Unit 25: Music Production Techniques - Unmixed Multi-track

Unit 25: Music Production Techniques - Finished & Mixed Multi-track

How I mixed the track:

The first thing I did to the track was editing the audio regions and adjusting their position to ensure that timing was correct. I first tried to time everything to the kick drum, as that plays constantly through the track and would be good to allign the rest of the drums and instruments to. I made slight timing alterations to some parts of the guitar track, but didn't make any extreme changes like beat mapping. I used strip silence on each of my tracks to eliminate background noise, but didn't on my left and right overheads as these picked up sounds from the whole drum kit, and strip silencing them may cause balancing issues, and loose certain sounds, changing the characteristics of the drums. So the strip silence worked effectively I changed the threshold and seconds of silence before action settings so that it worked effectively. I also shortened regions with silence at the start and end so the track wasn't swamped with unneccessary background noise.
The next step was to EQ channels to create a sound that worked individually when the channel was solo'd and with the rest of the instruments in the entire track. The first thing I EQ'd was my kick drum, And I used the EQ bands to scoop out unneccessary frequency bands, which would create space for other instruments to occupy and hopefully give my completed mix extra clarity and definition to the instruments. I applied EQ to all the instruments but not to the left and right overheads as they contain lots of drums at different frequencies so removing certain frequencies may have a detrimental affect on the sound of the kit. Also when EQ'ing I tried to compensate for some sounds, for example the bass recording sounded quite dull so I made a little EQ band to excentuate frequencies around 250Hz which made it sound nicer. After all the EQ was done I then added compression to some instruments. The compression creates a threshold to how loud a sound can go and gives a ratio setting which dictates how a sound above the threshold is acted upon. Ultimately the compressor brings all the sounds down, and then gain is added to bring them up to the level they were at before, but with less dramatic changes in pressure levels and volume, meaning it sounds more settled in the mix with other instruments. I added compression to my lead and rhythm guitar, bass and  kick and snare drum to make sure these weren't ever too loud or quite throughout the tracks duration.
I didn't have any massive timing issues in my track so I didn't need to use time flex or map kick drums to a timeline, but I did make small ammendments to the guitars where occasional strums were out. To do this I either cut out an incorrect strum and replaced it or dragged it into time with a fine movement selected. Also whenever I cut an audio region I added a cross fade over the cut so there isn't an obvious click if the waveform isn't at zero as it moves from one region to the other.
After all this I started to change the characteristics of the sounds and making the mixer sound nicer with effects like reverb to add depth to sounds, and also using amp designer to create a nice distorted guitar tone for the lead guitar. I first put the amp designer plug in on the lead guitar track and created a nice tone by moving the parameters like middle, treble and bass and then experimented with some pre-set sounds before deciding on a final sound. The reverb could be used as an effect itself or to give the end product a unified sound that sounded like a group recording and not different elements brought together. I used a plate reverb setting on my snare drum to give it character and then later applied reverb in groups to the drums as a whole.
The final step was adding plug ins and effects to the master fader. These were not to alter the instruments but to bring the entire mix up to a professional standard of 44,100 KHz and 16Bit. It's worth noting also that by this stage I'd bounced all my tracks to audio files and put them in a fresh project so not to be distracted by effects plug-ins as that stage was finished. I created a "smile curve" to give the illusion of extra volume, and also brought levels up to a maximum of 0.3 on the master fader so nothing was clipping, but ensured the dynamic range was still intact so the track wasn't boring with very little dynamic interest. Once all this was done the track was finished.

Unit 7: Composition - Full Length Composition 3

Unit 7: Composition - Full Length Composition 2

Unit 7: Composition - Full Length Composition 1

Unit 7: Composition - Short Ideas 1 to 7

Unit 7: Composition - Extended Idea 3

Unit 7: Composition - Extended Idea 2

Unit 7: Composition - Extended Idea 1

Unit 43: Special Subject Investigation - Proposal

1. How has Tape Delay helped to define the sound of Dub Reggae?
I decided that I wanted to choose a question on Dub Reggae because I first heard it recently and was very interested in the alterations made to the original reggae tracks to create the interesting sounds of dub. I identified that one of the most distinctive sounds in the majority of tracks was the Tape Delay applied to certain instruments to make the track sound spacious along with extra reverb on instruments like the drums and snippets of vocals with delay also applied to them. Because of this I thought it would be best to research the reasons behind using such a dominant effect to shape the sound of a new sub genre, who used it first and how it has not only defined the sound of the genre but had an influence on music prior to it, and resulted in tracks from genre's like hip hop and experimental/drone having dub versions of their tracks. The tape delay effect is was created using hardware equipment before the digital era, and this means there's lots of equipment to research into, and see what devices created certain sounds and applied certain characteristics to the tracks. An example of one is the Roland re-201 space echo, which would've been used during the 1970s when dub reggae was forming as a sub genre.
Other areas that interest me are the remixing and alteration of existing tracks, and this is one of the earliest examples of taking pre-recorded music and changing and manipulating it in a creative way. Another reason I'm drawn to the topic is that the Jamaican producers responsible for kick starting the dub movement were already producing reggae and rocksteady, which I know very little about but I like the examples of this music that I've heard, so I'd like to find out which famous tracks from reggae and rocksteady were turned into successful dub tracks. Having looked online I've found a website which tells a story of dub revolution and then sites various books, articles and websites used to create that article, and the shows me there are lots of resources available for me to make a complete investigation.
Here's the link
http://debate.uvm.edu/dreadlibrary/bush.html
2. Why did the album "Smile" by The Beach Boys not get released until 40 years after its initial recording sessions?
Firstly, I wanted to write about this topic because I recently became very interested in the music of The Beach Boys and the songwriting of the band members (Brian Wilson in particularly) which has been acclaimed as some of the best songwriting of the 1960's. I liked the songs I'd heard and then heard about an album called Smile which was started in the mid 60s and never released, until work resumed over 40 years later and was released in a box set and still not as a definitive album, with no guarantee that it is how the album would've turned out if they kept working on it in the 1960s until it was done. I liked the mystery that surrounded the recording and the relationship between band members at that time, and how that all contributed to the album's abandoning.
During the recording sessions, Brian Wilson who wrote the majority of the songs and co-produced the recording used some interesting and innovative techniques to create the album. Examples of these are creating an interesting mix and blend of instruments within the restrictions of mono recording and playback, and also the decision to assemble a backing band as session musicians to perform the musical parts so they knew that they could get a good take without wasting time or tape during the sessions. They had previously created an innovative sound on the 1966 release "Pet Sounds" which influenced many bands including The Beatles, and they were set to go further on Smile, but maybe some of the band members weren't comfortable with the creative changes that were being made. As The Beach Boys are such a popular band there have been lots of things written about this subject making it easy to research, and also due to the recent release of extra material there will be fresh information from the band members themselves and people reviewing the release.
3. David Bowie: Follower or creator of fashions?
David Bowie is as famous for his image and iconic style as he is for his music. Often era's of his musical career are defined by the characters he has played during them, like the character Ziggy Stardust which he created on with his album "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars". He was one of the first musicians to express himself in more than just a musical way, by also applying his knowledge of other arts like drama and artistry to create the a unique act that no other musician could match at that period of time. I'm interested in what persuaded Bowie to act in such a way and not just be a straight forward musician, or in fact an actor or artist. I'm interested in how much of his image was down to his own creation, and how much was inspired by or possibly stolen from underground art or fashion movements. I'm also interested on how his image changed throughout his career, and the correlation between it and the style of music he put out at the same time.
David Bowie often changed the genre of music he made, and worked with different musicians to achieve these changes, so I'd want to find out whether the style dictated the music or the music dictated the style. There are lots of documentaries about David Bowie's career which focus on his music and image, so it would be easy to find information on this, and also the recent release of his first album in seven years may have brought him to peoples attention again.
Conclusion:
I've decided that of the three subjects I would like to research my second topic, Why did the album "Smile" by The Beach Boys not get released until 40 years after its initial recording sessions? I believe I'm most interested in this out of my three subjects, and feel I could produce the best article on this subject due to the extensive research others have done into it, and the mass of material the band produced for the SMiLE project. I've been able to create a spider diagram which helps to break down the subject, and has lead me to think I can create a detailed and accurate investigation, and this image below shows those spider diagrams that I've done to start planning my research.

Unit 3: Arranging Music - Studying Musical Arrangements

Task 1 - Studying Musical Arrangement

Introduction to arrangement:

Arranging is to take an original song belonging to you or someone else and creatively remake it, so its still recognisable as the original song by the melody or chords, but has a new sound and new musical elements to it, making it obviously an altered version. This could be done for many reasons, one being for advertising purposes, where a composer may have a brief asking them to create an existing song in a new style which would be appropriate to use in their advert, but creative remixes and reworks, more traditional covers and completely different covers are all arguably arrangements as well, and these could be for many purposes. An arrangement, could sound very similar to the original in terms of the instrumentation, tempo, textures and structure or could be far different, and only recognizable as the original by one component. The variables that could be changed in an arrangement are things like the instrumentation, tempo, textures and structure but could also include the time signature, the major or minor key, a transposition of key, timbre and alterations of the rhythmic or melodic phrasing.

Changing the melodic phrasing will create the most obvious difference as often the melody or tune is the most memorable part of a song, especially when used for the purpose of advertising, and changing some of the other techniques maybe more subtle, but could be crucial to change if your brief were to change the genre as certain techniques are synonymous with certain genres, like for example a slower tempo, thin textures and minimal instruments like a piano and some strings would be common in a ballad or music supposed to evoke emotions, so if the brief was to create an emotive and mellow version of a pop song, the new arrangement would apply some of the for mentioned techniques to achieve this.

Arrangements differ from a standard cover version like often heard on talent shows, as they usually use an identical backing track, and the only alteration is the new singers voice instead of the original artist. Also they differ from remixes, as although remixes may explore a change in style, tempo etc. they usually source material from the original track or the entire original mulit-track, which an arrangement will not. Some composers make arrangements for clients to use, like for radio or television adverts, and some use them to build up their repertoire or just practise their skills for if they're asked to do a piece of work like this, as its very common that composers will be given assignments of this nature.

Comparisons of two tracks:

I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Original by Hank Williams, Covered by Al Green)

The original version of this track was recorded by Hank Williams in 1949, 24 years before Al Green's cover. The original is in a country style using instruments synonymous with the genre, like a lap steel guitar, acoustic guitar for rhythm and a fiddle during instrumentals, as well as the usual rhythm section of a bass and percussion, which is only to keep the beat in the song. It's in a 3/4 time signature, which is evident in the rhythm guitar playing which has a sort of chugging sound like so many southern country songs have. The style is minimal and simple as country is a genre born from the roots and played by and for people who were the poorer sections of American society. It's structure is simple also, consisting of an intro, 3 verses separated by an instrumental and an instrumental towards the end featuring the fiddle. The chords structure remains the same throughout and the variation comes from the different instruments introduced in the instrumentals, and the varying lyrics in the verses, the only constant lyric being that of the title.

Al Green's version is far removed from the original, and is made to suit his Soul style. The introduction contains strings, more prominent drums, subtle choral vocals and electric guitar playing a little. The most obvious change is that the time signature has been shifted from 3/4 to a straight 4/4 which has a knock on effect on the phrasing of the vocals, and the length of the notes in the melodies. There are also a few subtle chord changes as well, like for example a change to a major chord under the lyric "too blue to fly" in the first verse, which is excentuated by the wurlitzer piano, and gives it a more feel good soul vibe, which the original never had. Also Green's vocals move away from Williams, as he adds a soulful affectation to put his own slant on the track, and showcase his vocal range, and keep it in fitting with a soul singing style, which is often to improvise certain bits of melodies, and add "oohs" and "aahs" where they seem fit. They also use the more advanced studio recording techniques available to them, like double tracking vocals, and having the two tracks intercept each other to add elements of interest, which Williams simply couldn't do with their means of recording. Finally, Green's version is finished with a fade out, where all the instruments and vocal get equally quieter until no longer audible, which again Williams couldn't have done with his recording, so the original just finishes with a final chord allowed to ring out on the bands instruments.

I like both versions, but admire the ambitious production of Al Green's version, which shows the songs potential to work as a soul track so different from the original, and providing what it could've sounded like if Hank Williams recording could've been made at a different time. I think Al Green's version worked well, and though the changes weren't subtle they didn't compromise the original's sound too much.

Satisfaction (Original by The Rolling Stones, Covered by Cat Power)

The Rolling Stones released "Satisfaction" as a single in 1965, and Cat Power's cover version appeared on her LP "The Covers Record" in 2000. She wasn't the only artist to cover this track as artists such as Otis Redding, Devo and Aretha Franklin have all produced interesting takes on the track, some closely replicating the original and some taking it in different directions completely.

The Rolling Stones were a true Rhythm & Blues band informed by American Blues and other older American music. They were a five piece consisting of two guitarists, a bassist drummer and lead vocalist, so all that featured on the track were these instruments with additional backing vocals and some tambourine percussion in parts. It's a simple and catchy band song, lead by the lead guitar riff on fuzzy overdriven guitar, simple open major chords on the acoustic guitar and a simple but functional bass and drum pattern. The track starts with the chorus line opening and the verses follow in this pattern.

Cat Power's version is a sparse version containing just her vocals and and acoustic guitar, giving the song a completely different vibe. The chords have been changed from major to minor to change the mood of the song. It's slightly slower and than the upbeat original, showing how the lyrics of the track could have been differently interpreted and could have a deeper meaning. The most apparent differences are that there's no riff at all, and she starts the track with the first verse instead of the chorus. The structural and timbrel changes make this version almost unrecognisable from the original. Her cover also features a different lyrical phrasing in the later verses of the song, which add to her ownership of the version, and making it more creative than a straight cover would've been.

I think Cat Power's cover version is an interesting take on the track, but for me it doesn't make sense. I don't think the lyrics of the song or the vibe suggest that it makes sense as a more slowed down almost folky track, and feel that the way to have reworked this song would be to build upon its simple band release. In interview Keith Richards has said he wanted their version to be built up with brass and strings, like Otis Redding's version which does just that, and I believe that would be a better direction to take the track. However, I think the version was done with respect, and Cat Power wanted to stretch the track and play to her strengths also when performing it.

Unit 39: Sound & Music Industry - Royalties

Unit 39 - Sound & Music Industry

Task 4: Royalties

When a band writes and records a piece of music, that becomes shared property of the band, their record label and publishing company. Therefore, if somebody wants to use their recording, they would have to pay for that privilege, so they would be paying the artist (both performers and writer) and depending on the sort of deal they've negotiated and the nature of the bands contract the money they paid would be split between their label and publishing company. Songs can be used in many different situations, and each would entitle the artists to money as their song is helping to do something, for example using a song in an advert is helping to sell a product or service, so the artist deserves money for that. Songs played in public places like shops and bars will earn the composer PRS royalties and the performers PPL royalties, and the public place will need to pay for a license from both of these companies before they can play music.

Firstly it's important to establish two different kinds of royalties, performance royalties and writing royalties. These two types of royalties are dealt with by seperate companies, and given for different reasons, depending on the nature of the songs use. For example, a studio recording of a bands song that they'd released being used on an advert would get the entire band a performance royalties for everyone who performed on the track, however if an artists song was covered by another artist to be released again, the composer of that song would recieve writing royalties, so if only one member of a group is credited with the composition of the song, they would recieve all of the royalties for the money made from that song, and the other performers wouldn't recieve anything unless the songwriter said otherwise. This is why it's said that money is to be made in songwriting, and often the songwriters in a group end up better off than the other band members, which often leads to tensions and break ups in groups.

For performace royalties there are many ways a song can be used to generate royalties:

·  Television - A song can be used to accompany an advert, in a television programme like a drama or a comedy or event live at a sporting event or as a theme tune for it. This usage of a song would generate a performance royalty for a group, as their song had been used to promote or help improve what was being shown on television, so they would be entitled to a payment because of that. The payments would vary in amount depending on whether the music was used in on or off peak time, and also depending on the size and popularity of the channel it was used on.

·  Internet - Again advertising may use a song and play that advert on internet sites like YouTube, and also just having a song played on YouTube, Spotify or iTunes will result in a very small royalty because that viewing of a track has both publicised the website and drawn peoples attention to related adverts on the website.

·  Radio Play - A song being played on the radio would result in performance royalties, and these royalties would vary in amount depending on the time of day/station etc.

·  Use at events/ Public use - If a song is used in a public place like a shopping centre, or during the interval of a sporting event or concert to entertain then performance royalties would be due.

The royalties mentioned above would be issued by Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) who collect and distribute royalties for all manner of artists. The places that play music publically have to have a PPL license and a PRS to play music, so royalties can be collected for the performers and composer, as playing music publically generates a royalty for both, otherwise the place playing the music is in breach of the law. It's also worth mentioning that the money made by a band from the sales of their music both physically and digitally and their merchandise would be classed as a royalty, although it isn't dealt with by either of these companies.

The Perfrorming Rights Society (PRS) are the company that take royalties from the use of songs for the composer of that song, not neccessarily for the people who performed on it. Royalties are due to PRS for the things mentioned above about PPL like public use, television, radio and internet, but their are also additional things that can result in the composer of the song making royalties.

·  Covers - If a song you have composed is used by another artist, they have to pay the composer a percentage of the money they make from it. Obvious examples of this would be X-Factor winners releasing covers of songs they did on the show like Matt Cardle covering Biffy Clyro's "Many Of Horror", meaning that a percentage of the money he made off it would be going to Simon Niel of Biffy Clyro who wrote it.

·  Professional Composition - If your job is to write songs to give to other artists, then you will earn royalties from it. It's very similar to the last point, but an exception could be that in some cases a label may employ a songwriter by contract to write songs for artists on their label, so they'd be paid a salary with occasional bonusses for very successful songs, and not see royalties like a freelance songwriter would.

PRS also cover performance royalties, which is when your track has been performed live or a recorded version, either at a live venue, on television or the radio. These can be collected as a one off from a venue that happened to play your song in an interval that night, or if you play live at many venues on a tour royalties can be claimed at each one. The amount like anything obviously varies depending on the size of the venue, ticket prices at the gig and the turnover expected to be made by the venue/in house promoters if they have them. Larger venues have a percentage of ticket sales taken by PRS to cover their license, so having your song played at one of these would make more money than a smaller venue with a set annual fee.

This sort of on peak/off peak variant applies to songs being used on TV and radio as well. For example if your song is used on the radio at 5pm, it will make more in royalties than if it's used at 2am because the two different times have a massive variation in audience size, which effects the money generated.

The other side of royalties to cover is mechanical and synchronisation royalties. These are yet another source of income for bands, and a dealt with by other companies again. Firstly mechanical royalties, which are collected by the Mechanical-copyright Protection Society (MCPS) who are a sub-company of PRS, and are earned when somebody wants to put your music on their product, like a DVD, compilation CD like "Now That's What I Call Music" and CD's included with magazines to promote the magazine itself. This is also aplicable to album samplers issued by labels to promote the artists releasing music on their label, so even though they're the label issuing the music, they have to pay to MCPS to put that recording on the sampler so the band or artist gets a royalty for that. These royalties link in with synchronisation royalties which are for the use of music with visual images, be that in a film, programme, video game, advert or promo. Instead of being dealt with by a comany though, they just have to be approved for use by the label and publishers, as like I said in the introduction the bands music will be joint property of themselves, their label (the recording of the song) and the publishers (the song itself). Depending on the negotiation a band has with their label and publishers the percentages of where the royalties for the use of the song goes will vary, but the most straight forward would be 50% to the artist, then the other 50% split 25% each between the label and publishers, but of course this can vary depending on the size and fame of the artist, the profile of their label and the publishers they use.

In conclusion, royalties are a crucial part of an artists income, and they can come from many different places, generate a little or a lot of money and are dealt with by many different companies who take a cut from the artist or label/publishers for their work. Royalties are themselves issued quarterly (every 3 months) and unclaimed royalties are distributed between the highest earners at thar company. They are a cornerstone of a bands livelyhood, and are often the reason for bands tension when they realise one member is better off than the others, and that they're being conned by a little section of their contract, meaning the label is making money off them. All in all however, if the band is managed correctly and lwayers check their contract before signing then they can suppliment their income vastly throught royalties.

Unit 39: Sequencing & Music Industry - Job Roles in Record Labels

Unit 39 - Sound & Music Industry

Task 2 - Job Roles in Record Labels

Record labels are organisations that sign artists, record their material and then promote and distribute it, aiming to gain a substancial fan base for the group, making money for the label and the artist. There are many job roles and departments inside a record label which each contribute to the labels success and profit making. These can contrast massively between a large label and a minor independent one, as in a "Big 3" label like Sony BMG there maybe a team of 10 people working on marketing an album, whereas in a small label one person maybe doing this and other jobs as well, so there can be a vast difference. Here are the different job roles in the record label, how they're important and whether they're done by an employed by the label or freelance.

Artist & Repertoire: The role of an A&R representative is to listen to demos of unsigned artists and go to see live performances of those artists to decide whether they think that artist should be signed to the record label, essentially like a talent scout. Although their decision isn't final, the label will be heavily influenced by the A&R representatives opinion on an act when deciding whether or not to sign them. If they decide that an artist is worth signing, they will unofficially take on a mentoring roll, which means they may offer bands advice in the recording studio, be available for the band to talk to when negotiating any contracts and just to generally help them out. This is a very important roll in the record label, as new acts are responsible for lots of the money the label would make, and eventually the existing acts signed to the label may go out of fashion and lose popularity, so these new acts are crucial to the labels revenue. An A&R representative is an employee of the label as they have to commit to making one label successful by finding acts for them to sign, as after all if the label makes lots of money from the acts the A&R representative discovered, they will make considerably more money for themselves. As it is a responsibility of the A&R representative to go and watch a band live, they would have to work in the evenings when gigs are being played, and in the days they'd have to travel to meet with bands and company bosses, so the hours maybe demanding, but the finding of musical talent and sense of achievement would make this easier.

Distributors: A distribution company can be an independent company that work with smaller recording organisations and get paid one off fees to distribute physical media both domestically and overseas, or a department of a large record label that can afford its own distribution team, and avoid any additional fees incured using independent distributors. The distributors are simply responsible for shipping CDs, LPs and Cassettes to stores around the world to be sold to consumers. They are a crucial part of the industry as a whole, as without distribution there would be no way for fans to buy music, so they would revert to illegal downloads which would stem the flow of cash to the labels and artists.

Marketing: The marketing team is a group of people employed by the record label to promote the latest releases and tours of the artists on that label. Advertisement is often the most useful form of publicity and can be done on many platforms, like the internet, television, radio, music magazines, mail outs, bill boards and posters. Good promotion often correlates with good sales, so the work of the marketing team is very valuable to the label, but advertisement has to be used wisely. For example, spending vast amounts of money creating and airing an extravigant television advert may not be as affective as a free mail out to fans informing them of the same thing. So often smart publicity is what makes the money for the label. The marketing department works with art and design departments to make visual art to coincide with promotion, and it also works with the CEO of the label, to talk about how much money to spend on a marketing campaign and what mediums to use to promote. Often marketing teams will have to work relentlessly for the duration of an advertising campaign and will have lulls of activity between these campaigns, unless there are many artists on the label promoting things throughout the year, in that case the marketing and promotion people will be busy all year round.

Art & Graphic Design: These are responsible for all visual apsects of music, from album artwork and tour posters to music video animation and website design. Things like album art can have a big effect on the success of an album, for example a controvercial album cover like Roxy Music's Country Life LP featuring semi naked models can result in the album being rejected by certain retailers and therefore selling poorly, but also the simplest album covers like The Beatles 1968 White Album can sell in great numbers despite being nothing more than white. So it often takes a creative mind to create a good album cover, which is why acts often choose freelance artists with their own good reputation to design their album cover. A good example of this is The Velvet Underground's self titled debut LP, which is an Andy Warhol print of a banana. Andy Warhol's iconic art helped the success of this album massively, whereas another cover may not have worked so well. Like advertising, art can be cheap or very expensive as there aren't any rules on how the album covers and music videos should be, so it's a decision that would be made by the CEO of the label on how much they're willing to spend on art surrounding an album or tour.

CEO/Manager: The CEO or Chief Executive Officer is the person responsible for everything the record label does, so he or she is essentially the boss. They will be in constant communication with all the departments of the label, overseeing all things from the recordings that will be released to the art and promotion surrounding them, and making final decisions on what will be used in album campaigns, and how much funding artists will be given for projects. This is a position with great responsibility, so they will be held liable for any problems relating to the work done by the record label. For example, if the CEO allowed an album to be released with controversial artwork that recieved complaints, he or she would have to take action to rectify the problem, by re-issuing the album with different artwork and issuing a formal complaint. This job is very important, as without a CEO there would be conflict inside the label and poor organisation would lose money for the label. The CEO would work a usual working day 6 or 7 days a week, and would be payed well as he or she is essentially at the top of the ladder in terms of importance to the record organisation.

Producers: How an album should be produced is open to interpretation, and many people have conflicting opinions on what a band should sound like, so a key element to producing an album is having a vision of a final outcome. This is why bands often choose their own producers to work as freelance producers, as they may be friends of the artist and they may share opinions of the artist and know how to get the best from an artists songs. as they're freelance they can command whatever wage they feel they deserve, so they would negotiate this with the CEO of the label. A key trait of a producer is to be diverse, so they can work in many genres and understand how to accomplish a sound like the one the artist specifies they want, or if an artist has no idea, to mould their songs into a sound they think suits the structure and content of the songs. Critically acclaimed producer Rick Rubin has produced albums for the likes of Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jay Z and Lana Del Rey showing his versatility to work in many genres. Often a producer will stay in the studio way after an artist has finished their recording to piece together and mold the sound of the recordings  with any engineers or even sometimes tape techs present (assuming the album is being recorded in analogue with the use of tape machines). Having a producer with a vision is very important to the quality of and continuity of an album, as without these things an album will recieve poor reviews, which may result in poor sales.

Engineers: Engineers work closely with producers in the studio, so they have an understanding of the producers vision that I mentioned in the previous paragraph. What the engineer brings to the recording process is knowledge of how to record instruments and vocals to achieve the best most accurate reproduction of that sound. They will make sure microphones are positoned correctly, that the room properties are correct and that effects they may be adding aren't overpowering in the mix, and causing problem for the people mixing the master tape. Problems they may encounter could be to do with the properties of the recording studio, but this isn't always related to the record label, because although many labels own their own studios, the artist may choose to record at Abbey Road studios as they feel that the vibe of such a prestigious studio will inspire their performance and shape their sound. An engineer will work similar hours to a producer, but they will usually employed by the label, as using the same engineer or team of engineers on all the labels recordings will ensure a consistant quality across the labels whole catalogue of recordings. The artist can however insist on using a freelance engineer if they feel it will benefit their album.

Business/Legal Affairs: These two departments can be put into the same category as they both go on behind the scenes, but are crucial to the label as they control the artists contracts, their employees contracts and the income and outgoings of the label as a business organisation. A poor legal department can mean songs and compositions mabye stolen from artists when there's no sufficiant evidence to prove that its theirs. An example of the legal side of the music industry is George Harrisons 1970 single My Sweet Lord. Producer Phil Spector took Harrison to court claiming that Harrison had stolen the structure and melodic phrasing of The Chiffons 1963 song He's So Fine, which he coincidentally also produced. It was decided that Harrison has Subliminally copied sections of the song. The defendent and oppoistion would have had legal backing from the legal departments of their record labels, as if either lost the case they may suffer fines and drops in sales that would reduce the profits of the record label. Other things that the business side of the label are responsible for are paying wages, paying corporation tax and genreally ensuring the label stays afloat financially. This is a massive responsibility as most creative employees cannot manage finances of the company. These are always a department of employees as apposed to freelance, but they can vary in size in different organisations, for example Warner Music Group will have a giant legal department with no loop holes at all meaning they're bulletproof to plagerism and can win any court case, whereas a small label may employ one accountant and one lawyer who can help the label tremendously, but couldn't stand up to any large recording organisations.

Contract of Freelance: As I've mentioned when writing about certain job roles, some people in the music industry work under contract and some as freelance workers.  Usually only people with a strong reputation in the music industry can work as a freelance producer or engineer, as without having good relationships with artists and managers in the music industry and without having a creditable back catalogue of work you cannot get work in the industry. Until this stage many people will be under a contract with their record label. For an artist, their contract will be to produce a certain amount of work over a specified time scale, for example three albums in five years and to do neccessary public appearances and TV ect. to promote their work so it sells well. A band that have been in the business for a while and have a bigger following will probably have a more flexible contract and be allowed to experiment more in the studio and indulge while recording, whereas a new small band will not have this freedom.
For the likes of engineers and producers their contribution to the record process may lead a record company to employ them to work on all albums they release on their label as they may feel they want them to shape all the recordings to give their labels work consistancy. They therefore would have a contract with the record label that would dictate how many releases they would work on across a certain amount of time, and they'd have other contractual obligations like market research and studying the band to understand what sound the band and the fans of the band want, to have a positive influence on the recordings and hopefully get commercial success.

Recording contracts for artists will differ drastically between major and independent labels, and often the larger contracts presented by major labels will be riddled with legal clauses and disguised with business jargon, which may lead to an artist signing away more rights to their work than they intended, or entering into a contract that asks far more of them than they are capable of creating. Musicians such as Prince, Neil Young and The Beatles have all faced dilemma's with their recording companies, and found themselves not even owning their music and making nearly as much money as they ought to be doing due to their naivety in signing a contract, or differences between themselves and label bosses who don't like the creative output (most notably in the case of Neil Young being accused by his 80s label Geffen of writing "unrepresentative" albums, or albums not like Neil Young, and is the only artist in history to have been accused of this in a law suit). There are also accusations that the very nature of a recording contract is to exploit an artist for the gain of the label, which is slightly ironic as you'd think that the artist would be more likely to write good music and be successful if they didn't feel they were being exploited. However, when labels are just starting out bands maybe offered very lucrative offers as the label is just looking to get going with a band they really like, in which case the artist may get a very nice deal. 

Contracts for engineers, producers and administrative workers however would be far more professional and like many other regular jobs, as the label doesn't need to exploit people in these positions, simply to have them do a role, and produce work as according to their job description. A record producer or engineer wouldn't be subjected to accusations like Neil Young faced, as they simply facilitate an artists creative ideas, which will have been verified by an A&R rep or label head , giving them the green light to pursue a creative direction, so their contract would simply involve how many projects they expected to work on over a period of time, and what their job would require, for example a producer may be required to produce 5 studio albums in a year long contract, and their job description may involve creative direction in the studio, some occasional playing and also extensions of their role like gaining knowledge in a genre of music to further advance their ability to create a specific sound in the studio on the recording. In summary the artists contracts would be the most complex, and legally binding as they are the key to the labels profits, but the back room staff, and studio workers would have a far more conventional contract. They would most likely be paid a standard wage, and may get commission on projects more successful than expected, but this would all be decided by the label in their contract.

Unit 39: Sound & Music Industry - Business Plan

Unit 39 - Sound & Music Industry

Business Plan

Business Name: MOD Records (JF, JH)

Business Address: 12 St. Ann’s Square, Manchester, M2 7HW (JF)

Summary: MOD Records is a record store specializing in Genres of music associated with MOD culture and merchandise relating to it. We specialize in Soul, Jazz, Ska and Rock, which are the genres most popular with mods, and have items of clothing, accessories and books. We sell products over the counter in our shop and have a website which we can sell things over as well. We aim to take part in events like record store day and sell as many genres as possible but specialize in the ones that appeal to mods. (JF)

Target Market: Our target market is primarily fans of mod culture, but we hope in having a range of genres that we can appeal to both men and women between aged 12-70.  As Mod Culture started in the 50s and is still popular today, that means we could appeal to people in their teens up to people in their 70s who were there the first time around. (JF)

Marketing Strategy: We will advertise our products and offers by emailing people who subscribe to our email list. When someone makes a purchase in the shop or online they will be asked to give their email address to join the mailing list for updates on products, and this is how we will build a loyal following. Any exclusives will be mentioned on the mail out, in store and on the website so it cannot be missed.  We will also put adverts in specialist magazines like Record Collector and MOJO to get across to our target market that might not have otherwise heard of us. As part of our marketing strategy we will try to build up a good relationship with a loyal following. (JF)

Competition:  Local record shop Piccadilly Records are our big rivals as they’re local, provide a good service and have a good following but they don’t specialize in a specific area and haven’t branched out into merchandising as much as we plan to so that may set us apart as a shop which borders on a fashionable boutique. (JF)

Financial Costs:The cost of rent for the site in a year is about £6,000. The cost of buying the stock, which is predominantly the records, which would probably be bought in collections, but come new records shall also be bought is about £10,000 at an approximation. Included in this is the merchandise that we will also sell alongside the records. We then need to prepare the site for sale, like creating an area for a till to go etc. Some cost might go to wages for people we hire to run the shop if we can’t for some reason. (JH)

Site rent for year - £6,000

Initial Stock cost - £10,000

Site refurbishment/Equipment:

Record stand x8 - £2,500

Desk - £400

Till - £150 (JH)

Advertisement:

50 posters - £39.50

Other advertisement - £200

Internet + Mail out – Free (JH)

Expected Income: The expected income really cannot be estimated because the success of the first, or even second or third years depends on several factors. One of these being how the market of vinyl buyers and collectors will take to a Mod specialized record shop with accessories. We might attract a lot of people with it being something new and different compared to the other record shops that are more wide spread. We should probably expect to make a loss in the first year that the business is founded, because there will certainly be a lot of money in the outgoings, going towards the buying of stock and setting up of the shop. As the years go one though, the popularity of the shop should hopefully go up, we should build up a good relationship with some customers by then which may cause them to keep coming back to us. As a result of this and possibly other small factors the difference between outgoing money and profit should decrease and maybe break even within the first 3 years or so. (JH)

How we stand out:

Strengths:                                                                                  

-Specialising in Mod records and accessories          

- Close to the city centre                                                 

- Offer merchandise as well as records.

- Well informed with the Mod sub-culture                          

- Offers an alternative experience to vinyl collectors who want to try something new.            

- Unique idea, which has not been replicated in Manchester. (JH)

Weaknesses:

 - The market might not take on the idea of a Mod specialized shop.

- Market might be too small to make enough money to survive.

- Cost of starting business could be too much to recover from. (JH)

Recourse Requirements: Recourse costs will apply to stock management, cost of renting the building and employee wages. Of course, as with any shop as customers buy stock and take it home with them, the shop has to keep on top of its stock levels. (JH)

Market Research Questions:

We conducted market research to determine our target markets buying habbits, and what they wanted to see when buying music and looking in a record shop. (JF)

Q & A:

1. How much would you spend in a record shop? Answers ranged between £7 and £100, but the average rounded to £23. This means we'd try to price all new records below this price so not to deter people, but with older records worth more we'd have no choice to price them at their estimated worth.

2. What time and day would you most like to go to a record shop? The most common answer was weekend and between 10am and 3pm, which would be reasonable opening hours for a shop, but it must be noted that all people in this survey were in education so hadn't the option to go in the week but an adult may so this must be noted.

3.  What genre/genres would you buy? This question produced a very mixed response, with answers like Metal, Jazz, Classical, Reggae, Hip Hop and Electronic. This indicates our shop shouldn't stick to specialising so rigidly in music favoured by modernist culture and expand into all genres to draw in a multitude of customers.

4. Would a buy one get one free offer be enough of an insentive to spend money on music if you weren't certain what to buy? Every answer for this question was a yes, which suggests a good idea would be to have a buy one get one free section of the shop or alternatively have a certai day where records are buy one get one free as an insentive to draw people in on a less popular day.

5. Would you spend more than £15 in a record shop? If so Why? This was a very useful question as it revealed that most people who said they'd usually spend less than this amount said they would spend up to this amount if they thought it was really worth it and they found something/things they really wanted, so this has told us that as long as our stock has a wide range and can please people enough by stocking things they really want then money shouldn't be a massive problem.

6. Would you only buy music in a record shop? Everyone answered this question with a no, saying they would also look online, which outlined clear competition to our business. Shops like Amazon make so much money globally that they can sell items at a very competative price, so this tells us we have to compensate in different areas, giving customers an experience they wouldn't get online like great customer service and additional in-store only extras as an insentive to get them spending on the high street.

7. Would you be prepared to buy something you had never heard of because of the album artwork? This question devided our audience down the middle with 7 yes and 7 no, many saying they wouldn't want to risk wasting their money and others saying they'd enjoy the thrill of discovering something new that they may never have otherwise heard. This gave us an insite into peoples shopping habits, and one advantage of vinyl is 12" sleeves which are often great pieces of art which could convince certain people to take a gamble on a record.

8. Would you buy a record that was originally released before our generation? Everyone answered yes for this question, showing that the appreciation of old music and desire to own it was still there. This would tell us that it's a good idea to stock good condition 2nd hand vinyl and re-issues of classic albums from classic era's as they're still very much in demand by the members of the younger generation.

(Questions written by AR, survey conducted by AR, answer explanations by JF).

As part of our market research we also arranged for an existing record shop owner to answer some questions for us. These would be very useful to us as they'd inform us what works in an existing business, and what would make us the most money and ultimately keep the business alive. The record shop owner answering our questions has a shop that would be a good business model for us to copy, so we took the answers he gave into consideration when writing our business plan, and also took the point he made about selling lots of music on board when writing our conclusion evaluating our business plan.

1) Do you sell more products online or in your shop?

We sell probably a split 70% over the counter 30% online.

2) Do you specialize in music from specific genres or do you sell a
wide range of genre records?

We sell lots of different stuff - we sell all genres 2nd hand, but
specialise in a few genres with new stuff.

3) How do you source your new records and 2nd hand records?

We get offered a lot of records and collections over the counter just
from being a shop thats open to the public, we've also built up a good
network of contacts and other dealers over the years. our regular
customers bring us a lot of stuff to trade, and we go out digging and
hunting for stuff too.

4) Do you sell more LP’s or 45’s?

more albums, but we sell lots of new and re-issue 45's too.

5) Do you sell any extra merchandise that record buyers are interested in?

Yes, we sell magazines, books, lots of t-shirts, prints, canvases,
record adaptors, plastic sleeves for records and we also sell mailers
and packing supplies for people who sell records themselves.

6) How do you keep customers loyal to your shop?

By having good stock, good prices and good customers service! Regular
customers get a little discount when we can, we reserve stock and
order stuff in to order too.

7) Do you take part in record store day and does this help with extra business?

Yes we definitely do take part. It's probably the single biggest day
of the year with regards to sales.

8) Why do you think vinyl sales are on the rise when sales of other
physical media are declining?

Some people still like a physical product, and the whole collecting
side of things. I think buying a record means you invest more in the
music than downloading hundreds of tracks at a time, and a lot of people
will tell you vinyl sounds better. theres also a lot of very dedicated
vinyl collcectors aged 30 - 75!

9) Do you buy collections of vinyl from auctions in the hope of making profit from rare records?

We don't really buy from auctions as we have more records offered to us
than we need already, occasionally we get a tip off of some good stuff
coming up at auction though.

10) What are your opening hours and when are you most busy?

We open 11 - 6 mon - sat, and 12 -5 Sunday. Fridays and Saturdays are
our bussiest days.

11) We want to centre our record shop around mod culture, what would you suggest we sell to appeal to people who like mod culture or people who are “mods”?

I'd say in order to survive you need to sell as many different types of
music as possible, but specialise in mod stuff. theres obviously also a lot
for style and fashion associated with that type of music so go in on
that stuff too, clothing books, memorabilia etc.

My Conclusion: During this unit I've discovered what is important when running any business, and even more about setting up a record store. We decided to do a record store for this assignment because we had an interest in vinyl, physical media and modernist culture and thought a shop that brought these things together didn't exist already but would do well and have a loyal group of customers who like our approach.  I think our plan could be bettered by making our business less focused on one culture, and more generally about music and all related items that would interest all music fans. If we wanted to sell our stock to a particular culture we could split our shop into sections for each culture, or alternatively we could just stock everything and not categories it so generally, as often music fans like lots of sorts of music from various genres so may find this categorization patronizing and off putting. Although our business would appeal to quite a lot of people, it would appeal to everyone if it wasn't oriented around modernist culture and was for music fans generally, and would probably gain a loyal following just by stocking great music, regardless of who that music would appeal to. I also think more emphasis should've been placed on the merchandise related to the music, as we didn't ask people questions about it, and it would definitely attract existing music fans, and maybe even people who cared more about the clothing related to the music than the music itself.