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Plan your work/work your plan First of all, what is it exactly that you’re trying to do? Make money? Get noticed? Get a record deal? Have fun? Believe it or not, there are tons of artists and bands out there that have never taken the time to establish this for themselves. Whether you’re a solo artist with a group of creative professionals, or a traditional band where everybody has a vote, you need to sit down, get out a piece of paper, and write down your objectives. This might sound mundane at first, but I guarantee you that by going through this simple exercise you will discover some things you didn’t know about each other’s vision for what you’re doing, and you might even come up with some new ideas that no one individually would have thought of on their own (that’s called teamwork, by the way). The next step is to identify the Critical Success Factors. I know what you’re thinking: What the heck does that mean? Well, once you establish an agreed-upon goal or list of goals, you need to figure out what it’s going to take to achieve those goals. (More on these in a minute.) For example, let’s say one of you (or your clients) has the goal to record an album but there isn’t any capital available to do so. The obvious “sub-goal” is to come up with the money, right? At this point the sky is the limit, depending on who you are, what your other talents are, or who you know. Maybe the drummer has a rich uncle that will lend you the money? Maybe you can set up a string of house parties and play covers for pay in order to fund the project? Perhaps you can have a bake sale at the local Wal-Mart? (You can smirk, but I have seen this done... and successfully.) All kidding aside, everyone has skills and connections. Identify what they are, think outside the box, and use them.

Me: “Great, what are you looking to do?” Band: “Well, we have about 5 songs written and are working on some more. We’re looking at getting into the studio in about a month or so and we should have the other songs worked out by then.” Me: “Okay... how much studio time are you looking to book?” Band: “We’re not sure yet. We’re all chipping in and the drummer is borrowing some money from his uncle.” Me: “Do you have a budget you’re working under?” Band: “No, we’re just going to see how much money we can scrape together and go from there.” While everyone is not guilty of this exact conversation, there are certain underlying elements that we’ve all been guilty of at one time or another. On the surface it seems pretty innocent. But let’s break it down and see if this makes sense. This is also a great exercise for producers and engineers to go through with their clients. First of all, test the water. If you only have ten songs, what are the chances that those ten songs are all individually great songs? Most successful bands or artists write 20 or 30 songs before going into the studio. Then they start demoing up the songs, performing the songs live, interacting with the producer, and soon they get an idea of what’s working and what’s not. Then the song list gets whittled down from there. Hence my earlier suggestion about taking the time to concentrate on the writing. Next, remember that studio time = money. So many artists walk into a studio, record a project, and then sit back and decide what to do next. This is highly ineffective. This is where I suggest saving everyone time and money by doing what I call “Working Backwards”.

If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know it when you get there?
Lastly, you need to prioritize. Don’t put the cart before the horse. If you are currently in a heavy writing phase, it’s not the time to raise money to record an album. You need to concentrate on the writing! Write twenty songs, play them live for your fans, get some feedback, go back to the drawing board, tweak the songs, go back out and play them live again, start eliminating the weaker ones, etc. Once you have started honing in on the “gems”, (you know—the ones everyone is starting to remember the words to), then you can start planning your recording project or whatever your next step may be. Planning, prioritizing, etc. can be a frustrating process. The plan can keep evolving—and that’s fine! Just keep tweaking it and repeat the process. Always remember: If you don’t know where you’re going, how do you know it when you get there? Working backwards As a working music producer/engineer, I see (and hear) a lot of things. One of those things, more often than not, is a conversation that goes something like this: Band: “Hey, me and my band would like to book some studio time and record our next album.”
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RECORDING NOVEMBER 2011

Start by asking these questions: ~ How many fans do you have? ~ How many shows did you play last year? ~ If you’ve a released a CD in the past, how many CDs (or downloads) did you sell? ~ How many shows do you play a month? ~ How many CDs do you think you can sell at each show? Let’s examine why these questions are important, by way of a simple example. Doing some numbers Let’s say that based on your answers to the above questions, you forecast that your act can realistically sell 1000 physical CDs at your shows in a year, and another 500 in digital download sales. Assuming you’re netting $10 a CD and clearing the usual 60% (average) on the digital, that leaves you with a gross profit of $13,000. Now, let’s also assume that you want the time and money that you put into recording the CD to turn a profit. Again, by way of an example, let’s call that profit a 50% return on your investment. In other words, you want to make back 150% of what you put into making the CD. This means that if you have forecasted a gross profit of $13,000 and you want to make

Recording - November 2011

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