Production for Singer Songwriters
01/06/09 01:35 Filed in:
Music
Production
Production for
Singer/Songwriters
One mistake I see made time and time again is the mismatching of
what the CD sounds like with the live show sound. I once attended a
live performance by a band called Andrew Bird’s Flaming Bowl of
Fire. They were fantastic live, a really good band the drummer was
especially good. They were so good that I forked out 20 bucks for
the CD. I can’t remember the name of the CD right now because I
threw it in the garbage! Why would I do such a thing? Well it’s
simple, the CD was a flaming bowl of crap! NONE of the people that
were part of the live show actually played on the CD save Andrew
himself and the entire thing was recorded live IN MONO on one track
with one microphone. The microphone was an old 40’s RCA ribbon
microphone or something. Needless to say that the live show was in
no way a fair representation of what to expect on the CD. That was
almost 10 years ago and yet it was enough of a piss-off that I
remember it vividly today.
Another example, a client of mine, a singer-songwriter who plays
acoustic guitar hired me to record a project. We talked at length
for what not only seemed like but WAS years about the project. When
the actual recording started I thought it was important for his
vocals and guitar to be most prominent and that he should avoid
adding much more than a bass guitar and drums. This was because I
new he planned to play solo acoustic live shows rather than perform
with a band. For the recordings he hired and paid thru the nose for
a top shelf drummer and bass player. This lead me to believe that
he and I were on the same page production wise.
A while later I get a copy of the finished product. My client had
decided to go in a completely different direction. He gave the
tracks to a producer/keyboard player who essentially whacked off on
the songs to the point where the final mix made keyboards the stars
of the show. Not only that he buried the drums and the bass in the
mix which had the effect of making it sound like the project was
that of a keyboard playing singer/songwriter! I told him as much
because I respect clients enough not to lie about what I think. The
end result was that anyone who enjoyed the CD was disappointed with
the live show and vice versa.
Years later I was asked to revisit the project in order to create
mixes that were pretty much exactly what I had originally suggested
they be. I declined. It was too late for this project. This
performer had a limited window of opportunity for this project and
his music to be noticed and that window had slammed shut. Last I
heard he was trying to be a concert promoter or something. I
haven’t heard from him or about him since.
The moral of this story is to make sure that your recordings make
it apparent who you are and what you do. Don’t be afraid to make it
obvious. I know you might be afraid of your voice and want to put a
ton of other things in the mix but it won’t work. The project is
about YOU full stop. As such it needs to highlight your talent and
give an idea of what might be to come at a live show. A simple
arrangement lends itself better to backing tracks as well, should
you choose to use them. Simple recordings also have more of a
timeless quality to them especially ones that feature acoustic
guitars.
The best advice I can give to singer songwriters who record
themselves is to learn to make a big sound with only a few
instruments. Get really good at making a full sounding mix with
just your guitar and vocal. Unless you’re extremely versatile with
your guitar stylings a whole CD of vocal and one guitar can get to
be a bit much, so by all means add bass and drums. Put some strings
or an organ in the background. Just keep in mind that you are the
star of the show here, so don’t bury yourself in added clutter
especially when you can’t reproduce it in a live show
setting.
Tags: singer, songwriter, music, production, tips, ideas