Recording 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

Harvesting Creativity

June 4, 2021 by Lisa Hilton

Creativity, Growth, Jazz, Recording

My mind has been going over this idea the last couple of weeks as I finish my new compositions and prepare for the upcoming recording session: How do you nurture a blossoming creative project and see it through to a successful “harvest” or culmination? Whether it’s new music, a remodel or home grown veggies, it takes work, skill, time and experience to nurture peak conditions for a successful finish.

Hmmmmm… I really don’t know if there are any answers, but I think there are things you can do that allow for the creativity and growth to flourish. My personal motto is: “Get your work done ahead of time.” There are always quite a few little things that can be done ahead of time like planning lunch orders, personal needs, parking spots, etc. so they won’t occupy your mind when you need to be finalizing things. This is especially true in my case for practicing and knowing the music well enough to communicate it to others. But these things are really just common sense, right?

From experience I think the best approach is to be “of service” to the creative project: to do whatever it takes to deliver it and to be sensitive and intuitive to what it might need under any circumstances that arise. Making a commitment to nurturing yourself and the project consistently so that you can, (hopefully), create at the highest level.

I’ve been watching my mini veggie garden growing this spring in several large containers, silently betting which tomato plant might produce the best tomatoes – but we won’t know until it’s time to harvest – anything can happen of course. It’s only with the right conditions, at the right time, that you can harvest what you’ve been dreaming of and looking forward too. It’s all about the work, nurturing and growth that is needed to improve over many months. It’s all the small decisions every day that add up, but at the very end you hope for the best conditions and a bit of luck too. Please wish us good luck as we record the new music!

Enjoy this spring!

– Lisa

How to Succeed in the Music Biz

May 14, 2021 by Lisa Hilton

Al Schmitt, Capitol Studios, Creativity, Recording

I’m not sure if people will ever come to me on how to make it in the music biz, but if they do I’ll tell them: “Do what Al did – as in Al Schmitt, the celebrated engineer and producer and 23 time Grammy award winner that passed away at ninety – one last week. But before I share those thoughts, let me tell you how I met Al and started working with him sixteen years ago.

When I started composing, I recognized that I had to record the music if I wanted to share it with others. Somehow I found good people right away to work with and I generally was able to create work I was proud of even though those first few albums were low budget affairs dominated with performance anxiety. One year as I headed into mastering – the final step before finishing the music – I was particularly depressed at the sound of the piano. The mix engineer had over processed the piano so that it was hardly recognizable! I did a lot of research looking for better piano sounds and one name kept popping up: Al Schmitt.

I listened to Bill Evans, Diana Krall, and Rosa Passos and every great piano sound had the same engineer. Stuck in traffic on my way to the studio in Hollywood I came up with three wishes for my career that I repeated emphatically in my brain: 1) to have enough finances to pay my band, 2) to work in a studio with better bathrooms, (I had been working in some low budget studios sometimes), and 3) to work with the engineer Al Schmitt. Still feeling a bit glum as I arrived at the studio, I greeted my engineer Gavin Lurssen and his boss, Doug Sax.

Then Gavin introduced me to Doug’s client – Al Schmitt. Imagine my surprise to meet the one person I had been thinking about in traffic for ninety minutes! How remarkable was that? Al did agree to work with me the following year, and gradually we worked in better studios and fortunately my financials improved too. He engineered sixteen albums with me and we shared the same fondness for cookies, Cole Porter and great audio. The first couple years I thought I’d watch Al closely to discover his “secrets”, but like any great artist his work was effortless and just a natural part of who he was. But by watching him I saw the aspects that I see so often in people who are highly successful: of course he had a strong work ethic and top skills, but he always had time to look people in the eye and chat, and would easily give his time to teach or share with others.

When I worked with him he led a very balanced life, always nicely dressed, working out every morning and calling his wife when he left work every single day. He kept his commitments – if his job with Diana or Anita was running behind schedule, he still honored his commitment to our studio time. It was rare to hear a complaint from him even if the air conditioning went out on a hot day, although if you weren’t prepared he’d let you know you were slowing him down. Most of all, he loved what he did, and when you’re doing what you love doors seem to open up along the way – as they did for him time and time again, and as they have done for me too.

These days we seem to measure peoples’ lives by size, and by that yardstick Al’s life seemed bigger than anyone I have ever met. Imagine that every day he had the privilege of working with the greatest artists in the world, (Duke, Thelonious, Barbra, Natalie, Diana, Chick, Quincy, Frank, Norah, Joao, Liza, Elvis, and Madonna just to name a few), doing what he loved? I think we all would like to be able to just do what Al did and excel so consistently for decades and decades. He was a skilled master and an inspiration to all who knew him, and he will be missed by many.

– Lisa

First row: Al Schmitt at working at what he loved, At Avatar Studios NYC with Jeremy Pelt,
Christian McBride, Lewis Nash and Steve Wilson 2007.
Second row: Working with engineers Chandler Harrod and Al Schmitt at Capitol Studios 2019.

pianist lisa hilton wearing a hat in front of a piano

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

IN THE STUDIO

August 19, 2020 by Lisa Hilton

Luques Curtis, Recording, Rudy Royston, Social Distancing, Studio

Yep, we did it! We recorded a new jazz album, and it was the culmination of six creative months composing during an unprecedented time in America’s history. Whew!

This year recording new music, like everything else, was different of course. Every studio date seems like a miracle to have the band/engineers/studio/piano all available on the same day. The logistics – more like a complex dance – to find a studio that was open and had good safety procedures in place, were more involved than in the past, but thankfully everything finally came together. I decided on recording at The Village Studios in West Los Angeles this year because they are a top studio, (with an illustrious history), and also have approval from the City of Los Angeles to remain open despite any lock down in California. In addition, they were very kind to me during my evacuation from the Woolsey fire almost two years ago, and I like to work with kind people.

Despite all the preliminary work, scheduling, and pandemic precautions, once we enter the studio, everything changes for musicians. We are able to focus 100% on our art, our instruments, the moment, and sound itself. You do hear stories about musicians having difficult times in recording sessions, and there is stress to get things “right”, but I love the act of creating music in the moment with the highest quality sound. Awesome bandmates Rudy Royston and Luques Curtis, top engineer Chandler Harrod, (with Karl Wingate assisting), perfect studio acoustics, and of course, the big nine foot Steinway D that was loaned to me for recording. (This year I was told the piano was a favorite of film composer John Williams – well, it was fabulous!)

So, how did we do? Hmmm… I have a rule that I don’t “judge” until I’m all done. In the studio your senses and emotions are heightened: I think the worst thing you can do is judge under those kinds of conditions, because the tendency is to think it’s the best thing, or the worst thing you’ve ever heard! So in the studio we play at the top of our abilities with freedom from over-analyzing. Those are the euphoric moments for me – when the music comes alive after months of thought, trials, and efforts magically blossoming in real time into a creation we will share with the world. To say that it is an incredibly cool experience is a huge understatement – those are the moments the composer lives for – it feels like the birth of music itself.

Enjoy these last couple weeks of summer,
Lisa