Artist Communication: Advice Needed

[Drew]

Hope it helps!

I think that's one of the broader truths for a LOT of collaborative relationships, in a lot of senses of the word, though. As long as everyone is on the same page up front, the possibility for miscommunication and hurt feels drops quite a bit. From recording music, to project management in an office, to casual sex - if everyone understands and agrees to a set of expectations, things tend to go a lot more smoothly.

 

[Cyanide_Anima]

I've noticed the more talented and professional musicians will listen to the constructive criticism much more openly. They'll do the extra takes. They'll try singing a vocal a slightly different way. They'll rework that part that doesn't quite work with the rest of the arrangement. They'll track 50 takes of guitar. And they won't complain about it.

The whiners who stomp their feet, do half-assed extra takes, drag shit on, ask for things to be fixed in production, etc., are all going to blame you and your production for their shortcomings. Those types you either have to tell them to go elsewhere, or just not be the producer and tell them it's going to be a raw demo and that's best you can do and if they want more to go elsewhere.

Good musicians making good music will do whatever it takes to make the product the best it can be. You just gotta sometimes joke with them, have a beer, and eat some food together so some comfort can be created between everyone and they don't feel like they are being dragged or put on the spot all the time. If it's an online thing become Facebook friends and interact with their posts in a friendly way for a while. Share memes in messenger.

Use inclusive language when criticizing. Always "we could try this... Should we change this part? .... This part is great but I think this part could be even better if we..." That stuff goes a long way. Depending on the personality type, sometimes avoiding the "Hey, you are out of tune, can you do another take" is required. Unless they say it's bad and have that self awareness of knowing that take sucked cock just avoid saying something is bad and say that "it can be even better", or "let's take it to the next level." Or something like that.

 

[LostTheTone]

Use inclusive language when criticizing. Always "we could try this... Should we change this part? .... This part is great but I think this part could be even better if we..." That stuff goes a long way. Depending on the personality type, sometimes avoiding the "Hey, you are out of tune, can you do another take" is required. Unless they say it's bad and have that self awareness of knowing that take sucked cock just avoid saying something is bad and say that "it can be even better", or "let's take it to the next level." Or something like that.

You do need to be careful with some of that. It is important not to just shit on people unnecessarily. And definitely avoid "Nah I've decided we're going to do it my way" because that's some bullshit.

But don't be overly delicate, because it also creates the potential for misunderstanding.

You dont have to be brutal, but you should be honest. And it's ok to just say "Nah man, I don't like it". Be open to trying stuff, let people have a chance to work on an idea, but if you don't like it don't just subtly nudge them to try and change their mind by themselves.

 

[Cyanide_Anima]

It depends on the person. Vocalists can sometimes be quite sensitive. Guitarists can be competitive and telling them something sucks can drive them to do better and prove you wrong. It all depends. But vocalists are the hardest, and sometimes being too direct will kill their confidence and make them sing worse. Especially those dudes who do more clean singing and some ladies. Killing the confidence of a even good singer can sometimes ruin the session. Singing is all about confidence, gotta have it to perform well. You just have to use good judgement and make adjustments depending on who you are working with. Except the defensive pouty babies who lash out at you when you tell them they have to do more takes. Just tell those types to go home.

 

[AwakenTheSkies]

I don't have anything useful to add, but as a funny note. I recorded 2 albums for my friends bands and we were pretty brutal when someone couldn't nail a take. We (I) made memes out of some bad takes, and very epic laughs were had. Good times, but it made me realize that I probably wouldn't be very good at recording musicians who I'm not friends with. I don't have the patience for these kinds of things like someone with a big ego that you have to watch every word you say...fuck that

 

[LostTheTone]

It depends on the person. Vocalists can sometimes be quite sensitive. Guitarists can be competitive and telling them something sucks can drive them to do better and prove you wrong. It all depends. But vocalists are the hardest, and sometimes being too direct will kill their confidence and make them sing worse. Especially those dudes who do more clean singing and some ladies. Killing the confidence of a even good singer can sometimes ruin the session. Singing is all about confidence, gotta have it to perform well. You just have to use good judgement and make adjustments depending on who you are working with. Except the defensive pouty babies who lash out at you when you tell them they have to do more takes. Just tell those types to go home.

It's certainly true that we vocalists can be prissy little princesses. But a chunk of that is that other musicians tend to be genuinely ignorant about singing and don't know how to say things in a useful way.

For example; singing isn't a fretted instrument with clearly defined notes and there is a difference between "You hit the note, but that note is not the correct note" and "You were flat, but the note you missed is the correct note". Especially with music you haven't had huge amounts of time to practise, it's super easy to just misjudge either way and it's not always easy to tell which is happening. So just "nah you're flat" doesn't help.

 

[Descent]

OP, sounds like you need a fully fledged studio to take the production from start to finish with you at the helm.

As an engineer at one point I was hungry and took everything, from the church kids that play 3 chord pop punk to some super talented people. No matter what you do, put your best and live with the fact that at the end it is the artist's vision. You make that sloppy band sound good and you'll get another one and so on.

Look at some of these names, Metal Blade for example used Bill Metoyer and a pretty low budget studio, then the hype of the bands took Bill up with them and things got better and better on all fronts.