Interview with GRAMMY Winner Art Greenhaw (Negotiating Tactics)

Here I am with friend and collaborator, GRAMMY™Award Winning Art Greenhaw who has plunged his band The Light Crust Doughboys into new heights of success since from the early days that involved Bob Wills (Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys). My interest with this blog post is to get an understanding of how Art has negotiated throughout the many years to gain a little more knowledge on how the entertainment world works and to learn some helpful techniques.

I start out by asking Art how he addresses issues with others on how to separate the people from the problem when negotiating. It’s easy to understand that everybody perceives ideas and concepts differently. Josh says, “How do you handle situations like this where you feel the other person is not understanding you and vice versa and what tips do you have for others”? Art says, “Of course with any top-flight music organization it’s at least half or more business, half or less music and art. The first thing I always try to do is make sure everyone has a real good virtual equal say art wise in the art and science side of the performances and recordings, that’s just my management style. Let’s always keep in might that the LCDB band… the sum is greater than any of the parts. However, we try to make everyone feel artistically on the same level with everyone else. Business wise… it’s a bit different just simply because every business has a head and you can’t run business on a committee basis. So when it comes to business since I own the Doughboys, I own and maintain the trademarks, I have all of the business and financial responsibility and take care of that myself but we still try to make all the band members feel equally and artistically important”.

Josh asks, “There are two sides to negotiations, your side and the other side. I understand that The Light Crust Doughboys consist of many members. How do you handle positioning bargaining tactics when there are more than two people or a partnership”? Art says, “Going back to my original thesis we try to run artistically side of the band that everyone feels like there as important as anyone else and as-far-as the total vision of the band that’s non-negotiable… that’s my realm and of course we’re in a situation with most music organizations its not a strict employer/employee relationship… It’s a contract relationship… So it’s more of a common wealth situation artistically and me as the owner of the corporation making decisions… We’re dealing with a high enough level of sophistications with the musicians where if they don’t fit in or feel the vision that they normally move on with out me having to say anything at all”.

Josh says, “Coming to a mutual understanding sometimes seems impossible. Could you give me an example of a time where you had to overcome this obstacle and how you moved towards a mutual benefit when negotiating a deal”? Art says, “Sure, so often in my type of music… ticket sales just don’t always cover the expenses incurred by the promoter, the venue, and our musical group… so someone has to make up the difference… I try with my experience to consult and let the client know how do they make up the difference and how do they get underwriters. I attempt to help them with either corporate sponsors, underwriters or grants with year of experience I know what few grants are available for music performances… With our type of business… symphonies, operas, and artistic endeavors… very, very few times do ticket sales take care of the necessary expenses and wages of all the people involved… all around the country, all over Texas and all the arts groups just don’t make it on ticket sales… They have underwriters… so that’s basically how I handle it. I help with underwriters”.

After that last question we thanked each other for the conversation. I’m glad I was able to share this short interview with everyone. As always I am very thankful for having Art as a collaborator and friend. I enjoy these moments.

- Josh Knight

Innovation from early Innovators

Electronic music has come a long way from the early innovations of technology including magnetic tape and synthesizers. Early pioneers like Kraftwerk, whom pushed the boundaries of early electronics, set the stage for other musicians alike. David Bowie and engineer Brian Eno showed so much interest, these two went left for Germany to pursue the sound. David Bowie being one of the artist using further experimentation from the Kraftwerk compositions (Electronic Music) has made mainstream success in dance music. Not just for him but even future artist like Marvin Gaye with his song SEXUAL HEALING. I think it is wonderful what groups like Kraftwerk was able to accomplish.

I really like German producer and musician Conny Plank. He crafted some wonderful masterpieces. Conny worked with several acts like Liliental and Os Mundi, Kraftwerk, Guru Guru, Cluster etc… Starting his carreer in the 1960’s as sound engineer with his first album Kluster. Lets not forget the most important albums produced in the 1970’s like Kraftwerk, Kraftwerk 2, Ralf and Florian, Autobahn etc… By this time Mr. Plank had a nice palette of imagery and taste for the electronic sound. Conny became big on mainstream rock artist in Germany and crafted a new era of production for electronic in the music industry.

As a professional I like how the electronic era came out into the public. With this I am talking about the success of David Bowie and Brian Eno and the albums Berlin Trilogy, Low, Heroes and Lodger. All of these albums where highly influenced by Conny Plank. In the long run electronic music became a step up with not only dance but also became pop. Thank you very much for your time. I hope you enjoyed reading my blog. Feel free to leave a comment below and let me know what you think.

Regards,

Joshua

Whats Going On - Marvin Gaye

Whats Going On - Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye was such an exceptional person when it came to music. He had a heart and felt what others were feeling. Looking on the outside in, he seemed comical and interesting. However, being on the inside seemed as demanding as ever. He was married to Anna, Berry Gordy’s sister in which was the owner of Hitsville U.S.A. ‘The Snake-Pit’. With thoughts and images from the letters his brother Frankie sent from his 3-year tour of duty in Vietnam, and the memories of his fathers abusiveness had set the stage very clear for the song WHATS GOING ON. Of course, lets not forget the 1967 “race riot” that enriched the sky with the burning smell of houses and local businesses.

Gaye had to overcome so much pressure to get the song WHATS GOING ON released into mainstream media. With the war and politics and crazy riots everywhere Mr. Gordy was sure it would ruin him and his image. Berry recalls a time when Marvin was so excited about the song. Gordy told a T.V. interviewer,

“He called and said, ‘Lookit, I’ve got to release this album. I’ve got these songs, it’s great. ‘When he told me they were protest songs, I said, ‘Marvin, why do you want to ruin your career? Why do you want to put out a song about the Vietnam war, police brutality and all of these things? You’ve got all these great love songs. You’re the hottest artist, the sex symbol of the ‘60’s and ‘70s…’”

Finally Gaye made him an ultimatum, until Berry and his Quality Control cabal came to release WHATS GOING ON, Marvin would do nothing more for the company. Marvin Gaye was the first of the soul era to produce a record aiming to make a difference within the community and take a political strike at cultural. His vocals were blended and stacked or overdubbed in a high and low part for the recording. (He did a couple of lead mono takes accidentally dubbed together) founded by accident, this later became a hallmark of his vocal style.

As an industry professional, I see a person that would stop at nothing to see his dreams, wants and desired come to pass. Some good and some bad, but in the end most obstacles were overcome. Haunted by drug addiction like most other artist of that time, in which influenced his playing style and tangible writing techniques. He seemed to have much to say, R.I.P. Marvin. 

(NARAS) The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (Entertainment Business)

I would like to talk with you about The Recording Academy also known for the Annual GRAMMY Awards.

We will be talking about another area of The Recording Academy called GRAMMY U. This program is designed to help students get connected at an early age with the entertainment world by educating the youth about the academy and the multiple different areas of recording. Being apart of the academy has been a huge success for me. I am no longer a GRAMMY U student but have moved up to a Voting Member.

It’s important to network and be apart of something bigger than yourself. Looking back on the many journeys I have been apart of I couldn’t see my life in regards to the entertainment world being any different. I have met some of the most notable and promising celebrities in the world. Of course this started at such an early age for me being 16 and hanging out backstage with none other than Mr. B.B. King himself.

Becoming apart of the industry has separated me from the crowd. GRAMMY U has opened so many wonderful doors for me to walk through.

I remember loading the Josh Abbot Band trailer and getting to mingle with the group all day during sound check and even got to have a drink with them (Root Beer). In fact, on that same day at SXSW I also got to assist the new and upcoming star Gary Clark Jr..

Lets keep in mind that this volunteer work would only be optional for GRAMMY U students. Even though I would sometimes make long morning drives from my studio in Dallas TX to Austin for SXSW to assist many wonderful artist over the past few years I believe it was worth it.

I hope you have all liked the read.

Until next post, Joshua Knight

Thomas Dolby: “Love Is a Loaded Pistol” (Business Storytelling)

 I would like to take a moment and discuss the possibilities of performance with a story. Many artists of all kinds capture the audience very well but do they show their vision and place a strong mindset or imagery for the listener? I would like to share this short 4-minute video with you about Mr. Dolby. His inspiration can be shown here along with his strong ability to entertain the audience. Pay attention to how he captures the crowd. We can all take lessons here. Click here to view Mr. Dolby's website.

How amazing is it to hear a song that is set up by a story. I came across this song from TED.com when Mr. Dolby captures the crowd from the idea of writing a song from his boat the Nutmeg. He explains how he rarely plays songs of his own because there wasn’t any. His conversation started out talking about this project of restoring the Nutmeg and how if the polar ice caps where to melt his boat would rise up like an ark. This boat is where his recording creation station lies. What amazing humor and creativity from Mr. Dolby.

Setting up this story for the song by leading us into his life and existence of the Nutmeg is a clever way to help others understand how to tell a story. He talks about the solar panel/turbine this boat is being electrified with and how he stays up into the early morning writing new songs. Mr. Dolby has inspired me to look deeper within myself to create ideas and capture the story by using humor and creativity. Images are a wonderful thing when explaining an idea or song. What a wonderful and humorous listen. Thank you Mr. Dolby for the wonderful song. I really liked how you set us up on your vision before the performance.

Mixing Live Performances

Hello fellow friends of the recording & production world,

We have all been challenged with recording or mixing a live show. Mixing a live performance is nothing like doing work in the studio. I have done numerous of live recording sessions and let me say that there just as much work or can sometimes be more than one could bargain for. It is true that your live recording will only be one take with the songs but we must keep in mind that we have to make due with the tracks we have. Understanding when recording in the studio we may have many different takes and of course if something doesn’t work out then we can always re-record. Right?

Still, lets keep in mind that it’s a tuff world for all engineers when recording a live show. We often run into the following:

Which way do we face the amps, where do we position the microphones, which microphones do we use?

These are all very good questions to think about.

No doubt about it, knowledge is key when running into phasing issues or extra pink noise during these recordings but it’s important to understand the difference between live versus studio recording. One issue I run into a lot is trying to keep the amps at a volume that is easy to record and keep the audience satisfied with sound. For this I always aim the amps backwards from the audience to give me optimal sound. I use dynamic microphones and position between the cone and edge of speaker. I try to keep the drums with two overhead microphones and put a microphone on the kick and snares. I would use the SM27 for drum overheads. I like to use very simple microphones for live recording. The reason for this is because I had way too many of my expensive microphones destroyed during live shows. I really like the idea of using the SM7B microphone on live vocals when recording live inside a building or if outside I would prefer the SM58.

The main reason for using the above microphone placement is for the later use of editing within my DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). I notice that the sonic sound is a little more mature, clear, and allows me much more possibility to warp or time shift as needed to line up the tracks to the grid. If this is your first time recording a live performance I would recommend finding a good book on live recording or sit in to observe a group or production company. Most of the time assisting another company will be no issue along as you seem interested and your ambition shines through. 

Here is another solution to a very simple live recording technique. Of course you would need to be very creative to pull this off but here is a youtube video of me actually using only one microphone from the Q2 ZOOM camera. I had to do some quick edits within Final Cut Pro X and I needed to master the audio a little bit but here is the idea:

So rock on and let me know if you have any further questions!

Thank you all very much, Joshua Knight

The All-NEW Pro Tools 11

Hello friends & Colleagues,

Let’s take a moment and talk about the all-new Pro Tools 11 software program.

When looking at the box it all still looks the same. After breaking it down and actually getting involved with my first major mix the realization is a smoother workflow and more user friendly. There was one new feature that I was not prepared for. I noticed after opening up the first session file my RTAS plugins would not work. This is of course why I decided to do some research. I didn’t have to search long before I read about the switch to the AAE from RTAS. I could see how this would be a good move but I’m not sure I understood why RTAS wasn’t at least available anymore for PT users.

Luckily I was able to make a few phone calls to get most of my plugins and processing switched over at no cost but what a hassle this has become. So now everybody knows that RTAS plugins will not work with Pro Tools 11. Must I also mention that not many companies except for Avid has updated or upgraded to the Avid Audio Engine (AAE).

Let’s talk about some other features of Pro Tools 11. The Track height has changed and much taller while offering RMS and other great meters without hiking through the list of plugins. I also noticed that we now bounce our sessions much faster then before when having to bounce a session out in real-time. The Pro Tools user, such as myself can bounce sessions off-line. All of these features are a great and added benefit to the Pro Tools user. I can’t wait to get some AAE plugins…

For those of you not familiar with the previous version of Pro Tools click here: Pro Tools 10

I understand that we are all still in the early phases of more incredible and much faster machines for recording. I have to stay optimistic and keep motivated as technology grabs us out of our seat. I hope everyone enjoys there new Pro Tools version. Please let’s keep this conversation moving. I would love to hear what you think about PT 11. “What ‘DAW’ (Digital Audio Workstation) do you use”

Rock On, Joshua Knight