A. The quick and simple answer is $60.00 per hour. That, however, might not be enough to accurately answer you fully. Cost is always a direct function of many things: Your preparedness, your professionalism, how well you do in the studio, how picky (or not) you are, how picky (or not) I am, How 'good' do you want the project to sound, etc... Here's a very accurate way to get a fairly good 'ball park' estimate of how long it will take to get the project done. If you want to have a professional sounding, clean recording, plan on spending about 5-6 studio hours per song for tracking. This includes the basic tracks, overdubs and cleaning and scrubbing. Some songs take more, some take less. However, the 5-6 hour/song rule almost always turns out to be about right. Use the 6 hour/song rule for 6 tunes or less. Use the 5 hour/song for 7 or more tunes. Plan on about 2-3 studio hours for mixdown. Here again, some tunes take more, some less. It always seems to work out in the wash.

For demos divide the numbers in half. Demos, by nature, don't take as long. However, they don't sound as good.

Do I do package deals? Of course, but we must talk first... I'm always willing to work with the artist to make things happen.

A. I've produced over 250 projects thus far for over 200 artists, 35 record labels. My productions have made the Billboard Top 40, MTV regular rotation, college radio, bla bla bla... Does this mean anything to you? I dunno... does it mean I can make you a rock star? Probably not. I say these things because I quite often find that people choose a producer for all the wrong reasons. While it is true that choosing the right person to produce a record can help get you signed, famous, lots of money, lots of whatever, etc... it is vastly stupid to base your decision solely on this merit. You SHOULD, however, chose a producer based upon their work and what it can do for (or to) your sound. The best way to decide whether or not to choose me as your producer/engineer is to ask questions like:

Do you like the way my productions sound?

Do the artists who've worked with me like my work?

Do the consumers of a particular artist like my work? (the fans...)

Do I get the most out of that artist?

Are my fees in line with what I can do?

Do we (or will we) work well together in the studio?

Do we produce a product that has a lasting value as music, as art and as a recording?

Does my work take the artist to a level they might not have gotten to otherwise?

If you feel that you can answer yes to most or all these questions, then I might be the right person for the job.

Here's some things I know about myself:

I'm a pretty easy person to get along with. I am very interested in the song writing process and how to get the ideas on tape. I love working with artists and listening to their ideas and wishes. I do not like to write songs for an artist. There's something odd about that process for me. It'd be like ghost writing a novel for Kurt Vonnegut Jr. I am a good place to throw you're ideas to see 'what sticks.' I work very well with all areas of music production, but particularly with vocalists and rhythm sections. Lots of people seem to like my drum sounds. I always try to get 'just a little more' out of everyone's performance. I'm brutally honest with my artists, (but not in a mean way...) What happens in the studio, stays there. I like my sessions to be 'safe houses' that allow for full, open creation. I work hard to make my artists comfortable. Pacing is very important to me. I like to keep the pace in line with the music we're working on. I've done this a long time and have much experience to draw upon. I know my gear and have almost no down time during a session. I love to tell stories and bore people with them without much provocation.. I love humor and try to keep things loose and funny when appropriate and serious and intense when the song calls for it. Most artists I work with move on to bigger and better things but keep coming back again and again. I find this the most rewarding part of working in music. I'm not the person you want to record Jazz. I just don't have the right ear for it. I do best with Rock, Alternative, Punk, Roots Rock, Country, R&B, Hip Hop. I will, however, try most anything.

A. The process is usually along the lines of this:

1. Pre Production / rehearsal. This phase is the most overlooked. You don't want to over rehearse. You should, however, have played the songs enough that you can easily play through them without stopping and also easily start anywhere in the middle of the song without being confused as to where you are. Don't come in thinking that you'll figure out how the song goes when you start recording. The lack of confidence will show up on the tape. Another good idea is to practice playing the songs using a metronome. It's amazing what playing against one will show you about your sense of time. If you can play a song well and stay together with a metronome, the real take without one will be twice as good.

2. Basic Tracking. This is the first days of recording. With a typical rock/country band, this is the recording of the drums / bass. There are times when the entire band also tries to 'go for the tape.' It depends upon the genre of music and whatnot as to what works best. Here's some ideas to help make this go well. Drummers... buy new drum heads for all your drums. (top heads only for the financially challenged) put them on a few days in advance and give them a chance to stretch out a bit. Come in ready to tune. I typically will tune the drums for the drummers I record. I try to work together with the drummer to achieve what they're looking for on tape. Bring lots of stuff to hit. It's a real good idea to bring several types of snare drums. Beg, borrow or steal what you can. It's good to have the following snare drums available: Your good ole' snare should come. It's your sound. You should have a good wood snare, a good metal snare, perhaps bring a piccolo or something special. Bottom line, bring lots. It's also a good idea to have a couple choices for all your cymbals. What works for live situations is not always a good choice for recording. I find that drummers choose cymbals that don't ring long enough for studio work. It makes sense since an overly ringy cymbal is annoying for live applications. However, in the studio, you tend to have better acoustics and you're dealing with the microphones.

To all the other people. Just bring what you need to be a support for the drummer. Guitarists, this is not the time for you to bring a huge assortment of amps and/or pedals to try out. Just bring what you need to get through the basic tracks.

3. Overdubs. Once we have recorded all the basic tracks it's time to move on to overdubs. This is where everyone else gets to do their parts. I typically start building from the ground up. I work on bass, guitars, keys. This is an area of mystery for most the newbee bands. It is not necessary, or even desirable, for the band members whose tracks are not being worked on to be there. You'll soon find that you're bored and will quickly find something else to entertain yourself. That new form of entertainment usually ends up distracting the people who are working. So, unless you are the kind of person who can sit quietly in a room and not interact with other people for hours on end, I'd recommend not coming to an overdub session that you're not going to be playing in. Let the producer/engineer and the musician work in peace. Vocals are one of the last things I typically work on. There are exceptions to this but it's typically so. Lastly we have all the little clean up items such as aux percussion parts, tweaks and stunt parts. After all the overdubs are completed it's time to mix.

A. This is simultaneously the most fun and the most painful part of the process. I have a method that initially is strange to most newbees. I insist that no one from the band or its management, A&R, label, radio, band counselor, roadie, etc... is present for mixdown. Most bands bristle when we discuss this issue. However, before you turn away, hear me out. Here's my reasoning:

Firstly, if you went through the proper process for choosing a producer, you then must have liked the way he or she mixes music. If so, then why would things be any different? He or she will probably get the mixes within the ball park of what you like to hear.

Secondly, you, the artists, typically don't listen to music in my control room. I've spent a lot of time on my monitors. I can tell you it is a constant struggle. I continually listen to lots of music on them and confer with my mastering engineers and ask what can I change that's wrong with my mixes. What typically ends up happening in mixdown sessions with the band present is they spend about the first half hour quietly sitting on their hands. Soon, they become bored and begin to chat about the news,weather, sports. I can't hear the music over their chatting so I tweak the volume up a little. The band cannot now hear their conversation. So, they begin to speak louder. The process continues until they are all shouting and laughing above a roaring mix that is total crap. When they later listen to this junk in their normal environment, they suddenly realize that it sounded nothing at all like what they thought they were hearing in the control room. Now they return with very serious faces and a whole laundry list of things they're going to change. However, they know nothing of the system and end up floundering helplessly with their engineer who they no longer trust. Fights erupt and nobody has a good time. The record ends up not sounding very good because although 'Joey' who's a marvelous bass player and has been at it for 10 years has never mixed a record and doesn't really know what sounds good. So, having laid this scenario out, here's how I do it...

I am the only one at mixdowns. (I can work much more quickly when I'm not explaining how a compressor works for the umpteenth time.) I then burn down mixes that are marginally mastered on a CD. The band gets the CD with the mix. They then take it to their home/car/hot tub/walkman/computer stereo speakers... (where they typically listen to everything else they enjoy) and make very real and valid comparisons. While they are not experts at hearing what goes on in my control room, they are experts at the systems they listen to normally. The artists can then send me emails or phone messages with comments like, "The whole mix sounds muddy," or,"at 2:10 the guitar riff I played is not loud enough," or "Take out the 2nd vocal part on the word 'is'. I don't like how Joey sings that." I then burn a new disc with the mix version written on it and the changes requested by the band. The process repeats until the mix is done. There are occasions that the artist will say that my first try is right on the mark and they are completely happy. However, typically there are always changes. A mix may go through 3-4 changes before the artist is happy. As the whole process continues, the artist soon has a disc with several mixes on it. They can also send along song orders with the mix comments. In this way the band can toy and play with the song order as we go. Quite often you'll hear an artist say that they decided that Song A is a good follow up to Song D. The only reason they even considered it was that I randomly picked the order when I burned the disc. Once we have a bunch of good mixes, we're ready to master the project.

 
The Millions
Mercy Rule

Soul Support

Casting Pearls

Birdcage Walk

Common Ground
Sideshow
Roosevelt Franklin
Yardapes
Blue Moon Ghetto
The Plowbabys
Bungalow Trailer Park
Lullaby For The Working Class
We’d Rather Be Flying
Bright Eyes
Cursive
Happy Dog
Her Flyaway Manner
Killdozer
Peer Puppets
Opium Taylor
Beyond
Bone China
Clark County
Echoing Green

Free Fall
The Geckos
Heros and Villains
Hour Slave
Johnny Rocket Science
Jumpin’ Kate and the Rollover Sisters
Meelee
Middle Monkey
Red Max
Rosebud
Sawhorse
The Self Righteous Brothers
The Sissies
Stew
Think
Tom Ficke Group
Urethra Franklin
The Young Executives

Ron Frame

The Nebraska Brass Ensemble

The Nebraska Jazz Ensemble