Grammy award winning “Ambient Americana” producer and recording artist Eric Tingstad is interviewed by SiS Organizer Chris Klimecky. Their conversation follows Eric’s extensive songwriting and recording career as well as the future of his art. A beautiful live version of “The Boot Whisperer” finishes the musical selections.
Yes, I realize it’s not Grammy season – that passed us a few months ago. However, I’ve recently taken in a couple of great Recording Academy events with the Pacific NW chapter that have gotten Grammy on my mind! The Recording Academy is the group that runs the Grammies if you weren’t aware. Last weekend was a fantastic day long Producer/Engineer Studio Summit which had great panels with insight into the ever changing music business. It’s definitely a rough road, but passion (and in some cases obsession) seems to still lead to success.
Then on Monday at the beautiful Gibson Guitar showroom in the Belltown area of downtown Seattle was the informational Grammy Awards 101 with VP of the Recording Academy Awards group, Bill Freimuth. Long story short, I now understand the whole process that goes into giving out those little statues, though my chances for getting one is only slight better now that I may submit rather than not at all. I’m really driving to finish up my new album, This Journey, in time to get it into consideration for this year – that’s a deadline of August 31st…I’ve got a lot of work to do!
An artist’s original vision for his/her own works can be an interesting thing. Especially when collaboration is involved, the vision can evolve, shift, even become something almost entirely different, but in the artist’s mind, there is always the memory of that original intent. When I first heard David Rix play “Carry On” I knew it was a great song that had lots of arrangement potential. Over time I formed my own vision for the song and put that into production. David was very happy with that end product, but something was bugging him. His original vision…
He had always thought of the song as a male/female duet where the couple is “discussing” their hard times but pushing through knowing they were meant for each other. Though our Traveling Wilburys-style first arrangement was buttery smooth, it didn’t capture some of the emotional resonance that the presentation of a couple in a longterm relationship would have. So with the help of our local Spiritual Cowgirl Jessica Lynne, I proudly present a re-mix of “Carry On” that more closely resembles David’s original vision. I hope you enjoy it and I welcome your thoughts on how the two arrangements affect you differently. Also make sure you check out my video blog for a quick behind-the-scenes comparison of the two.
I’ve been doing a lot of mixing recently, and that tends to get my head in a very detailed listening mode. So when I hear other home recordings, lots of things stick out to me and I thought I’d list a few items here that might help you improve your home recordings.
Before we dive in, though, remember that of the 4 stages of recording (pre-production, source recording, mixing, mastering), what I’m touching on is only the tip of the iceberg on the 3rd stage. So by the time you get this far you’re already in the deep end. These tips aren’t going to make a bad song good or save a poor instrument tone (“you can’t polish a turd”). But if you’ve got your parts recorded well already, these should at least remind you not to make the most common mistakes when actively listening to your mixes.
Down to the last few days in January, already? Wow, it’s been a productive start to 2011 and I hope you’ve enjoyed some of the fruits of that labor. There have been two major song releases, a podcast, a start at Twitter and YouTube, my regular blog, and then lots of behind the scenes effort to get all of my web presence pages looking consistent, easy to use, and packed with as much content as the various sites will allow!
There’s still lots more to do and tons of content in the pipeline for February. Here’s a glance at my upcoming “to do” list:
– The third major song release for this early group of new recordings, “Water Colors”: It’s another with lyrics passed to me by Cait Rosellini. It’s got a different feel that I am really digging – those who have heard it think it has a David Bowie sound. I’m a bad judge of these things, but perhaps because of the metaphor-style storytelling? Anyway, I’m excited to have you listen and tell me what you think of it yourself.
– Two new recordings with Americana singer Jessica Lynne: I’ve got two recordings coming with her that are cool variations on already released songs. One is a version of “Colored Life” – you can hear a preview of that from the (horrible visual quality!) live video that was taken of us performing the song together. Jessica has a great voice that fits the song perfectly and I’m very happy to have a fully produced version of the song with her. We also got her recorded on a version of David Rix’s “Carry On” which takes the song in an interesting duet direction.
What does “polish” mean to you in a recording? And is it even something you want more of, especially in a rock setting? Can you have a polished recording of an unpolished sound? In my mind, everyone should want a polished recording – this would represent their sound in the best, most appealing way possible. To me it’s about clear translation of the artistic vision, no matter how sloppy or gritty that vision is.
So there are certainly ways that you can spend lots of money to get better recordings (equipment, studio time, engineering & mastering help, etc.) and lots of sound engineer techie ways to improve your sound. Those tips are for another blog post! Let’s start with what you can do using what you have already.
1. Pre-Production – Start with disciplined practice, lots of practice. Practice with a metronome so you can be consistent in tempo. Record rough versions of the song so you can hear it back and start to think more about arrangements. Make your song better – really evaluate it and refine it. A great recording of a so-so song is a lost cause. Does it need an extra chorus? Can you cut an interlude or long intro? Cutting is usually better than adding, and this is your time to be brutal. For example, I’ll often cut a verse during pre-production if I have any sense that it’s getting too long. Make your decisions now, before you start recording in earnest, because the farther down the road you are, the harder it is to make significant shifts. You’ll still have plenty of opportunity to be creative – in fact, you’ll be more free to be creative since the basic decisions are confidently locked in.
