Co-President: Kerry J Haps
Co-President: Mary Mazurek
Vice-President: Mark Rubel
Secretary: Chris Cwiak
Treasurer: Danny Leake
Editor: Gary Khan
Publisher: Dave Jeziorski

Volume 21 Number 10
October, 2006

EARS Meets
@
The Chicago Chapter of The Recording Academy®
John Buck Lecture Hall - 224 S. Michigan Ave. - First Floor
Chicago, IL 60604

Tuesday, October 24th, 2006
6:00 - 9:00 p.m.

LOCATION:

Hey Hey!

This year's Halloween EARS meeting is coming a week early and dressed as a very interesting NARAS panel discussion on Digital Audio, featuring our very own Mark Rubel and Michael Freeman as moderators and some very illustrious panelists.

Free to NARAS members, if you are, just RSVP to NARAS directly according to their request below.

EARS will pick up the tab for our dues-paying members (they're giving us a discount and EARS is paying the rest). (See note below regarding dues... They're due!) Please RSVP to EARS at Archmart@comcast.net by the end of Friday, October 20th and we'll let NARAS know our numbers.

If you're not a member of EARS or NARAS, then they're charging $30.00 to cover some of their costs. Essentially, paying your EARS dues by the then and becoming a full, voting member gets you in gratis! Our fearless leader(s) will verify current membership at the door.

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Featuring:
Joe Chiccarelli: GRAMMY® Award Winning Producer (Beck, U2, Elton John, Tori Amos)

Tony Maserati: GRAMMY Award Winning Mixer/Engineer (Beyoncé, Jay-Z, R. Kelly, Mary J. Blige)

Trevor Sadler: Mastering Engineer, Mastermind Productions (Ramsey Lewis, Charlie Sexton, Soil, Tony Levin)

Steve Smith: President, Avastor

Larry Sturm: Engineer, Pressure Point Recording Studio (R. Kelly, Twista, Destiny’s Child, Lil’ Kim)

Moderated by - Mark Rubel and Michael Freeman

FREE for Recording Academy Members
$15 EARS Members (Paid for by EARS for Dues-Paying Members as of that night) $30 Non-Members

RSVP_Chicago@grammy.com (only if you're not a dues-paying EARS member) 312.786.1121

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DUES:
“Dues are due”:

Send a check for $25 made payable to EARS to EARS c/o Pegasus P.O. Box 578903, Chicago, IL 60657.

Include your name, address, phone number and e-mail address. (or you can bring it to the meeting)

ELECTION NOTICE:
According to the EARS bylaws, this is the time to send out the ballot for this years election.

At this time, yours truly, Kerry J Haps is the only nominee, having been nominated (and seconded) at the September EARS meeting. I’m honored and would gladly serve another year. I feel like I’ve just begun and there’s a lot more to get to.

The final count will occur at the November meeting. Emailed ballots must be received by 11/22/06.

All submitting ballots will be checked for dues status before vote tally is final.

APPRECIATION FILE/RECAP:
(with sincere thanx, yet again for excellent notes from our secretary & newest cub reporter, Chris Cwiak –ed.)

Producer as Engineer? at Wall to Wall Studios September 26, 2006

We were treated to a panel discussion on the balance between being a recording engineer and a producer lead by EARS Vice President Mark Rubel, of Pogo Studio. The panel consisted of Wall to Wall’s Dan Dietrick, EARS founder Michael Freeman, EARS Treasurer Danny Leake of Urban Guerilla, and Pressure Point Studio’s Larry Sturm. This panel has worked with recording artists and musicians such as B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Destiny’s Child, Hank Williams Jr., Stevie Wonder, The Police, Ray Charles, Mariah Carey, Lil’ Kim, Luther Allison, The Redwalls, The Changes and Andrew Bird to name just a few.
Some pearls of wisdom from this distinguished panel:

- Some bands may need you to be a producer, not just an engineer.

- In most current pop genre’s, a producer means someone who makes beats for the musician to use.

- The producer (continues to be – ed.) the scapegoat for the label: the record must come in on time and on budget.

- A producer hired by the band is like the “fifth member” who acts as a sounding board to bounce ideas.

- “It’s always easier to try an idea than to argue about it.” He tries to keep open to an idea presented to him during a session; you never know what’ll come out of it, and if nothing really does, then at least you’ve tried something new. (and billed for it – ed.)
- The producer must sometimes act as a referee.

- Some producers aren’t engineers in an attempt to keep a “consumer’s ear” and know what they like and what works simply on instinct.

- The engineer is THE “ears” on the other side of the glass. The producer must know the artist’s vision and also be the brains on the other side of the glass. Being creative and analytical simultaneously is often very difficult for most people to do, hence the producer/engineer conundrum.

- Typically, the producing and engineering aspects are separated for compensatory purposes. The engineer will often get a flat rate, whereas the producer will also get points on sales of the recording. Determining points has gotten increasingly difficult with the ability to separate albums into individual songs that can be purchased and downloaded off the internet. Some producers take the same percentage of sales as a singular band member as a more equitable method of payment.

- Bands have gotten more creative with their modes of distributing their music. Instead of relying solely upon labels, many will utilize the internet or will take lump-sum payments to license their music out to a label for a set period of time.

-With the record industry shrinking due to declining record sales, fewer staff can work at a studio and you will wind up relying heavily on referrals to musicians who must now pay for recording their own material.

- In closing, our moderator, Mark Rubel, concluded “good producers meld the art, technology and business of the music industry using music, the art of human communication over time and space”.

A sincere thank you goes out to everyone on our panel for taking the time and travel (Mark!) to share with us. A very special thanks to Dan Dietrich and his staff for opening up that hole in his Wall (to Wall) for us and for his continuing hospitality towards the up and comers at Columbia College Chicago. Personally, I benefited from this relationship between the two and am a better engineer today for it. Let’s also not forget to congratulate Dan on his recent wedding engagement!
Also, a “Get Well” wish to one Mary Mazurek-Khan for a speedy recovery from her recent accident.

Thanks and see you there,
Kerry J Haps, Co-President, EARS





If you have any ideas for stories, wish to contribute an article, or want to include any upcoming events, please contact:

Gary at ears@ears-chicago.org. Or write to:
Pegasus Recording P.O Box 578903, Chicago, IL 60657.