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Watering The Roots

6/23/2012

One rarely gets lucky enough to thank the people who have had a profound influence on their musical life. I have been able to do just that recently.

In 1978 I had the unbelievable good fortune of studying guitar with the legendary acoustic guitar player Bill Shute. Bill was a stalwart of the traditional and folk scene of that time. He released two extraordinary albums with singer Lisa Null, “The Feathered Maiden and Other Ballads” and “American Primitive”, both on the newly formed Innisfree Green Linnet Records (soon to be just Green Linnet Records, the label for Celtic music, which was founded by Lisa).

Bill completely changed my view of the guitar. Through his thoughtful and patient guidance I entered the world of open tunings and finger style playing. I haven’t left that world yet. Through a cloud of our cigarette smoke we would set Irish harp tunes and traditional songs for the guitar. It was hard for me at times because all I ever wanted to do was to listen to him play!

I studied with Bill for about 6 months. My lesson time was his last of the day so we usually stayed a bit later and just played guitars. I learned many tunes but more importantly, I learned how to be a guitar player. I had already been playing for 7 or 8 years but I realized very quickly I didn’t have a clue.

We lost touch when I moved to Massachusetts in 1980. We ran into each other in 1982 at a festival but I have not been in contact with him since. Any time I play acoustic guitar in open tunings I think of him.

Flash forward to a few weeks ago. I am the founder of the Upper Valley Music Festival here in the beautiful, verdant Connecticut River Valley of Western Massachusetts. As this year’s preparations got into full swing I began to feel very reflective of the incredible musical life I’ve been able to live. We all must take stock. My thoughts, as they have many times before, drifted to Bill.

I Googled him but most of what I found was about Bill and Lisa and his career back in the 70s. I wondered if he was still of this earth. I found Lisa on Facebook and messaged her. I told her how much Bill had meant to me and explained that those two records she made with him were so important to my development as a player.

She responded right away. Bill was still around and living in Danbury, CT, my old hometown!

So, last Friday I gave him a call and left a message on his voicemail. Later that night he called me back. We had a lovely chat and I was finally able to thank him for all he did for me. His voice is still the same, rich, deep and husky. He speaks in the same measured cadence. He is well. After what, 35 years, I was finally able to thank him. He was a bit embarrassed, I think, by the rush of compliments I gave him.

I feel my personal universe is right again. Jimmy Page once said, “no matter what you do or where you go there’s no denying your roots.” I was finally able to again touch the tree from which my roots have grown.

Part Two:

During my correspondence with Lisa Null I was able to tell her how much her music meant to me as well. After hearing from her I put on my old and much loved LP of “The Feathered Maiden” and was taken again by the beautiful, clear voice that so perfectly accompanied Bill Shute’s brilliant guitar work.

Such singing, so many fond memories! I devoured the album the day I got it from Bill all those many years ago. And although my old LP has the sounds of hamburgers cooking from the endless trips to my turntable it retains its magic. Her settings of the songs, particularly of the Child Ballads are still as vibrant and heartfelt as the first time I heard them. Her voice is singular in its ability to convey the emotion and meaning of a song without the gimmicks and frivolity that so many singers employ as a way of covering their lack of understanding of the song they are singing.

In these ensuing years she has continued to sing. She taught at Georgetown University, founded Green Linnet Records and produced the first broadcasts of Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion. I felt an immediate kinship and connection with her although we have never met.

I audaciously asked her if she would want to come and perform at the Upper Valley Music Festival. Our festival is an all volunteer event to raise money to fight cancer. Everyone from the artists to the stage hands graciously volunteer their time so we can donate every penny to the American Cancer Society. Lisa now lives in Washington DC and I figured the trip north for a pro bono event might not work out for her. Well, I was wrong!

So, on July 21, 2012 I will get to hear her amazing voice again! Lisa has agreed to lend her considerable talents to our event. As a cancer survivor herself she feels strongly about what we’re doing and wanted to be a part of it. It will be an honor for me to announce her name to an audience who may not have heard her yet but will never, ever forget her!

The universe has smiled on me so many times in my life and I am truly grateful for the life of music I have had the good fortune of living. I think the universe gave me an extra grin, wink of the eye and a nod when Lisa and Bill Shute first entered my life and now again that they are in it once more. Cheers to them both!

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Compressing Acoustic Guitar

2/23/2012

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This conversation came up today on a music forum about compressing acoustic guitar tracks. Turns out, this is a rather vigorous topic for discussion so I thought I’d post my response here. I hope it’s helpful.

The first thing is to ask what is the acoustic guitar part? Is it a finger-style piece? Is it a vigorously strummed fast rhythm track? What will the track sit in-rock song, folk song, classical piece, etc? Tools such as compression are used in different ways dependent on the source and style.

Here are some general things to keep in mind about compression.

Threshold:
~The sensitivity setting of the compressor
~The input level in dB when the compressor starts to reduce the signal

Hard Knee and Soft Knee:
~Hard knee compression describes a sudden decrease in gain when the threshold is reached
~Soft knee compression describes a gradual decrease in gain when the threshold is reached

Ratio:
~The difference between the signal level increase at the compressor’s input and the level at the output
~Ratio is a constant value
~A ratio of 10:1 means it takes an increase of 10 dB at the input to cause the output to only increase 1 dB
~A ratio of 1:1 is called unity gain

Attack and Release Times:
~Attack time-the amount of time it takes the compressor to start acting upon a signal or how fast the compressor reacts to a signal above the threshold

~Release time-amount of time it takes the compressor to return to unity gain ¥ (stop acting upon a signal) or how long the compressor continues to act upon a signal when it goes beneath the threshold

~Both are measured in milliseconds

~Attack and release times are the “meat and potatoes” settings of the compressor and are very important to the sound of the compressed signal

Also, another good question to ask is whether or not to compress while tracking or compress during mixdown. Or both. Or neither.

If it is a finger-style piece a la John Renbourn and recorded in stereo (the guitar is the main instrument in the piece) I record with a level of -6 dB or so. In this type of tune the dynamics are crucial to maintain for sure but there are fewer really spiky overs because of the playing approach (unless you're Bert Jansch!) are not significantly louder than the basic playing level. A ratio of 1.5-2:1 is good. The attack time will determine how much "nail" passes as the nail plucking the string is its transient.

A strummed rhythm track has a very different approach based on the responsibility of the guitar in the song. If it's just a rhythm track for, well, rhythm and percussive rhythm then I compress at the input and use a low ratio/low threshold, 2:1 with a -8 to16 dB threshold.

I will start playing and bring the threshold down until the gain reduction meter starts knocking down the peaks. I use a slower release time that sands down the track by acting on the signal pretty much all the time and it's OK for there to be some gain reduction pretty much all the time.

I usually don't rely on the soloed track for reference. I listen to the guitar in context and ask these questions: How does the compressed track sit in the mix? Does the track do it's job? If I get the answers "it sits snugly and it's in the correct context of the song" then I feel pretty good about my starting point for mixdown.

A point was brought up during this discussion that performers enjoy hearing the compression during monitoring. They seem to play/sing/perform into the effect and enjoy the sense of drive and the familiar sound of a compressed signal. I try to give the performer the tune in his/her cans that is reflective of songs mix concept. I will have a mix strategy before tracking so I have a sense of where the tune will go. I've never had someone ask for more compression in the cans but I wouldn't commit the compressor to tape in that situation.

I ask this question all the time-"How do I best serve the song?" That question helps determine everything about the recording process for the entire song including compression strategies.

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Music and the Human Experience

12/14/2011

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Two of my favorite topics of discussion are music (duh) and human evolution. When they drift into each other I get all excited. There is definitely an evolutionary element to music so I thought I'd put this on here.

Below is an excerpt from the conclusion of a book I wrote called How To Play The Guitar Without Wanting To Smash It With A Rock.

Music Strikes a Chord in the Brain, Scans Show

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - It may not be necessary for survival, but music taps into the same brain structures that things as crucial to life as food and sex do, researchers report. The investigators found that the music their study participants said gave them ``chills' also activated the brain's reward and emotion centers--the same areas that have been found to ``light up'' when stimulated by food, sex and drugs of abuse.

In the September 25th issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (news - web sites), researchers describe the finding as ``remarkable,'' since music has no effect on survival, nor does it directly alter the brain as drugs do. They suggest that music--which is woven into the fabric of all cultures--may be important to humans' sense of well-being.

Dr. Anne J. Blood of Massachusetts General Hospital in Charlestown led the study of 10 musicians. She and colleague Robert J. Zatorre of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, had the participants each pick a piece of music that consistently sent shivers down their spine. They then used positron emission tomography, or PET scans, to view which areas of the brain were activated by the music. All of the participants chose classical pieces as their spine-tingling favorites.

The PET scans, Blood and Zatorre found, illustrated clear effects of the musical selections--as the intensity of participants' ``chills'' increased, blood flow in particular brain regions changed in tandem. Other music did not inspire such changes.

``The ability of music to induce such intense pleasure and its...stimulation of (the brain's) reward systems suggest that, although music may not be imperative for survival of the human species, it may indeed be of significant benefit to our mental and physical well-being,'' the researchers conclude.

They also note that although the study participants were all musicians, music lovers of all sorts may experience such intense responses to their favorite tunes.

SOURCE: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2001;98:11818-

What!? When I first saw this report I was both amazed and unsurprised. The power of music never ceases to astound me in any way. I have been a musician for over 40 years and have had moments of near religious intensity whilst playing or listening to music. I still do. As a performer I have wielded considerable power onstage using music to lasso my audience’s attention and emotions. We are dealing with some serious voodoo here, folks.

But music as a survival strategy that holds the same importance as eating and sex? Pretty heady stuff, indeed, and yet not so surprising if we think about it. Music is woven into the fabric of every aspect of our lives. It engulfs us; we are awash in it. Try to think of a significant portion of your life that doesn’t have music in it (alright, maybe going to the bathroom. Don’t be wise.). Tall order, eh? It permeates our existence like no other art form (novelists, dancers, sculptors and performance artists need not respond-please!). I think it would be very, very hard to exist without it.

We know that music can conjure powerful emotional responses. A simple D minor chord (D minor was pointed out by Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap to be the “saddest of all keys”) really can make us feel sad. The combination of a D an F and an A can do that. There are pieces of music that really affect us emotionally and we all have them. If we as musicians analyze those tunes and find out the elements that have strong influence over us we can apply those elements to our own music. Great sorcerers start out as apprentices, just ask Mickey.

So, as I conclude this book I want to leave you with a couple of thoughts. Personally there aren’t many things in my life that have brought me the pure, unabashed joy that my guitars give me (wife and children are above the discussion). The guitar fosters a sense of camaraderie and friendship; there are few relationships that are stronger and more intense than those I have had with my bandmates (again, wife and children are exempt). Jamming with friends and my students is one of the most fun and gratifying things I do.

So, love what you do. If you love to play guitar it can bring you joy for the rest of your life. If it ceases to be fun stop playing. Music should never be made using guilt or bad feelings as a motivator. It should never be a chore.

Finally, many years ago a dear friend of mine dropped this pearl of wisdom on me (pearls before swine some would say): “We don’t play music because we like to. We don’t even play music because we want to. We play music because we have to.” I hope you all feel the same way about music and the guitar. If you let it the guitar will enrich your life in countless ways. It has given me so many of the things that have made for a great life and I am thankful for it.

Tommy Byrnes

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To CD Or Not To CD?

12/12/2011

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One of the most animated conversations that comes up in my Your Music (Band) As A Business class is whether or not doing a big manufacturing run of CDs is a good idea. Back in the day it was a necessity but in today’s independent music scene it is not the most sound strategy unless you are playing enough shows in front of enough fans to make it a wise business move.

If you do a manufacturing run of 1,000 discs the unit price can come out to somewhere between $3 (if you are extremely lucky) up to $6 or $7, depending on the options for the run. Graphics, multi-panel inserts, jewel case liners, digipack features all add to the cost per unit.

Musicians often don’t also include the actual cost of recording, mixing and mastering the music in the overall cost per unit. If you spent $3,000 on recording, $1,000 or more on mastering the disc and then spend $2,000 to $3,000 on the manufacturing run itself one does not need to be an accountant to realize you have to sell a disc at your show for $15 to $20 just to have a decent profit margin. In a tough global economy that is a lot of coin to ask your fans to shell out for a dying medium (that is a topic for another day!)

Add in the costs of hiring a graphic artist for the artwork, maybe a layout artist, or any other number of incurred expenses and the CD run is quickly becoming a gigantic expense, like $6500 or something! Yikes! Unless you are really playing a lot of shows and moving a ton of units this is a prohibitive cost for most musicians.

Add that to the fact that way more people are downloading music online instead of buying CDs. There aren’t many brick and mortar record stores left.

This leaves us with fewer and fewer places to sell our discs, a fan base that has embraced the MP3 as the main music medium and dwindling prospects to move the merch. And don’t forget the boxes of unsold discs in the attic! (I still have a bunch of those myself!)

So, what are we Indies supposed to do?

I recommend doing short runs of CDs these days, maybe 100 or so at a time. Short runs are burned instead of replicated. The process is quite different. I won’t go into the details here but the setup cost to do a replication run is quite costly.

Here are a few reasons why short runs are a good idea.

One, you don't have to pay thousands to manufacture. A short run of 100 will run a couple of hundred bucks. Usually you won’t get a fancy package but your fans are just going to rip the discs for their iPods anyway.

Two, offering download cards is really becoming a popular and cost-effective alternative to carrying a lot of inventory. Download cards from CD Baby cost about 50 cents each and you can sell them way cheaper than CDs (because the overhead is next to nothing compared with a full manufacturing run).

If you sell a download card for $7 or $8 you make a profit of $6.50 to $7.50 per unit sale. Even if you get 1000 of the things it still will only cost you $500 as opposed to, what, $5,000?

Three, there is way less plastic in the landfills from the discs, jewel cases, etc.

Just as with any small business, professional musicians need to really pay attention to the bottom line. I had a graphics client once who manufactured 1,000 CDs based more on old perceptions of the industry as well as the feeling of having 1,000 CDs. They thought it was cool to have that kind of inventory. The band lost a lot of money.

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Watering The Roots

Compressing Acoustic Guitar

Music and the Human Experience

To CD Or Not To CD?

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