Changes in band and fan interaction
October 27, 2011
Anyway, all of my searching around led me to a very interesting new realization. Everyone knows that the music industry is rapidly changing and it’s talked about so much that it gets annoying at times. Yes, there are fewer places to buy physical CD’s and bands need to survive on merch money or live show income. Bands are adapting their products (and even their sound at times) to keep up with that. However, my newest realization is how much the fans themselves have changed.
I noticed in the news feed of one band in particular that they posted a new song last week. Since then they have also posted some random info/photos almost entirely unrelated to the sound of their music. Because Facebook lists stats everywhere, I couldn’t help but notice that the views, likes, and comments regarding some new photos were almost double the count of the brand new song. For a second I couldn’t believe it, but then I caught myself checking out a number of these shorter non-music posts as well.
When debuting music is less important to fans than a musicians thoughts on partying or fashion or whatever, then it’s natural for true music lovers to question how healthy the more direct interaction between bands and fans really is in information age. I used to talk to friend’s bands about the pressure from their label to write a record better than the last. Now there’s more pressure from some labels to post info on what we ate for breakfast, comment on trending topics, and take wild press photos.
I don’t want to simply complain though. There’s a lot of a good that comes from a direct band to fan relationship that isn’t controlled entirely by labels anymore. I’m able to think out loud through this blog and fans can help me digest the new things that I’m learning. Fans have a new perspective that can help musicians see themselves or their ideas from a different angle. However, I still think that even something noble like a musician commenting on his/her political position is somewhat irrelevant when it comes down to deciding if I will like their music. Music still should be the initial attraction and hopefully reading all of the semi-pointless non-musical updates will help us fall more in love with the music.
On a related tangent, I actually like some bands less the more I learn about their personal lives. I put them in the same category as bands whose CDs are awesome but are disappointing live. Its easier to enjoy the music if I don’t go out of the context of what initially turned me onto them. The extra non-musical info posted by bands can sometimes be the internet equivalent of a reality TV show where you forget what the person you’re watching is famous for in the first place. Remember the days when someone had to patiently wait for an update or stalk interesting people to learn more about them? Now it’s like stalking a flasher who wants to expose himself anyway. It’s just plain confusing who is really being creepy in the band to fan relationship these days.
My last though on all of this is to question what information age band/fan interaction says about us. Statistically analyzing what fans are viewing reveals the truth. Most of us want something new that is easy to digest and appeals to a limited attention span. Short clips, pictures, and blurbs are more important than full, complex and beautiful songs in many cases. Should band’s change to interact with their fans the way that the majority are requesting? Or should bands purposefully ignore what their fans want at times to stretch the few who desire more/better content? I don’t want to admit that musical composition or though provoking lyrics and interaction is secondary to the fluff yet, but I also predict that a long winded blog like this one seeking a more intelligent dialogue with fans will have significantly less views than the shirtless picture I’m planning on posting next week.
I will be doing Q & A type stuff on my new personal blog over here: timlambesis.tumblr.com/
Tim.
Friendly Words With Nick Hipa
July 12, 2011
So just yesterday I was involved in a conversation about how secretly jealous I would get of other Warped Tour ’08 bands who were creative and fortunate enough to have their own hand signs. The specific bands relating to the topic were Cobra Starship and 3OH3!. Somewhere along the way one of them figured out that there was a sensible way to spell out or symbolize their respective names with hand gestures. The result of this discovery is that a sea of kids at every Warped show was throwing up these non-dangerous gang-type signs while the band performed. Sure we’d get the ole metal horns during our set—which is great and all—but your own unique hand sign is kinda powerful and awesome! Anyway the result of this conversation was that I spent the remainder of my car ride trying to spell out our bands’ initials with my hands. The closest I came to something reasonably deece was a lower case “a” with my right hand, and the letters “i,l,d” with my left. It kinda looks like the “blood” gang sign that every self respecting teenage suburbanite knows how to throw. I showed it to Phil and Jordan but they suggested it might be a bit of a stretch.
If I was to draw any sort of reasonable moral to that story, or at least tie it in to something that doesn’t make you regret wasting your attention so far, it is this: We’ve been enjoying a month off of touring and it has been awesome; but a month off from touring does not mean a month off from this band. Between eating burritos and hard hanging with our loved ones, we still manage to exchange ideas, epiphanies, thoughts, and even potential “aild” gang signs we can flash at people. Time will tell what actually comes to fruition, but the intent behind all our efforts is to become a better band for you to get stoked on.
An Update From Phil
May 10, 2010
We’ve been out on the road the past week with the dudes in Demon Hunter, blessthefall, and War of Ages. The shows have been great, and it’s been fun to finally play a couple of new songs. We completed the record about a month ago, so we’ve had a good amount of time to re-energize ourselves mentally and physically for the onslaught of touring headed our way.
To be honest, I don’t think we’ve ever been as optimistic about a new album as we are for The Powerless Rise. Looking back and seeing the effort and dedication we all put into it already provides a great sense of accomplishment. Knowing that we put our absolute best into the album and we have our true fans for support and motivation is very assuring that this is going to be an exciting time for us.
In other news, I was able to grab the new At The Gates DVD and Deftones album the other day. Both bands were extremely influential for me musically, so it’s nice to have something new and inspiring to keep me entertained this tour. Nick also found a bootleg DVD of an old Ozzy show from 1984 that has been our ‘get stoked’ pre-show motivation. We’re convinced it’s the same performance from the StSanders ‘shreds’ video when Ozzy pulls Jake E. Lee’s hair and claps exessively throughout the entire video. AWESOME.
Anyway, that’s it for me. Check out The Powerless Rise this Tuesday, May 11th, and hopefully we’ll see you out on the road soon!
Phil
Secrets Of The Studio
March 8, 2010
When people read the album credit for “producer” they all interpret that a little differently. For some people, a producer is the guy who helps the band write songs and arrange their record. For others he is the guy who helps dial in all of the tones on the guitars and drums. Then there are people who think the producer is the one in charge of capturing the tightest performances he can out of the band.
After years of studio experience in different roles (band member, producer, engineer, studio owner), I’d like to reveal my opinion on the producer title to show the diverse talent of a guy like Adam D but also the importance of everyone else who worked our album that might go unnoticed. Naturally, I’ve seen these roles from many different angles.
First off, I’d like to say how grateful I am to have worked on most of my recent records with Daniel Castleman as an engineer who has thought me a lot. Working with an engineer I really trust helps separate the studio roles into their proper places to let each shine in its own way. To me a producer is the guy who keeps his mind on the bigger picture. Typically this means getting together with the band before the recording starts to work out songwriting ideas. Sometimes the producer is almost like an extra member of the band bringing in his own riffs or ideas. For bands who already have solid songwriters, the producer should be the guy makes sure the songs are arranged in the most affective way and ends up more like a co-producer with the band in this one regard. In the case of AILD, we had plenty of songwriting ideas and just wanted Adam D to fine tune everything with effective transitions and arrangement that helped get our songs the point a bit quicker.
The engineer on the other hand is the person who actually does the recording, micing, wiring, and ultimately may be the one dragging the best performance possible out of the band member he is working with. We worked with three engineers when tracking (Adam D, Daniel Castleman, and occasionally Joseph McQueen). A producer can afford to be a technical dummy when it comes to wiring everything up, but a good engineer knows how to mic up and capture the best performances. In fact, I know a couple producers who literally can’t mic up a drum kit, but they work with some of the smartest engineers in the world. Although, an ideal situation is where the producer and engineer each excel and trust each other in their own fields while being able to crossover if needed. That’s where Adam D excels as a producer who also does a lot of engineering. A great engineer can focus in on the smallest nuances of sound to get each part as tight and clear as possible. Daniel, for instance, is able to pick out and fix slight inconsistencies in rhythm or tuning that I would never notice.
Long story short, sometimes it’s hard to look at the bigger picture when your other job is to hone in on the small stuff. For this reason, many producers/engineers capable of doing both jobs still hire someone else to take on of those jobs out of their hands from time to time or to spread out the workload to maintain clear thinking. As band members that is why we work with an entire team even though we’ve learned to do a lot of studio stuff ourselves as well. We’re very happy with the entire team of people who helped record our new album and I can’t wait to show the final mix to all of our fans!
Produced by Adam Dutkiewicz & As I Lay Dying
Engineered by Adam Dutkiewicz & Daniel Castleman
Additional vocal engineering and editing by Joseph McQueen
Mixed by Colin Richardson
Mix Engineer: Martyn “Ginge” Ford
Mixed at Lambesis Studios
Mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound
Guitars, Bass, and Vocals recorded at Lambesis Studios in San Diego, CA
Drums recorded at Signature Sound in San Diego, CA
Pre-production done by As I Lay Dying, Daniel Castleman, and Kelly Cairns
Guitar tech: Joey St. Lucas
Drum tech: Mike Catalano
That’s all for my main point… but there’s more for anyone who likes this topic and doesn’t mind hearing me rant further with my opinion on this stuff.
Some bands are incapable of working with a producer because they are already dead set on keeping things the way they’ve written them. If that is the case with you or your band, then don’t bother hiring a producer who’s ideas you will constantly reject. Just hire a great engineer. On the flip side, if you or your band wants to listen to the outside perspective of someone who hasn’t heard the songs a thousand times, then you will greatly benefit from a producer. I know this is stating the obvious, but fresh ideas usually come from a fresh set of ears. Just make sure that new perspective you’re listening to is someone who’s ideas you respect.
So, if you’re like me, you’re still wondering who is responsible for making the guitars sound so thick and the drum
tones sound so massive. Well, 90% of this comes down to the person who is mixing the record. As long as the original performances were captured with proper mic techniques and tuning, then the guy mixing the record can dial in the tones however he wants (sorry to leave you out ladies). In the case of As I Lay Dying, we’ve hired Colin Richardson because we’ve been fans of his work for a long time. We also think that An Ocean Between Us had the best drum sound of any of our albums, so we hired him again. This time Colin seems to have spent a little more time on the guitars because he had more resources (mainly amps & cabs that we owned) available to him. The original guitars were tracked with one amp, but in the final mix we changed our minds and Colin reamped them with a different sound. That part alone took 3 days!
I could go on forever, but I’ll leave it at that until my next blog post.
tim
An Update from Phil
March 2, 2010
Hey everyone,
We´ve been pretty busy the past few months. We´re about several last minute pickscrapes/thunderchugs away from finishing ALL tracking for The Powerless Rise. We´ve had Colin Richardson and his assistant Martyn “Ginge” Ford out in San Diego working on mixes every day for about a month so far. It took a bit of time for us to get the guitar tone in the right place, but we´ve finally settled on something we all love and compliments the drums and bass quite nicely. Josh and Tim´s vocals are sounding great as well. Colin and Ginge are doing a killer job!
Besides stopping by the studio a couple days a week, we´ve all been preparing to start up the next tour cycle. We´ve got an Australian/ New Zealand run in late March, the Revolver awards April 8th in LA, followed by a US headliner that´ll be going on right around the time our new record comes out. It´s been nice being home most of the past year but it´s time to get back out there with some new songs and an entirely new stage setup to intensify the live show. I´ve been missing that adrenaline rush from playing to our fans and I assure you the new songs will bring our live energy to a new level. Keep an eye out, we´ll be coming to you soon…
-Phil Sgrosso