The Musician Behind the Glass

When it comes to rock guitar, few people have made as much of an impression as AC/DC’s Angus Young. His larger than life sound in Back in Black and his energetic and unforgettable lead riff in Thunderstruck are guaranteed excitement 35 and 25 years after first commandeering the air waves. When you hear that beautiful Gibson SG roar you know something is about to happen and it’s going to be epic. Let's imagine you were lucky enough to get hold of his manager. After saving up for years to afford his session time...

You use him to record your flamenco piece.

Daring vs. Dumb

Young is a rock icon, even his critics will agree. Everyone knows his sound and his music, but his sound isn't what you are looking for, so why blow money to hire him? I'll be fair, I don't know Young, he could spend 8 hours a day practicing his falsetas, but I sorta doubt it. In fact were I the poor soul buying him I'd bet what little money I had left that he wouldn't show up with a proper guitar for the job.

Let’s be real, nobody is crazy enough to do this (I hope) and yet they’ll grab any old mix or recording engineer they find. Your audio engineer is a musician as much as the frontman, bassist, or drummer. If they don't fit the bill why hire them? Your chances of getting stuck with an inferior or overpriced product, delays, dozens of remixes and general frustration skyrocket when you start trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

If a prospective engineer has a working portfolio, look through it. Spend as long as you need to really get a handle on what the engineer is about. See if they have ever worked something in your genre.

Now being different from the norm isn't always a bad thing. If our flamenco player wanted some big nasty power chords to fill in his leads maybe Angus wouldn't be such a bad idea after all. Likewise if you are recording worship music but have a soft spot for the punchier sound of a Green Day or the like, by all means, look to engineers with a rock background. Recording or otherwise working on a very different piece is a possibly valuable addition to the portfolio so most engineers will be more than happy to add their signature sound to a new style. Even if they aren't, they'll at least warn you about it before bills change hands, any engineer worth your time will be upfront about how far out of their comfort zone you are asking them to step.

Right Tool For The Job

Of course, it doesn't matter how talented the engineer is if they don't have the physical means to get a job done correctly. Certain styles of recording require a boatload of equipment that is considered specialized even in the already small audio world. If your potential engineer has an equipment list or general list of capabilities it'd be in your best interest to give that a once over as well.

A simple example comes from my own studio. Since I pass my free time on guitar, my guitar playing clients tend to get the best bang for their buck. I’ve got a half dozen quality instruments set up and ready to go, effects, lots of amps, and a background in lutherie for when our choice instrument just doesn’t quite behave. Now that’s not to say my drummers are left to fend for themselves by any means but I’m not going to have a 24” DW kick ready to go if the stock gear doesn’t pass muster. Likewise if the guy you want to hire is known for recording chamber choirs on location and you want him to record a techno piece it may behoove you to have some means of changing the RCA outputs on your drum machine into a more usable mic signal (if they don't have a way to do this, run away).

If all research fails you, see if your top choices have any sort of promotional work they offer. I've been known to hand out one or two completely free songs in order to secure a much larger contract down the line. Bottom line is when you are looking at buying either my own or my colleague's time treat the decision with some gravity. You'll have to be around us for a while so it might as well be pleasant.

Is the man behind the glass searching for the right compression ratio, grabbing a snack or trying to catch the game? Ask me and find out what's going on.