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Exile Studios CD


Ollie

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Ian, Im so glad that youve corrected this. Ive lost count of the number of times that people in Aberdeen have told me that a studio owns recordings. Of course this is absolute rubbish and flies in the face of all common sense. As you point out, the law says that the ownership of the recordings and master tapes remains with the studio, until payment has been made in full. Even if payment isnt made, there are other laws in place which prevent exploitation of master tapes, such as first mechanical, which requires the song writers to give permission for the first commercial release of their works (this only applies for the first release, once in public domain, most songs can be recorded by anyone as long as the correct MCPS license is obtained and royalties paid). As I say, I dont know why so many people up here get this wrong, I can only assume that theres a lecturer at a local music college talking out of his arse ;-)

And btw, in stating the above, Im not in any way having a go at Exile. Mark does a lot for the Aberdeen music scene, and Im sure that most of the complaints on here are simply down to the age old problem of communication breakdown between band members

I'm gald too. Having now turned the page and read the next chapter I see that I had simplified my info a little toooooo far, and wrongly.

The misinformation maybe comes from us up here being cheap bastards and never paying for the recordings? :) Sadly I just got my wires crossed...

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Just got a hold of the complation itself, i must say im very impressed, Mark's obviously worked hard on it, i know for a fact he is constantly reworking our track to see if he can improve it.

Does anybody feel that it is important for people like Mark to produce such complations, which REALLY gives an insight to the Aberdeen music scene? I feel that there simply isn't enough of this kind of local exposure available to, especially newer local bands, in the North East, how can a band expect to break out of Aberdeen if they can't even get noticed in Aberdeen.

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Pretty easily! Play shows in other places. Use the internets. The whole build up a fanbase a city-at-a-time is pretty stupid.

thats a bit easier said than done though, it can be a bit demoralising i feel for bands who have been playing the same places time after time and the venues are still dead, not nessicerily because they're a poor band, but because nobody's heard of them.

Im not suggesting that having fan-bases in each city are crucial, but to land a decent gig here you have to either know somebody, or be pulling in a decent crowd to your gigs.

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thats a bit easier said than done though, it can be a bit demoralising i feel for bands who have been playing the same places time after time and the venues are still dead, not nessicerily because they're a poor band, but because nobody's heard of them.

Im not suggesting that having fan-bases in each city are crucial, but to land a decent gig here you have to either know somebody, or be pulling in a decent crowd to your gigs.

What about the novel idea of bands promoting themselves instead of waiting for someone else to do it for them?

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What about the novel idea of bands promoting themselves instead of waiting for someone else to do it for them?

take myspace for example: i don't know if you've got it, however, if you log on and see "new friend requests" and then find out they're bands. How many of them do you actually listen to, nevermind accept? I know for a fact its very few in my book.

Without going off topic, i was just stating that i felt the complation idea, which has proven controversial to some of the more experienced bands on it, has proven beneficial to newer, less experienced bands in raising awareness to our existence.

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thats a bit easier said than done though, it can be a bit demoralising i feel for bands who have been playing the same places time after time and the venues are still dead, not nessicerily because they're a poor band, but because nobody's heard of them.

Im not suggesting that having fan-bases in each city are crucial, but to land a decent gig here you have to either know somebody, or be pulling in a decent crowd to your gigs.

Well, bands shouldn't be treated like Marilyn Monroe or whoever it is you kids are listening to these days, demoralising shows are part and parcel of being a band, whether you're an unsigned band playing to three people in Dundee, or Mariah Carey being a performing monkey at a private party. If a band is playing the same place time after time, and the venue is still dead, I'd suggest that they see about using a different promoter, and you know, promote themselves. That, or split up, as they might actually just be shit. You've got to put in a shitload of work yourself, bands shouldn't expect crowds just because they're local, or a band.

As for landing a gig, you can just send demos/an email with myspace links to most venues in this city no hassle. Obviously your gig is doing to be 'more decent' if you're pulling in a decent crowd, that's why the Beatles probably had better gigs than the Shaggs.

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take myspace for example: i don't know if you've got it, however, if you log on and see "new friend requests" and then find out they're bands. How many of them do you actually listen to, nevermind accept? I know for a fact its very few in my book.

Without going off topic, i was just stating that i felt the complation idea, which has proven controversial to some of the more experienced bands on it, has proven beneficial to newer, less experienced bands in raising awareness to our existence.

Signing up to myspace and printing a few hundered flyers for a gig is not promoting yourself!

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Signing up to myspace and printing a few hundered flyers for a gig is not promoting yourself!

Exactly, cold calling people on Myspace is completely stupid. When a band's 'friends' far exceeds the amount of plays they've had, you know something is up! And it's definitely not their popularity!

Finding messageboards which cover music similar to your own is a good way of spreading your soundz about, as is simply emailing people you're already interested in and opening up a dialogue, LIKE A UN CONVENTION!

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Signing up to myspace and printing a few hundered flyers for a gig is not promoting yourself!

But surely its a start, i know the internet contributes to 1% of homes worldwide, but i think its useful to make local connections. To set up a street team you have to have at least a small following of REALLY dedicated fans, i can't see much folk that come to see my band, even though they enjoy the music, being arsed handing out stuff on Belmont street. i guess we could do it ourselves?

Undoubtably the live performence is the biggest way to promote yourself, its just hard to get people out to gigs, because we can't get our music out to people. All im saying is that i think as well as the complation promoting Exile Studios, it also promotes the bands on it to an extent.

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Finding messageboards which cover music similar to your own is a good way of spreading your soundz about, as is simply emailing people you're already interested in and opening up a dialogue, LIKE A UN CONVENTION!

ta' very much didn't think of that one! now im going to stop before i piss you people off.

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To set up a street team you have to have at least a small following of REALLY dedicated fans, i can't see much folk that come to see my band, even though they enjoy the music, being arsed handing out stuff on Belmont street. i guess we could do it ourselves?

I think street teams are a waste of time, really. I mean in the case of small bands, who's going to care about a stranger coming up to promote a band they're not even in! And with bigger bands, all street teams seem to do is collect email addresses at the gig - surely if you're going to the Music Hall to see We Are Scientists, you're already going to be aware of the band! That said, I'm sure it makes the small group of uber fans who give up their time to do it feel a little bit special, and in turn more likely to buy each and every format of every piece of turd said band pushes into the world.

You say it perfectly in your last sentence - do it yourself! Don't be zealous with promotion initially, just concentrate on making the best music - live and on record - that you can, and only then start to work on booking shows, etc.

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ta' very much didn't think of that one! now im going to stop before i piss you people off.

pretty sure I've seen your band; concentrating on learning to play better and writing better songs would probably go a long way. If I think a band's good I recommend to other people, I'm sure others do as well.

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Is this compilation available for download? Would love to hear it...

Yeah to be honest the only way I would ever listen to this cd is if it was available as a free download. At least with mp3s you can skip through the track fairly quickly to get the jist without having to listen to the drivel.

I used to be happy to pay 2 quid for a sampler cd from an established label like BlueNote around 10 years ago, but paying for a random collection of tunes by random clients from some guys studio in the middle of bumfuckistan is absurd.

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I used to be happy to pay 2 quid for a sampler cd from an established label like BlueNote around 10 years ago, but paying for a random collection of tunes by random clients from some guys studio in the middle of bumfuckistan is absurd.

You might like a song on it though Stripey. And if it's only a few quid, isn't that worth a gamble?

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if he is the producer then he has all the right in the world to tell you to redo a bit if he thinks its not up to sratch, i would have thought folk would have been happy for someone to be that picky rather than just mix it up and forget about it.

He's not the producer though, He's the engineer. He has every right to offer suggestions but at the end of the day it's up to the band. Demanding someone comes back to re-record a part is crossing a line. Also telling a band they are under-rehearsed is out of line as they are paying him to record him.

I thought his attitude stunk of jizz and burger king when I recorded with him years ago.

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He's not the producer though, He's the engineer. He has every right to offer suggestions but at the end of the day it's up to the band. Demanding someone comes back to re-record a part is crossing a line. Also telling a band they are under-rehearsed is out of line as they are paying him to record him.

I thought his attitude stunk of jizz and burger king when I recorded with him years ago.

he does produce as well tho, if you cant tell that after having worked with him then you obvioulsy dont know what it means. As for being under rehearsed, thats a fair point, you may be paying him to record but if you sound like shit then it looks bad on him, the old saying goes "you cant polish a shit" and i guess this stood for you guys. Why bother paying money to record if you dont really know what your doing?

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Don't be zealous with promotion initially, just concentrate on making the best music - live and on record - that you can, and only then start to work on booking shows, etc.

This is good advice.

Actually take time with your music before unleashing upon the public, then use your local city to get familiar with what its actually like being in a band, play some shows, learn what goes on, forget that no one is watching or cares. Then start thinking about playing other places, it really isnt hard to 'get out of town' in this day and age of the internetz. Bands that are good, together and know how things run, tend to get offered good things anyway in time. Patience, patience, patience.

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he does produce as well tho, if you cant tell that after having worked with him then you obvioulsy dont know what it means. As for being under rehearsed, thats a fair point, you may be paying him to record but if you sound like shit then it looks bad on him, the old saying goes "you cant polish a shit" and i guess this stood for you guys. Why bother paying money to record if you dont really know what your doing?

OR, crazy as it might sound, he might have been really shit at production, and it was you that couldn't tell the difference.

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He's not the producer though, He's the engineer. He has every right to offer suggestions but at the end of the day it's up to the band. Demanding someone comes back to re-record a part is crossing a line. Also telling a band they are under-rehearsed is out of line as they are paying him to record him.

I thought his attitude stunk of jizz and burger king when I recorded with him years ago.

What line is it crossing to ask a band to come back in and re-record a guitar part free of charge? Enlighten me please.

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