Recording studio, audio training, bands and DJs - Aurora, Illinois

FROM BENJIE: The Census

Because I’m sick of my own stories, this month I’ll be writing about you – not me. Keep that in mind as you read the following story about me getting clobbered by the Incredible Canadian Hulk. It’s not about me at all. It’s about you.

Make sense? Ok then.

First, to set the record straight – it was not a Canadian Hulk, per se. It was a mob of Canadian hulks – a veritable army of enormous thirteenth-graders, wider than they were tall. They were going to kill us, and we could not complain because the violence was legitimate. They had a watertight excuse for clubbing me and my friends with their hairy knuckles until we no longer knew what year it was.

They were a rugby team.

And so were we, of course. In high school I was thin and unathletic; I wore thick glasses and my self-esteem had still not quite recovered from the knee-high socks I’d worn well into junior high. When my family moved to Europe and enrolled me in an international school, it was a chance to start again. True, I’d be terrible at rugby – but so would all the other idiot Americans who joined the team with me. Most of us barely understood the rules. The European kids at our school all played soccer.

Thus I found myself in a field one Autumn with 14 other ignorant Americans, squealing like muddy pigs as a team of kids from a Canadian boarding school trounced us on their own turf. Canadians stay in high school until age 19, and these guys had apparently used the extra year to undergo intensive hormone therapies. They were colossal. They played dirty. And they crushed us into powder.

You know what? It felt great.

It’s no fun getting pummeled, naturally. But getting pummeled with your friends – ah, that’s a different story. We helped each other up. We cursed the ref together. We had a common enemy – sorry, Canadians! – and we were united in our hatred of them.

But this is about you, remember? So I’ll get to the point: It’s better on a team.

Music is hard. It’s hard to compose well and hard to record right. It’s hard to find places to play, and even harder to get people to come listen. It’s easy to spend lots of money on music – and hard to earn it back. And all the new technology in the world probably won’t change that.

But it’s better on a team. Struggling is cool when there are others struggling with you. That’s what I’ve wanted for years – to be part of a larger group of musical comrades. To make music together, sure – but also to simply struggle together. To commiserate about how hard it is, and help each other do it better. To talk about what holds each of us back, and to remind each other why it’s so important in the first place.

Other folks have tried this in various ways – Square Peg in Nashville, or AMS in Chicago. We’re trying it here with The Guild. It’s what I want to be about. It’s what I want Backthird Audio to be about.

It’s why I’m writing about you.

Or, more accurately, I’m hoping you’ll write about you. What I want to know now is, who’s on the team? If you’re in the Aurora area and you do music, you are – if you want to be. So do us all a favor. Stand up and be counted.

I’m taking a census right now, right here on the blog for local music types. Stand up and let us know who you are! Leave a comment in the box below telling us what you do and where you do it. Give us your website. Tell us where to hear your music. Click “Post” – and then check back here in a few days to see who else is on your team. Some of us are downright interesting.

Watch, I’ll be the first one:

COMING UP: Michael Roe

If your pulse is racing, you don't need me to tell me who Mike Roe is. But you might be happy to hear that he's playing a private, up-close-and-personal show for an audience of 50 right here at Backthird Audio in downtown Aurora. Want to come?

But wait, there's more! Noah Riemer of mostly-retired Ticklepenny Corner will be opening up. And he and Mike will stick 'round for a potluck-style dessert reception afterward, sipping coffee and (hopefully) downing pie into the wee hours. This is a special night, so tell your friends - but maybe not ALL of them.

Because of the limited capacity, you MUST get tickets in advance thru lo-fidelity records.

The show details from lo-fidelity:

Michael Roe - The "John The Baptist" tour, 2008.  Please join us as "Mike tours to prepare the way for the 77's..."

 

We are happy to announce that Mike will make a brief solo return to the road, playing both acoustic AND electric, to debut material from the soon to be released new 77's recording featuring their take on some very elderly (and recent) obscure (and familiar) American blues/gospel/bluegrass tunes.  Mike had this to say about the tour:

"I am excited to try and play as much of the new album as I can so folks can get an idea of the kinds of songs we did and how we did 'em.  Since everyone has been waiting for two years to hear this, hopefully my little recital will be a fun appetizer while we're all waiting for the main course.  Mmmmmmm......such a tasty treat!"

Please note, we are also planning a "potluck style" dessert with Mike and Noah that will be held directly following the concert in the studio lounge. If you are willing and able, we would love it if those in attendance would bring a dessert to share with everyone who attends the concert.  Coffee, bottled water, and soft drinks will be provided by Lo-Fidelity Records. If you can, please plan on staying and enjoying a time of food and conversation after the show.

See you there!

IN THE STUDIO: The Guild

Why and how did you fall in love with music? That's the question I asked last night at the Guild. The answers were personal (though not so personal as the Decision Box). We heard a lot of childhood stories and embarrassing confessions - and found a few trends. A lot of us have musical parents. Several of us have been playing music literally as long as we remember. None of us can imagine life without it.

Last night also gave us an opportunity to chat about where we might go from here as we seek to connect, encourage and grow one another as musicians. One idea was to do some listening together - this is a recording studio, after all. We all have different tastes, knowledge and experience, and there's a lot to be learned from trying to hear a song through someone else's ears.

Next month, we'll give it a shot. If there's a particular musical language you "speak fluently" or a particular song that stirs you that you'd like to lead a discussion on at next month's Guild (April 28!) - drop me a line. Meantime, click here for last night's photos. See you soon!

DECISION BOX: The Island Five

Last night at the Guild, we also debuted the Decision Box - as good a place as any to put your decisions after you make them. Last night's decision was that classic of discussion starters, the Desert Island Five. You're leaving civilization forever and you can only bring 5 albums - what'll it be?

For some of last night's answers, visit the photo gallery - I've posted answers as the photo caption for those of you unfortunate enough to be photographed. As a group we settled on Radiohead's "OK Computer" as our top choice - with Over the Rhine's "Good Dog, Bad Dog" not far behind. Those of you just tuning in are encouraged to leave your own Island Five in the comments section of this post.

The Guild: Therapy

when: 7:30pm Monday, March 24

where: Backthird Audio (map)

who: artists, producers, promoters, and anyone else who "does" music at any level

what: eating, drinking, talking

plus: discussing tracks with Steve Watkins of Reaching for Mercy

and introducing: the Decision Box

TIPS AND TOOLS: Read These!

This morning I set aside some time - ok, I got distracted - and caught up on some online reading. If, like me, you're looking to make a living in music, try feeding your head with the following:

1. 1000 True Fans was last week's Internet superstar (which I suppose makes it this week's old news). Kevin Kelly's thesis is that you don't need a million fans to have a great career - you need a thousand who'll buy everything you do. That isn't easy - but it is personal.

2. Marketing guru Seth Godin wrote earlier this year about lessons learned from the faltering record industry. All 14 are helpful, but the zingers for me were 0 (you heard me), 2 and 4.

3. Chicago's music scene is the third-biggest in the nation, putting both Austin and Nashville to shame - not that anybody really knows that. Part of the problem is a history of competition and hostile relations - both within the music community and with city government.  As The Reader reported last month, a lot of folks want to turn that around. (Think community's important? See you March 24 at The Guild!)

FROM BENJIE: Bye-bye, Big Break

In ten more years, with any luck, “Behind the Music” will be lame.

I spent last weekend at the SEA conference, an annual gathering for regional artists who’re making – or looking to make – their living doing what they love. Since part of Backthird Audio’s mission is to help folks do that very thing, I jumped at chance to spend two days with others who are walking that same path.

But as encouraging as that was (and it was – click here for my report), what stood out most about the conference were the things I didn’t see. I didn’t see one “showcase” or one music-industry “executive.” There were no mixers, junkets or press opportunities. No gorgeous divas or tight-trousered bands were handing demos out to strangers in the hotel lobby, and I didn’t catch a single songwriter wearing that desperate, wide-eyed “sign me” stare. In short, it seemed like people came to learn and network – not to “get discovered.”

Maybe the Big Break is finally dying.

By “Big Break” I mean, of course, that second-greatest of American dreams – the idea that, if you can just be in the right place at the right time playing your guitar, some producer or Rolling Stone columnist or record-label dude will be so awed by your raw talent that he’ll sweep you up onto his horse and haul you off into a sunset full of fat checks, photo shoots and crowd-packed stadiums. Entrepreneurs dream of being self-made men, of pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. But too often artists dream of being made by others.

See the graph next to this month’s column? That’s my sketch of the Big Break. The low plateau is your career before the Big Break – flatlined, going nowhere as you play the same sad songs at the same open mics for months or years and wait for things to change. Then, at the spot where I wrote “BAM,” the president of EMI walks into your local coffeehouse on a layover, hears the song about your ex-girlfriend and shouts “I gotta have that!” At that moment angel choirs sing and your money problems disappear forever. A&R guys sign a contract with you in the parking lot while pretty girls swing on trapezes, and your self-doubt burns away like so much morning dew. It’s just like in that movie “Rock Star.” Or “That Thing You Do.” Or one of those Elvis movies.

See? The myth is everywhere.

It was never actually true, of course. If there’s one thing we’ve learned in a whole decade of “Behind the Music” episodes, it’s that the fast road to success is pretty bumpy. Without the maturity that comes from struggle and hard work, easy success tends to bring hard addictions, custody battles and bankruptcy. None of which probably figure in your dreams of musical success.

If the chances of some industry hotshot handing you a great life were slim before, they’re even slimmer now. With record labels cutting jobs and signing fewer artists, there are fewer record execs than ever looking to swoop in like some Disney prince and kiss your dead career awake. Real success – even, I’m thinking, music-industry success – has never happened that way anyhow. Real success comes from perseverance, dedication and steady growth – on my “Big Break” graph, it’s a steady, rising line, not a sudden spurt. It’s a series of tiny breaks, one after the next.

Which is why, if the myth Big Break is truly dying, I’ll be glad to dance upon its grave. Maybe the next decade of “Behind the Music” will be full of boring episodes about folks who got rich by working hard. Maybe more of us will learn what folks at SEA seem to have figured out: Your prince might not be coming. If you want to be in the music business, you’re probably going to need to learn the music business.

It’s either that, or keep on sleeping.

TIPS AND TOOLS: Three from SEA

I spent last weekend at SEA, a regional conference for professional - and aspiring professional - artists of all types that focuses on the business side of arts careers. While I was there to give a seminar on vision, the true upside was the chance to meet and learn from other folks who're farther down the art-as-business path than I am. Here are three lessons that stood out over the weekend.

1. Spend 20% of your time on your music -- and 80% on your business. Matt Boresi, a librettist who teaches theater at North Central College, didn't just rely on his own experience for this one - he called the Lyric Opera to find out how much of their annual budget goes into actual opera productions. The answer: about a fifth. It takes a lot of effort to make music -- but four times as much to sell it successfully.

2. Narrow your appeal. St Louis marketing guru Bob Baker said breaking into any market is like busting through a wall -- you'll do better pushing with an icepick than with a piece of plywood. Creating a brand for your music that people remember works the same way -- if you do everything, you're not likely to be remembered for anything. Distill your music into one sentence that will stick in people's minds when you describe it to them - you'll stand a better chance at making them actually want to hear it.

3. Make it no-risk for them. Whether you're pitching a CD, a show, or a business opportunity, you're going to have trouble getting anyone to take a risk on something they've never heard. Pianist Tim O'Neil got himself a gig at his neighborhood J.C. Penney before the department store even had a piano -- by working deals with a local music store so he could offer the piano and his services completely free. In short order, O'Neil's company had pianos in more than 100 J.C. Penneys nationwide - and he was raking in cash from sales of his CDs hand over fist.

TIPS AND TOOLS: Four for Free

Here are four tools I picked up at last weekend's SEA Conference for you to keep handy as you're working on the business side of your music. Play your cards right and they won't cost you a dime.

1. Get Educated. Artists House Music is my new favorite hangout - a Web site devoted to educating musicians about the music business. Experts explain everything from marketing strategies to royalty payments in easy-to-digest 3-minute video installments.

2. Get a Lawyer. Lawyers for the Entertainment Arts is Chicago's answer to your artistic legal woes -- and they'll work pro bono if your income's low enough.

3. Get Optimized. If you've got your own Web site, breeze by DomainTools.com and type your domain in the box to make sure the registration's in your name (if someone else - like a designer - registered it for you, you'll want to get something in writing pronto to ensure you keep the domain if the two of you go separate ways.) Then check your Search Engine Optimization score, which measures how well prospective fans are likely to fare when they hunt for your site on Google. The Domain Toosl "SEO Text Browser" will even recommend changes to your site to help you fare better. Because if they can't find you on the Web, you may as well not be there.

4. Get in touch. If you don't use e-mail to consistently correspond with fans, it's time to start. There are a lot of great paid services for email publishing (we use Constant Contact), but you can get started for absolutely free by going the Yahoo! Groups route.