Ask a music scene micro celebrity

[evasive04]

wow, it's my first post

1. What is the best way to get into the recording industry?(If you were just starting out would you go to school, or just try to find an internship)

2. Do you find schools like full sail a waste of money?

3. How is your hearing?

[billygrippo]

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2. Do you find schools like full sail a waste of money?



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i went to ex'pression: center for new media

while the school was awsome and i leanred tons and got some experience, i dont work in the field. most of my classmates do however. if you have the money id go for it but its certainly not necessary.

[electrical]

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What is your biggest consideration when deciding which bands to work for?

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Honestly, I'm not too selective. If a band wants to work with me, and I think I can do a good job, I'll put them on the schedule. The only time I'm ever suspicious is when a manager or label person contacts me rather than the band. In those instances, the band may not have even expressed an interest in me, and the whole thing may be being cooked-up by somebody else. In those cases, I always suggest that the band contact me directly so I can have a conversation with them and gauge their interest. If the band are consistently kept at arms length, then that's a tell that the whole thing is not going to happen.

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If you had one "do over" on either a single track or an album, which would it be and why?

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Man, good question. There are only a few records I've worked on where I felt like I dropped the ball, and those records really bum me out, because I know that the band is only getting one shot at making their record, and they have to carry it around forever. Tomorrow, I will be making another record, but the one I did today, that band is stuck with it forever.

About 10 years ago, I did an album with an amazing German band called Wuhling, and despite working my ass off, I felt like it never sounded as good as the band were. Their previous album had been recorded by a friend of mine, and it was terrific. The record isn't bad, but the band were amazing, and they deserved an amazing record. I still wonder what I could have done differently.

[cameronw01]

10 songs which you've worked on for the Steve Albini best of? If 10 is too hard pick 5 or 3 or whatever.

Thanks, Cameron.

[electrical]

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1. What is the best way to get into the recording industry?(If you were just starting out would you go to school, or just try to find an internship)

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It's super cheap to buy recording equipment and start experimenting. It's super expensive to go to a recording trade school. I always recommend getting started as an amateur to see if you enjoy the process before you get into any more serious enterprise. Every town has bands that need demos recorded, so there are plenty of opportunities to experiment with no pressure and no expectations.

"Getting into the industry" is just about impossible. There are no jobs. I mean none, like zero none. Since the advent of cheap recording software, many traditional studio clients (ad agencies, film and tv productions, jingle writers and commercial music publishers) have been able to do most of their own recording in-house. Having lost much of their client base, the big institutional studios have cut their staff to the bare minimum to keep costs low, and most engineers have gone freelance. Studios that used to have dozens of in-house engineers now have only a couple.

Newer, smaller studios that cater to rock bands are usually owner-operated, sometimes by a partnership of a very few people, all of whom have some vested interest in the studio. If you are going to be a recording engineer for a living, you are either going to be freelance, or you are going to build a studio and work there.

There are audio-related jobs, in PA design and installation, touring and live sound, church, auditorium and architectural acoustics, acoustical testing and certification, broadcast engineering, etc, but there basically are no open-call staff positions for recording engineers any more.

If you are considering going into a recording program, I would strongly recommend going to a normal accredited university with a concentration in engineering, acoustics or music. Some schools offer a Tonmeister-equivalent recording program (UMass Lowell and University of Iowa used to, I don't know who does now). The for-profit trade schools (Full Sail, Recording Arts, SAE, etc) are operated as businesses where their clients are the students and the product they sell is a diploma. A degree from an accredited university carries more weight in the real world and can even get you involved in interesting graduate-level work.
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3. How is your hearing?

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Good enough, apparently.

[electrical]

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10 songs which you've worked on for the Steve Albini best of? If 10 is too hard pick 5 or 3 or whatever.

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Man. Another good question. Hard for me to name individual songs, so I'll mention a few whole albums I think came out well:

the Jesus Lizard, Goat
PJ Harvey Rid of Me
the Breeders Pod and Title TK
Nina Nastasia the Blackened Air
Silkworm Lifestyle or Italian Platinum
Palace/Will Oldham Viva Last Blues or Arise Therefore

The above is material that might be comprehensible to a general audience. I've made a bunch of records I like that are closer to pure noise (Whitehouse) abstract freak rock (Zeni Geva, Stinking Lizaveta, Neurosis), heavy metal (High on Fire, Zao), country music (Robbie Fulks, the Sadies), instrumental music (Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, Man or Astro-Man, Don Caballero) and all sorts of other crap. All of it has its merits as music, and I'm lucky that I get to work on so much different stuff.

[edit]: I'll answer more tomorrow after my dentist appointment if there's still interest.

[electrical]

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Who were the worst musicians? Any guys that could barely play their instruments?

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Forgot to answer your actual question. Urge Overkill.

[cameronw01]

If asking two is rude then feel free to ignore this, but I figured I might as well try and push my luck.

Do you ever listen to albums or songs and just think "ugh, If I'd recorded this it could have sounded so much better, I'd have....."?

Any examples if so?

[Georgia Avenue]

This is the greatest thread in 2+2 history, not close.

Hi Mr. Albini sir,

Do you think downloading is killing the music industry or is it something else? Is rock with guitars becoming like Jazz in the 70s? Do you think bands that are severely derivative, like most garage rock bands, are inferior to bands like Jesus Lizard who sound totally unique? Can you name drop some very new or recent young bands that are carrying the torch for rock and roll? Do you find your taste for heavy noisy stuff is diminishing as you get older (mine is!) and your appreciation for quiet folksy stuff is growing?

Sorry for the barrage but im about to get on a plane to vegas. Feel free to ignore...

Thanks!

--GA

[oddjob]

there have been many a time i hear an album the band sounds so good, and then you see them live, and you're like, wtf is going on?

which band have you made the biggest improvement on their sound, in this manner?