They’re not going to steal your idea. Because it’s impossible to steal mastery of a trade.
You can’t out out “George Martin” George Martin. Or out “Prince” Prince
YOU are the magic puzzle piece that makes it all work. Don’t worry about giving away the secret to the sauce. No one can make it all work like you, because you are the magician. You are the integral piece that connects all the dots.
What you need to do is engage with your audience. Show them how it works. Expand the enthusiasm of your fans by discussing the build of whatever it is that drew them in in the first place.
“Want to know how we got the guitar to solo to sound like the end of the world? Modulated octave fuzz split through two amps. Check out my new video where I show you how.”
“Want to know we got the background vocals to sound so huge? MS and Blumlein stereo mic’ing. Head over to my blog where I explain that, along with many other recording and mixing techniques.”
They will go from enthusiastic to completely addicted, spreading your ideas, your name, and your mastery around in the process.
No one can out “You” You.
Photo by brokinhrt2. Licensed under a Creative Commons license.
Tracking day is the big day. You just committed a lot of money to the studio to make a record, and there’s no turning back now. It’s possibly the most exciting part of a project, because you’re still anticipating everything-imagining how glorious the end result will sound-yet simultaneously the project has come to fruition, because the basic tracks are being recorded right now.
Your overdubs are different. Now you’re off the big studio’s clock. The excitement from the tracking day has had time to settle, and now you’re simply putting in “another day at the office.”
This middle phase of has the potential to become record-making purgatory, where everyone is stuck with their own form of writer’s block. The artist can become unsure of themselves, bouncing from one extreme idea to another looking for direction. The A&R guy can become nervous, wondering if his project is losing competence. This can end up putting immense pressure on you to save the project.
So use the overdubs for what they are: a place take liberties. Do things that stretch the limits. Use unfamiliar gear and techniques. Employ methods that promote creative thinking; techniques that challenge writer’s block.
Overdubs are the pivital moment. They can make or break a record. It can be that one stroke of red amongst a canvas of gray. Don’t miss the opportunity to make a statement by introducing the sonic character which becomes the standard for the genre, or the hook that takes the song from average to platinum-selling hit.
Worst case scenario is that you end up with a track or two that don’t get used. You can always trim the fat, but you can’t add what’s not there.
The studio is the recordist’s instrument. It’s your moment to really dive into your creative outlet. You got into this line of work because it’s supposed to be fun. This is definitely one of your chances to make good on that.
Mondays are a crunch day. People don’t have time to read blogs for all the work that piled up over the weekend. There is too much stress over getting through another week. Monday is just flat out the wrong day to publish new blog posts.
This is why Wednesdays exist. The dust from the uproar of Monday has settled, and everyone is looking for a bit of a “time out” from work by procrastinating in a distraction of some sort.
When I go up against the stress of Monday, I’m always going to lose that competition. So I’d like to increase my chances of getting my blog read by showing up right at the moment people are looking to take their “time out.” Perhaps I’m being naive since record making is off the charts in terms of normal working hours and days.
In any case, I’m going to be switching my posting day from Mondays to Wednesdays. This is an experiment. If it works I will have increased my readers/subscribers/visitors, and I’ll stick with Wednesdays. If not, I’ll be testing out some other days.
As always, I’d love some feedback on this. So please comment away if you have a suggestion. Thanks for being loyal readers, hope your Monday is not too stressful, and I’ll see you Wednesday.
Photo by Greg Westfall. Licensed under a Creative Commons License.
I’ve got some friends who are a little bit older than me, and have been making records longer than me. It’s great to have these friends, as they are my mentors. They teach me things on a near daily basis. They challenge me to keep my production skills sharp.
I also have a group of friends who are a little bit younger than me for whom I act as the mentor. The (maybe not so) ironic thing is that they teach me just as much-and sometimes more-than I teach them.
This happens in three main ways:
- They ask me questions, and I have my knowledge and skills tested because I have to come up with the “correct” answer and/or good advice.
- They ask me questions, and I don’t know the answer. I research it, I teach it to them, I learn something new.
- They flat out teach me something I knew nothing about.
I not only keep my skills sharp by keeping in touch with my mentors, I also constantly have my skills sharpened by the people whom I teach. It’s great to focus on networking with people who have been making records longer than you, and picking their brains for knowledge. But what action are you taking to put yourself in a position in which you can learn by teaching someone who has less experience than you?
Photo by foxypar4. Licensed under a Creative Commons license.
I’ve been drafting this post since mid March. The first two drafts I ended up with a 1000+ word review. I scrapped them both because they were way too long, and full of way too much detail. I decided I’d attempt once more, and if it didn’t work out this last time I’d totally bail on the post. So I stripped everything down to the bare essentials:
The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss
Why is this applicable to producers
I am not suggesting that you should make records in four hour increments. Although it would make for a cool experimental project, you’re not going to make a business out of this practice. What I am suggesting is that you need to expand your skill set-wear more hats. My reasoning for recommending this book is to point you to a resource which will get you thinking about how to accomplish more.
The highlights
The part of the book that most resonated with me was Step II (chapters 5, 6, and 7), which was all about accomplishing more by doing less, eliminating useless information consumption, and deleting interruption.
The point
As a music business professional you need to expand your skill set in order to stay relevant. The 4-Hour Work Week serves as a powerful resource to help you manage this diversification. It’s worth the weekend it takes to read it.
Timothy Ferriss, the author, also has a blog which is a great resource. [www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog]
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