Producer Archives - Lisa Hilton Music

photo of lisa in a black dress with a camel hat and the words "In the studio, we don’t rehearse, but we record three takes of each track/song, so just choosing one take over another manifests in hours and hours of audio analyzing to make final choices."

Producing Creativity

January 29, 2022 by Lisa Hilton

Happy New Year!

I had a nice winter break, and now I’ve mostly been wearing my producer hat the last couple weeks. Ok, it looks just like my musician hat of course, but it represents less piano time and a lot more listening. In the studio, we don’t rehearse, but we record three takes of each track/song, so just choosing one take over another manifests in hours and hours of audio analyzing to make final choices. What really makes a “best” take anyhow? What about the first – isn’t it always the best? There is a Myth of the First Take: it’s supposed to be effused with the energy of the moment and the prowess of the performers, but I’ve found that any take can be great. If someone is excited to get started, or to eat, or even to leave, you might gain an extra boost of excitement for a few minutes. (Whitney Houston famously recorded a hit song in one take so she could get to the mall in time). Musicians tend to be more relaxed after a couple takes, but I noticed my own first/best take on a solo piano piece made the album, and that was right before lunch. One thing we don’t do – we don’t overdub our work – record instruments at different times and piece them together later. I think jazz should be more natural than that, so we always record together.

Each album normally has 4-6 engineers: the “tracking” engineer, and their assistant, who sets up the mics and records the music tracks to Pro Tools, has the best knowledge of where to place the equipment for each instrument and how to get the best sound. The editing/Pro Tools engineer, will separate the chosen takes, clean up any random noises and prepare/send the digital tracks to the mix engineer. The mix engineer specializes in creating the balance in each song – how much piano, bass or drums in each track? Lowering overzealous drums, or increasing the volume on the bass solo can make a big difference. After the individual tracks are completed, the final step is handled by the mastering engineer. They balance the volume and sound across the entire album, including the space allotted between each track, (yep, that is part of their job to create that little second of space).

Before working in music, I was an art director and creative director at an ad agency – that job was very similar to my producer role today – both allow me to collaborate with a wide variety of creative people working to get results we are all proud of. In the past I worked with photographers, illustrators and copywriters and now as a producer I work with musicians, engineers and studio managers. It’s really cool to work cooperatively on a creative team – yes it’s always a lot of work – but it’s getting a little easier now that I’ve recorded twenty five albums! I’m looking forward to sharing the new music with you this spring!

Take care,

Lisa

Inside Capitol Studios

September 24, 2020 by Lisa Hilton

Al Schmitt, Capitol Studios, Chandler Harrod, Producer, Recording

The first time I went to Capitol Studios I was so excited to work such an iconic building, and it’s still exciting twelve years later: it is absolutely impressive and fabulously cool. The architecture itself is an integral part of the Hollywood myth and seeing it’s record shaped design always lifts my spirit when I spot it from the freeway, (something I need after morning traffic!) The mid-century landmark was finished in 1956 and Wikipedia states: “The building’s design is based on the graduate school drawings of Lou Naidorf who, as the primary architect, designed the first circular office building when he was 24 years old.” Inside classic black and white photos line the halls showing Frank, Nat, Tony and others.

The building is immaculate, so walking into the studios it’s easy to imagine the many top recording artists working there throughout it’s long history. Every year is a different experience for me – one year trumpeter Chris Botti and singer/actor Eric Benet both popped in the studio at the same time. Another year a male voice commented “Who is that playing the piano?” I turned around and recognized the singer John Mayer, (he’s very tall). One year there was opera in Studio A and the Rockettes blasting Christmas carols out of Studio B, the hallways awash with wacky song mashups! This year, of course it’s different, because Capitol is still officially closed – the friendly hellos, waves and hugs are missed, but we were thankful to be back at work in the studio again.

I use three studios for my albums: one to record the music, (this year at The Village Studios), and I then use Capitol to mix the music. (To finish the album I use Lurssen Mastering). The mix engineers, Al Schmitt and Chandler Harrod, combine, or mix, the already recorded sound into the most pleasing audio. For example, as the producer I told them that I was concerned about the cymbals overpowering on some tracks, so Chandler toned them down. In other spots, Al adjusted the bass so we can hear Luques Curtis’s cool solo better, or the very last detail on Rudy Royston’s delicate drum end. This is done by adjusting the controls on the console, and of course decades of audio experience.

Mixing with Al is actually the easiest job I have as a producer – when someone has 23 Grammys I know I’m in the best of hands, right? For the last and final step, the mastering engineers will balance the overall audio of the entire album so that one track is not louder than another for example and puts the correct spacing between tracks.

Soon the new music will be ready to send out to with the world. I’m always very happy that the work is mostly done, and I can hardly wait for to share with everyone!

Enjoy your day,

Lisa

Almost the End of Summer…

September 7, 2020 by Lisa Hilton

Music Production, Producer, summer

Just a matter of days before this Endless Summer ends. How did that happen? How could we somehow, make it through this unusual summer, still find a way to enjoy ourselves, and it’s ending already? No doubt we will have new challenges moving forward, but I think we will all continue to figure things out as we go along – just like we’ve been doing now for six months.

I like to fill every summer with nature and music – two of my favorite things. Besides beach trips and bike rides, we recorded new music, so I’ve been wearing my producer’s hat a lot. The producers role is to set up the recording session: scheduling, budgeting, taking care of the players for example, but afterwards I work on track selection and oversee editing, mixing and then mastering of the music on its way to the final album.

We record three takes of each track or song, and there are ten songs on the album, (which is about one hour long). If you listen to each take a couple times, you can see how those hours add up, and you really can’t listen too much at one time. I do love what I call “First Listen” – hearing the full grown composition in its near final form. That’s a time to be astonished at my bandmates Luques Curtis and Rudy Royston, and revel in the cool things we recorded, but it’s also, honestly, a time to cringe at silly mistakes too.

I’m always listening for the BEST take – but what is that? What intro is the most compelling? What solo is the most creative? Track selection is like trying to decide which cloud you prefer in the sky – music is ephemeral – ever changing – so it’s tricky deciding what will connect the most with listeners. Those decisions are now done, and so I have time to listen for pleasure for the first time. I will divulge here that our new music is uplifting and puts me in a good mood – something I think we all appreciate this year, right? I really wasn’t sure what I’d get composing during March – July, so I’m very thankful it’s upbeat!

I’ll take a mini road trip to wind up the summer, but I’ll have new tunes along the way – just like every summer, and I’m going to do whatever I can to enjoy nature as much as possible.

Take care and enjoy the end of summer,
Lisa