Has Anyone Worked With This Engineer?

[Jotown]

My buddy sent me this story and I just had to pass it on. A musician who's spent his entire life trying to get a record deal is feeling extremely depressed.  He's been turned-down by every record company he's ever contacted.  No one seems to recognize his unique genius.  So, he decides to top himself and comes up with an ingenius plan to get back at all the record companies who've rejected him. He books time at a recording studio and instructs the sound engineer to record everything he says, and every sound he hears, and then copy it all on to 1000 CDs, and send a CD to every record company executive on the list that he hands the engineer. The guy walks into the vocal booth; the red light is on, and he begins... "This is a message for all you sycophantic, talentless, stupid record company assholes who've ignored me for all these years.  I've dedicated my life to writing beautiful, emotive, soul-searching music, and all you bastards do is discard my tapes, never return my phone calls, and sign these horrible, no-talent, ridiculous, dumb bands, and these filthy, dirty rappers!  Well, you bunch of morons, you parasites, you dumb pricks; I've taken all I can of your puerile, shallow industry, and it's you who have driven me to this!  Goodbye you fuckin' murderers of art!" With that, he pulls out a gun, puts it to his head and blows his brains out.   The sound engineer glances up and says, "Okay. That's fine. Wanna go for a take?" :) ;) :eek: :rolleyes:

[alcohol]

I own my own little studio and I have no interns to mistreat. It never fails to piss me off, that after the session I got clean up the fricken mess these "artistes" leave behind.

[dlbmusic]

:thu: LOL

[Tedster]

Funny! Reminds me of the old Warner Brothers cartoon where Daffy drinks gasoline, eats dynamite, and blows himself up for a circus trick...

[Jotown]

Yeah, the buddy that sent me this is having a hard time doing the music thing in Cali. I hope he's not trying to tell me something.

[Roto]

[quote]Originally posted by The Tedster of Christmas Present: [b]Funny! Reminds me of the old Warner Brothers cartoon where Daffy drinks gasoline, eats dynamite, and blows himself up for a circus trick...[/b][/quote]Wasn't there some kid that killed himself trying to duplicate this stunt in the 50's? TV is dangerous!

[joegerardi]

Never heard of that guy, but the engineer I used to work with was exactly the opposite. When my last band was in the studio, anytime a filler was needed, they looked to me to do it. I always hated the immediacy of having to come up with something on the spot while paid time was rolling. This one time, a sax player we hired didn't work out, so they told me to do something instead. I asked for 5 minutes to come up with something, worked it out, and I asked for a couple of rehearsals to try it out. The first time I do it, I get it right, so I say: "Okay, let's do a take," to which the engineer says: Let's listen back..." He recorded it, and it was the take we ended up using. Another time, I was not getting the feel I wanted for a piece, and he was offering suggestions, and all good. (He is a great keyboard player, too.) I'm just not getting it, so I say to him: "Well, why don't YOU play it?" I thought about what I said, and realized that it was a really good idea, so we switched places after he set up the desk, and he did the take for me. A great engineer, and a good guy. His name is Jim Sommers, and the studio is Loft Studios in Buffalo, NY ..Joe

[Jotown]

The story wasn't meant as a slap at engineers,(most I have worked with are very good). But more a sick, (funny) ironic story about what the music biz can do to you.

[fantasticsound]

SOOOOOOoooooo! I see my reputation preceeds me! :thu: I work with this producer a lot. He's very supportive. For example: "That was perfect! Ok. Let's do another take." (...or 3. Or 5. Or 14. Or.... :D )

[ernest828]

Yeah thats a "funny" story but I wouldn`t be surprised if more people didn`t feel liek doing that once in a while. The most importnant lesson I have learned as an engineer is to always be recording. Musicians play the coolest things before a take to loosen up and often play incredibly relaxed and inspired when they think they are not being recorded. In my old band we were recording a song one day that required an intro that was to have odd noises going on for abut 3 minutes before the song kicked in. In those days the entire abnd showed up for overdubs to support and give ideas which was great and I miss those sessions. Anyway, the bass player and drummer were heading out to get some breakfast for all of us and I stayed behind with our guitarist to get sounds and levels. Anyway I pressed record while he was tuning up and let him just improvise for 3 minutes, and I was completely amazed by the stuff he was playing. We got throught the entire song and listened back. We both sat there and I said to him, "Thats it we`re done." The other two returned with coffee and donuts and were equally impressed, our guitarist couldn`t understand how his best take was one he didn`t even know was a take. So... always keep the tape rolling because you never know. EJB

[D_dup3]

Ever hear the Hampton Grease Band's monster doulble LP for Columbia records circa 197X (recently reissued on CD)? After the first cut, a 19 minute epic about the great city of Halifax, featuring upteen various tempo changes, intricate arrangement twists & solos, the engineer pipes up, "I don't trust this machine...let's try it again." Which they can be heard starting as the side fades... :D