Your client(s) may come into your studio with an ego ten miles wide. Your job is to make sure that when they leave, that ego is one hundred miles wide! If they are ego-maniacs and impossible to deal with after they leave, congratulations, you have succeeded!

In catering to the artist, in effect, what you do is control what the artist thinks of his or her recording experience in your studio! Think about that for a moment. You have serious power. You can kill a bad attitude with kindness. You can create a loyal, returning client with a rapport, perks, and a genuine interest in building a client base! Whether the client is a local performer or a major label looking for a deal on volume, you can work with those in charge and at least end up with a contact. People make it happen!

And on the lighter side, you do control what the client thinks of you and if you are like me, the thought of manipulating a client's thoughts can be a bit entertaining. Audio is there to be controlled and manipulated by someone! Might as well be me. Let's see what else I can manipulate! "We have assumed control."    How does this sound?

"We don't just control the audio…we control your thoughts…and you'll like it" How's that for an ad in the back of a trade mag?

Best of all, creating a positive experience for a client gives you that magical word-of-mouth-free advertisement!!!

A clear and determined focus on customer satisfaction, though, can bring rewards beyond what I discussed above. You can even salvage a negative recording experience just by falling back on the infamous "the customer comes first" convention. Shouldn't it be infamous?

"Does the extra expense have merit? Can we cover the loss?" Huh? What loss???

Might we think gain! Gain is the first word on our minds most times. Does the extra expense have a potential return? Can we deal with the profit? Somebody tell me I'm not speaking English here! Some studios are destined to struggle and I know, I know as well as the next, it is a result of the majors gobbling up the minors, I can accept it, but I occasionally just get burned thinking about that negative-fixed mindset.

A hit record is all that matters! It's the only way to make money!

Let me tell you…a freak power surge once fried not one -- but two -- of my line conditioners and shut me down for a weekend. I asked the artist what she enjoyed doing when she had free time and bought her some hockey tickets and a few other perks to fill the lost time. To shorten the story, she records at my place to this day.

Could I have possibly opened a can of money here by suggesting that there are other angles to consider in order to find success? Awh shucks, could it be! That studio with great everything except bookings, could they have overlooked this one important angle? That studio shooting for the big-ticket market, might they consider limos and catering and such if they want to succeed?

Could be! The producers, the A&R people, they have egos too! Make them feel like a million bucks! They will remember! Spend a hundred; make a few thousand.

At 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, a kid once walked into a studio owned by Memphis Recording Service that had only average equipment and know how. He wanted to record a song for his mom. A song for his mom?  What???  Do I have to work this one? He can't afford us! Give me a break! And you know where I'm going. Do you think that Elvis would have signed at Sun Records if one of Sam Phillips' boys had had that attitude?

How to find and record icons is not the aim of this article, however, and I will leave you with this thought: We digitize, we program, we master, we expertly manipulate audio, and we put everything we have into perfect sound! We are the experts and we deliver!

We take an analog signal and make it digital. We put our inventory and information to work until we are sure we have a keeper. Then we take the digital and make it analog again. But our job does not stop at analog. Our job stops at the human level every time. This is a people business we're in.

No matter what recording format we employ, no matter what our reputation and experience, it still boils down to an analog to digital, digital to analog to human process!

Master the human aspect and you've got serious dynamic range to work with.

No, don't sell the Avalon and hire a psycho-manipulator… Keep the Avalon and buy some hockey tickets!

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Copyright Ronald G. Brown 2000