Andy Waterman's Cloudbursts

In the Mix with Andy

It's been survival of the fittest in the studio biz these last few years. With incredibly powerful digital production tools available to anyone with a computer, the need to record projects in traditional studios has completely realigned our industry. Recently I heard that O'Henry Studios closed. O'Henry was truly one of the best managed, best equipped, and most client friendly, independently owned studios in L.A.

So how has Entourage Studios avoided being voted off the island? I believe we're survivors because we're doing everything possible to maintain a great acoustic environment for recording organic music. The mantra at Entourage is: "Classic analogue meets today's digital." Classic analogue means great mics, class A mic pre-amps, Marteks, API's, Neves, EMT plates and other legacy technology. And more than ever, todays digital is spelled ProTools. Entourage just made a significant leap forward with the acquisition of the most advanced ProTools system on the planet with 32 channels of Apogee AD/DA 16x - arguably the hottest, best sounding interface for ProTools.

There's one more thing beyond gear - it's called ears. The musician/engineers at Entourage are positively dumbo-esque - they have really big ears. And they have the passion to deliver world class results.

As survivors and artisans, we strive every day to keep this independently owned studio a viable venue for our clients and colleagues. Even for folks who have home studios, this is a great space for live instruments and vocal recording.

And most important, at least to me, Entourage is home for Andy Waterman Productions.

E-I-E-I ... NO

What do farmyard animals and musicians have in common?

Absolutely nothing ... most of the time. We'll, read on...

The rhythm section was tracking songs for a children's edutainment project. It was all going swimmingly until they started on Old MacDonald Had A Farm.That's when the revolt almost began. Now you're probably thinking, "Huh! What could possibly be more benign than a song about that old dude and his pets?" Keep reading ...

Old MacDonald has 10 verses. And anyone who has kids, or remembers being a kid, knows that they're pretty much all the same. So after a few "Duck, Ducks Here" and "Oink, Oinks, There," the musicians had had it. Comments such as, "If I have to play that whole %$#&% song, I'm outta here" were clearly heard in the control room - even with the mics turned off. And these are guys that are paid by the hour. So are you getting a sense of their frustration?

What's a producer to do?

If the producer is Andy Waterman, he takes a deep cleansing breath, sputters "take five," briefly questions his career choices and then goes to work solving the problem.

As it turns out, the solution was staring him in the face - the control board. Here's how he did it. He took the first two verses that had been recorded and did some very creative digital editing. With a little cutting here and a little pasting there ... here a cutting, there a pasting...voila! The musicians, having regained their good humor, recorded the ending and old MacDonald had a song.

This story has a happy ending - but not quite yet

Apparently there are regional differences in the amount of verses/animals and this version was lacking some barnyard noises. Andy hired a lead singer and inserted her singing the missing verses as well as her rendition of animals sounds.

It worked! Did it ever! And wouldn't you just know it, a couple of weeks later Andy was given another very repetitive children's song, Down in the Park. He used exactly the same innovative techniques.

By the way, both songs are vibrant, fun and charming - even for us grownups. Take a listen ... but only if you're prepared to be thoroughly delighted.

ps: Special recognition will be given in the next edition of "Up" Beat to anyone who actually knows Old MacDonald's first name.

Click here to listen.

From Studio to Cabaret

Noah Webster is wrong!
He defines Cabaret as a restaurant or nightclub providing short programs of live entertainment. But as of February 25th, another term needs to be added to the lexicon ... in other words, NoHo Studio Live.

The successful launch of NoHo Studio Live proves that Cabaret exists wherever you bring together a performer, a piano and an audience. Even at a recording studio?" Yep! The idea was to give Cabaret artists the best possible venue to record their acts. And it's much, much easier to bring Cabaret to the studio than the studio to the Cabaret. (With an additional bonus - no margarita machines anywhere on the premises.)

Guests were scheduled to begin arriving at 8 PM and MaryJo Mundy was performing at 8:30. Before that happened, however, Entourage Studios had to be transformed into a Cabaret. But the horn session didn't end until nearly 4 o'clock.

So we had our work cut out for us!

We lifted and toted all the music stands, microphone stands, assorted cables and the rest of the recording mishmash from Studio A to Studio B. Then we reversed the process - schlepping and dragging every chair we could find into Studio A. Moved the piano a little to the left, adjusted the spotlight, dimmed the overheads, checked the sound ... we did it!

Let the Cabaret begin!

From the moment the first guest arrived until the last one left, the energy and enthusiasm was high. In fact, just sending out the invites had generated a positive response. But actually being there, soaking up the atmosphere, sensing the possibilities - took it to a whole other level.

The plan was to host NoHo Studio Live Cabaret Nites on the last Saturday of each month. But planning/schmanning ... who knows if it will work. In this case, though, it looks like it will. It's exciting to take a raw seed of an idea, nourish it, coax it into being and watch it bloom. The launch of NoHo Studio Live truly exceeded our expectations. Four people are definitely interested in booking a Saturday night and several others are very interested and there are others who just need some more information. So it looks like our dance card will be filling up.

Note to Mr. Roget: Kindly update your thesaurus and make Cabaret synonymous with NoHo Studio Live.

Click Here to Listen

Master of the House

Bias Peak ProXT5
Frank Lloyd Wright designed my home studio

Okay, he didn't exactly draw the architectural plans or anything like that. But allegorically he was my inspiration. Imagine the beauty and sleekness of a FLW building - the elegance of the lines, the way that all the design elements seamlessly flow together.

And complete that masterpiece by painting it ... garish purple?

Interesting visual. But what do putrid purple buildings have to do with music production? Think about all the components that go into making a CD - the acoustically perfect recording environment, the alchemy of mixing, the artistry of editing. All the elements seamlessly flowing together. And complete the process with a less than masterful ... well, mastering. It's enough to take the master out of masterpiece.

Making CDs is a collaborative effort. But mastering, the last stage of the creative process, is where the project is either sonically shined or dulled by only one person. It's always musical Russian roulette whenever I have to turn my mixes over to someone else. It could turn out great or ... not! And in the end, I'm convinced the difference is talent and technology.

So finding the right digital mastering software was a big priority for me. It had to have advanced audio tools with a high level of precision. I wanted sonic shaping with visual metering feedback. But mostly I needed to be able to turn out product that is artistically ready to be heard by a wider audience and technically ready for pressing.

After countless hours researching, kicking the proverbial tires and asking questions, I was convinced that Bias Peak XT5 was the answer. That, as it turns out, was the easy part. Now I had to learn how to use the stuff.

So that's how I spent my Christmas vacation. I had a 45 song children's edutainment project that genre hopped from Americana to Rock 'n Roll, standards, swing, Dixieland, folk and pretty much everything in between. Call it total immersion or maybe trial by fire. Whatever you call it - I call it a success. After two weeks of home-studio-hibernation and complete computer-geekiness, I turned in the package on time.

The mastering results? Mission accomplished! Even to my hyper critical ears, it sounded great. And more importantly, the client loved it.

A Typical Day At Entourage

Inspired by playing on Ed Lojeski's Missa Americana, a couple of the musicians decided to take in Schubert's Unfinished Symphony at Disney Hall.

They had an extra ticket and invited a non-musician friend to go with them. This friend, it turns out, is an efficiency expert and offered the following critique of the concert:

1. For a considerable period, the oboe players had nothing to do. Their number should be reduced and their work spread evenly among other staff.

2. All 12 violins played the same notes. This is unnecessary duplication. If a volume of sound is really required, this could be accomplished with the use of an amplifier.

3. No useful purpose is served by repeating with the horns the passage that was already handled by the strings. If such redundancies were eliminated, the concert could be reduced from two hours to twenty minutes.

4. The symphony has two movements. If Mr. Schubert hadn't achieved his musical goals by the end of the first movement, he should have stopped there. The second movement is unnecessary and should be cut.

Therefore, I think that if Mr. Schubert had paid attention to these matters, he would have had time to finish the symphony.

Ask Andy

Dear Andy,
My mixes always sound dull or different in my car than they sound in my studio. What am I doing wrong?

Dullsville

Dear Dullsville,

Welcome to the wacky world of mixing! What we hear in our studio environment doesn't always translate to the outside world.

In my experience, the most difficult part of mixing is getting the bottom right. In most home studios, we just don't have the space and the monitor power to correctly assess the low frequencies.

But wait! Before you hire Tom Hidley or Studio Bauton to redesign your room for a quarter million dollars, I suggest adding a sub-woofer to your monitor system.

Recently I added an inexpensive consumer sub- woofer to my home studio setup that has a small, but professional, Event ALP 5s for my "big" monitors.

Before adding the sub, the CDs I used as my reference CDs sounded thin and my mixes sounded muddy and unclear.

As soon as I added the sub-woofer system, my reference CD sounded much like how it sounded at Entourage. And my home studio mixes sounded 100% better in my car and in my boom box.

This is important! You shouldn't have the sub-woofer too loud. Your favorite CD by a major artist is the best tool to set your sub.

When your favorite CD has a more defined bottom - but NOT BOOMY - your sub is probably set correctly. In fact, I often wonder if my sub is even on.

The final product has definitely left dullsville.

Missa Americana

Missa Americana - Original sacred mass composed by Ed Lojeski for full orchestra and concert choir. This was commissioned by the Carnegie Hall Foundation and will premier at Carnegie Hall in April 2006.

Click here to listen.

Snow Biz

Snow Biz - Original children's holiday musical. This 30 minute revue was written by Mac Huff and John Jacobson. Kids vocals and acting roles were performed by members of Young Vocal Artists of Los Angeles.

Click here to listen.

Queenwood

Queenwood - Large ensemble original concert band music composed and arranged by Anne McGinty and John Edmundson. Anne is one the most highly commissioned female composers of concert band music in the world.

Click here to listen.

Terry Gibbs

Terry Gibbs - Legendary jazz vibraphonist records straight ahead jazz album featuring renowned flutist Hubert Laws, LA's premier pianist Tom Ranier, Dan Faehnle, former sideman for Diana Krall on guitar, Hamilton Price on bass and Jerry Gibbs on drums.

Click here to listen.