Sennheiser Sound Academy Studio Recording Seminar At The Fuse Box @ Manhattan Center, 8/11

On Wednesday, August 11, the Sennheiser Sound Academy will host a session on key recording techniques, concepts and practices at The Fuse Box @ Manhattan Center Studios.

Jim Anderson, past president of the AES and a professor at the Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music at NYU, will be the guest engineer for the tracking portion of the seminar.

The seminar will be led by Sennheiser’s Chris Spahr, who oversees national market development for live sound and studio markets. Spahr has performed live sound work for concerts, corporate functions and theater applications, and spent five years as a staff engineer at Criteria Studios in Miami, FL working on music, TV and film projects.

Following are details on time and location:

When: Wednesday, August 11 between 10AM and 5PM

Where: The Fuse Box @ Manhattan Center Studios
311 West 34th Street
New York, NY 10001

This seminar will speak to recording engineers who want to develop a firm understanding of studio technique as well as those who simply wish to brush up on their studio basics while picking up some useful new tips. The course highlights basic microphone techniques and advanced studio recording concepts and practices.

The Sennheiser Sound Academy seminars are $149 and include lunch, swag, informative workshop materials and a $50 coupon toward the purchase of any Sennheiser product. To learn more about the seminar or to register, please visit Sennheiser’s event page at http://www.sennheiserusa.com/aboutsec_events.

Beyond The Fab Faux: Rich Pagano Gauxs Solaux

HELL’S KITCHEN, MANHATTAN: New York City is a place where stars shine, but it can also be a land of long shadows. Just ask Rich Pagano, a world-class drummer who routinely shares the stage with the Earth’s top performers.  

Besides being the pulse of champion Beatles tribute band The Fab Faux, Pagano has played live and in the studio with some recognizable names: Patti Smith, Rosanne Cash, Robbie Robertson, Ray Davies, Willie Nile, gospel legend Marie Knight, Joan Osborne, Levon Helm, and Ian Hunter to name a few.  

Get the point? He’s da man. In demand. But Pagano knows how to do more than just play for the song and sing along – he also know how to write ‘em. His solo release, Rich Pagano + the sugarCane cups, proves it with a standout assembly of 12 forward-looking rock/blues/songwriter assemblages, and continues to gain momentum since its widespread distribution in December.  

Recorded primarily in his Hell’s Kitchen facility, New Calcutta Studios, Pagano took advantage of the fact that the best around were at his place for project sessions, then stuck around some more at the end to contribute to his own solo dream. Voila: Trey Anastasio (Phish), David Johansen (New York Dolls), Ian Hunter (Mott the Hoople), and Nile were all on board.  

His “house band” doesn’t suck either, packed with NYC’s who’s who of cats, including Andy York (John Mellencamp), GE Smith, Brian Mitchell (Bob Dylan), David Johansen, Steve Conte (New York Dolls), Chris Seefried, John Conte (Rosanne Cash), Jeff Kazee (Southside Johnny), Tony Shanahan (Patti Smith, David Gray), and all the members of The Fab Faux (Will Lee, Jimmy Vivino, Frank Agnello and Jack Petruzzelli).       

But who needs back story? SonicScoop has Pagano’s first-person perspective on this tale of NYC persistence. 

Q: Drummers-turned-bandleaders are always interesting. How did this evolution happen for you?

A: I was always a drummer first. But I was never concerned with being THE drummer, just concerned about being a great SONG drummer. I wanted to be a songwriter but the sessions took over and touring took over. So I founded New Calcutta Studios in the city, became a studio owner, tried to write more but became busy with running sessions.  

Two years ago I said, “I’m tired of being a studio owner. I want to produce my own stuff,” stopped advertising the studio, and started doing tracks for this album. I did let people in to New Calcutta who wound up being guests on the record, though. With some, I would give them a good rate, and then say, “Before you go, would you mind singing or playing on my track?”

Q: That’s a nifty little strategy. As that unfolded, what was your vision for the record?

A: For the last 10 years or so, I’d go backstage after a Fab Faux show, and since I do a lot of singing in that band, people would ask me when I was doing a solo record. At the back of my mind I thought, “This is my main audience. Let me make a record they can relate to.”   At the time I was writing these songs, I was listening to a lot of solo Pete Townshend and his Lifehouse demos, Woody Guthrie, Lou Reed, solo John Lennon. Levon Helm is a huge influence on me – for a while, I was his “other drummer” when he would go out in front to play mandolin in concert – so that was a template. I was also listening to a lot of Bob Dylan, which can’t hurt.  

Q: You assembled quite a house band to back you up as you got underway. 

A: The fundamental players had the same sensibilities as I do in realizing the song, but just as important is my engineer Rich Lamb. He’s a successful engineer/producer in NYC, and he also played a lot of keyboards on the record.

I don’t play piano very well, and play bass badly, but I have relative pitch, so my process for writing/recording these songs was that I would sing a melody to Rich. Then he would block out the chords for me and write out a chart of those chords. I would then go over to the drumset and work out the right groove. Then I’d go into the control room, lay down a click, then go back into the live room and imagine that the band was there with me, and lay down a scratch vocal and drum track (not at the same time) to the click and his piano playing. Every song was started that way with overdubs right behind. 

Q: “You Want to Stay High” featuring Trey Anastasio and Jimmy Vivino is a nice gift to all of us guitar lovers out there. How did that come together with Trey?

A: When Trey was over here rehearsing with The Faux, we chatted for about two hours about the process of making a great record. I said, “I have a track for you, it’s called ‘You Want to Stay High’. I also said, “I wrote this long before I knew you!”, because he had some legal issues which he has since kicked. He loved the track – he said, “It’s me.” It’s amazing hearing him and Jimmy trading licks back and forth.   

Q: Since it’s your album, I’m sure you’ve noticed that promoting it is also your baby. How are you ensuring that people know it’s out there?

A: I’ve developed a relatively large fan base being the drummer of The Fab Faux, and working with Jimmy Vivino’s band Prisoners of 2nd Avenue. I’m diligently sending out PR blasts of updates about successes for the record and every month seems to bring in a positive review from a periodical – some more influential than others. I have an assistant named Brenna who works with me, preparing all my paperwork and my copy and I send that out to create more of a buzz.

I’m also being called to do TV. We were on air in Chicago, and we did Good Day NY as well. When I see a lot of letters coming in from certain demographics about a certain song, I’ll do the current acoustic trio version there. I want to build momentum with the acoustic shows, and tell fans about the success of the CD. Then in March, we’ll do a big electric show where we’ll recreate the record. Those shows will be announced shortly at richpagano.com.  

Q: What has stepping out in front to do your album, your way, taught you?

A: I wish I did it 10 years ago! I didn’t have the sense to put the time aside to do it, and I should have stayed the course of being a person who puts out a body of original work every year. The Fab Faux is bittersweet. It became very successful and i am proud of it, but I never wanted my legacy to be a Beatles cover band, and it depressed me that I wasn’t doing what I moved to Manhattan for.   But the upside is big. Now I enjoy Fab Faux gigs more than ever, I love that my music is finally touching people – and there’s more coming. – David Weiss  

Borne of John Zorn: Marc Urselli Records NYC’s Marathon Man

The free flow of creativity from New York music force John Zorn never ceases to inspire. If he can create what must be thousands of recordings by now, and head up the extremely productive Tzadik label, then you should be able to get your own catalog moving as well.

Along for the learning right now is NYC engineer/producer Marc Urselli. This is one of the guys that’s always busy, a three-time GRAMMY winner with credits that include Les Paul, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Sting, Joss Stone, Lila Downs, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Mike Patton, Keith Richards, Buddy Guy, Richie Sambora, Johnny Rzeznick (Goo Goo Dolls), ZZ Top, Sam Cooke, Aerosmith’s Joe Perry, Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall, Luther Vandross, Simple Minds and a bunch more (www.marcurselli.com/music).

Being a go-to guy for Zorn, whose nonstop contributions to jazz, world sounds, and experimental music just keep on coming, keeps Urselli’s schedule even busier.

Q: I kind of think of you as having an audio “practice”. Is this correct? What are the different things you do professionally?
A: Ha ha., the doctor will see you now! Well, sometimes I do feel like a doctor. Some of my patients have serious illnesses, such as “I-suck-but-I-wanna-be-a-star”-itis or “I-can’t-sing-and-you-need-to-fix-my-voice”-it is. Or hallucinations such as “Yo-this-is-gonna-be-a-hit-man-so-you-should-work-with-me-for-free”.

Luckily, I am also blessed to work with some of the most incredible artists of our time who don’t require much or any doctoring of that kind at all. But if you like the doctor-metaphor, I guess I can say that I use my tools to make people be as healthy as possible. There must be a reason why “healthy” is synonymous with “sound”!

To answer your questions exactly, though, I do a lot of things professionally: Primarily I engineer, mix and produce records — which of course includes all the editing that is necessary to make everyone sound perfect. I also do quite a bit of live sound and touring, I do sound design for commercials, I compose, I write for some music magazines, I run my own music website and do a few other things.

Q: Seems like everyone I know these days is doing either just one thing, or a wide variety of projects. Are you primarily based out of East Side Sound, where I first met you? Why do you like to work at that facility?
A: I am a freelancer and have worked in several studios, but if the client leaves the choice to me I always choose to work at EastSide Sound because it’s just the best studio in town.

I’ve worked at other studios in NYC and outside NYC, and there is no place I know of that has the amount of isolation – seven isolated rooms with line of sight — and the amount of gear that EastSide has. Plus. EastSide has a super cool and chill vibe that musicians respond very well to. The combination of recording spaces and quality (and quantity) of gear is unique.

Also EastSide Sound has a Harrison board, which is one of the most amazing and best- sounding boards I worked on, which lets me do mixes in the analog domain with total automation — beyond just faders, I’m talking EQs, pans, reverb sends, dynamics etc… and total digital recall — so that I can recall an analog mix a year later within seconds).

In addition to all of that I have some of my gear there — Focal monitors, JZ microphones, Rode microphones, McDSP plugins, IK Multimedia plugins, etc… — so I’m comfortable and I feel at home. It’s just a great hybrid of vintage gear, modern technology as well as old-school studio design and new-school philosophy. EastSide has been around since 1973 and is doing OK considering the times we are in and all the studios closing, So obviously we’re doing something right over there, you know?

Q: I agree about that Harrison board, I really enjoyed mixing two Impossible Objects songs through it with Fran Cathcart over there. So how would you describe the musical space that John Zorn currently occupies? What kind of artist is he, and what does his body of work represent in the canon?
A: Zorn to me is one of the most interesting composers and musicians of our time — I absolutely love his music and love working with him. He’s a true genius, and his work ethic is second to none. He is eclectic, prolific, focused and dedicated to the music. Everything he does, from his own music, to the Tzadik label he runs to his music venue, The Stone, he does with love and out of love for the music. His body of work is incredible — hundreds of records to his name — and his strength is probably in the variety of his composition.

What I love about working with him is that it is always different, always exciting. He writes jazz in its many variations and flavors, rock/metal, classical music, avantgarde/ experimental music and more often than not his music is a mixture of all of the above, which is incredibly interesting.

I’ve recorded and mixed more than a dozen of his albums now, and in doing so have found myself employing tried-and-true mic techniques on jazz quartets, recording chamber-like string trios, doing vocals-only albums, capturing rare and out-of-the-ordinary percussion instruments and other sound-making devices. Or I’ve been bouncing my head up and down in the control room while tracking double drum sets, a distorted bass, screaming vocals and Zorn’s incredible sax playing.

On top of that Zorn uses some of the most incredible musicians out there and it’s a pleasure for me to even just watch them play, let alone record them. I love the fact that there’s so much variety because I grew up listening to all sorts of different music, and I’m always excited about every record I get to do with him. Zorn’s simply the man!

Q: When you first told me you had worked recently with John Zorn, I thought you had worked on a finished album. But you referred to your recordings with him as an “ongoing collaboration”. Can you explain how it’s working?
A: Well, like I said, John is very prolific and we enjoy working together very much. We first worked together on his album The Dreamers – one of my favorite to this date — and we’ve worked together ever since, which means about 15-20 records now.

You have to understand: the man is totally dedicated to his music and the musicians he uses have incredible amounts of talent. This translates into relatively short sessions. I think the longest session I did with him was three days of tracking and two days of mixing, and the shortest session was one 12-hour day of recording and mixing 10 songs!
The average is around 1-2 days for tracking and one day for mixing.

We’ve got the system down and we work fast, no breaks, no food, no messing around. I know what he wants and what he likes and I strive to make it perfect. I get there hours before he comes in to set up everything so that he can come in, sit down and get to work teaching the first song to his musicians. By the way, they never get to practice the music before they come in for the session. They learn it on the spot, try it a few times and then record it in one or two takes, sometimes three… and all of this sight-reading extremely difficult sheet music and soloing on top of crazy time signatures!

John is surrounded by talented people and we are kind of a team and everyone in the team cares about the music and takes it seriously. Kaz does the label, Heung Heung does the artwork etc… Everyone gives their 200% and when I work for him I give my 200%, because those are some of the sessions I really look forward to doing.

Q: How does such a high volume of consistent output affect the way you engineer and produce? Both working with him, and in turn working with other artists?
A: I would say it affects it very positively when working with him because there is a level of trust, knowledge and comfort that might not be there with an artist you never worked with before. In other words, with John I know what he wants, so I can give him what he wants very quickly and efficiently. If he had to work with a new engineer every time it most likely wouldn’t be as fluid and smooth as it is.

Other artists are unaffected by all of this, but needless to say, the more I work with any artist the better I get at what I do and the faster I get at what I do. EastSide has become second nature so it’s really easy for me to get good sounds there, because I know the rooms, the outboard, the mics, so well.

It goes without saying that my Pro Tools chops are sharp and I can fly on the machine doing all the transport operation, editing and automation at lighting speed, which clients love, because it saves them time, which equals money and makes them sound good. I hate to say this, but speed has become an important factor in today’s industry — but this plays to my advantage because of how fast I am.

Q: What are some highlight duets/musical collaborations of Zorn’s from recent sessions? Tell us about recording the vocal four-piece, Mycale.
A: There’s been many. He always uses amazing players like bassists Greg Cohen, Trevor Dunn and Shanir Blumenkranz; guitarist Marc Ribot; drummers Joey Baron, Ben Perowsky, Kenny Wollesen, also a vibraphonist; percussionist Cyro Baptista; pianists Rob Burger, Jamie Saft and Uri Caine, and so many more: Erik Friedlander, Carol Emmanuel, Ikue Mori, Fred Frith and the list goes on. We did a record with Phantomas/Faith No More singer Mike Patton, which was pretty amazing too.

The Mycale record was an interesting one — it was one of two vocals-only CDs of John’s music that I recorded. Mycale is a group of four talented young women who took some of Zorn’s music and arranged it for their voices, on their own, over the course of a year. It’s a very interesting record that brings together four different voices, styles and even languages!

We recorded another similar record with a different group of singers that became the music for French director Arno Bouchard’s film The Last Supper. John does a lot of soundtrack work and this latter group of amazing singers is the same that does the live performance of “Shir Ha-Shirim/The Song of Songs”, which is one of Zorn’s many musical projects for which I had the pleasure of doing live sound in a few occasions.

Q: Do you also work with the artists on his label? What kind of music does he distribute?
A: I have worked — as in recorded and mixed — several albums for Tzadik. Mostly it was artists based in New York, except in one or two cases. John releases and distributes the music he likes, which is how it should be for every label out there.

Q: Do you still maintain Chain D.L.K.? What is that, and how did it inform your work as an audio pro?
A: I do still run it. Chain D.L.K. is a music magazine for electronic, industrial, avantgarde, experimental music. I founded it in 1994 as a paper magazine and now it is online only at www.chaindlk.com and has over 30,000 visits per month.

Chain D.L.K. has really nothing to do with my work in the audio field. It is not about technical information, but rather music news, reviews, interviews, forums etc… It is a completely non-profit venture — in fact I lose money every month out of my pocket — but I do it to support the music and the artists, and to offer exposure to artists who otherwise might not get as much. I do it out of pure love for the music.

Q: You are originally from Switzerland, and then grew up in Italy before making it to American shores. Why do you enjoy being NYC-based? What makes this a great place to work, and what’s also making it challenging?
A: NYC is the greatest city on earth. Just walking down its streets inspires me. There are a few other cities I feel that strongly about, but NYC is at the top of my list and I don’t think I could live anywhere else.

Obviously it is a great place to work populated by some of the most amazing artists out there. Of course it is also challenging, it’s a tough city, it makes you or breaks you, and there’s competition for everything. But I like the challenge, it keeps me sharp and keeps me moving forward.

Q: Word. Is it true you can go kite surfing in Brooklyn? What’s it like to kite surf? Inquiring minds want to know.
A: Ha ha, I love kitesurfing! We go to several places in Brooklyn and also Long Island. Kitesurfing is equal part rush of adrenaline and equal part zen-like experience. You are out there alone with the elements, which can be very relaxing and spiritual in a sense, but you can also rip great air, pull off air and board tricks, surf waves, explore the canals between the grass islands of Long Island’s Great South Bay and hurt yourself in more ways than you can imagine!

Q: OK, I really want to come with you sometime. What’s next for you?
A: A kitesurfing trip to Brazil, a new record with Zorn (for which we start tracking four hours after I land at JFK airport from my 17 hour redeye return flight from Brazil), two other Tzadik records in December, a possible second half of tour with Marianne Faithfull in January (we did a first leg two months ago), a Masada live marathon and hopefully more interesting records of beautiful music for the world to enjoy!

Q: Gee, sounds awful. Anything else you want to add?
A: You tell me, I feel like I bored you and everyone else enough with my chatter. I am just enthusiastic about music, I love music deeply and I care about what I do and do it as best as I can. I wish there were more amazing artists like Zorn out there and that more people were into music for the right reasons and with the right attitude. Music is
the only universal language and I wanna learn to speak all of its dialects! – David Weiss

Home/Hospice: The Antlers Take Bedroom Recording to a New Level in Brooklyn

BROOKLYN, NY: The Antlers’ 2009 release Hospice has been arresting the hearts of not only Brooklynites, but also the rest of the world. Generating positive press reviews in response to their lush tracks, Hospice is a captivating album that follows a tragic arc — the heartbreaking narrative of a man losing a loved one to cancer.

It’s a sad story, but there is beauty in the sorrow, with the minimalist instrumentation of each of these strategically written melodies serving as a transporting experience. Recorded in singer/songwriter/guitarist Peter Silberman’s makeshift Brooklyn home studio, the album was assembled after Silberman ducked into a full two years of isolation to write the tracks.

“That’s what I feel like recording is in general,” Silberman explains of his no-frills philosophy on capturing sonic concepts. “This song or sound you’re hearing in your head and trying to recreate and make sense out of, then seeing if it’s actually possible.  Sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it turns into something you didn’t expect and you actually like that better. The recordings sort of take on a life of their own and you just embrace it.”

The Antlers paid very close attention to their production, working out ideas through trial and error. Tapping a low budget setup that for a while included only two microphones, a computer and very little space, Peter Silberman based Hospice on a framework that “became a matter of where the songs took the sound.”

When he began the blueprints for the album, Silberman recorded myriad experimental textures while operating out of his bedroom studio. “To have the freedom for our recordings to fail or keep on working was amazing” he says. “Not being on anyone’s clock but our own is something very important to us.”

Taking this emotional journey of an album on piece-by-piece, the Antlers had come from a similar musical background. Now a band rather than a solo project for Silberman, Hospice involved a different approach to writing songs. Labeling the record as “enjoyable,” Silberman felt more collaborative with this project because as a trio, the band was functioning together to actively exchange musical thoughts.

“We worked to see what gaps needed to be filled regarding frequency and texture,” noted multi-instrumentalist Darby Cicci. Cutting and pasting layers as they saw fit, drummer Michael Lerner added that the production of these tracks was not really a “hang up process.” Working with his bandmates “made sense”, he relates, because they had the same goal.

Satisfied — and then some — with the end result of Hospice, which was picked up by French Kiss Records and makes them labelmates with the likes of Passion Pit and The Hold Steady, the Antlers plan to record their next project at home as well.  The band feels that home is the best creative environment for recording music. “Working at home you can make mistakes and fix them,” Cicci says. “It kind of feels liberating versus a studio, where you feel like you’ve wasted time and money.”

With the combination of a recession and the ready availability of affordable high-quality audio technology, the Antlers prove once again that you can go home again, and record a mind-blowing long-player while you’re there.  In the end, all you really need is an instrument or two, some gear, a computer, and a creative mind. — Ken Bachor

Omen: Positive Career Workflow

HARLEM: There are plenty of producers out there who are decidedly not feeling the pinch. GRAMMY Award-winning producer Omen is one such emerging impresario – an in-demand man shaping hip hop. With records for artist such as Memphis Bleek, Juelz Santana, Fabolous, Fat Joe, Redman and Mya to his credit, Omen currently keeps busy at Stadiumred’s Studio B. Hear here his wisdom on instincts, teamwork and advanced career management.

Q: How did you get into music production?
A: I actually went to school for art. I originally wanted to work in the comic book field as a sketch artist, but music captured me.

I officially started producing music around 1995. We were in a bedroom studio in the Bronx, just tinkering with tracks. I was rapping, I had a crew, and I had to do beats for the crew. That’s when I started sharpening my skills until a friend of mine, DJ 7:30 who has since passed away, connected me to G. Roberson – A&R at Roc-A-Fella at the time – and I got a few placements.

Q: How would you define yourself – composer, producer, engineer?
A: I would say all of the above. I wouldn’t say I’m the best (engineer) in the field, because there are other engineers, but I can track vocals in Pro Tools or Logic. I can compose a track and melodies, but I can’t read music. I’m not skilled from a music standpoint. I just know how to get it hot. I would say I’m a hands-on producer.

Q: What have you been working on recently?
A: I’m working on a debut album for Drake, who’s killing the Internet and the music scene. Also, working on a new artist named XV from Witchita, Kansas — he’s a dope MC just starting to build buzz. And I’m submitting for Young Jeezy’s, Ludacris, The Game and 50 Cent’s latest projects .

One thing I really appreciate is that I was able to get on a couple of debut albums. I was on Memphis Bleek’s debut album, Coming of Age on Roc-A-Fella, which went gold, and Fabolous’ debut album Ghetto Fabolous which went platinum – that was a classic record.

Q: What’s the submission process like for an artist on the level of Ludacris?
A: Back in the day you just had a beat CD, and they chose the beats they wanted. These days, it’s MP3s and you have to create a track based on what they want, and adding a chorus or a full song would help. So you have to innovate what’s hot.   If you give away a beat CD these days, it may be a waste of time. I suggest, give an artist three solid tracks to choose from. If they don’t like those three, submit another three. Keep it to a minimum.

Q: Can you give an example of your workflow for one of the Drake tracks?
A: There’s a record that I produced that’s on my producer’s compilation album entitled Be the Judge. I had a track called “Overdose on Life” that was pretty much a skeleton, and Drake loved it. I told him the concept, the vision of what to rap about, what the titles of the song means. Then he came to me with the finished product of the lyrics. The concept of “Overdose on Life” is to live life to the fullest. We all have our addictions and our vices, and I told him to overdose on what he loves the most. It was very classy. The collaboration was dope.

Building on the skeleton of the track that I created on my MPC 2500, I brought along a couple of friends. A young lady named Brandee Younger plays the harp on this – very subtle, very clean. Another friend of mine, Erik Torrente, is a crazy saxophone player/producer who helped me discover my ear for production. He added some piano splashes throughout the track. The vocal producer/track arranger was Noah Shebib, whose production name is 40/40. After the instruments were laid down, 40 took all the raw vocals, put effects on it, warped some of the words, put on delays, chopped the beat. He really helped bring that beat to life, as well as with the vocal tricks.

Q: That sounds like a very team-oriented approach.
A: I say it like this: I can trust my own ears and judgment to do the initial track, but I like to bring in other elements to make it greater. You can’t have all the glory, so instead of having a fake keyboard, horns or pianos, I’ll bring in a real pianist or horn player just to accent it, so it sounds a little more authentic. That makes it a lot broader, a lot stronger, a lot more organic.

Q: What does your residency at Stadiumred have to do with the way you work?
A: I wouldn’t call Stadiumred a commercial studio – I would say it’s a recording house, meaning, we can take a record and develop it, mix it, and deliver the final product.  We’ll keep it all within and make it a team effort. Say a client comes in to have me produce the record. I’ll make it sound good, then I’ll pass it on to Ariel Borujow or Joseph Pedulla, the mix engineers there, and they’ll mix it. So we keep it like that. We all have positive energy, we all encourage one another, and it’s a more family-oriented feel.

Q: How do you feel the NYC production scene is evolving?

A: I would say that with the constant demise of larger studios like Sony, what’s happening is that a lot of studios are now partnering up with publishing houses, the BMI’s, the ASCAP’s, and they’re working out situations with the labels. They’ll get an artist, develop that artist, record and mix the album within one facility, so everything pumps out of that studio/situation.

Of course, there are also a lot of home studios. People are getting Pro Tools, putting out their own mix tapes, sounds, albums, and they’re getting distribution deals – situations based on what they’re creating on their own.

Q: What’s your advice for producers who want to take things to the next level?
A: If you don’t have a studio, find a studio like Stadiumred. I’m not plugging it, but Stadiumred is a facility where we help a lot of aspiring artists, and we’re doing a lot of interesting things for the future. So find a studio situation like we’ve got, or create your own situation that could better yourself.

Right now, sales of physical product are down, but a lot of things like iTunes are up. Find your own lane, your own sound, your own comfort zone for recording in. Go with the formula of how you get things done.

Lastly, don’t put out anything not mixed — if you put out any records, make them sound the best you can. The first impression is the best impression.

Tweet Omen: @producedbyomen

Hear Omen: www.myspace.com/emw