ASK WEEGE - Working Out a Recording Startegy

8 October 07

Welcome to The Pier's 'Ask Weege' column. Every week the 880 South's front man and music scene veteran will be answering questions and providing tips for up-and-coming bands and musicians.

Ian from Portland asks, 'Our band has a limited budget to go into the studio and lay down some tracks. Would you spend the money on 5 or 6 awesome sounding studio tracks for an EP, or a rougher sounding album with 10-15 tracks? We have the songs and think they are all great and would love to record them all. What would you do?'

Weege: It's hard to say. We have our own 42 track analog/digital studio over at Street Noise Studios. Now that we have Pro Tools, we have even less limitations. It still costs us a bit of money, but we firmly believe in spending on quality to make our ends meet.

So I have to put myself in your shoes here. I personally am all about quality. Still some bands need to make money to spend money to make money again. It's a vicious circle. I've seen plenty of bands release 10-12 songs on a CD in a low quality studio and still do alright. Especially bands that go the home studio route. It is worth it if you work your ass off to sell the CD. Still you wanna have some form of quality to your product.

When the Floppy Rods first released an album it was a 5 song EP. Now we had about 12 songs, but we felt we needed to put our 5 best songs at that time. The truth is, it's hard to market 5 songs on a CD. We were basically slinging 5 songs for $5. Fair price. Still, you don't really do much damage with that. However, if you are recording for the purpose of exposure, this is great. That's what you have to figure out. It's awesome for exposure because it just gives them a taste.

We recorded the first 4 880 South tracks basically to be given away. I had no intention of selling those tracks as an EP. It was strictly a promotional demo. Hence the reason why we have re-recorded a few of those songs on albums. We also play them different. It has been 3 or 4 years. Wow! Time flies. So yeah I would basically get CD duplication done every month. About 100. It cost me about 100-150 bucks a month. Get a simple print on the disc, one color. I'd drop these CDs off in slimline jewel cases I found at U-line and at about 10 per record store in the flyer section. Most shops have em. So if we had a show. I would not only leave 10-20 FREE CDs, but I'd also leave flyers for our upcoming dates. It really kick started 880 South into gear. They also serve as demos when submitting to radio stations, magazines and such.

So when it came time to release Beware. We felt our exposure level was high enough to make ourselves marketable. So we felt getting 13 tracks on an album was definitely beneficial.

What I'm trying to say is. Are you recording to market your music? Or are you recording to get your name out? I know they are both intertwined but this is important. For me, how is anyone going to buy my CD if they never heard of us? Sure you can sell your CD to your friends. After all 100+ buy it. Then what? You're stuck with 800 somethin' CDs in your storage. I mean word of mouth is great, but you're not gonna make any money that way anytime soon.

Go the safe route, get the exposure. Go buy a "musicians atlas" for some contacts. Put together a press kit. Get your name exposed, get your CD to media outlets, magazines, radio stations & people who can help you gain exposure. Get a few of your "Best" songs recorded. If you are uncertain which are you top 5-6 songs; ask your friends. They are not as attached as you are, and will give you the honest answer.

Now...if you wanna make money. Record them all and start marketing that CD heavily. Expect to spend a lot before you make a lot. MySpace is great. Still, get off your ass and get out on the streets. Go to other band's shows. Spread the word like a mean case of the herpes.

Grassroots helps, but it's good to get your music in catalogs. You know like when you skim through the TV channels and hear someone like Stoopid, Pepper, Bargain on a reality show. You're like...wait...wtf. Is that "such and such" on a reality show I hear? That's catalogs, you can find tons of services in the Musicians Atlas that will get your music on TV shows, commercials. Do the research, put together a kickass press kit, and get exposed. I'm a bit off subject here. All I'm sayin' is, you have to decide what your goals are for your music before you go in and record.

As every Adam Sandler movie is full of genius and wit. I'd like to close with "You Can Doooo It!"

Have a question for Weege? Send them to Ask Weege