Ok, if you have perfected your music, your style, your song and you are ready to make a recording for commercial sale... You definitely DO NOT want to go to somebody's basement that has recently purchased about $2000 worth of semi-pro recording equipment. Now, please don't get me wrong. This kind of set-up is excellent for development and songwriting. But, you are not going to get what you want from inferior equipment, engineering skills and limited or no knowledge of production techniques. I know that I'm being pretty bold about this, but I like to confront false ideas with facts.

            You have absolutely NO CHANCE of making a hit from your basement unless you are EMINEM or WEEZER or ALICIA KEYS or LINKIN PARK! And these people, I promise you, if they are recording in their basement or at home, have spent at least $100,000 on their gear… AND they hire the very best engineers they can get. Period.

            I see this every day. People call me and ask me how much studio time is or how much do I charge per song. They are looking for a studio to record their 'hit' CD. They have saved up about 500 dollars. I tell them that they could book a day for about that much and they ask if I thought they could get 13 songs recorded and mixed in that time. I then proceed to gently break it to them that they MIGHT get one song recorded properly, but mixing and editing would probably take another day. UNLESS they want to record 'Live to 2 Track', like in the old days or Jazz style… but that's not a 'POP' sound or today's radio music.

            I have had the great pleasure to work with some very good artists during the course of my career. And I might add that I have gotten a little 'picky' in my old age. (lol) If you would really like to make a MASTER recording, please give me a call. If you just want something cheap… or you just wanna get rich. – try the lottery. Trust me, you have a much better chance at that and people don't make fun of you when you win. :-)

            The main reason I am writing this rant is: It's not about money. It's about ART. It's about the love of the music, the poetry or prose and feelings that are associated with it. The joy and the pleasure of simply listening to sounds that takes one to a magical place in space and time.

            You are NOT going to make a million dollars when you have only spent 500. I'm very sorry to break this to you. :-)  (I really don't mean to be snobbish – I'm trying to make you smile) It takes A TON of hard work, sweat, frustration, re-writes, 'record the whole damn song over again', band disagreements, crying, gigging, dealing with crooked agents…. In other words: "Paying your dues." Patience, my dear boy... It's not necessarily the most talented that make it. It's the ones that 'stick-it-out'! It's the ones that put the most into it – AND – the ones that have the 'SOMETHING UNIQUE' to offer.

            Also, if you are doing the same thing that everyone else out there is doing, WHO do you think is going to buy your stuff? I mean… REALLY! There's literally a MILLION other musicians with similar ideas, styles and songs! What sets your music apart?

A songwriter came to me and played me his new song. After he sang it to me he said he just wrote it… in 15 minutes. I thought to myself, yes… hmmm, I though so… It sounds like it was written in 15 minutes. I kindly told him that it was nice, but that he needed to work on the hook line and bridge. Don't get me wrong again, now… great songs can be written in a few minutes, BUT, it usually takes quite a few rewrites to get it to hit commercially. Let me say this again.

Work on your art.

Effort in = Value out.

Ok, there's your mission, if you choose to accept.

This tape will self-destruct in 30 seconds….