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The
Many Roles of a Successful Project
Studio Owner
(and how to become an in-demand
local producer)
by
Eric McKinney, Wonderland Studios,
November 2007
Back to The
Academy
So you want to become a studio owner and/or an in-demand local
producer? Do you realize what sort of work that entails? Do you
understand all the different skills you may need to be successful in that
venture? What about all the various roles you will be asked or
forced to take on with projects/clients?
Wait a minute, I didn’t sign up for all
this.
Those of us in the music business all know that project studios are popping
up everywhere these days. These are usually smaller-type studios
than the professional large-scale recording studios, but can often produce high
quality work for a much cheaper price for various recording artists.
These types of studios have flourished in recent years due to the falling
prices with equipment and recording accessories, as well as less-expensive
digital hard-disk recording products and software that’s now widely available in
the marketplace. But running a successful project studio can
require you to develop skills to be many different people - project coordinator,
record producer, psychologist, advisor, versatile scheduler, great communicator,
storyteller, business person and entrepreneur, just to name a
few.
In addition, just like almost any business, it also hinges on strong people
skills and building relationships with your clients. This in turn
helps spread the word about the studio, about working directly with you, and
brings in referral projects or repeat business (the goal of any business,
right?).
But being a good business person is not enough, though, since this is indeed
a recording studio. You will need to develop strong audio engineering skills
which alone encompass a large area of expertise. You need a good
basic understanding of signal flow, recording gear, microphones, acoustics and
psychoacoustics, instruments and music in general. You need to
have a good idea how to record and reproduce sound through electronic and
mechanical means. Many people go to school for years just to learn
these skills, and most recording engineers/producers are continually learning,
and gaining experience in this field with every project, due to every project
being a bit different.
There are so many skills, elements and roles that you will likely need to
develop. We don’t have room to discuss everything in this article,
but let us discuss a few important items in more detail, give some examples and
help open your mind towards what you may be getting yourself into with this line
of work.
Producer or Psychologist?
When
to Listen, Suggest, and Shut-Up.
Even after working with hundreds of musicians/artists in the studio, it never
ceases to amaze me that using psychology throughout the session tends to be
needed to move things along smoother, make everybody excited, work through bad
performances, and to keep the sessions moving along in general.
For example, I recall many sessions where the musician(s) get frustrated
or even start self-doubting their performances or songs altogether. And there
are times that they just are not hearing things back in the speakers or
headphones how they thought they recorded it. They may start
trying to change direction with a performance of an already established and
potentially great part of the song. Sometimes, just some simple
reassurance or comments such as “that is sounding great” or “that’s a really
cool take right there” is all that’s needed. They often perk right
back up and collect their confidence. One of the most important
roles of a good producer is knowing exactly what to say at the right time, and
when not to say anything at all. Critically listening to the
tracks and being able to point out specifics (whether good or bad) will let the
artist know that you are in the moment and helping them.
Sometimes a given performance may not be exactly what was needed for the
song, or just simply did not sound right for some reason. At this
point you need to find a way to get the musician(s) to ultimately re-do a
track. A good producer can come up with a way, without hurting
anybody’s feelings, to suggest or convince them in doing the part over
again. Choosing your words carefully, the inflections of your
voice and your body language are all crucial and almost an art-form in itself
for communicating and ultimately guiding them through to a better
performance. As mentioned online in Wikipedia, “a music
producer could be compared to the film director in that the producer's job is to
create, shape and mould a piece of music in accordance with their vision for the
album.”
However, in accordance with the above statements, as a producer, you have to
constantly take some cues from the artist. Most artists are very
sensitive and passionate about their music, and ultimately may know exactly what
they are trying to get across with the musical piece. On the other hand, some do
not know. But, you have to find common ground here in working with
the musician. Listen to what the musician is telling you and give them the
benefit of the doubt. It is ultimately, their art on the line.
Also, a musician with studio experience just may use a bit of psychology back
your way as well, to possibly stroke your ego and help guide things the way they
see fit for the project.
I recall a comment from producer Butch Vig, from when he was working with
Nirvana on Nevermind, and Kurt Cobain simply did not want to double-track
some vocal and guitar parts. Butch thought it sounded better
doubled (same part recorded twice), and subtly mentioned, “John Lennon
double-tracked.” That comment, that quick thinking, and that bit of psychology
ultimately got Kurt to change his mind, which in turn helped with the elaborate
production on that landmark album.
Being a producer/engineer myself, I store all sorts of bits of information
like that in my head, ready to whip out any particular story or comment as
needed for a session. For example, I remember a comment over lunch
one time from producer/engineer David Thoener (engineer for John Mellencamp,
John Lennon, Matchbox 20), where he mentioned working with Mutt Lange, the
legendary producer, on AC/DC’s “For Those About to Rock.” Mutt had
gotten some great guitar sounds like David had never heard before, and David
mentioned how it really had a lot to do with the perspective of the vocal
against the tracks. Therefore, I sometimes pull out that story to
remind clients about the perspective of the vocal against the instrument tracks
and how that can really make the song sound more rockin’ and louder if the vocal
is not so out front of the music (making it almost harder to hear every word and
more like you were at a loud concert). That bit of
information/education often helps a client really listen and focus on the level
of the vocals. Stories, comments, education, psychology in general
– they are all tools you can use with guiding the bands and artists through the
entire production of their project.
What am I - engineer/producer or business
person or scheduler?
Juggling all of the various roles and aspects of your job logically and
excellently will be crucial to your success in this business. Even
while being a producer/engineer, you are still an entrepreneur – someone who
organizes a business venture and assumes the risk for it, and you are a business
person – one engaged in business. You need to make the best use of
your time to make that time equal money. This all comes down to
scheduling. You will be forced to schedule all of your business affairs and
projects, and try to make every client happy by meeting their project
schedule. Take note, in my experience almost every band/artist
underestimates the amount of time that will be required to get the desired
results for their recording project. Therefore, you will need to
take this into account for them as you are scheduling your next few weeks and
months of projects. You will want to build some “holes” into your
schedule to have extra days for certain projects. And of course,
each client has the most important project, and needs their project done by
their deadline, right? So, you will likely have to find a way to
constantly shuffle projects around a bit, find extra time for one project, while
another may get delayed for some reason (maybe the band had a fight and they are
canceling sessions that week, or someone is not finished working up parts of a
song, or they are sick or just cannot get out of some other obligations).
Another aspect of this type of career is the amount of extra work that is
required by you, long after the musicians have tracked their parts and have left
the studio. Even if the clients want to be around for all the work
you are doing they simply do not need to always be there. These
tasks include cleaning up tracks (taking out the noisy parts of individual
tracks, noisy guitar amp hum, lip smacks or headphone noise in between vocal
phrases) and applying EQ to enhance various tracks, getting a general mix
(levels between instruments and vocal parts happening), compiling tracks from
various alternate takes/passes of a vocal part or guitar solo and so on.
Of course, many of these tasks are where an assistant engineer comes in
handy, and you can possibly delegate specific tasks to them. As
busy as you might be, it is important that you learn how to get everything done
in a timely manner.
Also, as a producer/engineer, I like to be well prepared before a
session. Therefore, I will arrive early and prepare the studio for
the project. I’ll get prepared for the type of tracking or mixing
that we will be doing that day. As a producer, I often play
various instruments on a project, and may want time to experiment with ideas for
the instrument layers. Therefore, I usually do that when the
client is not around, just to experiment and flush out some ideas for the
parts. I may lay these parts into the track and see what the
client thinks at the next session (unless the client specifically wants to be
more involved in the instrument layers). But I always try to have
plenty of great ideas to suggest to them. There may be some ideas
or special effects that you want to experiment with for a particular
song. It can be best to try out those ideas without the client
right beside you in the studio, just to see if you can obtain what you’re
hearing in your head and then present it to them.
Every project is a different, every client
is unique and time may sometimes seem irrelevant
Something you learn after working hundreds of studio projects is that every
client is unique, everybody will likely want to do something different, and you
need to be able to recognize what is the most productive way for that client to
work. Some clients will have specific structures and musical parts
worked out for songs ahead of time, and others will want to experiment and “wing
it” in the studio, trying to find and create something during the recording
process. You need to be understanding of the creative process and willing and
open to trying different things. I have found that, generally, if
you are open to any ideas that the client may have, they will feel that you
respect them and are giving them that opportunity to experiment with musical
ideas for their project. I have had many clients come back to work
with me after working in another studio (a studio where engineers/producers were
not as open to experimenting and trying various ideas) and simply mention to me
how easy it is to work with me, how comfortable they were working with me, and
how they really like that I let them experiment. After all, you do
not always know what is best for a song - give the band/artist a chance to be
brilliant.
Additionally, some clients will like to work very fast in the studio, trying
to get as much as possible accomplished in a session. While
others, will be the complete opposite, wanting to think about details a lot,
taking frequent breaks, and wanting to repeatedly listen to the tracks and take
time to write very specific parts. You have got to be able to
judge when to push people, so that they feel like they are getting things
accomplished in the studio, and when to just kind of let them take their time to
develop and finish tracks for the songs. Be aware, that if enough
is not getting done at the scheduled sessions, frustration may surface with the
band/artist. But if you are trying to push them forward before
they are ready, that can create possible issues. There is a fine
line, and you will have to use your judgment, experience and people skills with
these tasks. Remember, you have got a deadline, but you are trying
to keep everybody happily working together and with you on the project.
Building your reputation and your
career
Many of you have probably heard the statement, “you’re only as good as your
last project.” Well, to some degree that is true, but it may not
always be the case. Music is a fluid, living thing and once a CD
is finished, it does not go away. I have had projects I completed
a year or more ago all of a sudden get a lot of attention.
Basically, you have really got to strive to make each project the best
that you can, given the circumstances. Even though the musicians
on your latest project may not be as talented as the last band, or the project
may be a style of music that you are not as familiar with as others, or there
are some musicians in the group that just do not see eye to eye with you on the
vision of the recordings, you have got to find a way to do great work.
And honestly, from working in the studio business for more than fifteen years
now, I will shoot you straight here and tell you that you really do not know
what project or band is going to break out and sell tons of CDs or become the
“next big thing.” And that just may be the project that garners
you the most attention and recognition and leads to many other studio
projects.
In addition to great work and great sounding recordings, one of the best ways
to build your production/engineering career is to set a great vibe in the studio
and simply get along with each client that you work with (duh!).
It does not matter how you really go about that, but being a hard working
producer/engineer, a very professional individual, and generally a fun, nice
person will not hurt. People talk, people spread the word about
you and will refer others to you if they like working with you, as with any
business. And the music business is a business of “who do you
know?” and “this guy made my music sound awesome.” I have had
clients post blogs on MySpace or their websites about working with me in the
studio, and now over half of the projects I work on were referred to me from a
previous client. You get to a point that you have so many
bands/artists wanting to work with you, that you get to pick and choose the next
best project for your career, or for your pocketbook, in some cases.
Your rates go up as your reputation and experience builds, and you get to
be much more selective of the projects that you take on. There is nothing better
than getting to work on what you want to work on and getting paid to do it.
If you’re working towards a career in the music business, good luck with your
studio experiences and projects. Let’s all make some great music
to share with the world.
-----
Eric McKinney is an in-demand engineer/producer who co-owns and
operates Wonderland Studios. Wonderland is a busy project studio facility in
“The Live Music Capitol of the World,” Austin , Texas . For info
about the studio, visit www.wonderlandstudios.info. Eric has a
long list of engineering and production credits. He also tours as
lead-guitarist with Mark McKinney and the Cosmic Cowboys who have gained a
top-10 song on the 2007 Texas Music Charts, and have opened shows for such
artists as Kevin Fowler, Randy Rodgers, Wade Bowen, Cross Canadian Ragweed,
Trent Summar and Trent Tomlinson. |
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