Recording Artist Advocate: Stay sharp...

Hope your Christmas gigs were good and that your new year’s gig will be fantastic! This is a great time of year for working musicians. You may want to party along with the audience, but don’t let it get out of hand or your performance will suffer. This doesn’t have to be a buzz-kill. Talk to band members ahead of time about how to help each other out before anyone slips.

I knew a bass player who would politely accept drinks from happy fans, 
but had his own drink ready. In the dim light no one ever caught on and 
he could stay sharp. He said he wasn’t going to let some drunken fan 
mess up his show or his reputation.

It’s sad to see once successful musicians or singer/songwriters who can’t 
get through a show or barely stumble through. They let down their 
bandmates, the audience, and themselves. Don’t let that be you.

This is a case where little things add up to big things and just not getting 
drunk sets you apart from so many other bands. You will be asked back. 
You will have a longer career. And you will make more money.

Recording Artist advocate: When theres nothing to do...

The winter storms kept clients from being able to come record today. I took the 4 wheel drive truck out and saw plenty of cars and even other trucks in the ditches. Even the big stores were pretty empty. I bought some new video monitors for the studio and got back as quick as I could. 

It’s a funny feeling when you are planning on working, but 
there’s nothing to do.

I set up the new monitors, moved some things around 
in the studio… even worked on equipment. Even though 
I was “working in the studio” nothing compares to actually 
working in the studio recording bands.

If you play music you know exactly what I mean. 
Getting a new instrument is exciting, but playing it is 
even better, and playing for people is even better than that. 
When you have down time there is nothing better than 
working out a part or lyric that’s been bouncing around in 
your head. It’s part of who and what you are.

You're a musician.

There are people that just play music, and there are people 
who have it in their blood.

If you are a musician, I’d like to introduce myself to you.

I’m Robert Snyder and I’m a recordist. That means I love 
recording and mixing music as much as you love 
writing, playing and performing music. 

We should get together.