Greg_L
"What is it that you do exactly?"
That's a fair question, as it was my initial PM to Charter-La re HER editorial that started this topic going.
Who am I.
Firstly, I live in Australia and I am probably the oldest person on this forum (70+ years), but I have been involved in the music business at various levels since the late 1950's when I played piano in a six piece pop group (major claim to fame there being one New Years Eve when I broke eight notes on the piano, three of the hammers were never found --- but that's another story). In the early 1960 while at Uni (studying electronics, majoring in audio) I designed and built my first recording studio --- I not only designed and constructed the acoustics (mainly hundreds of egg cartons), but I also designed and built all the electronics (this included the tape recorders {I only purchased the empty decks}, console, speaker boxes and amplifiers --- there were virtually no effects systems available then and those that were cost more than I could afford at the time). This studio became famous for its vocal booth --- the studio's toilet (great reverb), that was called many things!!!!!. This studio was responsible for recording quite a few top ten records (no one that anyone would remember today), but it was also responsible for recording the first real hit song of a group that later became one of the biggest/most successful in the world (due to contractural reasons, I am not allowed to publicly identify them, but I am sure that Google could help if you are really interested!!!!). While at this studio, I diversified and started my first record label (Top Spot Records) and it was on this label that a number of the artists that went through the studio were signed and released.
In 1965, I had outgrown this studio and moved closer to the CBD, where I built a much larger studio (could take a symphony orchestra) and again I designed all the acoustic treatment and the electronics. In 1966 I decided to change the label name to "SOUND66". The label logo was great and it was responsible for releasing a number of top selling LP's by local acts (The Creatures, Bernard Bolan and The Thirty Day Wonders to name just a few). I also commenced recording many radio commercials and the musical sound track for a number of films and TV commercials.
Then a major problem occurred --- 1966 became 1967 and the "hip" label and everything that went with it became "old hat", especially for advertising agencies, so I had to look for another name and "Copperfield" was born and still exists today, 45 years later and as our slogan goes "Proudly Australian and Independent for more than Forty years". I also started a film production business and I believe that it was responsible for recording the first clip of an Australia "pop" act, although another recotd company claim that they wre first!!!!!!!
Because of the commercials my studio was recording and because (at the time) the majority of advertising agencies were located in the heart of the CBD and because they were reluctant to travel, in 1969, the studio moved for the third time. This time, I had the idea that the best recording environment would be in the middle of a 1000acre cow paddock --- no echo, no standing waves, no resonant frequencies (forget the birds, wind, etc), so I decided to design a studio that effectively had no walls. The end result was a studio that was regarded as possibly the best studio in the country for recording "pop" type music, as there was no spill (eg if you had a piano player sitting at one end of the studio and playing with a drummer half way down, both had to wear headphones because they could not hear each other). In this studio I recorded possibly the first heavy metal band in Australia (Radio Birdman) and by the time I sold it the studio had been responsible for recording a large number of recordings by some of the top artists in the country --- many old timers (or those that are still with us) still regard the studio as one of the best and one that produced some of the best sounds. It was definitely responsible for recording some of the best product released on my Copperfield label, including Bernard Bolan, John Battersby, Benny and the Jets and Aidan Nolan (yes the chap that is now sitting high in the US billboard charts -- his "Tales from the Son" LP was recorded in the studio and released on the Copperfield label in the mid 1970's and his lastest release "No Straight Lines" was born in my lounge room and the initial vocals and guitar recorded in my current studio (now in another state). The studio was also responsible for either winning, or being nominated for, a number of prizes at the then Australia version of the Grammies.
Along the way, I have also run the sound dept at the Sydney Opera House (during the first 16 years of its life) and have beern responsible for doing the FOH sound for some of the most famous artists, including John Denver, Frank Sinatra, Joan Sutherland, Pavoritti, The Australian Opera and many others.
Today my record label is in the process of signing and releasing a team of new artists, BUT only if I can make some form of reasonable return on the money I invest to produce the recordings for those artists.
I am still recording (and still on a daily basis learning things), I do not particularly like ITB type recording, I have Cubase but seldon use it, I prefer to sit behind a good console and record to a real recorder --- my gear currently consists of a 96 Chnl fully automated digital console and 56 tracks of digital HD recorder (2 x 24 track + 1 x 8 track all frame accurately synced to the desk), I also have about $60K+ of microphones and a pile of outboard effects units (although I now seldom use these as everything I require is on the desk and I do not particularly like "near field" monitoring, I prefer a couple of good quality "mid field" monitors. I have not really gone into surround sound, but am looking at this option.
And to bring this LONG posting to a end, in my opinion for the vast majority of artists being signed LUCK IS EVERYTHING, for example my last two signings were (a) I happened to be at a hotel one night having dinner (not looking for artists) and unknown to me it was Karoke night and a singer got up and sang --- she was signed before I left for home, (b) the other I was on Youtube looking for a particular clip, when I made a typo and another clip by a different artist started playing -- that artist's recording is the one I have detailed the cost of earlier on this topic and will be released very soon.
I trust that the foregoing gives some idea of my background, to give a full reply would take a book or two --- which I should really write one day!!!!!!!!!
David
in another one of her costumes...nothing extreme/weird, or I would have guessed it was her, rather just dressed different enough to not to make it obvious that it was her...and so I watched the whole thing thinking how well it was done.
