Less is more

Whenever I get to a place where adding or changing small items do not help to bring out the best in a song, I tear it down and build from the foundation.

Leave the vocal and the most important instrument to convey the emotion of he song, then add parts one at a time that are really necessary and do not fight each other. Less parts mean each can be louder and have it’s own space.

Be ruthless and do not hold on to the past.

Five Questions

Five questions to ask an artist before you produce them:

1. What are your influences?
2. Who are your favorite current artists?
3. How do you see yourself as an artist?
4. How do you want to be seen as an artist?
5. What kind of music career do you want to have in the future?

Once these are answered honestly, the many decisions that must be made regarding song styles and choices, vocal delivery, and arrangements will be made with the end game in mind.

Inspired from an article by producer Cliff Magness

Production lessons learned after seeing Michael Jacksons ‘This Is It’

1. Surround yourself with talented people

2. Let them bring their A game and show their unique talents – it will make you look better

3. Come to a rehearsal, session, or production meeting confidant and well rehearsed

4.  Pick the specialty that is unique to you and become known for that

5. Always aim for the highest production and performance level and allow your creative partners to do the same

Is it live or is it a show?

I went to see two concerts in the last few weeks.

The Decemberests at Hard Rock Live put on an amazing recreation of their latest 45 minute rock opera. Straight through with no breaks or talking between songs, each of the characters played their progressive rock parts and character vocals perfectly. Their devoted audience knew what to expect and they got it. Even when Colin Maloy’s guitar amp was making loud humming and buzzing sounds like a blown tube until the tech crew fixed it, it just made it more real and honest for us.

After a 30 minute break, their second set was just the opposite. It felt completely ‘off the cuff ‘. When they divided up the crowd for a three part sing along, or when the audience passed the drummer over their heads, they had their fans eating it up.

A great show and the audience walked away with more then they expected.

The other concert was Blues Traveler at a small club The House of Blues. They are a musicians Jam Band and they felt like they were playing for themselves with long extended solos. That would be fine except the groove was not there like at a Grateful Dead show. Without something to move your body to it became a cerebral experience. Their hit “Runaround”  from 15 years ago was the highlight as it actually had a groove and a melody everyone sang along with.

I came to hear John Poppers great harmonica work, but with his constant riffing, it did not have the impact it should have had.

The future of the music business is authenticity, being able to play, being honest but most importantly pleasing your core audience.

Good vrs. Bad Music

Is there a such thing as bad music? What is good music? If we call good music good, is it because it is really good or is it because we have lost a reference point?

By definition, bad is substandard, poor, inferior, second-rate, second-class, unsatisfactory, inadequate, unacceptable. Does society set the standards or does the media force it on us?

Think of an example of music that you labeled as ‘bad’. Someone else could hear it while they in the middle of an amazing experience and upon hearing it again get reminded of that experience. To them, would it be called ‘good’ music even though society might agree it does not fit in their standards of quality.

Music put together with any visuals also could be hard to simply categorize as good and bad because the visuals entice our brain to react in a different way.

- Please post you thoughts.

The yin and yang of any art

Intensity complemented by restraint. That is the yin and yang of any art. There will always be various styles included in any media. A media producer’s job is to know the difference between them and how they affect the listener/viewer.

us.music-jobs.com

I great resource for getting business-to-business jobs into your studio is:

http://us.music-jobs.com/jobsboard.php

The site is also good at linking music buyers to content creators.

Check them out.

A friend gave me a ticket to see the Moody Blues the other night in San Diego . Everyone has one great novel, idea or song that defines them. When they played Nights In White Satin, they made this small 1000 seat outdoor lawn on the bay feel larger then life with that 1967 classic. We could all find that one thing that makes each of us unique to share with the world and make it better.

A producer is…………

mentor

creative connector

arranger

psychologist

adviser

advocate

vocal coach

engineer

older brother

piano, guitar, bass player

songwriter

the obvious choice

Dynamic Goals

Make goals dynamic pointed towards an activity              

 see yourself helping, inspiring and enriching people

Even in music production every decision can be approached

with the idea of bringing people to the next level  

A ) type of artist to work with

B ) style of music

C ) song choice