The fun part of mastering - famous celeb clients

[jayfrigo]

Originally Posted by audioaddict

Would like to hear how guys working in the industry enjoy the fringe benefit of working with famous singers, rappers and musicians and if it adds a lot to the joy of the work itself, or if it might be an overrated aspect.

I'd imagine even if the mastering work is less than scintillating for a compressed, loud Top 40 artist, it still must be fun to have a preview of the album and be involved.

Feel free to share stories.

Sometimes it's fun, other times it's like babysitting. Some of the artists are just normal people and so appreciative of your work, but occasionally you get the diva that is not much fun. The really "famous" people often don't come in, or just stop by for a short time to check it out and then leave.

One well-known singer just had us keep uploading stuff for her to check out on her holiday on a mediterranean island. Sometimes it would take hours for her to get back to us so we just sat there ticking hourly rate, waiting. It was obviously more than a one-day affair.

It's always fun when it's an artist that you really like and respect and they turn out to be so approachable. One jazz piano great came maybe an hour or two into the session and asked if it was OK for him to sit in back and watch me work. He promised no to get in the way. I couldn't believe it. I told him, "It's your record; it's wonderful to have you here. Would you like to come up front and listen?" He replied no, he'd just stay on the couch and let me do my thing.

[Lagerfeldt]

The joy of mastering for me is primarily in the work itself. Sometimes amazing music can make it even more enjoyable or enjoyable in a different way, but a bad mix can be as much fun to master as a very good mix.

I don't have a lot of interesting stories to share even about the biggest artists I've mastered for since it's often the producer or A&R who's present. The handful of times I've had #1 artists present they've without exception been down to earth and it's been like hanging out with friends. No divas here.

It was cool to see the crowd go wild to a track I've mastered, so I'd like to share that instead. This is David Guetta playing the track at Tomorrowland a couple of weeks ago:

David Guetta playing Craissy 2K12 at Tomorrowland PART 2/2 - YouTube

EDIT: Just remembered that when Coolio was here in 2005, I mastered a track he featured on. That was a an unusual setup because he had his whole entourage with him, including a guy so big he couldn't fit in a regular limo and had trouble going through the door in the studio.

[Jim Williams]

You get to work with them tracking and sometimes mixing, but mastering? Most are off on their vacations by then.

[ORC]

I've dealt mainly with A&R folk, and producers. On rare occasions I've met the artist or artists.

[SASMastering]

I have worked with a mass of top level musicians. Sure it's fun they tend to be highly professional people, often friendly and communicate clearly who appreciate being treated like a normal human being in my experience. Being an online studio I rarely meet clients. Ups and downs, swings and roundabouts.

[Greg Reierson]

Celebrity worship is for the kids. Great music comes from all corners.

[SASMastering]

Originally Posted by Greg Reierson

Celebrity worship is for the kids. Great music comes from all corners.

I agree great music can come from those who are not famous, at least as much as those who are household names. However I do not agree that idolizing intense skill and professionalism is for kids. In professional context I have rarely idolized those who I have worked with. However when it comes to personal enjoyment of music until you have idolized or been musically in awe of someone it is difficult to appreciate how important music is to people, and it provides valuable insight and stops work becoming 'just another job'.

[audioaddict]

Originally Posted by Greg Reierson

Celebrity worship is for the kids. Great music comes from all corners.

No one said anything about worship.

There's a lot to be annoyed at how famous musicians/singers record/mix/master.

For starters.

[Fabmaster]

Originally Posted by SASMastering

I have worked with a mass of top level musicians. Sure it's fun they tend to be highly professional people, often friendly and communicate clearly who appreciate being treated like a normal human being in my experience. Being an online studio I rarely meet clients. Ups and downs, swings and roundabouts.

Really? Whom?

Fab

[wado1942]

The first famous person for whom I worked; I got done & paid for the job long before I even knew he was world famous. It was such a good performance & mix that I played it for a couple of people I know, who asked if that was for real. "No, that's really a local guy, right?" I've worked for a few others famous people and they've largely been very nice & professional. The vast majority of my clients have been guys working in their bedrooms & garages (or sometimes kitchens) and those are all over the place. Sometimes it seems like the lower the budget, the more demanding the client.

[subby33]

Originally Posted by wado1942

Sometimes it seems like the lower the budget, the more demanding the client.

So VERY true.

[Ben F]

Kenny Rogers was here yesterday, recording not mastering. That was pretty cool.

[jdg]

Originally Posted by Ben F

Kenny Rogers was here yesterday, recording not mastering. That was pretty cool.

i love his chicken

[finetuner]

First of all, i do feel priviliged to be part of a true artists' creative process,
whether or not attending.

When they do attend, i start off excited, little extra tense perhaps, only to discover along the way that they can be as insecure as anybody. For some this leads to indecisive behaviour which can make for a looong day.

Usually though, i sense that the very reason they come to an independent ME is exactly to have someone help them make the final steps from a specialist's point of view. It takes a confident stance from my side besides of cause a frienly atmosphere where they can feel at home.

Confidence comes with experience obviously but i really learned how this works with my biggest client. When he senses any insecurity from my side, he automatically starts to test me forcing to go beyond limits until i say: this is how it should be and i'm certain.
Then he's sweet as a kitten and hands over the responsibility he's paying me for!

[SASMastering]

Originally Posted by Fabmaster

Really? Whom?

Fab

mastering engineer

[huejahfink]

Hey Barry, recording Billy Cobham sounds amazing! He's one of those drummers I have to be careful my jaw doesn't smash when it hits the floor. It's a regularly over/mis-used word, but I think he's a musician who is truly worthy of the term "awesome".

[SASMastering]

The man played one take.. producer said "Great, anything more you want to play?" He said... "Nope thats the one." Incredibly dynamic player.

[Fabmaster]

Originally Posted by SASMastering

mastering engineer

"Super"

[ed littman]

Originally Posted by Fabmaster

"Super"

Awesome jazz artist!

[lowland]

Originally Posted by huejahfink

Hey Barry, recording Billy Cobham sounds amazing! He's one of those drummers I have to be careful my jaw doesn't smash when it hits the floor. It's a regularly over/mis-used word, but I think he's a musician who is truly worthy of the term "awesome".

I saw BC do a joint Tama/Ibanez workshop at the Frankfurt Music Messe in (I think) 1979. Steve Khan and the Ibanez demonstrator - who was excellent, don't know his name though - on guitars, Alphonso Johnson on bass.

It was 'just' a bunch of top musicians having fun, but quite an eye-opener for me as a young newly pro bassist, you can imagine what I made of AJ. Mr Cobham was extraordinary, and assuming from Mahavishnu Orchestra records that he was a relatively quiet jazzer I don't think I've ever seen anyone hit a drum with such power yet so subtly. I was about ten feet back in one of those soundproofed cabins, and would describe the effect as being like an enjoyable assault.

Les Paul was playing elsewhere, mostly for laughs in a good way, it was quite an event.

[Cellotron]

Running a smaller independent studio here I don't usually have clients with the most recognizable names - instead more of people doing way more creative and for me enjoyable music than what you get from the vast majority of big selling mainstream artists - but for the more well known acts whose releases I have gotten to work on (i.e. Foo Fighters, Sharon Jones, Bernie Worrell, Chuck D, Freddie McGregor, etc.) I was working only with the producers and label reps (or in the case of Sharon with her producers/bandmates) and never spoke or even emailed directly with the artist. So "celeb" names make for nice points on the resume (although sometimes you have to deal with an extra layer of hassle with the label people that you just don't get with independent artists or smaller labels) but not really someone you usually actually get to meet in person. The one exception to this so far for me has been Martha Wash who came into and supervised the session herself, and who is one of the nicest people you could ever meet in the biz. Anyhoo - I'm sure the folks who post here that work for Sterling or other large mastering houses get more direct contact with the celebs - but I still don't think this should be a reason to get into mastering, as the contact is likely to be fleeting (especially relative to what tracking and mix engineers would have).

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[turtlerock]

I have worked on a hell of a lot of face to face famous types over the years , but if you put it in perspective, its more like 500 to 1 never heard of you to superstars ratios.

If you were mastering records waiting for something cool to happen during the session
err...it could be a long wait..

Once or twice a year maybe somebody new and unknown turns up and they are as nice as can be and the record is truely great , that seems to float my boat more then it should ..

Its nice looking at your client list and seeing big names
But Its better working with new artists and seeing them rise and get to be big names over a decade or so I reckon .. with or without your help ..
all in all its better then working in a bank

[Greg Reierson]

My favorite "star in the studio" story was completely lost on me. I have a well known client (also my next door neighbor and friend) who popped into the studio one day with a friend tagging along. I was in a client attended session and only had time to nod hello. No introductions were made - he didn't want to interrupt the session.

They sat on the couch for about 10 minutes, said goodbye and left. The next day I found out the friend was Jakob Dylan.

[Jerry Tubb]

Of the many, we had the pleasure of having the great R & B session guitarist Cornell Dupree hang out with us at Terra Nova for a day back in the early '90s. He sat in the back of the studio puffing on his huge calabash pipe and occasionally nodding his head. One of my favorite days.
A real musician, he was a contemporary of Jimi Hendrix. Scroll down this page to see a pic of Cornell, Jimi, and King Curtis playing in the Percy Sledge band.

http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazin...ee.aspx?Page=2

Perhaps Jimi's fluid rhythm style was influenced by Cornell:
THE GUITAR SHOW with Cornell Dupree - YouTube

Cheers, JT

[Soundmaster Alex]

Depending on what kind of music you like, you may or may not have heard of a lot of our clients - one person's music idol is another person's 'who are they?'

Just want to echo someone's sentiments from earlier that generally the more famous the person, the more down to earth they are, and just want to get on with the job in hand without people fawning over them. A few great examples in my time here have been Brian May, Damon Albarn and Paul Weller - all consummate professionals and really easy to work with. I was a little taken aback by meeting Brian at first as I grew up listening to Queen (and he had a really loud shirt on), but after the first 10 minutes it's just business as usual. You kind of get de-sensitised after meeting a couple of well known artists and realised they too are normal human beings!

Echoing Steve B's experience above - half the time we're not working with the artists themselves anyway but when we do, we respectfully treat them as just another client as that's how they want to be treated.

[Don Tyler]

I don't kiss & tell - what happens @ mastering, stays at mastering.

But. Since this doesn't involve the client directly... One time I was working with a well-known producer and we were in the thick of a demanding session and he says something like, "oh, David and Leo are going to stop by, that okay?" I was so focused on the eq I just must have just said, "yeah, sure, okay..."

Turned out to be David Blaine and Leonardo DiCaprio. Needless to say, David Blaine proceeded to blow everybody's mind and freak the client out to the point where she had to leave the studio. In all fairness, he was doing things in a room he'd never been in that seemed to break the laws of physics. It was freaky.

[Waltz Mastering]

Early on I had a higher profile client try to contact me through his assistant who left a message on our answering machine (remember those?).
I used to have our intern/assistant get our phone messages and she tells me so and so called and I was like .. ya right …and thought it was a joke.
.. .anyway they call back three days later and it was not a prank as I first thought.

[ritelec]

Originally Posted by Lagerfeldt

EDIT: Just remembered that when Coolio was here in 2005, I mastered a track he featured on. That was a an unusual setup because he had his whole entourage with him, including a guy so big he couldn't fit in a regular limo and had trouble going through the door in the studio.

I think I met that guy..was also around 2005.

At a small near by pub, I was in the bathroom (they only had one)......

Someone was banging on the outside of the door. I finished up, opened the door and there was a little bald headed guy barely chest height to me. But behind him.......wow, the guy had to be 12 feet tall and BIG.

He put me out. Luckily without injury.
Why was this little bald man so psyched to get in the bathroom???

Turns out, I found out later this little guy was like the head of the polish moffia........I could have wound up in the hospital or dead...........for taking a leak.

Any-way.......It may have been the same guy.



sorry op for getting off topic.

I met a few "famous" people though. Non that I mastered for.but.