Some of the best pieces of advice I have gotten from great engineers I was able to assist or intern for all revolved around keeping a cool headspace in session. The quickest way to de-rail a session entirely is a shift in vibe. A producer's role isn't just getting the record done, it's getting it done well. That can't happen if the producer isn't a problem solver - and you can't be a problem solver if you let yourself get worked up over the small stuff.
Here is a setup I did for a vocal recording session in Studio C - the "Corn Room"- at Prairie Sun Recordings in Cotati, CA.
While working as an assistant engineer at Prairie Sun Recordings in Cotati, CA - I had a great opportunity to help and watch many great engineers and producers work. I won't be able to mention all of them in this article, but I hope to write about them all at some point. One man, in particular, was Dave Schools - renowned record producer and bass player of Widespread Panic - who I was able to watch produce on a few records. Daves's modesty and cool demeanor have a way of commanding attention while bringing peace to a crowded room. I had the honor of assisting him on a record for Andy Frasco & The U.N. I remember him referring to himself and Recording Engineer Rick Vargas as "vibe curators". As Northern California as that sounds, it was totally true. Both of these guys were just cool to be around, and the band had a great time. Some small things came up here and there over the few days they spent recording - but Rick and Dave held shit down and kept Andy and his crew happy. As a result, several songs were recorded that week which ended up on Andy's next full-length release. I remember Rick telling me something very important as well regarding longevity in this business. He said "Being a chill hang is more important than any audio skills you could have." - this struck me hard. At the time, I was spending nearly every waking hour of my days trying to learn as much as I could about the craft. I realized there was probably a lot to work on in my overall interactions with clients while in session.
Through the rest of the summer, I worked closely with Northern California native Chief Engineer Nate Nauseda - who was a bonafide vibe curator himself! Nate was a master of communicating with the artist and determining exactly what their needs were. Nate also knew when and when not to just let something just be what it was - a very important skill to learn in studio engineering. I had the pleasure of watching him navigate certain unexpected situations that arose in session while staying chill with a big smile on his face through it all. Nate was able to turn nearly any situation into a good one with quick, creative thinking and a streamlined approach to engineering - dialed in from years of providing this service to musicians. He finished several records during my time there that all turned out amazing - and left the clients feeling great about choosing him for their record! With that background established - I hope this post makes more sense in terms of where I am coming from. Admittingly, this post is less of an actual "guide" than the other posts on this Blog. It's more of a metaphorical story I created from small fragments of situations that arose in my own sessions early in my career - to put you in the shoes of a blossoming audio engineer - prone to small mistakes in the studio. I hope you enjoy this read. Stay chill!
You've shown up to your session with the local punk band - 'Dirty Turtles'. You and your intern (if you're lucky enough to have one) start throwing up some mics. The band shows up 45 minutes past when they were supposed to, except it's not the full band. It's actually just the vocalist and bassist - and you are told we're waiting on the drummer and guitarists to arrive. No big deal! We are still getting drums set up anyway. You take a bit of time to tune up the drum shells, followed by having the intern play the drums for you - while you set some quick levels on the console and check the phase of your mic placements. The drums are sounding great, you feel full of confidence and energy for the day - then the rest of the band shows up. This is supposed to be the fun part, right? It won't be that way if you can't keep your headspace in the right place.
This is me, doing my best to stay chill & produce a song at Archive Recordings in North Salt Lake, UT October 2019.
Upon arrival, the drummer adjusts a few things on the kit - no big deal. You go and re-position your microphones. You start dialing in some real drum tones, and things are sounding great. Suddenly the control room has an inspiring aura about it, and everyone in the room is ready to record great music together! You patch in a few compressors and EQ's that you'd like to use while tracking, and then quickly set up and dial in mics for Guitars and Bass. The room is completely set up, everyone is in a great mood - and the band is ready to deliver. You've been delivering all morning through efficient methods and getting great tones fast, you rockstar! All that's left is to get the song tracked.
The band goes into the room and starts getting takes. In the middle of the second take, the bassist just starts waving his hands - signaling for his bandmates and you to stop the take. "I can't hear myself in my headphones, hold on!" You quickly rush into the control room and check his headphone unit. Everything's turned on - you go back to the control room. Everything is patched correctly. You go back to the headphone unit and try a new pair of headphones - still nothing. You frantically start un-patching and re-patching cables trying to figure out the problem. Everything seems to be plugged in just fine! You start to sweat as you realize nearly 5 minutes have passed while the band looks at you fumbling in the control room, increasingly hopeless through the glass in the live room. You finally got it! It turned out to be an accidentally muted Aux send (AHH! HOW STUPID AM I???) You say something to the band like "Okay we should be good now, cable issues!" with a big smile - and continue to get the takes. However, now something feels different... You find yourself biting your nails while listening to takes, waiting for something unexpected to happen and to try and ruin your day like the headphone fiasco. You notice the band seems to be off a bit as well, coming back into it. It takes a few takes to get the mood feeling good again. However, you are now having difficulty with being able to give constructive feedback that would actually help the band get a better take. Suddenly you are now just hitting record over and over and exhausting the band - hoping they'll give you the great take without having to give any feedback to them at all - this works sometimes, but usually not...
You've actually stopped giving feedback of substance at all, you are too nervous to stop watching the meters looking for your own mistakes than to actually listen to the song for tracking errors from the band. Now, you are no longer focused on the recording, you are focused on what could be going wrong with the recording. You are now enabling yourself to have many hours of editing ahead of you for this song because you weren't engaged enough with the band during recording to get better takes. The vibe has flipped. It's time to do a vibe check on yourself, and move forward with the day...
The only thing you should be thinking about when recording a band is what is happening during the present moment. Listening for great takes is about understanding the song and sound the artist is going for. It requires you to have a very objective, yet open approach while being able to give honest and constructive criticism to talented musicians. However, they are still choosing to record with you, because you are supposed to know what to listen for. If your headspace isn't right, you won't be listening critically enough to be able to get the best possible take out of an artist.
Recording Studios and technical issues go together like peas and carrots. Every studio owner wants to have a facility that is top-notch and runs like a well-oiled machine. Every engineer wants to be able to run a seamless, smooth session with absolutely nothing disrupting the vibe or the trust that the artist has put into them. Unfortunately, this just isn't always the case - especially if you are working on vintage gear that requires a lot of maintenance! Being able to define problems in the studio quickly comes with time and experience running many sessions on the gear you are using, however, things just happen sometimes...
The most important thing to remember when troubleshooting is to seek the problem, destroy the problem, and move on with your day (this is the part where you chill). The minute the problem is fixed, stop talking about it. Stop thinking about it.
Here is a trick I like to use to stay chill while in the studio; say you want to try running a vocal through a weird guitar pedal but for some reason, there's a hum or something else you can't explain. I'll usually give myself a very brief window of time to address problems like this. The second I feel the vibe switching - or if I start feeling like it is taking too much time - I will often say out loud to myself "I'm going to stop caring about this in 30 seconds." - I then try one last thing. If it works and I fix the problem, then awesome! If it doesn't work, I move on.
There are a million different ways to do things in a recording studio - get creative if you have to, don't let small things that may have an easy workaround trip you up. Stay chill, remember that it's okay to keep the day going, and tell the artist you are just going to move on to the next thing. They'll appreciate you being able to deliver the song in the time you told them you would.
When problems arise - stop, breathe in, breathe out, focus, trace the signal, fix the issue, smile big for the artist. Nobody wants to work with an engineer who is mean and stressed out; or just isn't a fun person to chill with for the many hours it takes to complete a record. Be chill, be nice to the intern if you have one. Doing these things will reassure the artist that you are the pro they hired for this gig. You are, aren't you?
I thought so...chill out!
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