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'One Minute With Dec'
The widest read, 'delivered to your Email box', weekly music Ezine on the Music Net.
The Archive

A service from 'The Serious Writers Guild' at MAKEHITS.COM

Written by Dec Cluskey with a little bit opf help from his friends.

This Email first mailed to all Members of 'The Serious Writers Guild' and subscribers to 'One Minute With Dec' on 21.04.02

The Members' "Thank You's and Success Stories" (would you like to be here?):

"PS: I`ve also got work coming out of my ears - an England World Cup remix for a guy working with John Waterman, a remix for an artist under Ron Atkinson (ex chief A+R Island and ZTT), 4 country tracks for a top country publisher in Nashville, music for film commissions - including music that Ken Russell is listening to, hip-hop music for a live , gorgeous new female act. The talent`s mine, but the method`s yours.

Dec, you`ve created a monster(grin). Thanks."

[Tim Sawyer...Serious Writers Guild Member]

Want to know the biggest music money making item-worldwide!

"How to Start Your Own Music Publishing Business for Less Than £100"

Go straight to it by clicking this link:

www.makehits.co.uk/publishing.htm

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"One Minute With Dec"

"My Emails are written in good humour, and should be read with a smile"

Three tough days in the studio this week.

The way a lot of us are working these days will be of great interest to guys out there who are looking for a Record Deal, a Publishing deal or maybe just enjoy making music.

I've been working with a guy called David Eames. Remember that name - because he will break very big. He has to!

"You cannot work hard, every day at your skills, work hard at your talent and strive with persistence to achieve - and then not succeed."

It is impossible.

His stuff is Hip Hop, a great music to make and when you get it right the vibes are the best! So, what can I tell you about how it's done today?

Well, there are now production companies who have teams of guys just turning out back tracks. Maybe five, six teams in one building hard at it all day long. Possibly finishing [to an acceptable standard] a track a day. No vocals....just a skimpy 'happening' track, obviously with a 'directional idea'. An indication of what the track is about.

The idea is then to give these tracks to writers, performers, future stars and see what they come up with. Only guys who are thought of as 'future' people. The back tracks, in theory, should excite the 'writing' cells in the brain and, again in theory, Hits evolve.



I worked on one a few months ago with David, the track was done by Olli Silk [The 'Thong song' man].

The track we did this time, 'So Real', is possibly Top Five and the tests we have done check that out!

When you have a jumping track to work with the ideas just flow. We had Lucy with us, daughter of an old pal from 'The New Seekers' ....if you remember them you must have a 'bus pass'! Just 19, looks to die for, and a great voice....well it was when I finished with it! I don't think she realised that she could perform like that....we had fun, as well as the hard work. Always remember to have fun. It tends to come straight down the microphone wire and into the recorder.

With a Novation 'A' Station [get one!] we added some amazing sounds. The beauty of the 'A' Station is that you make up your own sounds....so they are totally unique to that one track. You can record the notation from the mother keyboard plus the actual rotary (knob) positions and movements into a sequencer by using a 'midi merger' - so that the information from the 'A' Station goes, as well, via the 'midi merger'. So all the information re. the sounds, plus the notes, are captured in your sequencer.

You can then record the 'A' Station track, via the sequencer, onto the hard disc recorder [or whatever recording medium you use].

That then frees up the 'A' Station to create another mind blowing sound and repeat the whole process, as much as you like. Thus building up a bunch of 'today', '2002' sounds that will knock your socks off!

The only drawback with the 'A' Station is that it is not multi timbral...in other words you can only use it via one midi channel at a time....reason being that it is so massively powerful, a multi timbral version would be horrendously complicated to operate [there is a five midi channel version, pricey, and, well, must be complicated!]

So, with the great back track, the 'A' Station, the vocal samples from the track recorded into one of the Akai's, plus 64 tracks of vocal arrangement, five simultaneous hooks in the final chorus.....do you think it might be a Hit?

How does your last track bear up in comparison?

"Dec, having contact with you makes me feel better because you teach me things
that I don't know and also you teach me life. Thanks - from "

Sergio [Italian Member]

A Serious Warning:

Some of the production companies, who operate in this way, will ask for a complete vocal arrangement when finished with no backing at all....beware! They will even ask for the samples used on your recording.

Your carefully crafted and carefully recorded vocal arrangement could end up as a hook in a UK Garage track or, worse still, chopped up and used as a hook for a chill out track or a wild dance toon....chopped up on 'Pro Tools', you would have a hard job proving it was yours....don't do it, unless you have a firm contract in front of you, signed sealed and delivered, for the track...then and only then deliver the 'vocals only' CD. Members [of 'Serious Writers Guild'] talk to me if in doubt.

With all that amount of tracks, and information...how do we mix it all?

Well, the art is in the careful recording. Making sure the levels are correct when being laid down, or 'printed' as my USA pals say. So that there is precious little to adjust when mixing. We, also, are careful to record any 'tricky bits'...you know the sort of multi echo things or telephone voices...for instance, we used just a three word back phrase and applied RSS delay at 680 MS and 340 MS. In time with the track at 88.2 BPM. We recorded that as twelve vocals of harmonies, then bounced them down with the RSS applied onto a stereo pair...so the effect is there forever....RSS, today, not only pushes the delays far out past the speakers but also up and down in the stereo spectrum....amazing!

The Hard Disc recorder I use [Roland] has an automix memory in it, so we spend a lot of time getting the relative mix of the live voices, guitars, bits and pieces 'perfect'.   I prefer then to use a manual mixing desk.....unless there is an SSL handy!

How about digital mixing?

To me there is no contest...digital desks have not 'settled down yet'.

Much like the Betamax / VHS protocol as regards video recording, there is no definitive system yet.

Certainly, digital desks are slower..in that, you cannot see the complete picture of the desk in front of your eyes. So I would have to favour analogue still. I am a great believer in choosing the system that will give me the most number of auxiliaries...the current best is Allen and Heath...with 10 auxiliaries...hard to beat...and extremely useable.

I currently use a 24 into 8 into 2 channel Soundcraft with a 16 channel Studiomaster as a sub mixer...giving me 40 REAL instantly useable channels and 10 auxiliaries...plus all those insert points. Awesome. A total of 80 real channels to play with.

The Quietness?

As regards the 'quietness' argument...always remember that the most noise comes from the effects units...whether analogue or digital...so until the manufacturers sort out the inherent noise in effects units (including the most expensive) then digital desks have only a marginal 'quietness' advantage.

Undetectable really!

Again, the quietness is in the quality of the initial recordings....by recording at 0DB or as near as d*mmit, then, that is the quietest any signal is going to be - compared to the inherent noise of the preamp or the mic. itself [plus, of course, the ambient studio noise...think about it].

All the midi stuff, if you understand the theories, of course, will be running at maximum and coming through the mixing desk at 0DB....

So, digital?

I have yet to be convinced. They are extremely useful in live situations, where you can have all the stage keyboards running though, say, a Yamaha 01V digital desk plus all the effects returns - so that you can store each toon that the band will play in the memory and, then, that combination of keyboards and effects will come up automatically when required...neat?

"You cannot be overtaught something good can you? "

Serious Writers Guild Member: Bob Daulby

Regards

Dec

"Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad
reputation."

Henry Kissinger

Tip of the week: Always, before committing a vocal to tape/hard disc/VST do an A/B test with different mics. In fact - I compare a minimum of three mics that I feel may be suitable....the results may amaze you. It's not always the expensive mic. that is best for a particular singer.

Hear the amazing A/B/C tests on the interactive audio CD's with 'One Minute With Dec - The First Annual' see details at www.makehits.co.uk/annual.htm

The gags still come - looks like this is a permanent feature?

The phone rings in the maternity ward. Upon answering, the duty midwife is
told by a man "Mrs Jones is about to give birth, her contractions are just 3
minutes apart!"

The midwife asks "Is this her first Child?"

Bemused, the man says "No, don't be daft, this is her Husband!"

============================================

One Moment with Stuart Goldsmith

"You can't heat an oven with snowballs. One must use the firewood of knowledge; love and belief. You gotta know what's cooking, you gotta love what's cooking, you gotta believe in what's cooking.

Success is as simple as that."

www.medina.co.uk

the website of my good friend - Stuart Goldsmith

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SPONSOR

"A quick note to say, I don't know where you find the time to put this good stuff together, just glad you do" [Steve Watkins]

'One Minute With Dec - The First Annual'

plus the two Interactive Audio CD's

Simply click on this link to check out the two incredible bonuses and the special Reservation Order Certificate

Now in it's second printing...so hurry!

www.makehits.co.uk/annual.htm

=====================================================

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Dec Cluskey
The Serious Writers Guild,
Stanton Prior,
Darley Road,
Meads,
Eastbourne BN20 7UH in the UK
Email: dec@makehits.com
Fax.: +44 (0)1323.729318 Tel: +44 (0)7626.955703

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'One Minute With Dec' The widest read, 'delivered to your Email box', weekly music Ezine on the Music Net. The Archive

Bonus if you order today,

Recommend a friend?

'One Minute With Dec'
The widest read, 'delivered to your Email box', weekly music Ezine on the Music Net.
The Archive