For the last 8 years I’ve worked as a freelance record producer/sound engineer and before you ask, no, I haven’t worked with anyone famous and no, I can’t make a CD for your young Bennie who’s just started playing the Harp but is “very good” and “even better” just after he tunes it… For those of you out there who think record production is all about fast cars, girls and mountains of money, please allow me to provide a reality-check. Yes, for a select few people, the high-rolling, big-budget, hit-making factory provides a very seductive lifestyle, but for the other 99.99% of us it’s months of toil in crappy studios with small independent artists protectively mothering large, dependent egos.
Despite the economic and social disparity, there is one advantage to being one of the “small fish” in the big pond called the Music Industry.
The Lovebird.
A Lovebird is always an amateur who has humbly come into the studio to record something special for a loved one. They’ll explain that it’s for a birthday, wedding anniversary, or Valentine’s Day, and there’s an old song that...