Tips on Producing Vocals

During a vocal recording session I was producing for an album this evening several things came up that I thought might be good to address. Producing a vocal track can be a bit of a mystery in approach and there are many mistakes a producer can make in the process. Here’s my two cents worth of input for up and coming producers.

Producer’s Role on Producing Vocal Tracks

As I’ve said many times on my blog, a music producer’s role is to produce music. That means you produce a product. That means you produce a good vocal track. It is a non-issue how talented the vocalist is or how prepared they are or anything else, your job is to produce. Being a “good” music producer means drawing out the best product you can from your artist. There is NO excuse to drawing out the best you can. The more you do, hopefully the better you’ll get at it.

Getting the Artist to Hand You the Ball
As producer, you should have a repoire with the recording vocalist. If they have not yet handed you the artistic ball to run with the project, then you are not yet the producer. Before I start on any serious recording project (karaoke and throw away demos will be what they will) I make sure I have been given the artistic license from the artist and the flexibility to produce the track. If I’m going to be responsible for a track, I need the license to make changes and adjustments on the fly without having to explain every move. This is the most important aspect of recording in my opinion. Make sure you and the artist are on the same page about your role in the project. If for many varied reasons the artist will not hand you the ball to produce the project, then you are not the right person for this particular project. As much as it might hurt, do not accept the project as producer. Turn the project down or re-negotiate your role as simply an engineer, etc. “Too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the soup.”

Basic Things You Should Know About Vocal Production

These are basic things I assume every music producer knows, which probably means not everybody knows these things. 🙂

  1. Try more than one microphone on the vocalist and compare tracks blind for the best sound. I most often use a Neumann mic for vocal tracks, but always test with my AKG’s, CAD and other mics. AT LEAST try two different mics. You should brainwash yourself as a producer that you are not really producing unless you’ve compared at least two mics on the vocalist. Once in a blue moon you’ll find your main vocal mic has a broken diaphragm, was accidentally turned backwards (yes, it happens – I always check out of habit, even if I’ve used it a thousand times) – or you may find that this particular vocalist sounds best singing through your kick drum mic (Yes, I’ve had this happen too. I know a famous songwriter/singer from Texas that has recorded vocal tracks with an AKG D-112, normally a kick drum microphone).
  2. No contact with mic or cables. Make sure the vocalist is not in contact with the microphone stand, microphone itself, or any cables connected to the mic.
  3. Treat the wall behind the recording mic. If in a sound booth or closed environment, pay special attention to the wall behind the microphone. This is where your prominent reflections of sound bounce back and may cause comb filtering (frequency cancellation). Unless you are in a pro setting with designed treatments, go ahead and pad 50% of the wall behind the mic. Auralex foam blocks work fine. Pick up a kit at a pro music store. Cardboard egg crates? I don’t know who started that, but it’s silly. Cardboard doesn’t shape your sound well, it’s more of a visual thing to say “See, we have a studio”. I would rather use blankets from U-Haul as padding if you’re in a pinch.
  4. Experiment with microphone distance and slope. Try the mic at different distances from the vocalist as well as different angles. How does the sound change with the mic facing the vocalist’s eyes, then sloped down toward their mouth. Or under the vocalist angled up – or straight on. “Proximity effect” is the bass response you quickly lose as a vocalist is further away from the mic. For rap and spoken word recordings you may want the vocalist right on the mic to get that nice natural bass presence (For rap and spoken word you’d use a different microphone that would already be designed for very close vocals – the mic will normally look like a big long tube. Don’t want to mention specific models, but Howard Stern and most DJ’s use the same mic – that’s the one to use for rap and spoken word.) Sometimes you WANT the voice to be a little thinner, so you’d just back the vocalist from the mic a bit.
  5. Singers should not talk much between takes, if at all. Singer’s use different voice placement when talking than when singing. If they talk excessively between takes, they are ruining the vocal placement that the record producer (In the year 2600 I will still call us “record” producers) has worked to gently attain. Don’t undo the work. Be quite between takes.
  6. Warm up your tube gear. If using tube processing on vocals, which is HIGHLY recommended, be sure to warm up your gear ahead of the session so it’s ready to go when the vocalist shows up. You want the same sound from take to take for consistent composite tracks.
  7. Composite tracks. Few hits these days are recording from beginning to end in a single take. Have the vocalist record multiple takes of the lead vocal and keep them archived. From these the engineer/producer will take the best parts of each take to make a final composite vocal; the “perfect” vocal track. For this reason, it’s important to keep the sound consistent from take to take. This means monitoring that the vocalist is maintaining the same position and that gear has not changed settings. I use Pro Tools and will make notes on each track of the different equipments settings so I can setup the exact same environment anytime down the road. Keeping detailed notes is automatic for any good engineer, and it’s part of the studio producer’s job to make sure that’s happening. It will make your editing process much more enjoyable.
  8. Windscreen and Pops. Mic screens are to eliminate plosives – like “puh”, “foh”, etc. You usually should use a wind screen of light nylon material – I don’t dig using nylons for this; just buy one made for this purpose. I don’t use a windscreen if the vocalist doesn’t move a lot of air. If that’s the case I listen very closely for plosives during recording and make sure I have plenty of takes to choose from in case I missed a couple.
  9. Bad Day? Cancel the session. If you’re vocalist isn’t up to their par in the first thirty minutes of recording; cancel the session. They will usually be relieved. Let them know it’s nobody’s fault, it’s just not the right day. Vocalists do have “bad days” unlike many other instruments. I am a keyboard player – I don’t ever have “bad days” on keyboards. But vocals are a flesh and blood instrument. Let the vocalist know the reason you are doing it is because you want the best product possible for them. You should know the vocalist’s chops well enough to know when to make this call. If it’s because the truly can’t sing any better then it’s a bad call to do this. If I cancel a session in the best interest of the artist’s project it will usually be free of charge. I won’t charge them for the session. That way they know your motives are true and you are truly engaged in the outcome of their project. If they partied all night and you have to cancel because their voice is hoarse then that’s their problem. Charge them. If the vocalist says “Let’s try again, I know I can do better” – give them a couple shots. 99.9% of the time it still won’t be what you want. Reschedule the session.
  10. Tea time. Always have non-caffeine tea on hand for the vocalist. Never serve boiling hot, just warm. Many singers show up for sessions with the rush of the world still spinning their head around. If that fights your project, relax them with tea. Don’t start the session until they are in the proper mood for the style they are recording. If that means talking with them for 30 minutes about Philosophers of Ancient Greece – then that’s what you do. Have your gear ready so when they’re in the proper mindset you can hit the gates.
  11. BGV’s – Background Vocals. The best person to blend with the lead vocalist IS the lead vocalist. Once the composite track is done, have the recording artist record some of their own harmonies before you bring in other background vocalists. Let the artist have fun with it and experiment. Only keep what you think will work. Unless the lead singer is a studio artist, let them take the easy parts they hear first. Fill in the harmonies with your studio pros on the harder-to-hear harmonies. *NOTE* – Background vocals are often more breathy than the lead vocal. One little trick to getting a nice choral blend. If it works for your project’s sound, have the lead vocalist try singing breathier for BGV’s. Only if it’s fun and easy for them to do. If it’s gruelling work, save it for the studio singers.
  12. Pitch Correction – Once your composite vocal track is finished I would recommend doing a pass just listening for pitch errors. This all depends on the project. Some pitch errors are good in certain styles. To my ears on a standard pop vocal track, the lead vocal has a problem if it’s more than 10 cents off. A half-step has 100 cents in it, or 100 degrees between each half step. 15 cents is “yucky sharp” and 8 cents is “should I fix this?”. Yes, you probably should. I have not found any software that you can just set and let run for an entire track. You really need to do it by ear on a note by note basis.
  13. The Wizard of Oz. Do not let your vocalist be present when you edit and compile their lead vocal track. Vocalists will ask you to sit in because they are fascinated by the process and want to learn. Then within a short time they will think about quitting music altogether when they see how many edits you really do. Let the vocalist come back and hear your final composite with pitch corrections, eq and fx in the mix. Most of the time they will say “I don’t remember singing it that well.” Shut up and smile. That’s what they hired you for. Of course if they want a change in the composite vocal or want to re-sing something, by all means let them. But wait until they’ve heard your edited work first. One more time: DO NOT LET THE VOCALIST WATCH YOU EDIT THEIR TRACKS! I’ve had MANY vocalists say “I’ve tried other studios but I sing better with you.” Which actually means, “You are more precise in your editing and engineering approach.” 🙂
  14. No New Vocal Lessons During Project. Want to have your vocalist become a dog overnight? Then have them start with a new vocal coach in the middle of your project. The time for vocal lessons is BEFORE doing a recording project or AFTER recording. When taking voice lessons, artists will usually get worse before they get better. Due in part to the fact that they will have to unlearn bad habits to pick up new ones. This is a slow process. All that will happen is they will sound worse during your recordings. Vocal study is a lifelong effort. Not something to change people overnight. I have been through this so many times with artists that now I tell them to actually cancel new lessons if they haven’t already started. Please note: I’m talking about NEW voice lessons with a new instructor during the middle of a recording project. Continuing voice lessons is usually fine.
  15. Check Headphone Levels Yourself. Listen to the vocalist’s headphone level before you have them listen. Many vocalists don’t really know what levels they should have. It should be loud enough so they can get lost in the music but not uncomfortable.
  16. Check Vocalist Headphone Level. The vocalist should be louder in the headphone mix than they might be in the final mix. They should hear themselves well from the headphones so they have good control of pitch.
  17. Controlling Intonation with Headphone Level. If your vocalist is singing flat, lower their vocal level in the headphones. They are hearing themselves too much and not supporting their singing. If your vocalist is sharp, raise their vocal level in the headphones. They are not hearing themselves enough and are pushing to hard to create volume.
  18. Live Performance Microphones are Not Studio Microphones. That microphone you use to gig with your band. It’s not a recording mic. Get a dedicated studio vocal mic. Only use it in the studio. Don’t take it to gigs. That software that will make any mic sound like any other mic. Uh-huh, I’ve got that too. Buy a studio mic. Things have changed, you can get a decent studio mic now for under $300 as a starter mic. Alpha-Beta is a supermarket chain. If your recording studio vocal mic has any of those words in it’s name, it’s not a studio vocal mic in my opinion.

PRODUCING THE VOCALIST

The hard part. If you are producing a legit vocal track for a “singer singer” then nothing will do but the best they can do. It’s important to know how hard you can work them and what their limits are. Also important you understand about vocal anatomy. The best way to get that experience is to take lessons or watch lessons of an experienced vocal teacher.

DUMP YOUR INNER GEEK – If you are a modern producer chances are you’re also a geek. You know about computers, bit rates, time code, Midi, music theory and everything else geeky. Let’s say your vocalist is getting a thin grating sound on their high notes and you know it’s within their range to do better. It would be unproductive to say “Those high notes sound thin and grating, can you sing them better?”. That’s your Inner Geek talking. Knowing about vocal anatomy and using visualizations will help them more than technical data (unless they are a trained studio or pro singer, which often isn’t the case.)

THE CONCEPT – The idea here is not to instruct your vocalist directly with technical data. But to direct them indirectly with visualization. It’s highly effective in a studio setting.

Here are some examples of what’s happening and different responses as a guide.

VOICE SOUNDS THIN IN HIGH REGISTER

  1. “Your voice sounds thin in the high register. Please change it” NO
  2. “Use your diaphragm to support more in the high register” NO
  3. “As you go higher in range, think down on the note, as if you’re looking at your toes” YES

VOCALIST IS NOT PROJECTING

  1. “Can you sing louder?” NO
  2. “Use more breath support” NO
  3. “Imagine you are singing through this wall and on to the other side” YES

EMOTION IS NOT COMING THROUGH
(Sad song as example)

  1. “Can you sing with more emotion?” NO
  2. “Can you give it more?” NO
  3. “Have you ever thought of suicide? Think of that when you sing.” YES

(What? This is an example of shock factor to get the artist to personalize an experience that will affect their performance. You must make it personal for them – the example you choose would depend on the song subject and knowing your limits with the artist. I actually used this technique on a song, which happened to be about saving someone from suicide, so it was appropriate in that instance. FYI, almost everyone has thought of suicide at one point or another, so it’s a slightly risky trick to get an artist to pull from deep latent emotions. Just an example.)

EMOTION OF SONG NOT COMING THROUGH #2
(Song is about playing on beach)

  1. “Think of what this song is about” NO
  2. “Think about the words” NO
  3. “Remember the first time you built a sandcastle at the beach? Was it fun? Think of that” YES

(The thing here is to give the artist visualizations that can encourage the delivery of the text. The artist is limited by their small perception of their own song. Give them new imagery to use that is fresh for them. They’ve been living with the lyrics of their song for a while now and it’s getting stale to them – keep it new.)

GUIDING GENTLY – THE RULE OF THREES

In a final produced track it can be difficult for people’s ears to track more than three main elements at a time. In a mix you should figure out what those main elements are so you don’t have a mess of a mix. For instance, you might decide focus is snare, vocal and guitar. This is mixing within the “Rule of 3’s”.
Use the concept of “Rule of Threes” when giving instructions to vocalists. With vocalists, I limit my new instructions for them to three at a time. Once they are doing effortlessly what I’ve asked for in the first sets of instructions, then I can add more. Some vocalists will pick things up quick and others take more time. So really pick your first three goals carefully, there’s a chance you won’t get more than that. It’s your responsibility as producer to get what you want from the singer without clogging their mind with too much technical data. Explain what you want in the simplest terms possible – if it doesn’t work then explain it a new way.

CONCEPT – Vocalist should only have three concepts at a time they are trying to master during a recording session.

If you overload the recording artist with more instructions than they can process, they WILL lose confidence, they WILL start to falter and they WILL lose focus on the recording. In fact, you may never get that confidence back. Be very careful with your moves. Vocalists are human and often frail. It is because their voice is part of their human body, it’s VERY personal. Unlike any man-made instrument. Maneuver through this process with grace and you will have more sessions booked than you know what to do with. Hammer your vocalist into the ground and you’re out of work.

VOCAL RECORDING SESSION SETTINGS

Many producers pre-produce their vocals right onto the track with eq and compression settings. With the exception of tube warmth from the preamp I don’t care to do this. Once it’s laid down it’s forever, so I recommend recording flat and doing all fx and contouring in post. (“Pre-production” or “pre” is fx going down on your main track, like if you went from your preamp into an eq/compressor then onto your track. Can’t change it later. “Post-production” or “post” is what you add after the main track is recorded.)

Give the vocalist a fighting chance with a little bit of colour in post of their lead track. Using ProTools I will assign one main track for actual recording. Then I’ll have several more blank tracks that I will copy the main vocal take into. On the main recording vocal track I’ll usually have very light compression (attack 3ms, 3:1 ratio and threshold to compress no more than 3db for normal singing. This also depends on the vocalist and style of music for how much breathing is needed in the sound.), light small reverb, light hall reverb (with a delay to offset the small reverb) and eq (very light at first, roll of lowest bass, boost mid-range presence and give sparkle around 10k – never more than 2db on boosts).

These settings will give the vocalist some shape to their sound. Note to keep your compressor settings light so the vocalist has some dynamic control during recording. It can throw them off to not hear their dynamics as their used to.

Work hard. Study. Be nice. Produce that music well.

If readers have any more tips or insights please post them as comments here. Thanks!

Remix Approach and Elements of Music

There are three basic elements to music:

  1. Melody
  2. Harmony
  3. Rhythm

In a song form you also have the element of: Lyrics.

When doing a remix, these are the four elements you are going to play with. If you change all four, then you have a completely different song, not a remix. Most commonly the melody and lyrics stay the same. Changes are made to the harmony and rhythm. Think of the last remix you heard (famous examples include “Knock on Wood”, “Red Red Wine” and “Lean On Me” – good chance it was the harmony and rhythm they changed.

For a parody, the opposite is true. A parody may change only the lyrics. The point being to sound kind of like the original, with new words.

For a jazz or big band arrangement it is largely the harmony and rhythm that will change. Melody will become swung instead of straight and harmonies will be more complex and “outside” (many times just adding 11th and 13th chords with a little swing can do the trick).

You can take any song and keep the lyrics while changing all other elements and most people will still recognize it as the original song (if they can understand the lyrics). A good example of this recently is the remix of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. The arrangement is not concerned with hitting the wide range of the original melody, only in alluding to it in a relaxed manner.

When approaching a remix, make a conscious decision about what elements you are going to change. Remixes are sometimes the result of an open jam, but more often the focused effort of a producer is involved. They may not think in such rigid terms as put here in “melody, harmony, rhythm, lyrics” – but the producer is effectively making the same decisions.

You can also use this as an approach to songwriting. Take a song you love, change all four elements and you have a totally new song. Remember, good composers borrow – great composers steal.

If using this approach to create new works and songs, always make sure your changes are drastic enough so there are no telltale signs of the original left that could lead to copyright infringement. If just changing a few elements of an existing published song, you can get a mechanical license to make it legal. Check with the song publisher on how to acquire a mechanical license – usually it’s through BMI, ASCAP or the Harry Fox Agency in New York.

Notation Software – Multiple Movements

Setting up multiple movements in a single file with notation software.

The things you need to look for are:
1. Measure atributes: final double bar at the end of a movement
2. measure attributes, begin a new stqaff system
3. measure attributes: hide cautionery clefs, key and time signaures. This will give you a clean end of movement and a new system for the next one.
4. Attach the movement numbers as score expressions to the first measure of the movement and assign it to a staff list showing top score staff and top parts staff. That way it will show where you need it, you will just have to drag it to the centre of the page each time. This is more reliable than using a text block.
5. Use the page layout tool to indent the first system of each movement. This will require manually dragging it in the score and parts, but it looks much clearer, especially if you begin a movement halfway down a page in the parts.
6. Set up staff styles that have no change, except the abbreviated staff name is the same as the full staff name. You will need one for each staff, and apply it to the first measure of each movement. This will give you full instrument names on the first system of each movement.

Using all of these makes parts much more flexible, layouts can include new movements half way down a page, repagination and changing page turns does not affect numerous files, but flows within a file, and the start of each movement is clear and easy to see.

Don LaFontaine – Movie Trailer Voice Overdubs

don-lafontaine.jpg Don LaFontaine is that cool gravelly bass voice you hear on all the movie trailers. The voice that says something like “In a world where boredom ruled the day….SOMEONE had an idea….” – or fill in your own catch phrase.

Don has been recording overdubs for movie trailers for several decades now. Any of us that go to movie theaters and see the motion picture trailers have his voice firmly engrained in our head.

Many YouTube trailer spoofs try to copy his vocal sound for their trailer overdubbing, to give it that real “Hollywood” feel. Congratulations to Mr. LaFontaine on a great career, and thank you for making those movie trailers entertaining.

Producer Rick Rubin’s Magic of Sound

rick-rubin.jpgWEST HOLLYWOOD, California — Rick Rubin is a healthy reminder of the danger in relying on superficial impressions.

He’s a bearish man with long, flowing hair, a bushy beard and ever-present dark sunglasses. See him at a club and you might be tempted to slip out, taking care not to tip over any motorcycles on the way.

Then you would have lost the chance to meet one of the top producers in the music business, who is up for a Grammy award next week in that category. He produced two of the five discs nominated for album of the year and contributed to another, each in completely different styles. He captured the country-pop of the Dixie Chicks and funky rock of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and produced one track of Justin Timberlake’s state-of-the-art dance-pop.

Read complete CNN Rick Rubin article.

Audio Compression Settings for Kick Snare and Bass

 *NOTE: The answer to this question is based on ACOUSTIC kick, snare and bass. For compressing digital samples you can hit them as hard as you want. Your ear is the guide.*

Question: What type of compression settings should I use as a starting point on the kicks and the snares and the bass. and are there any other tube pre that are less expensive that can work , I’m on a bit of a buget and I trying to upgrade to an Pro Tools HD rig.

P.S Thanks for your info it nice for you to share this info I like to learn as much as I can.

Answer:

1) Any other tube pre less expensive that can work?

Yes. With DIGITAL preamps the idea is to not colour the sound. Alternately, the usual intention of a TUBE preamp IS to colour the sound with tube warmth. So the answer is any preamp will work that will give you the tube warmth, and it just so happens that the higher end tube preamps tend to do better at this (that’s why they’re more expensive). I prefer the Avalon, but I also have an ART tube pre. The difference is night and day, and you won’t really appreciate the difference until you hear it. My suggestion would be to google reviews to find what’s currently out that is working for audio engineers. I consider MIX magazine an excellent resource. Spending an entire day or two reading reviews on tube preamps would NOT be a waste of time in my opinion. Might be the best time you spend for improving mixes.

1) What are good compression Settings for Kick, Snare and Bass?
First thing is to know in your head what sound your going for. Where you’re going will dictate how you steer the ship. If the kick and bass guitar are meant to work as one whole, then you may want to daisy chain the bass guitar compressor and kick compressor together so they work in tandem. If you want a beefy 40kz 808 bass sound compress it hard and fast to keep it even. If it’s jazz then let the kick breathe a little. IN GENERAL your attack can be between 3 and 14 milliseconds. Release depends on the style, adjust it so there’s no “pumping”. You will destroy a mix more often with too much compression than with not enough. Don’t try to get as much overall volume as the latest major artist release, 99.9% odds if you get it that loud then you’ve crushed any life in the mix. Let Bernie Grundman and Glenn Meadows do that work, they are the masters.

If you have a really good studio bass guitar player, you won’t have to use much compression. But for most bands you’ll have to use stronger compression to “tame” the playing of the bassist. Overall I like the bass guitar working together with the kick drum, so that will dictate my compression settings which vary.

If you’re using ratios more than 6:1 then something else might be a little off. For a jazz kick you might use 12ms attack, 30ms release and 2:1 compression ratio. For a heavy metal kick might be 3ms attack, 12ms release and 4:1 compression ratio.

The biggest single tip I ever got about audio engineering: Know what you want before you reach for a knob.

Hope that helps.

Conrad

QandA: Legal Requirements to be a Music Producer

E-mail question received:

Mr. Askland, I have been producing tracks for a few years and I’m trying to figure out what to do to sell my beats legally so i decided to ask a professional with more experience. How did you become a music producer? What steps did you take to get started? Is there a certain license you have to apply for with the government or can you use a specific business license?

Response:

I’ve received several emails similiar to this over the last month. Either it’s the same person or a widespread question. I’ll assume it’s a legitimate question.

This seems obvious to me: To be a music producer you just have to produce music. There is no legal stipulation or registration involved. Think of it as being a painter. “Do I have to register with the government to be a painter?” – No, you just paint.

I think your unspoken question has to do more with sample clearance and copyright issues. I’ll address each seperate issue as to what I THINK you are really asking.

SAMPLE CLEARANCE

If you use a sample of pre-recorded music in your track, it is NOT cleared, and someone recognizes where the sample came from – you are in a bad spot. If your track has generated over $10,000 of revenue you can expect some legal papers in the mail. Copyright is seperate from Master Recording rights. One person owns the copyright on the song, and a different person can own the rights to the recording (ie: the source of your sample). US Copyright Office website.

Mechanical rights can be obtained to re-record a song already published (published means at least one copy has been offered publicly for sale). The mechanical rights only allow permission to re-record the song, not to use any source master audio material. Mechanical rights are usually in the ballpark of ten cents per copy sold. (If you record an album of ten songs by previously released material, you may pay about one dollar per CD sale in royalties). The amount of mechanical royalties varies but is “reasonable”.

The owner of the Master Recording has the right to negotiate whatever amount they like to clear a sample from it. If they want one million dollars for a two second sample, then you have to pay that or not use it. These fees are considerable. As an example: Around 1996 I used a sample from the “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast. The sample I used was about ten seconds long and only played once in the song. The owner of the master recording wanted $20,000 to use that sample in the piece which was slated to be part of a movie soundtrack.

If you’re already playing in the big leagues (which you’re not if you don’t know this info already) like Aftermath Entertainment then you can afford some sample clearances. Short of that, you need to use samples that are already cleared from sample libraries or create your own material. Quick read: Don’t use samples.

WHAT I DO FOR SAMPLES

There are a lot of “royalty free” libraries out there that really aren’t totally cleared. I’m referring to seperate stand alone websites and a lot of Ebay sales. I don’t trust fringe producers of royalty free libraries because I have little faith that they have the discipline to actually know where all their material came from. For that reason I only use cleared samples from large established companies like Sony, Roland, Big Fish Audio and Sound Ideas. For my productions I do a lot of original MIDI work and also create my own samples if I want a grainy feel, so the other samples I use are just for a little color.

Like my view on Trademarks, don’t worry about it so much until you need to. As my music became more widely heard I would run into situations where something wasn’t cleared properly. So for me it was a slow shift to tighten up on my use of samples. Sometimes a client would bring in a sample of their own and would say they knew it was cleared. My response was “That’s fine. I just need you to sign a paper that you are responsible for any legal action regarding that sample.” I never had a client follow through to sign that piece of paper. They liked relying on me for making sure the project was legal and clean. As a music producer I feel this is one of your chief responsibilites, especially in hip hop music.

SAMPLE VIOLATIONS AND COPYRIGHT LAW

There is no set time limit of how much of a sample violates copyright law. There is no “two second” rule or anything like that. So be careful.

TRADEMARKS
Trademark registration is handled by the US Patent and Trademark Office. A trademark is a name or graphic that represents an entity. You can register with the government if you like for a trademark. It will go into a waiting period for possible disputes, then become “registered” over time – usually 1-3 years. For example, the symbol for Prince is probably trademarked. As is the golden arches for McDonalds, the windows logo for Microsoft, the logos for major television stations and corporations. The name “Dreamworks” was in legal dispute several years ago between Dreamworks in Los Angeles and a smaller Dreamworks company in Florida. Google for more info, I could go on for a long time just about trademarks. Yes, I have trademarked elements of my business. Yes, it was a hassle.

I really think if you are starting out and worrying about trademarks, that you are putting the cart before the horse. It’s like recording artists that spend their time worrying about agents and they haven’t focused on their material yet. I would suggest to worry about these things down the road. For instance, the few trademarks I have personally registered were because I had entities with noticeable marketshare, and there was confusion in the market place about who was the “real” entity. So in order to keep my product lines intact I had to do it. Also, to register for Trademark you should already be doing sales nationally across state lines. Trademark is to protect entities on a national level.

If you think having a trademark is a status symbol then you need to read more information about it. It’s a tremendous burden. Once you are granted a trademark it’s your responsbility to police it’s use. Often you will read stories about major corporations going after mom and pop businesses or college students who are infringing on their trademark. Those news stories usually make it sound like the corporations are behemoths trying to control the world. Simply not true. Those corporations are under a LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY to enforce their trademarks. If the trademark becomes diluted, ie: other people are using it actively, then the trademark holder can lose their trademark. Some stories you can look up in this area are Kleenex and Xerox. In my case, I had one trademark in process that unfortunately used a name that was original on a local level but in widespread use in different variations on a national level. I finally had to abandon it because it made bad business sense to commit the amount of legal resources it would take to enforce the trademark.

BUSINESS LICENSE

If you are running a recording studio then you can obtain a business license from your local town. You don’t need one as a producer, but just for the business if you have paying clientele. These are usually inexpensive, from about $40-$100 per year just for the license.

THE EXCEPTIONS

Most of the info I’ve put out here is for people starting out. If Disney is doing a major push on a new artist then they will do everything all at once: Trademarks, Sample Clearance, Copyrights, Licenses, etc. That’s a different animal. For the rest of us mere mortals my advice is to take it as it comes along and focus on your art.

Let me know if there are particulars I didn’t cover or if you have more questions.

The Ins and Outs of Compression

Compression is an essential tool in studio and live sound engineering. Here is a great article by Chalan Thibodeaux on The Ins and Outs of Compression.

Chalan explains hard knee vs. soft knee, ratio, attack, threshold and release. Great article. I’m happy to answer questions if any aren’t addressed in the article.

713426633_l.jpgThe writer, Chalan Thibodeaux is from Lafayette, Louisiana. Great article Chad!