Maintaining your composure in the studio

[PoorGlory]

I have a lot of patience generally, but every once in a while my anger gets the best of me and, at best, I can be incredibly irritable. At worst, things get broken and animals run scared.

So what do you do when someone is annoying/irritating/pissing you off beyond belief in your studio? You have to maintain your cool, else the session goes to shit. How do you deal with stress during sessions while clients are around? The lead guitarist for the band I'm working with now presses my buttons every session (not on purpose) and occasionally breaks headphones, spills shit, etc. He drives me insane, but only in the studio. I hang out with the band and everything is cool, but once we're working it's a different story.

So what do you guys think? How does one retain a peaceful and stress-free attitude when working with people that drive you mad? I mean, regardless of what you do for a living you have to deal with this to some extent.... but in the confines of the studio, your clients are up your ass 100% of the time, so it's a different ballgame.

[perversity]

Take a cigarette break by yourself, and try to re-collect yourself during the 5 minutes. This is why God created tobacco.

[narcoman]

Originally Posted by PoorGlory

I have a lot of patience generally, but every once in a while my anger gets the best of me and, at best, I can be incredibly irritable. At worst, things get broken and animals run scared.

So what do you do when someone is annoying/irritating/pissing you off beyond belief in your studio? You have to maintain your cool, else the session goes to shit. How do you deal with stress during sessions while clients are around? The lead guitarist for the band I'm working with now presses my buttons every session (not on purpose) and occasionally breaks headphones, spills shit, etc. He drives me insane, but only in the studio. I hang out with the band and everything is cool, but once we're working it's a different story.

So what do you guys think? How does one retain a peaceful and stress-free attitude when working with people that drive you mad? I mean, regardless of what you do for a living you have to deal with this to some extent.... but in the confines of the studio, your clients are up your ass 100% of the time, so it's a different ballgame.

I've lost my temper on a few occasions in the studio. But this is my place and I'm not for hire - I hire them , or put them on a production deal, so it's a little different for me. I don't like losing my temper - and it did cause a big bust up between a friend (top A&R geezer) and myself. Having said that I've since discovered some not too palatable things about him, which I currently choose not to believe.

[PoorGlory]

Originally Posted by perversity

Take a cigarette break by yourself, and try to re-collect yourself during the 5 minutes. This is why God created tobacco.

I'm on Week 2, Attempt 36 or quitting smoking, so I've replaced tobacco with something a little different which helps me stay easygoing most of the time. But hell yea, taking a cigarette break usually did help.

[surflounge]

That's what these guys are for

[davedarling]

xanax

[nightscope]

Originally Posted by PoorGlory

How does one retain a peaceful and stress-free attitude when working with people that drive you mad? I mean, regardless of what you do for a living you have to deal with this to some extent.... but in the confines of the studio, your clients are up your ass 100% of the time, so it's a different ballgame.

Clients are always up there. That's what they pay for. The most important thing is not to take it personally. Deal with the issues as they arrive, not the person.

All aggravated disputes in any workplace are personality driven not issue driven. Understanding that can help a lot. Not easy, I know.

Classical customer psychology borrows from transactional analysis indentifying three ego states within any given dispute. Parent, child & adult. We can, so the theory goes, drop into any one of these states depending on the situation in front of us. Parent = shouting, dominant, etc. Child = passive, surly, withdrawn. Adult = clear, dealing with the real issue not the emotional one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transac...C_PAC.29_model

ns

[KungFuLio]

In all instances where I've lost in the studio it was due to the incompetence of musicians. I either took myself off the session or made sure the player was never on another session that I did until they had their act together.

This may sound like a tough and arrogant stance, but it's a good one. The quality of creativity and musicianship goes up dramatically when you refuse to work with bad musicians.

Blood pressure goes down too!

[Sqye]

.

my usual solution with uncooperative clients:
.

[joelpatterson]

But I'm always passive and surly... except for the times when I'm surly and passive.

[nightscope]

Originally Posted by joelpatterson

But I'm always passive and surly...

The other Six Duffs being Tipsy, Queasy, Sleazy, Edgy, Dizzy and Remorseful.

"The Seven Duffs are named Tipsy, Queasy, Surly, Sleazy, Edgy, Dizzy and Remorseful. The only one that has spoken so far is Surly: "Hey, Surly only looks out for one guy...Surly!", "Shut Up" and "Take a picture, it'll last longer. Get outta here!" While waving to people at the Duff Dayz Beer Festival, "Drink Duff (covers mouth with hand) responsibly." All seven can be seen on a rotating poster in Moe's Tavern in The Simpsons: Hit & Run."

ns

[Makinithappen]

Disrespect a waiter, you get spit in your food.

Disrespect my studio or me, and you'll get clipped vocals and I'll likely forget to crossfade any of my edits. (if I bother to do them)

///Half kidding

[bgrotto]

Keeping your shit together is part of being a professional. You deal with assholes, divas, and wanna-be rockstars now, so you can get paid more to deal with assholes, divas, and actual-rockstars later. I'll tell ya what: they don't get any better when they (or you) become more successful.

Swallow your pride (VERY hard to do, believe me, I know), and do a kick ass job. A lot of times the clients I've had that are the biggest pains in the ass, the bitchiest, or the ones I'm SURE hate me, become my biggest advocates and land me the next kick-ass gig.

[Makinithappen]

After making sure all the important stuff is safely turned off, throw the main breaker and tell them the power went out....

Session over.

Maybe when they reschedule, you'll be in a better mood!

[rvwainscott]

Greetings,

How many engineers work at your facility? I ask this because when I've got a client that pushes my button then I hand them over to another engineer. As of yet, we have not had any clients that could push everyone's button. Seems to work well and the client doesn't usually even notice because, after all, the client is the talent and engineers are just, well, window dressing.

My little contract also states that damage to any studio property to include spills get dealt with before any product goes out the door. I'm not a hobbyist or some real estate mogul that thinks having a studio makes him cool but someone that earned an entire facility by doing audio work. You break my stuff, you pay for my stuff - I don't care if you are my best friend.

Finally, I've come to notice that if I keep my place absolutely spotless (as best as I can) then the client has more respect for the place. Attitude is really everything and my place has an attitude. As soon as something is finished in a session, everything gets put away before we move on. Someone watching me will quickly figure out that I'm really f*cking anal about things and act accordingly.

My .02

[bgrotto]

Originally Posted by rvwainscott

Finally, I've come to notice that if I keep my place absolutely spotless (as best as I can) then the client has more respect for the place. Attitude is really everything and my place has an attitude. As soon as something is finished in a session, everything gets put away before we move on. Someone watching me will quickly figure out that I'm really f*cking anal about things and act accordingly.

My .02

GREAT point!

[Makinithappen]

Originally Posted by bgrotto

GREAT point!

And that is what interns are for... right?

[bgrotto]

Originally Posted by Makinithappen

And that is what interns are for... right?

No need to make it playful...intern = slave.

My intern kicks ass at cleaning...actually, my lazy ass hardly has to lift a finger. It's great!

I especially love taking all the credit for his hard work... I hope one day to let him produce, engineer, and mix every record "I do" while still maintaining full credit (and pay!!).

Hee hee.

I should stop; he reads Gearslutz so I might get myself in trouble.

[CDS]

Originally Posted by PoorGlory

I have a lot of patience generally, but every once in a while my anger gets the best of me and, at best, I can be incredibly irritable. At worst, things get broken and animals run scared.

So what do you do when someone is annoying/irritating/pissing you off beyond belief in your studio? You have to maintain your cool, else the session goes to shit. How do you deal with stress during sessions while clients are around? The lead guitarist for the band I'm working with now presses my buttons every session (not on purpose) and occasionally breaks headphones, spills shit, etc. He drives me insane, but only in the studio. I hang out with the band and everything is cool, but once we're working it's a different story.

So what do you guys think? How does one retain a peaceful and stress-free attitude when working with people that drive you mad? I mean, regardless of what you do for a living you have to deal with this to some extent.... but in the confines of the studio, your clients are up your ass 100% of the time, so it's a different ballgame.

Listen:

When you are in your studio, you have to keep a stern hand of rules because at the end of the day this is your place of business and that band is not your only client.

Try placing up signs on your control room door of things not allowed. Do you have a lounge area? No one should be in the control room if they do not need to be there for work reasons. If you are recording, only allow people needed to be there, if your mixing, politely ask everyone to leave so you can get a foundation mix done.. simply keep your space clear when others are not needed to be there.

I remember I had a session with a indie group on New Years Eve... So these guys come with like $500 in booze... I immediately pulled the leader to the side and told him "Please respect the fact that I came here tonight to capture the best performance for your money and I will need to ask that anyone performing tonight to hold off drinking anything until your vocal work is done. I only need a solid 2 hours to capture what is needed here so to not waste your time and money, can we agree to this?"..

Sure enough, I had no problems getting the work done but did have a problem getting home as drunk as I got after the session lol...

When people go to the studio, trust me, if you make them understand the importance of keeping a professional environment, they will respect this because they WANT to feel that they are in a super important setting.

If this does not work at all, sometimes you have to be willing to let a client go for not respecting your investment.

[Makinithappen]

Originally Posted by CDS

Listen:
If this does not work at all, sometimes you have to be willing to let a client go for not respecting your investment.

Exactly. Professionalism still has it's boundaries.

[edit machine]

Originally Posted by perversity

Take a cigarette break by yourself, and try to re-collect yourself during the 5 minutes. This is why God created tobacco.

tobacco raises your blood pressure, causing more stress over time. it's a quick fix that ultimately makes the problem worse, not to mention the crash that happens right after the high wears off.