Off the Stage: The Cloers

Two Crappy Weeks

It's been a while since I've updated, so I wanted to give everybody the scoop on what's been going on. We've had a crazy home life for the past 2 weeks. We started smelling fumes the week before last after we had a ton of rain. We quickly realized that we must have a septic problem. John called the septic pumping guys and had them come out. The problem is, it took him 4 days (he did it himself to save money) to dig out our septic tank - It's HUGE!.  We live in a 45 year old house, and they did things a lot differently back then. Once he found the septic tank, we realized that it was right under the lovely flower garden and walking path that John made me last summer. He had a bunch of mulch and pebbles trucked in, and he made a a beautiful walkway path that we filled with 8 Mexican clay pots and an embarrassing overkill of flowers. After the fiasco was over, it took him 2 days to fill the hole back in, get more rocks, and remake the pathway.  It's all good now, and looks like nothing ever happened, but it took the entire week to get the backyard back to normal.

Then, when I walked in the door from work on Thursday, John was holding his arm above his heart and said, "Don't freak out". Right away, I knew it was BAD and that I absolutely should freak out! A couple of years ago we went knife shopping and bought our first "serious" kitchen knives. They are German made and amazingly sharp. Because I am a little crazy and too fast with everything, the knives are off limits for me - John is so bossy :-). However, one of my biggest fears was that John was going to cut himself with them because they slice so easily.  Well, my fear was realized on Thursday as John almost cut the entire tip of his left hand, middle finger off. He cut a 3/4" gap all the way to the bone. Needless to say, there was blood everywhere, and of course it had to happen 3 days before we were supposed to begin recording the CD. Now, it has been 6 days, and it is healing nicely. He's beginning to get feeling back in his finger, and is even playing the 2 songs that don't use that finger in any of the chord shapes. I haven't been singing this past week because I have been sick, and don't have much of a voice. Hopefully, I'll be back in full force next week and so will he. So, for the time being, we are finishing all 10 arrangements on the songs and John has been transferring our mini disk ideas to Pro Tools. He said that we have 25-35 really strong songs that he has archived and that they just need some lyric and arrangement work. I'm pleased that we won't have to stress the 2nd CD as much as the first one. That will be great, because writing for this CD felt overwhelming.

On Friday, we went to hear a good friend of ours, Rusty Knox, play at a local coffee shop. As crazy as it is, most musicians like to go hear other musicians play whenever they have some down time. We enjoyed getting to hear some of the songs off his  debut CD project entitled, "Reason Why". Rusty grew up in Davidson, NC, and you would be hard pressed to find someone in this town who didn't know him. He has been playing guitar for over half his life, but only recently made the trip to Tennessee to record his first album at Treehouse Studios (owned by my buddies, The Carter Brothers). I'm including a 5 minute audio interview that was recorded and posted on our town blog site. His CD can be purchased through CD Baby, and I hope you guys will take a listen and see what he's all about. 

Our Monthly NSAI Meeting - April

Last night, we attended our local chapter NSAI Meeting. The Nashville Songwriter's Association has over 100 local chapters, so if you are an aspiring songwriter, then there may be one near you. Dues are $150 per year, but they can be spaced out into 3, $50.00 payments. The benefits are spectacular! First of all, a large chunk of the membership dues go to lobbying efforts on behalf of songwriters. Along with the Songwriter's Guild, the NSAI is a powerful voice for the rights of songwriters. Secondly, they give you 12 opportunities a year to send in a song for evaluation and critique by songwriting professionals. As a member, you have access to workshops, online education webcasts, as well as to the online forum. Being a member gives you discounts for songwriting software, magazines, other music industry events, as well as one-on-one mentoring sessions with a music business/songwriting professional. They even give members access to their resource and writing rooms so that you can lay down a scratch demo of a co-write session you may have while in Nashville. I can't say enough great things about becoming a member. To us, the biggest benefit we have received is attending our local chapter and making great friends that share the same passion that we do - writing.
Last night, we had a guest speaker, via Skype. Her name is Kim Copeland, and she is a music producer. In her role as a Nashville music producer, she helps artists select, arrange, and chart their song (Nashville Numbering System) before they come to the studio to record. She then books the studio, the musicians, and the engineer for the recording session. She works with the artist on vocal arrangements and general vocal coaching, as well as organizing and scheduling the production budget and resources. Then, after all that, she supervises the recording session, the mixdown, and the mastering of the project.
Last night, she gave us a top 10 list of errors that artists/songwriters make when getting ready for a demo/recording session. The following are some of the helpful points she made about the common errors she sees writers make when planning for a recording session.

1. A simple work tape is best. As long as the idea, the chord changes, and the general melody is clear, the producer will be able to chart the song and determine what musicians and vocalists will sound best for the song.
2. Don't tie the hands of the vocalist and musicians by telling them that there is only one way to record your song. You know how you want it to sound, but it may serve the song best to record it a half step higher, or lower. A lot of these musicians are award winning artists, and you don't want to tell them how to play their instrument. However, if you really love the voicing of a particular chord you play, then there is no problem with discussing that with the instrumentalist and asking them what they think about keeping it. They want to please you because you have hired them. But, they really want to make that song shine, so let them. 
3. Writing music or lyrics in the studio. Sessions are usually booked in 3 hour blocks, and in that 3 hour block, most top-notch session musicians can record 5 songs. If you go into the studio trying to re-write your material, then you are wasting their time, and your money. Be prepared. Come with finished work.
4. No clear focus. Before scheduling a session, you should have a good idea of your style, the style of the song, as well as who your audience is. Also, you need to determine if this is a demo session for pitching your work, or is this a recording that you would like to sell? What market are you planning to pitch this song to, and what do they expect the song to sound like?
5. Limiting your demo to a certain artist. Let the producer do their job. They are going to try to record your song so that it has the broadest pitch market possible. In other words, if you record your song to be a bad karoke version of a Tim McGraw sounding song, then you only have one artist that you can pitch that song to. If they decline, then you are out $760.00 and need to re-record. Instead, have a singer and a track that can really make the song come alive, but don't make it sound like one particular artist. 
6. Keep the introduction and solos short. Just because you can play an amazing 3 minute guitar solo doesn't mean you should. A "turn around" or a solo is used in a song to change the emotion. It should be a transition in tone. So if it isn't necessary, don't do it. Do what best serves the song. Don't put a 2 minute, instrumental introduction to a song, especially is if to be a commercial recording. In Nashville, most introductions should last no longer than 15 seconds, and you should begin the chorus no later than 45-60 seconds into the song.  
7. Trying to cast the vocalist yourself. Just because you know a great singer who can really sell their live performance, doesn't mean that same vocalist will be great in a studio. Let the producer cast the vocalist who they know has the ability to really sell your song. If you really have a strong opinion on who you would like to sing your song, let the producer know, and they will contact that vocalist. The producer needs to know how much time that vocalist had been in a studio recording environment, what is their range, how powerful a vocalist they are, can they work under pressure, are they professional and on time, and what style can that vocalist sing. 
8. Indecisiveness. Constantly changing the rhythm of the song or the way you want it to sound is very frustrating to your musicians. You must give them a clear idea of what you want, then step out of the way. Once you have dampened the creativity of the musicians who are creating parts for your song, you may get a technically perfect version of your song, but it will probably sound lifeless. 
9. Singing your own vocals. Unless you are using this recording to pitch yourself as an artist, it is best to let a professional session singer do the vocals. They are used to working under time constraints, and will be able to deliver a great performance, but within the alloted session time. 
10. Over-producing or under-producing your recording. If a track is over-produced, then the artist's producer you are pitching the track to may pass on your song because there is no room for him/her to put their original sound on that song. Make the demo sound great, but leave a little room for the new producer to be able to claim some work on the song. If the track is under-produced, then the artist you are pitching to may not be able to hear how great that song "could" be. They often hear what "is". This is a fine line to walk, so it is good to record your demos in Nashville because they are familiar with how extensive your demo should be based on your song and market.      

The following video takes you through a day in the studio with Kim. Hope you enjoy it.
 

Taxes for Artists

Thankfully, I have finally finished preparing taxes for "The Cloers". We normally do our taxes in February, but this year, everything has taken a back seat to getting ready for the CD. I wanted to share a little today about taxes for artists. I am not a tax professional, and am not giving advice (legal CYA), however, we do have a lot of experience with filing as artists.

When we first started a band and began buying equipment for our music business, we were well advised to be very careful with keeping up with our receipts for the business. The IRS is a little wary of songwriters and artists filings (due to abuse issues), and we were told to probably expect an audit at some point. Well, it didn't take long. We were audited by the IRS for 3 years of filings (normal is 1 year, and 3 years if they are really suspicious). Of course, we were nervous, but I keep every receipt and all of our claims were completely legitimate. It is recommended that you take your CPA with you to handle the audit, but we keep such good records that we did it all by ourselves (fewer than 25% of those audited come out of the audit owing nothing). Surprisingly, our IRS auditor was very kind, and after a lengthy review, he saw that we were completely covered with all of our receipts and did not owe anything. It was funny, because he actually apologized and seemed to feel sorry for us. In case you are audited by the IRS, NOLO provides good legal advice for surviving an audit. They offer books on starting a small business, how to form a LLC in your state, and a plethora of other legal information. I highly recommend any book they offer.

There are many deductions that are specific to artists and are easily overlooked if you don't use a preparer that is familiar with singers, painters, writers, etc... I would highly recommend seeking out a CPA who is familiar with the specifics of filing for artists. If they don't know exactly what you can claim, then you will be missing out on many deductions that would help you in your business. A great book that we have read on the subject is "The New Tax Guide for Writers, Artists, Performers & Other Creative People" by Peter Jason Riley, CPA. I have the first edition of this book, but Peter has just released this second edition. By reading this book yourself, then you will know what questions to ask your preparer to see if they understand your specific line of work.

I hope everyone has already filed their taxes, and that there is no need to read this post because you have a great CPA that totally understands the specifics of filing as an artist. If not, check around and ask different preparers if they know what deductions you can take. Our CPA is not a Music Business CPA, but she is very knowledgeable about what deductions we can take as artists. During our initial meeting with her, we asked many of the questions from this book, and saw that we were comfortable with her representing us and our business.

I am including a link to Riley and Associates website. They have a downloadable PDF to help you with income claims and artist expenses. I am linking to the PDF page for musicians and singers, however, there are ones available for writers, visual artists, actors, directors, and performers.

Vocal Care

I am completely envious of great vocalist like Rob Thomas and John Rzeznik who can smoke, or drink, or abuse their voice and still sound amazing! I feel like it's not fair that my voice shows everything that I do or don't do. If I don't get enough sleep, it shows. If I eat the wrong things for my voice, it doesn't sound good because I have to clear my throat so much. If I over use my voice, I lose it. So, this past week has been about me working on getting my voice and my body in shape for the recording. I really have to do some form of cardiovascular workout to help with my breath control. Truth is, I've been lazy since the beginning of the year, so I've been getting outside and walking 4 times this week as well as getting back to the pool 3 times a week.

Here's the problem, every time I clean up my diet, I feel really badly for a couple of weeks. All week long I've gone from feeling amazing to feeling like I have the flu.  We joke all of the time about a South Park episode that we saw a long time ago where Kyle is suffering from kidney failure, and his mom says all he needs to do is to detox using holistic health. In the episode they talk about how you have to feel worse to feel better. We always get a kick out of this episode, but... it's true! Anytime I am going to be recording or have a big event coming up, I have to juice, drink green smoothies, and eat really, really clean (and I always get so sick!). I have to get my rest and I have to do at least an hour of cardiovascular exercise a day to help me sound my best. I wish I could get away with eating pizza, staying up all night, and then sing, but I just can't. The best book I have ever read on vocal health is The Rock and Roll Singer's Survivors Manual by Mark Baxter. He discusses dietary concerns for vocalists, the importance of cardiovascular exercise for maintaining your instrument, and gives many vocal exercises to help with vocal strain. I highly recommend reading this book if you are a full time singer.

Now, I can bust out a couple of songs and sound good, but after 4 or 5, I will lose my voice. I realize that if I am going to be serious about singing, then I need to learn how to take care of my voice. It's pretty pitiful that I want my voice to be my business, but I don't know anything about it. I want to be "road ready" with my voice, so a friend suggested a vocal practice program by Brett Manning. I ordered the CDs a couple of weeks ago, and I am just starting to work with them. Truth is, I don't know if anyone can teach anyone to sing, but I do know that doing exercises for the inner muscles of the larynx does make singing more effortless. I am committed to working with these CDs to keep from straining my voice and to make sure that I don't oversing. I'm a little disappointed to be stalled out on singing, but the recording will sound so much better if I do all of this. So... hopefully we will be back on track by April 20th. That's the plan.

Live Show Research and Other Things We've Been Doing

For the past 2 Saturdays, we have been going to our local singer-songwriter venue and doing some live show research. We chose 2 artists (Ari Hest and Alice Peacock) that are similar in style to what we do who tour full-time as independent artists. We kept track of the number of songs each artist performed, what their crowd banter was like, how responsive they were to the crowd, audience interaction, number of sets, CD promotion from stage, how many people attended, average age of the crowd, length of show, as well as the show pacing and stage set-up. We learned a lot from watching these 2 shows, and will use the information that we gathered to begin building our live show.

Another project we've been busy with this week is for our local community. John was asked to sit on the 2009 grant review board for our local arts and science council, so he has been reviewing the grant proposals. He is very honored to have been asked, and will blog about his experiences after the final meeting in May. 

In other exciting news, John started working with DADGAD tuning this week, and we decided to voice 2 of the songs from the CD in that tuning. Also, we finished 2 more re-writes for the CD, and have 1 more to go. It has been a busy week, and we are looking forward to doing this final week of pre-production for the acoustic CD.  

I've been doing a lot of marketing research lately, and trying to figure out the best place to spend our efforts once the CD is finished. I'm an all or nothing kind of gal, so I will probably burn myself out spinning in circles trying to get everyone to hear the CD the day it is released. I will spread myself too thin, and then freak out about how I don't have enough time to do everything there is to do. I've realized that I need to focus on the most important tasks, and place my energy where my market already is.