you're in music for fame and fortune, you may be in it for the wrong reason. If that's the case, be careful what you wish for - you just might get it.

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Sunday, March 4, 2012

The Gibson Tonewood Debacle

I've posted several times in the past about the raids on the Gibson factory in Nashville by Department of Justice officials over an alleged violation of the Lacey Act. The Lacey Act has the noble intention of trying to preserve endangered materials like some of the imported woods sometimes used in guitars, but unfortunately the interpretation of the law seems to have been twisted beyond practical boundaries. Here's a great video describing the situation in detail, and where it stands today.

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Thursday, March 1, 2012

The Highest And Lowest Recorded Notes

This isn't an isolated vocal of a hit tune like I've been posting all week, but it is about vocals and is incredibly cool. The following comes by way of joetheflow, and it's a couple of actual videos of people singing both the highest and the lowest musical notes ever recorded. Check this out.

"The piano has 88 keys, the highest note playable is a high C, often referred to as C8. For a long time, Maria Carey was credited with the highest note – a G7 during a 2003 rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner." However, in 2008, a guy named Adam Lopez took the record by hitting a C8 – off the keyboard – in front of a live audience. You've got to wait until 2:35 before he actually sings.

At the other end of the scale, the lowest note hit by a human, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, is a gutter-scraping .393 Hz. This was achieved by Gospel singer Roger Menees in 2010. But there is some controversy about that number, as the human ear can’t hear below 18 Hz. Currently, a recording company is on the hunt for someone to record the lowest SINGABLE note – a low E in the work, De Profundis, by Paul Mealor."

I love the end of this last one where the poor Roland speakers were topping out as they tried to reproduce it. Of course, it would have been a good idea to use a set of speakers that were capable of reproducing those frequencies, but we'll let that one up to Guinness. Whether Roger Menees is credited with the record or not is immaterial. He has a truly unique voice that's quite capable of being a loudspeaker test!

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Wednesday, February 29, 2012

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" Isolated Vocals

Today during this post of "Isolated Vocal Week" we'll listen to the vocals on the song that started the grunge trend in music. It's Nirvana's 1991 release "Smells Like Teen Spirit", the opening track from their mega-selling Nevermind album, which has gone on to sell more than 30 million units worldwide. Here are some things to listen for. Take note that the vocal doesn't enter until 38 seconds in.

1) It sure sounds like there are a lot of punches on this vocal track, so much so that I'm not sure that they're all punches at all. The ones that are obvious are on the "Hello" part in the song's B sections. These were obviously just one section that was flown in as needed, with the initial breath being cut off.

2) As with most of the songs that we've listened to this week, there's a nice long reverb on the vocal. In this case it's definitely delayed and the top and bottom end is filtered a bit so it fits nicely into the track without sticking out.

3) Another thing that we've seen before that's also used on "Teen Spirit" is the arrangement technique of using a single lead vocal in the verse, then doubling it in the B sections and choruses.

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Tuesday, February 28, 2012

"Any Way You Want It" Isolated Vocal

Here's part 3 in our "Isolated Vocal Week" feature. Today we'll look at the vocals from a Journey hit from their 1980 Departure album called "Any Way You Want It." The song only hit #23 on the charts, but has since found great favor among advertisers, being used on commercials by Heinz, McDonalds, Ford, State Farm and Samsung. Here are a couple of things to listen for:

1) The vocals have a very long verb that sounds like it has a slight (20ms) predelay on it. The verb is a little on the bright side but still fits the track well.

2) There's a timed delay also on the lead vocal in addition to the reverb. Listen to how band-limited it is. Hard to tell if this was the result of a tape delay with a worn out tape or one of the then-new digital delays that were intentionally filtered, but either way, there's not= high end at all on it.

3) The harmonies are very tight - maybe too tight, in that it sounds like they got one perfect then just flew the rest of them in on all the other spots in the song as needed. That's no big deal today since you can easily cut and paste in your DAW of choice, but don't forget, this song was recorded way back in 1980 in the days of magnetic tape. You had to do this kind of thing manually, which was a process we called "flying it in" back then.

4) Steve Perry's voice is wonderfully glorious, soaring to the heavens as always. That's why it so unusual to hear a flat note that was left in at around 1:20. Obviously it didn't hurt the popularity of the song any. I can't say I ever heard it before listening to the isolated vocal track.

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Monday, February 27, 2012

"How Will I Know" Isolated Vocals

This week we're looking at isolated vocals, and todays feature is a 1985 hit by the late Whitney Houston called "How Will I Know," which was a huge MTV hit that helped push her to superstardom. Eventually Whitney went on to sell an incredible 170 million albums during her lifetime, far more than most people realize. Here are a couple of things to think about as you listen to this vocal track.

1) You can hear the compressor work a fair amount. There are a few parts where her breaths are exaggerated where you can hear the compressor pushing up the level. You can't hear it in the track with the music though.

2) The reverb is pretty long and there's really a lot of it on the vocals. It's a good sounding verb that's filtered so it doesn't have a lot of highs or lows so it fits the track well.

3) Whitney doubles herself in the choruses, sometimes very closely, sometimes not so much. It's a popular technique that many producers and vocalists use frequently.

4) You can't hear many of the actual punches, but some of the vocals are pretty are pretty much on top of one another, which happend a lot back in the days of limited tracks due to the limits of magnetic or digital tape.

5) Note the long delay on the vocals in the bridge, which sounds like it's about a full quarter note and timed to the track.

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Sunday, February 26, 2012

"Gimme Shelter" Isolated Vocals

This week we'll feature isolated vocals on some big hits by some major artists.

Here's a track that I featured a couple of years ago that was taken down by the record label shortly after it posted. Here's another version of the isolated vocal from The Rolling Stone's great "Gimme Shelter" that's a mindblower. On it we hear Mick Jagger, Mary Clayton and an uncredited third voice singing the song like you've probably never heard it before.

Here are a few things I noticed.

1) What jumps out is how thick and long the reverb on the vocal track is. The verb is delayed so it stays out of way of the lead vocal a bit, but there's a lot more of it than I ever remember hearing on the record.

2) The other thing that jumps out is the third harmony vocal on the choruses in between Mick's lead vocal and Mary's high part. Never heard that before, but I like it.

3) It's interesting to hear how distorted everything is, especially on Mary Clayton's parts when she begins to belt it out.

4) Mary Clayton's part in the bridge is still great, no matter how many times I've heard it before. What a performance. Gives me chills!

Catch this video before it gets taken down again.

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Thursday, February 23, 2012

The IKEA Salad Bowl Speaker System

Let's say you know some audiophile who'd just love to own a custom, one-of-a-kind speaker system to impress his friends. Undoubtedly that audiophile has plenty of money to burn. Why should a company like B&O, VonSchwiekert, Magnapan, or Revel get all the dough when you can whip something up for him with some old fiberglass, a few left over speaker drivers, and some parts from Ikea that will look every bit the part (and you can put most of the money in your pocket as well).

Using 3 of Ikea's Blanda Matt salad bowls and a few Baren Hangs pegs for feet, here's a three-way system that certainly looks the part. Of course, it probably won't sound that great, but when has that ever stopped an audiophile from buying before? Thanks to Gizmodo for the heads up on this.

salad bowl speaker system image from Bobby Owsinski's Big Picture production blog

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Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Inside Apple's New iTunes Mastering Tool

Mastered for iTunes image from Bobby Owsinski's Big Picture production blog

Mixing engineers, producers and mastering engineers have faced a dilema for a number of years now. That is, "Should digital files intended for Internet distribution be mastered separately?" This has been a sore spot with many veteran mastering guys, some who believe a separate master is a must, while others feel that an MP3 or AAC file made from a well-made master is more than sufficient.

It seems that Apple has finally made the decision for us all, as they've just released their Mastering For iTunes guidelines. I learned of this through an email from legendary mastering engineer Bob Ludwig of Gateway Mastering, who I believe was instrumental in Apple getting their mastering thing together (more on this later).

Among the things that the guideline recommends is:

Always use the highest resolution file available. That means if your project started out at 96kHz/24 bit, that's what you should send to iTunes for encoding.

Compressing the living hell out of the track to make it as loud as possible actually works against you. That's because of a circuit called Sound Check in iTunes (it's called different things on different players and services) that lets the listener hear all his songs at about the same level. A highly compressed master actually pulls the level down, so it sounds quiet and less punchy. This is a mantra that Bob and many other top mastering engineers have been singing for quite some time.

It's best to leave a dB or so of headroom when mastering a data-compressed online file like an AAC or MP3, as I've state in both The Mastering Engineer's Handbook and Mixing And Mastering With T-RackS. Some encoders actually output a little hot, and mastering at -1 or -2dB instead of -.1 dB can make the difference between clipping or not.

Bandwidth is becoming less and less of an issue, so data-compressing is becoming less and less necessary. That means that larger file sizes of greater fidelity will be less of an issue in the future. That's why Apple is pushing its AAC Plus lossless hi-res format. Soon it will become more and more possible to hear your glorious hi-res files as they were intended.

Apple has gone as far as to make a number of tools available to mastering engineers or anyone who plans on distributing via iTunes. This is so you can monitor your file before sending it to iTunes to determine how it will sound. These utilities include:

Master for iTunes Droplet. The Master for iTunes Droplet is a simple, standalone drag-and-drop tool that can be used to quickly and easily encode your masters in iTunes Plus (the hi-res version of iTunes) format.

afconvert. The afconvert command-line utility can be used to encode your masters in iTunes Plus format.

afclip. The afclip command-line utility can be used to check any audio file for clipping.=

AURoundTripAAC Audio Unit. The AURoundTripAAC Audio Unit can be used to compare an iTunes Plus file to the original source file.

By the way, you have to be on at least Mac OS 10.6.8 to run these tools. If you have anything to do with distributing via iTunes, be sure that you check out the iTunes mastering guidelines.

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Thursday, March 8, 2012

Fender's Plan To Go Public

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Dave Grohl Shows How To Write A Hit

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

New Rules For Flying With Instruments

Monday, March 5, 2012

4 Myths About Making It

Sunday, March 4, 2012

The Gibson Tonewood Debacle

Thursday, March 1, 2012

The Highest And Lowest Recorded Notes

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" Isolated Vocals

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

"Any Way You Want It" Isolated Vocal

Monday, February 27, 2012

"How Will I Know" Isolated Vocals

Sunday, February 26, 2012

"Gimme Shelter" Isolated Vocals

Thursday, February 23, 2012

The IKEA Salad Bowl Speaker System

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Inside Apple's New iTunes Mastering Tool

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