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For Amy
July 24th, 2011
When you love someone who suffers from the disease of addiction you await the phone call. There will be a phone call. The sincere hope is that the call will be from the addict themselves, telling you they’ve had enough, that they’re ready to stop, ready to try something new. Of course though, you fear the other call, the sad nocturnal chime from a friend or relative telling you it’s too late, she’s gone.
Frustratingly it’s not a call you can ever make it must be received. It is impossible to intervene.
I’ve known Amy Winehouse for years. When I first met her around Camden she was just some twit in a pink satin jacket shuffling round bars with mutual friends, most of whom were in cool Indie bands or peripheral Camden figures Withnail-ing their way through life on impotent charisma. Carl Barrat told me that “Winehouse” (which I usually called her and got a kick out of cos it’s kind of funny to call a girl by her surname) was a jazz singer, which struck me as bizarrely anomalous in that crowd. To me with my limited musical knowledge this information placed Amy beyond an invisible boundary of relevance; “Jazz singer? She must be some kind of eccentric” I thought. I chatted to her anyway though, she was after all, a girl, and she was sweet and peculiar but most of all vulnerable.
I was myself at that time barely out of rehab and was thirstily seeking less complicated women so I barely reflected on the now glaringly obvious fact that Winehouse and I shared an affliction, the disease of addiction. All addicts, regardless of the substance or their social status share a consistent and obvious symptom; they’re not quite present when you talk to them. They communicate to you through a barely discernible but un-ignorable veil. Whether a homeless smack head troubling you for 50p for a cup of tea or a coked-up, pinstriped exec foaming off about his “speedboat” there is a toxic aura that prevents connection. They have about them the air of elsewhere, that they’re looking through you to somewhere else they’d rather be. And of course they are. The priority of any addict is to anaesthetise the pain of living to ease the passage of the day with some purchased relief.
From time to time I’d bump into Amy she had good banter so we could chat a bit and have a laugh, she was “a character” but that world was riddled with half cut, doped up chancers, I was one of them, even in early recovery I was kept afloat only by clinging to the bodies of strangers so Winehouse, but for her gentle quirks didn’t especially register.
Then she became massively famous and I was pleased to see her acknowledged but mostly baffled because I’d not experienced her work and this not being the 1950’s I wondered how a “jazz singer” had achieved such cultural prominence. I wasn’t curious enough to do anything so extreme as listen to her music or go to one of her gigs, I was becoming famous myself at the time and that was an all consuming experience. It was only by chance that I attended a Paul Weller gig at the Roundhouse that I ever saw her live.
I arrived late and as I made my way to the audience through the plastic smiles and plastic cups I heard the rolling, wondrous resonance of a female vocal. Entering the space I saw Amy on stage with Weller and his band; and then the awe. The awe that envelops when witnessing a genius. From her oddly dainty presence that voice, a voice that seemed not to come from her but from somewhere beyond even Billie and Ella, from the font of all greatness. A voice that was filled with such power and pain that it was at once entirely human yet laced with the divine. My ears, my mouth, my heart and mind all instantly opened. Winehouse. Winehouse? Winehouse! That twerp, all eyeliner and lager dithering up Chalk Farm Road under a back-combed barnet, the lips that I’d only seen clenching a fishwife fag and dribbling curses now a portal for this holy sound. So now I knew. She wasn’t just some hapless wannabe, yet another pissed up nit who was never gonna make it, nor was she even a ten-a-penny-chanteuse enjoying her fifteen minutes. She was a fucking genius.
Shallow fool that I am I now regarded her in a different light, the light that blazed down from heaven when she sang. That lit her up now and a new phase in our friendship began. She came on a few of my TV and radio shows, I still saw her about but now attended to her with a little more interest. Publicly though, Amy increasingly became defined by her addiction. Our media though is more interested in tragedy than talent, so the ink began to defect from praising her gift to chronicling her downfall. The destructive personal relationships, the blood soaked ballet slippers, the aborted shows, that youtube madness with the baby mice. In the public perception this ephemeral tittle-tattle replaced her timeless talent. This and her manner in our occasional meetings brought home to me the severity of her condition. Addiction is a serious disease; it will end with jail, mental institutions or death. I was 27 years old when through the friendship and help of Chip Somers of the treatment centre, Focus12 I found recovery, through Focus I was introduced to support fellowships for alcoholics and drug addicts which are very easy to find and open to anybody with a desire to stop drinking and without which I would not be alive.
Now Amy Winehouse is dead, like many others whose unnecessary deaths have been retrospectively romanticised, at 27 years old. Whether this tragedy was preventable or not is now irrelevant. It is not preventable today. We have lost a beautiful and talented woman to this disease. Not all addicts have Amy’s incredible talent. Or Kurt’s or Jimi’s or Janis’s, some people just get the affliction. All we can do is adapt the way we view this condition, not as a crime or a romantic affectation but as a disease that will kill. We need to review the way society treats addicts, not as criminals but as sick people in need of care. We need to look at the way our government funds rehabilitation. It is cheaper to rehabilitate an addict than to send them to prison, so criminalisation doesn’t even make economic sense. Not all of us know someone with the incredible talent that Amy had but we all know drunks and junkies and they all need help and the help is out there. All they have to do is pick up the phone and make the call. Or not. Either way, there will be a phone call.
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Grace Potter
Every once in a while there comes an artist who has the talent to dial it down and still get you with emotion and Grace Potter of Grace Potter & the Nocturnals is one of them. CREEM Magazine needed a place to get an interview and an exclusive performance and we are honored that Jungle Room’s new performance space the Hollywood Stage was chosen as the site. Keep an eye on CREEM Magazines website for this performance!
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April 19, 2011
Five Mistakes Songwriters Make Before Demoing Their Songs (and how to avoid them)
By Cliff Goldmacher
The professional demo-recording process is a necessary part of the equation for songwriters aspiring to get their material heard by music industry decision-makers and, hopefully, cut by successful recording artists. Despite the fact that hundreds of demos are recorded every week in places like Nashville, New York and Los Angeles, new songwriters often find themselves overwhelmed and a bit intimidated by the prospect of getting their songs demoed and ready for primetime. By highlighting some of the mistakes I’ve encountered in my years of recording songwriter demos, I can hopefully help new songwriters avoid some of the pitfalls that result in either overly expensive or ineffective recordings.
Mistake #1: The song isn’t finished. It would seem obvious but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been paid (on the studio clock) for the privilege of watching a client’s creative process. I do understand why this happens. It’s incredibly exciting to feel like you’ve got a great song on your hands and the temptation is to get it recorded right away even if there’s a small tweak or two left to finish. I mean, how long can it take to re-write the second line of the bridge, right? Well, the reality is that when you’re in the studio and the clock is ticking, the environment is a lot more stressful than it is creative — not the ideal place to make sure your lyric is perfect. Unless you’re planning on only being a songwriter for another week or so, be patient, take your time and know that waiting another week (or even another month) to make sure your song is done before you book the studio time is always a good policy. Remember, you’re going to be spending real money on this recording, so be as certain as you can that your song is ready before you begin the process of recording.
Mistake #2: You haven’t made a rough recording. Everyone’s writing process is different and vive la difference but the one essential part of making sure your song is finished is making a simple rough recording. When I say “simple” and “rough,” I mean one instrument (usually guitar or piano) and a vocal into anything from a hand-held recorder to your smartphone. Here’s why: Without listening back to your song from the perspective of an audience member, you’ll miss a critical part of the writing/editing process. It doesn’t matter if you’ve played the song live a hundred times; by sitting back with a lyric sheet and just listening to the song, you’ll notice little flaws and missteps that you might never have heard if you’d just played and sung the song to yourself. The rough recording gives you the necessary perspective for those last few adjustments. I’d recommend re-recording your rough every time you think you’ve got the song totally finished. There’s an added benefit as well: Once you’re absolutely satisfied with your final rough recording, you’ll then have something to provide the demo vocalist so they can learn your song and you’ll have a reference for the session musicians when they get to the studio.
Mistake #3: You think the demo will fix what isn’t quite working in your song. Every once in a while you’ll finish a song and feel like it’s missing a certain something but it’s easy to convince yourself the song is fine and just needs the full demo treatment to give it what it lacks. My experience is that if you have reservations before you demo, the demo won’t solve that problem. Of course, all songs sound better with a full band of great players on them but don’t invest that money to fix a problem that most likely needs to be addressed in the melody and lyric of the song itself. If you find yourself feeling like your song is missing something and you’re not sure what it is, play it for a trusted friend or put it away for a while and come back to it. Demoing to fix the problem is an expensive way to get unsatisfactory results.
Mistake #4: You think you’ll save money by recording/playing on the demo yourself. I completely understand the mindset. I did it myself for years. The difference is that I was as passionate about becoming a recording engineer and session musician as I was about writing songs. If you’re only looking at recording and playing on your demos as a way to save money and not to become a professional engineer and session musician, then you’re better off hiring experts to do what you don’t do well. The key is to end up with a recording that marks you as a professional, not one that saves you money but isn’t up to par. There’s no point in saving money on a demo that isn’t pitchable. Take your own ego out of the equation. No one else can write your song for you. That’s where you’re the expert, but unless you’re also an expert at recording, playing and singing in the studio, it doesn’t make sense to do it yourself. When it comes to making a good impression with your demo, your recording has to measure up to the highest quality standards and that’s worth paying for. At the end of the day, if you’re trying to make money with your songs then remember it’s a business and you have to invest money in order to make it.
Mistake #5: You decide to record a full-band demo without having a very good reason. It’s understood that professionally recorded, full-band demos sound amazing, but it’s also understood that they’re expensive — sometimes, very expensive. Depending on why you’re demoing your song, a simple, professionally performed and recorded guitar/vocal or piano/vocal may very well be all you need. In my opinion, there are just a few reasons to record a full-band demo. First, you’ve got a film/tv pitch opportunity and they’re looking for a full-band sound for a particular scene. A second reason would be that you’re planning on using your demo as an artist project for the singer doing the vocal. For example, you may be working with a great young singer and you’re planning on killing two birds with one stone by demoing the song you wrote and also putting together a series of recordings that showcase that singer as an artist. In that case, do it up. You’ll be well served by going all the way with these recordings. That being said, I would strongly suggest not recording a full-band demo of your song just because you want to. Professionally performed and recorded demos are never inexpensive and you can get more bang for your buck doing simple, clean guitar/vocal demos of several songs in the place of a fully blown-out demo of one song. Remember, you can always go back and add more instruments to a professionally recorded, stripped-down demo later if the situation warrants.
By avoiding these mistakes, you will be removing a good deal of angst from the demo process. It’s always a little stressful getting ready to put your money where your mouth is and the better the decisions you make in advance, the more able you’ll be to enjoy the recording process as you’re going through it.
Cliff Goldmacher is a songwriter, producer, session musician, engineer, author and owner of recording studios in Nashville, TN and Sonoma, CA. Cliff’s site, http://www.EducatedSongwriter.com, is full of resources for the aspiring songwriter and his company, http://www.NashvilleStudioLive.com, provides songwriters outside of Nashville with virtual access to Nashville’s best session musicians and singers for their songwriting demos.
You can download a free sample of Cliff’s eBook “The Songwriter’s Guide To Recording Professional Demos” by going to http://www.EducatedSongwriter.com/ebook.
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Here is a sneak peek at the stage!
Here is a quick snap of the stage as it is set up for band rehearsal. More lighting is on the way and green screen is also on the list. So far, Selena Gomez, Redlight King, Cherri Bomb and Dehlana have graced our stage for rehearsal and showcase. We can also multi-track record all the action at the drop of a hat as the mic panel is split to the room mixer and also to the studio control room so ProTools HD can catch the magic!
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Eminem Lawsuit May Raise Pay for Older Artists
By BEN SISARIO
Published: March 27, 2011
The most closely watched lawsuit in the music industry asks this question: how much should a song on iTunes or another digital music service be worth to the performer?
The artist at the center of the suit is Eminem, but some of the biggest beneficiaries of the case may be thousands of older artists who have not released an album in decades.
Four years ago, the producers who discovered Eminem sued his record label, the Universal Music Group, over the way royalties are computed for digital music, which boils down to whether an individual song sold online should be considered a license or a sale. The difference is far from academic because, as with most artists, Eminem’s contract stipulates that he gets 50 percent of the royalties for a license but only 12 percent for a sale.
“As of now it’s worth $17 million or $20 million, but on a future accounting basis, five or 10 years from now, it could easily be a $40 million to $50 million issue,” said Joel Martin, the manager of F.B.T. Productions in Detroit, which first signed Eminem and continues to collect royalties on his music. (Marshall Mathers himself, who performs as Eminem, was not a party to the suit, although he stands to earn millions from it.)
The suit reached its apparent end last week when the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal, letting stand a lower court’s decision that digital music should be treated as a license. Lawyers and music executives say that few younger artists are likely to be affected by the decision because since the early 2000s record companies have revised most of their contracts to include digital sales among an artist’s record royalties. Eminem’s first contract was signed in 1995.
Many older artists, however, whose contracts predate digital music and have not been renegotiated, stand to profit significantly from the decision.
“This is life-changing,” said Joyce Moore, the wife of Sam Moore of Sam & Dave, the duo that had hits in the 1960s like “Soul Man.” “If we were being paid a nickel a download, as opposed to 35 cents — that’s a huge amount of money for a guy that is on a fixed income or has to run up and down the road at 75 years old.”
The lawsuit argued that record companies’ arrangements with digital retailers resembled a license more than it did a sale of a CD or record because, among other reasons, the labels furnished the seller with a single master recording that it then duplicated for customers.
“Unlike physical sales, where the record company manufactures each disc and has incremental costs, when they license to iTunes, all they do is turn over one master,” said Richard S. Busch, a lawyer for F.B.T. and Mr. Martin’s company, Em2M. “It’s only fair that the artist should receive 50 percent of the receipts.”
A federal jury ruled in favor of Universal in 2009, but that decision was overturned on appeal last year. The label petitioned to the Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case.
Universal said the implications of the decision were limited.
“The case has always been about one agreement with very unique language,” the company said in a statement. “As it has been made clear during this case, the ruling has no bearing on any other recording agreement and does not create any legal precedent.”
Although current hits get more attention, older music still represents a huge portion of overall music sales, and over time durable hits can rack up significant sales. Last year there were 648.5 million downloads of “catalog” singles in the United States, meaning songs more than 18 months old, compared with 523 million for current tracks, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Fred Wilhelms, a lawyer in Nashville who specializes in collecting royalties for musicians, said that sales of older music had provided the labels with steady income at low cost. “The labels make tens of millions of dollars a year from the deep catalog without paying a penny in promotion costs,” said Mr. Wilhelms, who estimates that the Eminem ruling might apply to tens of thousands of artists. “Anybody who ended their recording career before 1978, and probably before 1992, is in the decision,” he added.
Royalty rates vary, but today most acts get 10 to 15 percent of their music’s net sales, minus packaging and other deductions, lawyers say. In the 1970s and before, the rates were often even lower. But for decades, licenses of music — to movies, television or other third parties — gave artists a 50 percent share, without the same deductions, on the principle that a third party was bearing the relevant costs.
Jason M. Schultz, an assistant professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley, who helped write a friend of the court brief on behalf of the Motown Alumni Association — a group that represents Motown acts but is not associated with the label — said that recording contracts made in the early days of digital music reflected the labels’ failure to recognize that technology’s potential.
“The record companies would strike these deals with artists in a way that favored them,” Mr. Schultz said. “But when the digital revolution came around, those contracts ended up favoring artists. The record companies guessed wrong.”
Although sales of digital music around the world now represent 29 percent of record companies’ revenue, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the Eminem case, and several others like it, stem from the mid-2000s, when the potential value of digital music was first becoming clear. According to court papers, the Eminem case had its origins in an audit of accounting records that F.B.T. and the rapper conducted in 2005, two years after Apple opened the iTunes store.
In separate cases, the Allman Brothers have sued Universal and Sony BMG Music Entertainment over similar contractual issues. The Sony case, filed in 2006, was expanded to a class-action suit, and earlier this month the parties informed the judge in the case that they had “reached an agreement in principle.” (The Allman Brothers and Cheap Trick, which joined the case, both settled their claims.) The Allmans’ suit against Universal, filed in 2008, is still pending.
For million-selling acts like Eminem and the Allman Brothers, the stakes are high. But plenty of other artists stand to gain from the decision as well.
“For people who had a single hit, who couldn’t afford to chase $100 in owed royalties,” Mr. Wilhelms said, “they are now looking at a couple thousand. It’s worth a couple phone calls and an angry letter or two.”
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Well, it took a LOT of grunt work, sweat and tears but the Hollywood Stage Lives! Fully tested and operational. We were honored to have Dilana Robichaux (rock star Super Nova contestant) and her band be the first and second rehearsals. Valora did a little pre-show work out last week and the ever charming Selena Gomez made an appearance as well.
We're Up & Running!
Soon we will be getting our webcast groove on and are currently building our own internet entertainment channel at hollywoodstage.tv Pretty exciting stuff!
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Jungle Room Recording Studio is proud to announce a new room that will be in operation in early 2011. Thanks to a synergistic arrangement with Hollywood Records, we are creating a 750 sq. foot multi-purpose space that will be suitable for band rehearsals, green screen, showcasing, webcasting, photography, etc. There will also be audio connection to the main studio control room for recording purposes. The Hollywood Stage will have it’s own lounge and rest room as well. We are very excited to bring even more service to the music, video & film communities. More details as they happen and there will be a few posts about the construction as it happens!
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Dan here, life in the Jungle is good! Last week I assisted our head engineer Brian Reeves on a session with Selena Gomez. As Brian put it, Selena is “…one of the most professional talents I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.” Selena is an absolute pleasure to have around the studio. With champion vocal coach Ron Anderson supporting, Selena flew through the material and finished ahead of schedule. A veteran of the Jungle Room, Selena’s worked with both Brian and me on multiple occasions.
Having a solid background in singing, I was REALLY intrigued by an awesome trick Ron pulled out of his hat for Selena: GUMMY BEAR TEA. You heard me right. Instant throat coat and singing aid: Fill a mug half-way with Gummy Bears, and then all the way up with hot water. Stir constantly for about 30 seconds, and you have something akin to Jello before it cools. Sip this, and your throat is in pretty rockin’ shape. Thanks, Ron! Grace Potter and Allstar Weekend will be in next week! Until next time…
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Dan Viafore here, Engineer at the Jungle Room Recording Studio in Los Angeles, CA. Don’t let Kev get you down! While the recording industry is a turbulent place to be, a comfortable place to work with a skilled staff will always be in demand.
Today I’m at Center Staging Rehearsal Studios in Burbank doing some contract work for Hollywood Records. My client today is The Charlies. They’re three VERY talented singers fresh off the (plane?) from Iceland. Bringing their unique form of Europop to the US, they are really fun to work with.
Working away from the Jungle Room is always a bit of a production. Hauling my Pro Tools playback gear and setting up in the rehearsal space, finding power, patching an 8 channel snake, praying my firewire cables stay put… It can be a hassle, but it’s a great exercise in preparedness, and it is definitely making me a better engineer. Oh yeah, one more thing: IT DOESN’T FEEL LIKE WORK!
Recording and mixing in LA is an experience. I’ve been out here less than a year, and I’ve personally engineered for an absolute wealth of talent. I’ve had the privilege to sit in and assist on an even larger amount of incredible music.
Bright spots on the list include: Hollywood Records artists like Selena Gomez, Grace Potter, Anna Margaret, The Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, Jordan Pruitt, Valora, Allstar Weekend, and The Charlies, industry vets like Patti Labelle and Melissa Manchester, and amazing indie bands like SoCal’s own The New Limb.
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Kevin Anderson here… co-owner of Jungle Room Recording Studio with Brian Reeves, hit maker extraordinaire since the 80′s. If you’ve seen Flashdance, Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun, U2′s Rattle & Hum or bought albums by Billy Idol, Donna Summer, Joe Cocker, Sparks, Simple Minds, Pet Shop Boys, Miley Cyrus, Hillary Duff, Jonas Brothers, Jordan Pruitt, etc. you have heard his mixing, engineering, and perhaps even production skills.
I get to play keyboards when nobody else is around and did have up to 30 seconds of fame on MTV in 1985 with a long forgotten band called “Life By Night” followed by a few years working with/for Harold Faltermeyer, composer of” Axel F.”, “The Heat is On” (w/ Keith Forsey) “Hot Stuff”, and so on. We had our reunion gig in 2010 – “Cop Out” starring Bruce Willis & Tracy Morgan which was nice. Used Moog and Roland synthesizers older than most of the artists today on that one… Still working for us dudes from the 80′s I guess.
Back in those days, we just talked to people as blogging wasn’t an option. Now it is mandatory we “blog or else” as part of the marketing plan or so says every IT guy I meet. So blog we will or even rant on occasion. We are totally up to pontificating about all things music and willingly accept ideas for subjects from you, the dear reader, if we actually get any readers, that is. That’s it for now… gotta meet the IT guy again about Tweeting. I will tweet about our next blog or blog about our next Tweet, unless I alert you via our Facebook wall or Myspace whatever the hell that is…
For now, some links….
www.jungleroom.net or email me a subject idea at info@jungleroom .net
Thanks for reading! Pop quiz is next Monday!
