Recording Artist Advocate: Alternate Tunings?

It's funny how often an artist asks if it's OK if they do an alternative tuning on a song... as if I'd get upset with them. There may be engineers who do, but I never have. 

Drop tunings can change the emotion of a song and artist do that a lot. It can make for some mixing issues as the low bass notes take up the same space sonically as kick drum, but so what. That's for me to work out.

I came across something recently that I'd like to explore with artists. Most of the time A is 440Hz and everything follows that standard. But that's just since the 30's or 40's. Before then A could be 432 or 435 and I've read that A444 is supposed to improve sound too. 

A 432 Hz tuning, is described as perfect because all the other notes stay whole tones.   Middle C is 256 Hz, E above is 648 Hz.  This stays consistent throughout the entire note range. With some tunings the other notes fraction off and supposedly our ears or brains don't like the sound. I wonder how digital treats that, but that's another issue.

This may be something or it may be nothing. Try for yourself. See if things sound better when you tune differently. And when you record, tell your engineer so he or she can work better with what your doing.

Recording Artist Advocate: Get Good Monitoring

I don't usually work outside the studio unless I'm recording live music, but I recently put together a sound system for a live event and it was a learning experience.

The venue was outdoors in a covered amphitheater. There was the main artist doing spoken word with musicians backing up. I had the mains and 2 monitor channels. Because there was a high roof and all that open air, I could run the monitors pretty loud with no feedback. 

The artist loved it and had some of their best performances. The headliner didn't want to leave and spent a good deal of time telling stories and entertaining the audience after the main show. With such good monitoring they were able to perform better than ever.

If you can't hear yourself well, you will over-sing and shred your voice. That leads to a performance that's less than it could be, and a shorter career overall. So get good monitoring!

In ears is great, but a wedge works too. Even a hot spot, which is a small speaker on a mic stand, is better than nothing.

Monitor better and your performance will be better. Your voice will last longer and you'll be a happier performer.

Recording Artist Advocate: Does music pay? It depends.

There are people making good money playing in bands that will never perform an original song. Corporate work is all about pleasing the widest group of folks. A Christmas party for a business is all about making everyone from the warehouse staff to the CEO happy.

Heritage bands will always find work as long as their original audience is alive, even if they’re just licensing their music to movies, TV, or commercials.

Most of the time I work with artists creating original music. That’s what I know most and that’s what I want to talk about.

Can you make a living creating original music? Yes you can, but you have to be willing to work harder. Those other players are riding on the coat tails of past success. You are going to have to make your own success.

According to Butch Vig, Nirvana practiced together almost every day for 6 months, 10 hours a day, before they went into the studio just to make sure they were ready. Despite the slacker attitude they wanted to be successful and were willing to put in the hours.

You’ll also need to play out and chase those paying gigs like your life depended on it. If you don’t play and get paid, you don’t eat.

There is a lot more and I can’t cover it all in this posting, but the answer is yes, music pays. People are doing it every day.

Here is something to think about: Comedians have to come up with a lot of original material. They are always in a different town. And they work alone. If they succeed or fail it’s all on that one person. There are comedians you’ve never heard of who make over a hundred thousand dollars a year.

You are most likely with a group of musicians you like. You can bounce ideas off each other all day. You share the load driving, setting up and tearing down, even calling venues and booking. If nothing else, you've got it better than a comedian.  

Find your niche and serve those fans. You can do pretty well for yourself.

Recording Artist Advocate: More Background Noise

I hope I’m not repeating myself too much, but some things need to be driven home.

What sets you apart from all the other bands in your category?

I always ask that and some people bristle and say, “We’re not in a category.” But that’s not true. People who know can categorize you in a minute. So, what makes you different?

Here’s what I see: a lot of people looking the same, dressing the same, playing the same music while declaring how unique they are. They will criticize anyone different and demand conformity while declaring their individuality.

We’re told the 50’s were the era of conformity. Look around today.

When someone is successful at anything, you get a bunch if imitators. It’s not just that everyone is the same. The folks coming in late don’t know what motivated the originals. They imitate the style and clothes but fail at the substance. Eventually the field gets crowded with hollow copy-cats and the audience gets bored.

That’s when they’re willing to try something new.

Things have been the same for quite a while. Get out there and show em’ what you’ve got. They need something new. They need you. You may be the next big thing.

You’ll never know if you don’t try.  

Recording Artist Advocate: Boring on purpose

I came across an interesting old word: An-o-dyne

adjective - Not likely to provoke Dissent or offense; inoffensive, often deliberately so.

noun – pain killing drug or medicine.  

The example in the definition was, “anodyne modern music.”

This is right on the heels of a conversation I had with Ben Napier, a friend and fellow studio owner/music producer. He watched a documentary about the big radio chains. You would think with all the research they do it would be to find the songs people like the most. Instead, they focus on what songs are the least offensive… to keep people passively listening longer. It’s not just the radio chains. Movies and TV do the same.  

This has been going on for some time and the result is music and entertainment that’s boring on purpose.

This is not new. Big business can’t afford mistakes. To produce a show or movie or music act at the highest levels is expensive. You won’t see real creativity from them. They just won’t take the risk.

Smaller companies and start-up bands will be the innovators to bring back interesting entertainment.

We’re small enough to fall flat on our faces and keep trying. So what if you play a show and everyone hates it. It’s just one show. Or what if you put out a song that doesn’t go anywhere? You can just do another one.

But here is the best part of all this: What if you try something new and everyone likes it, or you put a song up and everyone wants it. What if they tell everyone they know and you can’t even keep up with the demand to do shows!!!

Take advantage of not being famous. Try new things. Play for new audiences. Don’t set out to offend anyone, but if you have something important to say, don’t let anything stand in your way. It could be your break-out song.

When you reach that higher level of success, don’t start playing it safe and become anodyne.