This tree has endured much
For many, 2009 was indeed the year of survival. Jobs were lost, business slow or non-existent, health care a bloody mess.
I’ve always told my kids that challenges, mistakes and accidents are there for us to learn from; so I wondered, “what have I learned from 2009?”
5 Mistakes I've made and the lessons they've taught me
We all make mistakes, it’s just human nature. Here are a few I’ve made and the hard earned lessons they taught me. I hated living through each one of these, but freely admit that they’ve made me better at my job, and hopefully a better person too.
5. When introduced to the artist’s wife, don’t say “Sorry I didn’t get to meet you when you dropped (the artist) off here last week.”
with Brian Schmidt, GSC founder and presenter
Who wants to work in game audio? Well, I do.
Game audio (every sound and musical element in a video game) has grown exponentially from its humble beginnings just a couple of short decades ago. It has become the area of the audio industry that is most driving technological innovation, consumer electronics development and attracting some of the most talented people working in audio today.
Read the rest of this entry »
by Dan Rudin
In part 1, I talked about how to approach a first job opportunity. In this installment we’ll look at what is expected of you in your new job and, more importantly, how you might exceed those expectations. Read the rest of this entry »
by Dan Rudin
What do you do?
As a producer, I help the artist or songwriter decide how to record a performance of a song in a way that best fits their vision of what the song should be. This ranges from helping to choose which songs to perform or in what style to do a particular song, to hiring the best musicians and studio for the particular job. I book studio time, musicians, and engineers (if not myself), rehearse the band if needed, and guide the vocalists and instrumentalists through their performances to make professional recordings.
Producer's Round Table Article
Last spring I hosted a producer’s round table discussion about drum recording for Drum magazine. The feature article, written by Glen Caruba, is in the July 2009 edition (with Chad Smith on the cover). Richard Dodd, Reid Shippen, Denny Jiosa and myself answered Glen’s questions about our drum session experiences, recording techniques and trade secrets.
If you have the chance to see it, it’s a fun read. Along with the brilliance of Richard, Reid and Denny, Glen really captured the spirit of the discussion (including us frequently interrupting each other) here at my studio. Check it out!
For as long as I can remember, being signed to a major label was the only way to get good, high-profile commercial radio play. For indie artists the quest for radio airplay often still leads them backwards toward the broken model of “the major label deal”, thinking that this is their only path to big time recognition.
I’ve had a lot of conversations with friends and clients about this (I think it’s an important subject for anyone trying to keep a career in music) and was putting some ideas together for a post, when I came across this excellent blog post on cdbaby (their new site looks great, by the way) about this very thing, and I think it’s full of great insights. This is a must-read for anyone trying to be heard.
diymusician.cdbaby.com/2009/07/radio-promotion-why-you-wont-get-commercial-airplay/
by Dan Rudin
How to get an internship that becomes a job offer
Each week, I get dozens of emails from people who are starting a career as an audio engineer. Most have just finished a school program and are looking for entry level jobs or internships; some haven’t gone to school and are just looking for an opportunity to be in a studio and learn what they can. Here are some thoughts on making that first step painless and successful.
Ampex 351 preamps
Well, it took a while, but I finally have most of my 6 Ampex 351 pre-amps built. They sound great, I’m really pleased. Following the mods and circuit edits developed by Electrical Audio, we made new circuit boards (thanks to Ian Anderson for his PCB help) and, having gutted the old units of all but the transformers and BIG meters, created our own version of this classic tube pre.
Using real high end components from manufacturers like Mojotone, Vishay and Hairball Audio, the result is a classic sound with low noise floor and a wide range of tone from clean to “OH MY GOD”. I’ve used the prototype with ribbons and condensers (we added an onboard soft start phantom supply) and just love it.
All the documentation from Electric is available in the Schematic Vault http://danrudin.com/Schematic_vault/index.php?dir=Ampex/ and I’ll try to post my own mods and tweaks when I have a minute.
It all began with a phone call from Mr. Gary Burnette.
“Hey Dan, can you track for a couple of days next month?”
I check my calendar. “Sure, I’d love to. What you got?”
“An artist from Puerto Rico named Ednita Nazario”
Well, I love artists from PR… I’ve worked several including Tommy Torres. “Yeah, I’d love to do that!” I reply.
Gary is a major league session guitarist (and a good friend) and in addition to producing projects himself, he often helps clients book players, studios and engineers for sessions. I agreed to do the session and Gary promised to call soon with more details. That, as they say, was that.
“Dan?” It’s 3 days later. “Well, they decided to go with another engineer and another studio”.
This is not that unusual. Ours is a fickle business. “No problem GB, we’ll do it next time.”
Forward 3 weeks to a message on my voice mail.
“Hi Dan,” says a cheerful voice. “This is Gilles Godard from Ole music. I understand from a friend in Miami that you recorded one of my songs with Ednita Nazzario!” hmmm.
So I called Gilles back, introduced myself and apologized but, no, I didn’t do Ednita’s record. After we chatted for a couple minutes I began to think that this guy sounded really interesting. I invited him to come meet me for the usual tour of the studio and hang time.
Today I met Gilles. He is the kind of forward thinking music industry pro that you hope everyone to be (though, usually…) and hopefully we will find ways to work together.
I thought this was a good example of the universe throwing seemingly random bits together to create good.
Oh, and last night my family and I saw a meteor streak through the Tennessee sky.
All is well.
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