OK.
You are an in a band.
You create music.
You want to record your songs.
Over the next few pages I will write about recording bands, and more
importantly me recording your band.
This document is a bit long, so maybe go offline, or print it. If
printing it, reduce text size and save the trees. I left the text size big here
for ease of reading from a screen.
Get back to me at ballsofironstudios@yahoo.co.uk
if you are interested or wish to discuss ideas with me. I am otherwise engaged
at the moment. I will available to in July 2003, and will have a phone number
then. In the meantime, I hope to organise projects from here via email. See
also the next issue of Unfit for Consumption for more on this.
Here’s a quick roadmap to my ideas and ramblings over
the next few pages: You can click on each one to skip ahead to each topic...
- Why a band
should record?
- Why should
you record with me? – a bit of background info on
me.
- How I record.
- How much do I
cost?
- I am better
value
- How good is
the finished product?
- Idea on
cutting the costs of recording even further: Collective recording
- References: Happy clients who will say nice things about me
- Conclusion
OK.
Balls of iron studios is a mobile 16-track recording
system.
In a nutshell, my studio and my approach to recording will give you the
following benefits:
1. Experience: I’ve been playing music for nearly
20 years and recording for 10. I’ve recorded over 100 projects from people from
all over Ireland, Europe and the USA. I have a masters in Music Technology,
have lectured in studio recording, and attended The TapeOp Magazine Recording
Conference in Sacramento last summer and am now blood brothers/have the same
number of syllables in my name as monsieurs Albini, Endino, Zientara et al…
2. Versatility: Balls of Iron is a mobile studio.
My studio and I come to you. Other more established studios (which
from here on are referred to as ‘cement’ studios, because they are stuck to the
ground with cement), cannot do what I can do. They are stuck in the
one place, and must use the same acoustic spaces each and every time a
recording is made there.
I can record anywhere. The amount of acoustic spaces I can record
in is limitless.
3. Optimum recording:. Recordings in concrete studios
can suffer due to the band’s unfamaliarity with the new surroundings, ‘time is
money’ pressures, and getting it all finished in the one session.
Knowing this, I aim to achieve the best situation in which the recording
can take place. Where possible, I go see your band live, study previous
recordings you’ve made, and prepare for the songs you are going to record.
We record where you feel you perform at your best, where you are most
relaxed, in familiar surroundings, where you get the best vibe, where you wrote
the music in the first place, where your mojo flows. That is where we record. Not
in a sterile, cement, unfamiliar studio, with sometimes scary engineer monsters.
4. I cost less: I charge less than most cement
studios because, I have less overheads, e.g. no rent, no electricity etc. I
charge €5 per hour per band member. The minumum price is €15 per hour. You save
on paying for the 3 or 4 people in your band going to a concrete studio (food /
travel / accomodation). Instead you only pay for one. Me (i.e. I travel by bus
and I crash/eat at your place, not a B+B).
OK.
My motivation for writing this?
- To
ensure the recording of all the great music currently being created in
Ireland
- To help
bands in Ireland promote themselves
- To earn
a crust and clear my debts
- To
speed up the demise of mass produced music and the rise of real music made
by real bands
Every band should record. WHY?
- With
your own recording, you have captured (or tried to capture) the music you
make. You can sell it, give it away, promote your band, send it to folks /
live venues to get gigs, get on compilations, go platinum, go nowhere, or
just keep it as evidence/record of a particular phase in your band’s
life...
- When
you’re 84, you can listen back to it and be proud (or have a good laugh or
cry…)
- When
you record your songs, you hear them without playing them. This can
totally transform the way you perceive your own music and your band. It
can be an aid to help you make the music you want to make. Sounds obvious,
but it can help a band develop 300%
- "Bands,
those funny little plans, that never work quite right." So sang
Mercury Rev. Bands are complex simple 3 or 4 or 13 way relationships
between people driven to create new music. I believe they are precious
sociological life forms reflecting the environment where they exist. They
are the barometer of where things are. They are the "boil on the arse
of society". They are non-hierachical, they are dictatorships, they
are copycats, they are genius, they are crap, they are seminal, they are
same ould, they are trying, they are alive. THEY SHOULD MAKE RECORDINGS
- I
believe that the recording studio is the most advanced compositional
instrument there is. Getting your head around it, making recordings can
improve your musicianship no end. Knowing how to record well, helps
knowing how to play well. Of course the converse applies too, but you knew
that already.
Recording is important for other reasons. Back in the early 1800’s, a
smart boy English dude called ‘something Bunting’ (I think) went all around
Ireland collecting Irish tunes, jigs and reels that folk were playing all over
the place. Although many tunes have survived by families passing them on to the
next generations, Bunting is the man we have to thank for many of the tunes in
today’s repetoire being preserved by his writing them all down, way back then.
Similarly, I’m up for recording the tunes of today, primarily for the
benefit of the bands themselves, and the people who may like their music, but
also for future generations who are curious to find out what the real
Irish music was like, and not the mainstream dross which was peddled at the
time of their existence.
2. Why should you record with me?
You should want to record with me if you like the cut of my jib, if you
like the sound of recordings I have already made, if you think we can make good
things happen in the studio.
So here’s some ‘getting to know me’ stuff. If you want to read all about
me, there’s plenty of stuff on my website, located for now at https://mocstudios.tripod.com/mebands.htm
But here’s an abbreviated version:
- Learned
to sing when I was born. Learned piano, from age 11, guitar from 15 (ish).
Bass, keyboard and drums thereafter. It is important for a recordist to
understand the nature of the instruments he/she is recording. I play all
of them, so I have an understanding of how they make the sounds they make,
and how best to record the sounds they make.
- I
played piano up to grade 5. Played live for the first time playing
Schubert’s ‘March Militaire’ with my hot piano duet partner in 1987
- Played
live rock and roll for the first time in 1994 in a shit hole called 3’s in
Newport, Rhode Island, USA
- Played
bass, guitar, and keyboard in a dodgy reggae band Sept 94 – June ‘95
- Played
guitar, organ and keyboard in Veneer June ’96 to Aug ’97. Recorded loads
with 4 track
- High
point: Came 3rd in national band competition in TBMC in Dublin.
Won 4 days recording time in that pricey top floor place in TBMC
- Low
point: Playing to a wall in Sligo. Not knowing about ‘the underground’, or
it not existing in Limerick then
- Did
Music Technology Masters in University of Limerick Sept ’97 to Sept ’98. Lectured
in Studio Recording Sept ’98 – June ’99
- During
my Masters, recorded (on 8 track ADAT) loads of bands from Limerick and
beyond - Moonboot, Tooth, Medic, Barberskum and about 30 others -
Classical string performance Masters kids, lunchtime concerts, myself,
etc. Spent about 8 of every 24 hours in that lovely free studio for 2
years
- Played
keyboard, guitar and sang with Moonboot Dec ’98 to April ‘99
- Joined
Tooth. Played bass/sang with Tooth June ’99 till the cows come home...
- Dec 11th,
1999, 4 days after the last gig of the Hope collective in Dublin (which I
had never heard of until a month ago when I bought the book ‘Document’),
the AMC has their first gig in Limerick. If that isn’t some crazy
interstellar shit, I don’t know what is!
- The
AMC, Aspersion Music Collective, www.theamc.net, since Dec ’99, has changed
the face of the Music Scene in Limerick, bringing bands from Ireland and
around the world to Limerick. Much like any of the great music collectives
currently operating in Ireland today. Respect to the innovators Hope,
Fugazi et al.
- Learn
about all things underground. What arse has my head been up all this time?
- 2000,
recorded ‘That Corporate Emotion’ with Tooth
- 2000 –
2002, worked at Lyric FM, state of the art studios, etc. Experience the
ecstacy/pain of great/awful classical music going through my ears...
- POLITICS
INTERLUDE: Get my policitally awakening head along to some life changing
demonstrations/organisations:
- Climate
Change conference The Hague Nov 2000
- Founding
of Gluaiseacht for Global Justice on the way home on the boat
- Trident
Ploughshares Big Blockade of Fasslane Nuclear Submarine base in Scotland
- Demonstrating
at Sellafield Nuclear reprocessing plant in Cubria UK
- Planning
application appeal against the University of Limerick building a road,
bridge and 5 story student village on a Special Area of Conservation
(SAC), salmon and lamprey spawning grounds and the Shannon river
floodplain (Bord Pleanala oral hearing decision, "these works do not
constitute a ‘significant impact’ on the SAC and so does not require
permission from EU Commission to proceed, as per European Law: or in
other words, "work away lads, we’ll keep signing the back of cheques
from Europe and you never mind your EU environmental law
responsabilities"), and last and biggest
- Genoa
2001 - being in the Indymedia centre when innocent folks got beaten in
their beds in a midnight swoop by the Italian dickhead police who planted
petrol bombs and later showed them to the press as if ‘see, they were
voilent protestors’. Appropriate quote: "The worst thing is the
suffering the indignity of hearing another person get tortured,"
Brian Keenan. Reading on RTE news website the day after "Italian
police arrived with search warrants, seized documents... a number of
arrests were made." Bollox, no mention of 57 injured people. How can
they be happy to go with a story that was so incorrect? I haven’t trusted
the 9 O’Clock news (or any other) since. Check www.indymedia.ie for some truth...
- BACK TO
RECORDING: May 2001, borrow money, purchase my own recording gear. Go into
hibernation before ‘going public’. Learn ins and outs of my gear. AW4416
16 track digital recording desk, with 75GBs of hard drives. Some
microphones. I can go and record anywhere with my gear. Big studios can’t.
So many acoustic spaces. Imagine the possibilities...
- 2002,
February, write a letter to the Arts Council, singing my own praises
asking them to fund my ass to get to a music conference in Sacramento,
California. They write a nice really nice letter back.
- 2002,
May/June, attend the first Tape Op Conference (thanks to a Travel Award
from the Arts Council). Have my mind blown/forever changed listening to
loads of my heroes talk about recording: Steve Albini, Jack Endino, J
Mascis, Don Zientara (dischord guy), Mitch Easter (early REM guy), Roger
Moutenot (Yo La Tengo), Andy Hong (Karate guy), Mario C (beastie boys), J
Robbins (Jawbox) and Tony Visconti (Bowie, Trex). The conference
organisers give me a microphone (albeit a piece of shit, but it was the
thought that counted) for coming all the way from Ireland. I am jet lagged
and chuffed. I hold back the tears. See J Mascis, Calexico, Kevin Seconds,
Norfolk and Western at the conference. See Trans Am and !!! in San Fran
afterwards...
- Forever
changed after hearing things like:
- Albini
"99% of the work done during a recording happens before you go to
tape, choice and placement of mics, acoustic spaces etc. As recordists it
is our job to record, not to make a band sound how we think they should
sound. It is to record them."
J Robbins: Husker Du’s Zen Arcade, despite its technical shortcomings (i.e. it
is not the best recorded album ever, technically speaking), is an example of a
great recording; a great band captured playing their great tunes."
Albini: "I would agree with that 100%"
- Albini
conversation: "Aren’t you the guy that came all the way from
Ireland?" Me: "Yep, I’m that stupid fucker." Albini:
"Alright. You’ve got balls of iron."
- I get
home. I officially christen my studio, BALLS OF IRON STUDIOS.
- Recordings
made with ‘Balls of Iron’ studio so far include: The Kyboshi, Fun Bobby,
Calzino Fiasco, Giveamanakick, Atrophy, Niall Quinn and the Pennywhores,
and my own album.
- June
2002, Fugazi were to play Limerick June 26th. Tooth were to
support. Fugazi cancel their tour. Tooth play their last Limerick show
anyway. Best gig of my life.
- Launch
my own record ‘Actions’ on the 4th of October 2002. I’m 28 and
one day old. About fucking time. Dogs lick their own balls because they
can. CDs can contain more than music, so mine does. Contains 11 songs, 15
more MP3s, video clips (from Sacramento, Genoa, Tooth etc.), loads of
internet links, 50 issues of ‘Cavity Search’ fanzine (i.e. if you played
Limerick in the last 2 years, your review is probably in there), and lots
of other miscellaneous AMC crap. Sold 100 copies in Limerick. Plan to play
live/sell albums elsewhere in Ireland in Summer 2002, while recording lots
of ace bands.
- October
28th, Fugazi play Limerick. I’m in Cuba at the start of my tour
of Central and South America. Ah well, sure it was only a gig....
That’s me. That’s where I am at.
OK, suppose that by now you’ve decided to record with me. A wise choice
in my unbiased opinion…
What happens next?
Let’s say you are a band with drums, bass, 2 guitars and 2 vocals.
OK, we arrange a date. This is the date. People arrange to take time off
work to be available. I work for a minimum of 8 hours per day. Of course not
everyone needs to be around all the time. We follow a schedule.
Before that date, we correspond lots and stay in constant contact. You
send me Cds/tapes of previous recordings you may have and a tape (rehearsal
recording) of the songs you want to record. Hopefully, if I haven’t seen ye
already, I can go see you play live before we record.
The date arrives. I arrive at your place of residence/rehearsal –
wherever you chose to make the best recording, where you are most comfortable
& relaxed and are likely to perform at your best, and record the fastest. Now
we can make a record.
I set up my gear, 1 desk, 8 mics, monitors, headphones. I can record 8
tracks at a time.
You bring every bit of gear which you may need during the project. Such
as (you’re preferred) mics, mic stands, headphones, spare strings, guitars,
drumsticks, pedals, amps, power supplies, batteries and plectrums. That way we
waste no time.
The rest goes something like this:
- Record
drums first. Drummer plays along with usually guitar/bass/vocals in his
headphones
- Record
7 tracks of drums + 1 guide track, i.e. kick, snare, overhead, hi-hat, tom
1, tom 2, + 1 ambient mic, or a variation of these
- On the
guide track we have whatever the drummer was listening to in his
headphones, i.e. bass + guitar + vocals, which is useful for tracking cues
later
- Then
record bass. Usually 2 tracks, DI (direct input) and miced-up
- Then
guitars. Usually 2 tracks. Different mics
- Point
of doing 2 tracks on guitar and bass – mixing later, blending DI with mic
sounds, or blending mic sounds. Can fill out sound as big as you want
- Then
extra stuff, e.g. keyboard, acoustic instruments. etc.
- Then
vocals. Vocals being a pretty important part of the equation, the vocalist
records usually with almost a final mix.
- Think
again. Any extra stuff gets recorded, e.g. backing vocals, samples, odd
sounds and whatever else you think of
- Then
mix. I like the expression "push up the faders, and there you have
the song." It means, everything was performed and recorded so well,
that you don’t have to mix it too much. It’s there. However, if fine
tuning is required or if you wish to experiment at this stage, we
certainly can.
- My
machine, the Yamaha AW4416 (check www.aw4416.com) has on each of its 16
channels the following features:
- 4 band
Eq + library of suggested Eq settings
- dynamic
processing - a library of compressors, limiters, gates etc.
- effects
- all kinds of reverbs, chorus, flange, distortion, delay, and some
inventive combinations of these
- Automated
mixing - we prepare the mix untill it’s perfect, the AW4416 remembers
every fader move and setting adjustment over time. When we’re happy with
how it sounds, hit play and record the perfect mix.
That is how it usually happens.
Alternatively we can do it all live. 4 drum mics, 1 bass, 2 guitar, 1
vocal. It’ll be rougher, but faster... Only problem is, if someone fucks up,
the whole song has to be done again. If 4 different people fuck up 4 different
times, that’s 4 playings of the song, all not usable. Can get frustrating if
you’re not on top of your game.
Doing the multi track way (as described above), means fuck ups are more
easily redone doing one part at a time.
The format on which you get the finished mixes is CD. DAT copies can
also be arranged. ADAT master tapes of the 16 tracks can also be arranged, but
at a cost of €50.
Mastering (aka ‘making it sound LOUD MAN!’): I am not a mastering
engineer. However, I will do mastering if required. It means getting the
finished mixes ‘back to the lab’ (i.e. to the PC) in Limerick. Depending on my
schedule with other recording projects, arranging a date for the mastering
session happens when I have time free.
Extra services - I know plenty about websites, CD Sleeve design, and the
printing of artwork and the CDs themselves. I have some contact with places
which can do a deal with my ‘clients’. Extra copies of the master CD can be
supplied at a cost of €5. My brain is available for picking on any subject
under the sun.
If you’re like me, then you will have skipped forward to this bit. "Cut
the bullshit, how much do you cost?"
I wish to stress that I believe the nature of my setup, the ‘mountain
comes to Mohommad’ factor means recording with me saves you money on expenses
you wouldn’t have thought of (see table below).
My rate sounds most reasonable when I put it like this - I charge €5
per hour per member of band.
A 3 piece pays €15 per hour. A 4 piece €20 per hour. Anything bigger, we
can haggle. Anything smaller, duos or solo €15 per hour too (sorry).
On top of this, my expenses i.e. travel, food and board, must be
covered. The most desireable arrangement is
Travel – I take the bus or if you can pick me up, even better.
Food – I buy food at the supermarket for the week and cook it myself. Shouldn’t
come to more than €30. Or if you can feed me, even better.
Board – I crash at your place. I bring sleeping bag and ground mat. But
if you have a spare bed or couch, even better!
Basically I do what I can do to make it less expensive for you.
Reason why I charge ‘so much’? Paying back
out-of-control loans.
Reason why I charge per member of band? I was in
bands. I want to spread a bit of equality around. So a fee like €20 is unfair
to a 3-piece band paying €6.66 each, compared to a 5-piece paying €4 each. I’m
expecting €5 per hour per member of band is a fair price.
Also, sourcing work, organising projects takes time. All of the
preparation work (i.e. me writing this), initial contact/correspondance takes
time. None of which gets counted when we count up the hours at the end.
Side note
- In 1996 I recorded with Veneer in Dennis Allen’s studio in Limerick, it cost
15 pounds per hour. 7 years later, after lots of inflation, I am charging
roughly the same rate. Worth a mention.
Where does all that money go? Paying back
loans. I don’t own this gear yet. I have made the leap, and bought the gear. I
believe great things can happen as a result of this expensive leap. Recording
gear costs a lot. Want to buy a ‘decent’ mic? You are talking €1,000. Maintenance
of gear. Insurance etc.
OK here’s some food for thought. Besides the actual cost per hour in a
studio, there are other costs associated with making a record, which you may
not have considered.
I did a search recently on most of the studios available in Ireland at
the moment. The variation of rates went from €200 to €320 per 8 hour day, right
on up to Windmill Lane’s €gazillion per minute. I’ve not used any of them, but
I’m sure they do a great job.
But just to force this ‘I’m better value’ point home, check out the
following table.
Say you are a 4 piece and you spend 5 days (i.e. 5*8 = 40 hours) making
a record. Check out the expenses.
Cost of recording with me, Balls of Iron, compared to them, Concrete
Studio X, charging €320 per 8 hour day.
|
Expense |
BALLS OF IRON |
Cost |
|
CONCRETE STUDIO X |
Cost |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Transport to studio |
My train/bus fare |
€20 |
|
4 * your train/bus fares |
€80 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bed for 5 nights |
Me staying in your place |
€0 |
|
The 4 of you staying in a €15 hostal for 5 nights |
€300 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
Me eating home cooked meals |
€30 |
|
You eating junk in cafés or ordering in |
€200 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Beer |
With me it’s FREE! Or at least, at the end I buy a big slab to
celebrate |
€0 |
|
Pricey |
€100 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Actual cost of 40 hours of recording time |
Me = €20 per hour |
€800 |
|
€320 per 8 hour day |
€1,600 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mastering |
Me = €20 per hour, 5 hours |
€100 |
|
€50 per hour, 5 hours |
€250 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Miscellaneous |
CDs, Dat etc |
€50 |
|
CDs, Dat, other |
€100 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
€1000 |
|
|
€2,480 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I’m sure there’s lots more expenses that would come up, but from what’s
there, you get the picture.
I’ve set myself up in a way that makes sense to me. Tieing oneself down
to one premises didn’t make sense to me.
I’m not really trying to be an alternative to concrete studios. It has
just ended up this way.
A sad reality with concrete studios is their being stuck to the
ground. Another is that they are located in places which, frankly, aren’t
ideal for the recording of music e.g. industrial estates, inner city
expensiveland.
When you go to a cement studio, you are paying for the rent of their
premises, their electricity, tea bags. I have no such overheads. Hence I can
charge less.
With Balls of Iron, you chose where we record. As discussed previously,
the atmosphere of a concrete studio can phase a band, or make them
uncomfortable. The pressure of ‘time is money’ can force you into making hasty
decisions during the recordings which you may regret later. Most studios
schedule bands to record that the engineers have no prior knowledge of.
I aim to address all these factors. I want the band to be firing on all
cylinders. I want to know the music of the band before we record. I’ve probably
seen all of you live, and if not hope I can do so beforehand. Also, prat of the
preparation of recording the songs is you making a (as crappy as you like) demo
recording of them. It should put us on a good footing before we begin.
6. How good is the finished product?
The other obvious question is "But wont you get a better finished
product in a concrete studio?"
Answer = No.
I believe, or better yet, I know you can get just as good results in the
home recording environment as you can in a concrete studio.
In every house, you have acoustic spaces which are as good if not better
than most studios…
- A
shower/bathroom can be vocal/acoustic instrument booth
- A
hardwood floor can be an excellent drum room
- A cloak
room can be an isolation booth for a guitar amp
Examples of great recordings made in home / small studios…
- Elvis
Presley – Sun Studios sessions – Sun Studios are very small. No bigger than
your average garage…
- The
Redneck Manifesto – 36 Strings was recorded in Matty’s shed.
- J
Mascis and the Fog – The last 2 dinosaur albums and his new stuff with
‘the fog’ were recorded in his own home studio, ‘Bob’s Place’.
- Grandaddy
– Record in their own home studio.
- Tori
Amos – I know she did a recording in a church once...
- Tooth –
That Corporate Emotion – Recorded (on 8 tracks) in a friend’s (sound
treated) garage.
Other advantages of doing it with me
Otherwise, if you’ve ever seen that episode of Star Trek, The Next
Generation, where this gal comes on board and she knows how to be sexually
appealling to each of the crew members, she was a sex empath. Well that’s sort
of how I am with tunes. Not to sound pretentious or whatever, but I think I can
understand pretty quickly the direction a song is trying to go. I’ve been in a
reggae band, a shoegaze melody pain band, a bucket of acid electronica blues
band and a louder than god loudynamic rifftastic band and now I do my thing
solo. Lots of experience. I believe my experience is an obvious help in me
doing a great job on your recording.
My main rule about recording in terms of ‘knowing when not to stop’ is:
"If you know, listening back to it 100 times, that a certain bit is
going to annoy the shit out of you every time you hear it, then we do it again."
I start with the approach of ‘you know what you want’. If in need of
advice, I’ll advise. If you need a cheerleader, I’ll probably disappoint. If I
can call you Betty, you can call me Al.
7. Idea: Collective recording for less
In trying to give the bands I record as good a deal as possible, in the
best spirit of all things underground and collectivoish, I’ve come up with an
idea that caters for a cash strapped collective of bands.
But at the same time, this is my crust. I’m serious about making great
recordings with great bands, but want to get paid fairly too. I know bands are
broke at the best of times, so here’s my idea for both backs getting scratched.
IDEA: Collective recording:
Whenever I record a band, I arrive at the chosen venue to make the
recording (with my ace, not-like-any-other-studio, MOBILE 16 track RECORDING STUDIO),
I have to get there, set up mic stands, mics, get levels, work on sounds.... generally
doing time-consuming thinking for the benefit of the recording. It usually adds
up to about 4 hours.
Take a number of bands, e.g. 4, then all that time comes to 4 * 4 = 16
hours.
Now consider those 4 bands deciding to record at the same time e.g. over
a 10 day period. Then automatically, that removes 3 of those 4 4-hour slots. Bang!
12 hours recording time saved for the 4 bands (aka Eur240!) and 12 hours of doing
the less interesting stuff saved for me.
Consider also the obvious benefits of everyone’s gear being around:
· A
broken guitar? Borrow yer man’s over there...
· More
heads around = improve possibilities of capturing vibe of the band as they are
live, or get feedback or ideas from the other bands
· Band
A’s singer can’t reach the high backing vocal part for song A, so vocalist from
band B, who can reach the note, does a guest vocal…
· Maybe
at the end of the session all the bands can get together and we can record a
version of ‘We are the World’ or something...
· Bands
coming together under the one roof can talk about contacts, organise a tour
together, maybe a compilation CD, a music collective (if none exists), gigs,
songwriting etc. A veritable mini underground rock conference!
The advantages are infinite. The savings are substantial – set up time,
my time is fully productive, (e.g.: when one band is on a break or runs in to
problems, another can be recording), my expenses are divided among many. I keep
track of how much time each band has recorded, and fairly sort out the bill at
the end.
Similarly, we can get into an organised schedule, whereby we do drums on
day 1, bases day 2, guitars on day 3, etc. Guitarists can swap pedals or
sounds,
e.g. guitarist Y, "hey, that’s the sound I was looking for for song
X, can I quickly stick down my bit"
Guitarist Z "Go for it man."
We’re all such good mates and the recordings are sounding so good, we’re
so happy we can hardly count… etc. (obscure pink floyd quote, ‘have a cigar’
off ‘wish you were here’ anyone anyone?)
Obviously this idea won’t work with bands who bitch with each other and
don’t get along. But if everyone can agree on the importance of recording one’s
songs, then hopefully they can agree to get into the spirit of ‘do it for the
record’ and put all the shit aside and be involved in something great.
Feel free to email any of my clients and ask them of the quality of my
services. I know for a fact that Niall Quinn and Giveamanakick@hotmail.com
will both have nice things to say to me, cos I slipped them brown envelopes.
OK, wrapping it up now. To recap on what I said already, Balls of Iron
rule because
- I have
loads of experience, work efficiently, and will probably get the job done
under the price you budgeted. Balls of Iron technology is top of the range.
- We
create the ultimate performance enhancing atmosphere, and record on your
turf, the place where you wrote the tunes in the first place, the place
you know. There are no limits.
- You
save on the hassle of getting you and all your stuff to Concrete studio X.
- I cost
much less per hour and in terms of expenses (pay for me, 1, rather than
all of your band, 3 or 4).
Bottom line is: I think this is a good idea. That’s why I’ve shared it
with you.
Thanks for reading. Sorry if it has dragged on.
RSVP if you’re interested in recording, or to discuss any ideas you may
have.
Peace,
Mark O’Connor,
AMC, Tooth, B. Mech. Eng., MA Mus Tech.,
BALLS OF IRON STUDIOS
(or SÍLE if you prefer, Studio Íarann liathróid na hÉireann)
p.s. I’d
like to thank my sister for helping me with this. She has lots of corporate
bones in her body so she read over an earlier version of this and gave me
advice on how to make better. Turn it into an offer you can’t refuse. Stuff like
"Mark – follow the
rule of any good presentation. Tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell
them and then tell them again."
Maybe
that’s why it dragged on so much...