Why I'm Really Proud to Have Recorded Commercially in the 70s.
In the 70s, I was especially proud to have recorded for a couple of local producers at Jacksonville's best known studio, Warehouse Recording Studio, and being selected as a member of a 'studio house band' at another one named SoundTrax. The pay was taken in the form of studio time, (a common means of remuneration from small studios back then.). At Soundtrax, myself and drummer Sam Hart recorded with a huge number of area acts, as well as played on several local and regional commercial jingles. I played everything, bass, keyboards and synths, rhythm guitar, lead, and even banjo (this last I played very badly, but that didn't stop one band from asking me to tour with them as they had added my rock and roll banjo to several of their songs.)
At Soundtrax, I got to lay down a few tracks with Alan Collins (of Skynyrd fame) and helped with a weekly radio show recorded there. Many national artists (both gospel and straight country) were guests on the show; once I had the pleasure of listening to Larry Gatlin tell me one of my guitar tracks was slightly out of tune. When we couldn't book a national guest, occasionally I was one myself, talking about the difficulties of trying to stay straight while playing music in the secular world and performing a song or two. I even performed at the Miss Jacksonville pageant, both in the pit orchestra, and with a featured spot in the show (on banjo.)
For you newer players, who are used to recording endlessly on personal multi-tracks, or maybe getting the band's beer money together to spend $20 an hour at the local studio, things used to be different. Way, way, way, different. To be asked to play sessions, even on a local level, meant somebody had a high regard for your playing ability, and to be asked back, meant ,either you proved them right, or somebody had a ridiculous amount of money to spend.
Before the advent of the digital age and cheap consumer electronics, the phrase "I'm going into the studio' had a reverence in the music business. The recording studio was a remote unobtainable dream for most musicians, and for a very good reason. It was expensive. Really expensive. Studio gear was expensive, therefore, studio time was very high. In the early 70's, from 40-75 dollars an hour for a good local 16 track studio and well over 100 dollars for a national house was normal. Remember, this was in 1970 money, multiply that by at least a factor of 8 to get todays monetary value. Even demo studios, with antiquated 8 track equipment were 20 an hour on up (that makes it $160 by todays money.) You could blow a WHOLE lot of money, even if things went smoothly.
The cost of operation was high as well, the 2 inch tape used in many 16 track recorders cost some $50 a roll, (not included in the price of the session.) Editing was a time consuming process, every edit point had to be laboriously found on the tape, razor cut, and the tape physically spiced together. Often hundreds of yards of acetate lay coiled in empty garbage cans waiting the razor.
Not just the recording process was pricey. The cost of producing the vinyl record was astronomical. First, a master had to be made, with a special machine literally cutting grooves in a metal plate. Then molds had to be cast, (a mold was good for only a certain number of records, the longer the run , the more molds had to be made.) Finally the vinyl had to be pressed and the label printed. One a small run of a few hundred 45 rpm singles, just the record manufacturing cost alone ensured the impossibility of recouping expenses. Only in large runs and sales of many thousands did the vinyl record become profitable.
The cost of recording and producing a small run of 45 rpm records to go on local jukeboxes and use as promotional tools was something many bands scrimped and saved for years, and the product would very likely be no where near airplay quality. A self produced album was a rarity, usually the result of a band either finding a wealthy 'backer,' or maybe a member working in a local studio for studio time in the off hours. A song writer either relied on simple guitar and vocal demos, or relied on demo studios to do quicky versions of his songs, often for a package price per song. Either way, the recording a band was not something done on a whim, or, on an empty wallet.
The term "a studio player" was a synonym for the musicians who could play, not just well, but virtually flawlessly take after take. With costs in the studio so high, only major record labels with high dollar rock music advances could afford to allow acts to record take after take, pick the best out of each one, and painstakingly assemble the result. The rest of the industry, from the jingle producers, the country session players, and virtually all other producers of recorded music, whether national or local, had to rely on players who were the epitome of consistency. This is why my being considered one of the area's 'studio musicians' was such a proud memory for me.
In the 70s, I was especially proud to have recorded for a couple of local producers at Jacksonville's best known studio, Warehouse Recording Studio, and being selected as a member of a 'studio house band' at another one named SoundTrax. The pay was taken in the form of studio time, (a common means of remuneration from small studios back then.). At Soundtrax, myself and drummer Sam Hart recorded with a huge number of area acts, as well as played on several local and regional commercial jingles. I played everything, bass, keyboards and synths, rhythm guitar, lead, and even banjo (this last I played very badly, but that didn't stop one band from asking me to tour with them as they had added my rock and roll banjo to several of their songs.)
At Soundtrax, I got to lay down a few tracks with Alan Collins (of Skynyrd fame) and helped with a weekly radio show recorded there. Many national artists (both gospel and straight country) were guests on the show; once I had the pleasure of listening to Larry Gatlin tell me one of my guitar tracks was slightly out of tune. When we couldn't book a national guest, occasionally I was one myself, talking about the difficulties of trying to stay straight while playing music in the secular world and performing a song or two. I even performed at the Miss Jacksonville pageant, both in the pit orchestra, and with a featured spot in the show (on banjo.)
For you newer players, who are used to recording endlessly on personal multi-tracks, or maybe getting the band's beer money together to spend $20 an hour at the local studio, things used to be different. Way, way, way, different. To be asked to play sessions, even on a local level, meant somebody had a high regard for your playing ability, and to be asked back, meant ,either you proved them right, or somebody had a ridiculous amount of money to spend.
Before the advent of the digital age and cheap consumer electronics, the phrase "I'm going into the studio' had a reverence in the music business. The recording studio was a remote unobtainable dream for most musicians, and for a very good reason. It was expensive. Really expensive. Studio gear was expensive, therefore, studio time was very high. In the early 70's, from 40-75 dollars an hour for a good local 16 track studio and well over 100 dollars for a national house was normal. Remember, this was in 1970 money, multiply that by at least a factor of 8 to get todays monetary value. Even demo studios, with antiquated 8 track equipment were 20 an hour on up (that makes it $160 by todays money.) You could blow a WHOLE lot of money, even if things went smoothly.
The cost of operation was high as well, the 2 inch tape used in many 16 track recorders cost some $50 a roll, (not included in the price of the session.) Editing was a time consuming process, every edit point had to be laboriously found on the tape, razor cut, and the tape physically spiced together. Often hundreds of yards of acetate lay coiled in empty garbage cans waiting the razor.
Not just the recording process was pricey. The cost of producing the vinyl record was astronomical. First, a master had to be made, with a special machine literally cutting grooves in a metal plate. Then molds had to be cast, (a mold was good for only a certain number of records, the longer the run , the more molds had to be made.) Finally the vinyl had to be pressed and the label printed. One a small run of a few hundred 45 rpm singles, just the record manufacturing cost alone ensured the impossibility of recouping expenses. Only in large runs and sales of many thousands did the vinyl record become profitable.
The cost of recording and producing a small run of 45 rpm records to go on local jukeboxes and use as promotional tools was something many bands scrimped and saved for years, and the product would very likely be no where near airplay quality. A self produced album was a rarity, usually the result of a band either finding a wealthy 'backer,' or maybe a member working in a local studio for studio time in the off hours. A song writer either relied on simple guitar and vocal demos, or relied on demo studios to do quicky versions of his songs, often for a package price per song. Either way, the recording a band was not something done on a whim, or, on an empty wallet.
The term "a studio player" was a synonym for the musicians who could play, not just well, but virtually flawlessly take after take. With costs in the studio so high, only major record labels with high dollar rock music advances could afford to allow acts to record take after take, pick the best out of each one, and painstakingly assemble the result. The rest of the industry, from the jingle producers, the country session players, and virtually all other producers of recorded music, whether national or local, had to rely on players who were the epitome of consistency. This is why my being considered one of the area's 'studio musicians' was such a proud memory for me.
Articles