OBEDIA is pleased to have Bill Burgess joining the OBEDIA team as a video tutorial contributor. Over the next few months we’ll be releasing some of his expert quick tips for Logic 8 and Ableton Live.

Bill Burgess is the former Los Angeles based Pro Audio Product Marketing Manager and Logic Pro Artist Relations Manager for Apple Inc. As a Logic specialist he interfaced with dozens of the world’s most visible musicians and composers, gathered feature requests, lame drummer jokes and provided on-site Logic training and tech support. He has toured throughout the US as a Logic Pro product specialist and electronic music clinician and spent two years teaching Logic Pro Certification classes as an Apple contractor. A successful musician and composer himself, he has written dreamy dark electronic music for NBC, Disney, Miramax Films, Apple Inc as well as dozens of indie films and projects. Bill has engineered and produced CD’s for 20 LA based independent artists.

Bill started playing drums at 8 years old and his passion for jazz drumming led to a Buddy Rich Schloarship to Berklee College of Music, where his first audition earned him a coveted performance rating of 6666. Equally passionate about recording and electronic music, Bill earned a Bachelor of Science in Audio Engineering from University of Colorado where he staged multiple electronic music performances using 2 Arp 2600’s, mutiple tape machine loops and junkyard percussion. A chronic early adopter, Bill bought one of the very first Emulator II+ keyboard samplers for a stunning $6,500! It proved to be a career changing decision. He has performed with multiple artists and toured on three continents playing a hybrid kit of acoustic drums and mix electronics. He performs every 6 months or so around Los Angeles and is currently working on a new record of minimal influenced tracks. www.myspace.com/billburgess . By day he is CEO of Uplink Industries www.uplinkindustries.com, an audio video production company located in Glendale CA, which recently finished all of the in-house 5.1 surround mixes for the LA production of The Who’s “Tommy” and currently has a number of video projects in development.

Bill is an Apple Certified Logic Pro 8 Trainer, Apple Certified Logic Pro T3 Training Instructor, Apple Certified XSAN for Video and holds Pro Tools Mix-Edit and Avid Media Composer Certifications.

Bill has also contributed to the following publications: Technical Editor, Apple Pro Training Series: Logic Pro 8 and Logic Express 8 by David Nahmani. 
Quality Control Editor, Apple Pro Training Series: Advanced Logic Pro 7 by David Dvorin.

Producer/engineer Michael Beinhorn has crafted a well-respected respected reputation and lengthy resume over the course of a 20-plus-year career. He’s worked on seminal recordings by bands including Soundgarden (Superunknown), Red Hot Chili Peppers (Mothers Milk), Ozzy Osbourne (Ozzmosis), Hole (Celebrity Skin), Marilyn Manson (Mechanical Animals), and Korn (Untouchables), to list but a few. His keys/programming chops can also be found on a slew of other projects from Brian Eno and Lenny White to Violent Femmes and The Golden Palominos.

Kicking around the New York music scene as a teen in the late ‘80s, he hooked up with Bill Laswell to create Material, described by allmusicguide.com as a “groundbreaking fusion of jazz, funk, and punk that also incorporated elements of hip-hop and world music”. The band backed a number of artists on stage and in the studio, including Nona Hendryx and Herbie Hancock. They produced Hancock’s Future Shock album, which garnered a Grammy award and including the hit single “Rockit” that rose to #1 atop the Billboard charts.

What are you currently working on?

I recently worked on a record with a band called The Bronx, Mew and an English band called The Fields. They released an EP in England and this is their first long-playing recording.

How’d you get your start: assisting, mixing, as a coffee boy?

I started out as a kid with a lot of really silly ideas and no way to articulate them in a nomenclature that would be applicable to a recording situation.

I have no college training, degree or any formal training. I wanted to be in a band so I bought a synthesizer. I was primarily an illustrator. Somehow, I met up with Fred Maher when were both fooling around in New York looking for something interesting musically to do. We met Bill Laswell and started Material, and the rest is pretty much history—after a fashion.

With Laswell, I was working with ideas. I didn’t have any technical skills per se. My primary function working with him was synthesizer stuff—programming synthesizers and coming up with musical ideas. That sort of metamorphosed into record production because you could apply those things to other instruments and orchestrate them.

Was the Herbie Hancock Future Shock record project a pivotal one for you and Material?

I would say it was. We’d done a record before that with Nona Hendryx and Patti LaBelle, which was actually our first proper production, outside of Material. But really it was the Hancock record that helped establish us. In its own way, it was pretty groundbreaking. I’m very proud of that. It was a very fertile time as well; a lot of people were doing some very interesting things. It just felt like a period where you could stretch the boundaries of what people had done up to that point, musically.

Are you known for certain technique or sound? I read on allmusic.com that you “helped to create the Ultra Analog recording format which uses two-inch tape recorded at 7.5 ips (inches per second) tape speed. This approach brings out the low-end of the sound spectrum…” Can you elaborate on that?

I’ve never really tried to have any specific direction or technique to how I did stuff. That whole ultra analog thing came from a desire to get things to sound as good as they could in a recording studio. It was basically a little bit of common sense combined with stupidity. If 16 tracks sound good, then 8 tracks would sound better! And as it turns out, 2-inch 8-track sounds considerably better than 16! That’s one angle that I was pushing for; I just wanted to get the recordings to sound as good as they could. Every project is different, so you can’t really apply any techniques, or rules to them. They all have their own life. The good ones take on or develop their own kind of existence, and you have to respect that and go with it. If there is one rule that I follow, I’d say that that’s pretty much it.

Is the analog format your preference?

It varies quite a bit. The last couple of projects I’ve worked on have sort of been hybrids—between analog and digital. Ultimately, if I had my way, I would always work on hybrids, working between a high-resolution analog format and a high-resolution digital format like DSD. I haven’t been on a project where we’ve recorded to tape for several years now. The ultimate place where the music winds up will always be digital no matter what I do.

What particular software platforms do you like to work with?

The last couple of projects I’ve worked in have been in Pro Tools by default, but my preference would always be Nuendo if I were working in a PCM platform. The Sonoma DSD system that I’m using is the only system I know of, apart from the Pyramix, which is multi-channel, and which uses Meitner converters that are absolutely stunning. There’s nothing in the world like them. Unfortunately, a system like that is extremely expensive, and for the requirements that most people have nowadays at least when they track, it kind of makes owning a system like this prohibitive. I would definitely say that if you have the money and you’re interested in recording in DSD, that’s the best way to go.

What’s your gear philosophy?

I’ve got a certain amount of equipment that I own that I will always have with me on a recording project, and I do consider some of it to be quite indispensable. The rest, whatever is in the periphery, is based on things that one has to have to make a record. So, I kind of work with stuff that I’m familiar with, and the rest I leave up to fate.

Do you keep up with what’s current as far as technology?

It’s hugely a matter of utility and necessity. If something’s ‘in’ and current and applies directly to what I’m working with in a recording studio, then I’m going to find out as much as I can about it. As far as stuff that doesn’t pertain to me, I don’t really get involved in that.

Any must-have tools?

I have a rack of Neve M-57 mic-pre EQs, which are the best things on drums that I’ve ever heard in my life. Some of these are things you’d find in a recording studio, but the Neve’s are very rare, and they definitely have an unusual sound.

What inspires you creatively?

There are lots of things. Primarily hearing music that has a strong emotional content to it, no matter how abstract it is, really gets me going. If I’m listening to a piece of music and I really hear the artist, if I can really feel the artist’s soul and their intent through what’s in there, that’s what makes me the most interested. And, it gets my creative juices going. I find that a good song is very important, as well, but there’s something that’s a little bit deeper than just merely a good song. I mean, a lot of people have written good songs, but do they actually have the artistry to back it up? Beyond that, if I’m working with an artist and we have common ground and are able to communicate well, that pretty much closes the deal. That makes things a lot easier. I feel that I’ve been the most able to be of service to a project when those things are in place.

I don’t want to put you on the spot, but can you talk about some of the records that you’re the most proud of working on?

I knew you were going to ask that! I have to say, almost all of them. They’ve all got a unique characteristic to them. They’ve all come about at different points in my life. The recent stuff that I’ve done, I’m particularly proud of. I just did a record with a band called The Bronx that I’m very proud of. I would be remiss if I didn’t say anything about Superunknown by Soundgarden—A), it’s a classic record and B), I’m just incredibly proud of it. It’s a wonderful record. I also did Social Distortion and Soul Asylum CDs, I’m very proud of those records, as well.

How has the way you work changed over the years—or has it?

I think it has, and I think that if you consider myself to be a creative person, making records, I’m honor and duty-bound to be open to change. I feel that I’ve become a lot more sensitive to the artist I’m working with and what we’re trying to achieve. I think I feel much more comfortable with my ability to help people arrange music. There’s definitely been a maturation process to doing this that I’m really happy with. It’s also nice because it makes it so that the process of recording doesn’t become this ‘by rote’ thing where you kind of sit down and you just do it and you don’t feel anything and you don’t experience anything. It’s been a constantly wonderful experience, even in times where things were somewhat frustrating.

How have studios and session changed over the years? Lots of the great studios have closed in recent years. What is the future?

Well, you said it yourself: studios are going away. It’s painful to those of us who’ve relied on having great rooms that are well maintained with good equipment, and its immense difficulty to have to contend with that, with losing some of the best recording studios in the world. But at the same time, something similar happened in New York in the late part of the ‘80s. We lost some of the great recording studios due to economics. It’s a similar kind of situation. So people have to adapt. The truth is, that there is always going to be a need for music; people are always going to want to listen and they’re always going to need it in their life. The burden is upon us to be able to figure out new and different ways to meet the challenge. I think that the interim process is a rough one because the recordings that people are making these days in my genre don’t sound particularly good—rock records. That’s a bit of a challenge. I think that people have to get better at what they’re doing. There has to be more of a sense of technique. Because with this change and with the advent of people recording in their houses or their basements, comes the guy who can basically operate a Pro Tools system but does nothing more than open up a new channel and hit the space bar. There are no engineering chops. And this guy hasn’t had a chance to be in a real recording studio, working under a master engineer—which is the way me and a lot of the guys I work with have come up. It’s that of sense of apprenticeship, and a lot of that skill has gone away. I’m hopeful that there are people that actually seek out ways to be able to become better technicians at the art of recording, and that we as a community put more of ourselves into trying to make records that resonate emotionally with people that listen.

Well, perhaps that’s what OBEDIA is all about, helping folks to become more educated and savvy about recording techniques, learning different software platforms—and ultimately making really great sounding records.

Oh, there’s no question about it. Those guys have been a major help to me in many situations. They’re very competent in what they’re doing.

By Diane Gershuny

Stayin’ Nimble In The Face Of Competitive Creation - By Diane Gershuny

“In this business, you need to stay nimble.” Well, the Manhattan-born Fred Maher knows a thing or two about that. Over the course of his very lengthy career, 27 years to be exact, he’s worn myriad hats—from drummer, session musician, engineer, mixer, producer, and consultant. And, he’s been associated with a broad circle of influential artists such as Brian Eno, Fred Frith, Robert Quine, Lou Reed, and Scritti Politti.

How’d you get started doing what you do?

Teenage tenacity! Once I realized that all of my favorite records were produced by the same guy—Brian Eno—I thought that producing was something I might want to do. After my first few times in a recording studio, I knew it was what I wanted to do. The studio as an instrument was something that I fell in love with, and that was something that Eno talked about. I just loved his philosophy towards the studio as a place to experiment and try different things sonically—as opposed to putting a bunch of mikes out and recording a band… Not that there is anything wrong with that. It was just a new way of thinking at the time. He was one of the early studio guys whose work was incredibly creative, and once I got into a studio I understood that and really gravitated towards it.

One of the high points of my early days was getting the opportunity to work with him. It was around ’79-’80. Eno was making a new record and had met Bill Laswell—when Bill, David Byrne and Eno were making an album called My Life In The Bush of Ghosts. Bill and I got the call to be his rhythm section. And I thought I was just going to die. He probably booked a week there and we would come in every day and literally screw around. I was in heaven. That recording never came out.

Do you remember the first time you worked in a pro recording studio?

I had a band in New York; we were all teenagers. One of the guys was very wealthy and decided we were going to record. The first studio I was ever in was Right Track—the original one that was on 24th Street in Chelsea [New York City], before they moved up to 48th. That was a long time ago, like in ’78. I’ve known Simon, the owner of Right Track for that many years. As I’ve gotten to know Frank Filipetti over the years, I found out that he also started out at Right Track, way back when. I think he was a singer and his band went in to record some music. Like me, he totally gravitated to the studio and became an engineer.

How about your first paying gig?

It was with a band called Massacre, which was me, Fred Frith and Bill Laswell. I was like 16! We played a show at the incredibly popular and groovy Mud Club. At the time, I hadn’t even thought about actually getting paid to play, but at the end of the night, Fred handed me $200 dollars in cash!

Was that pre-Material era?

That was actually at the same time. 1978. The core of Material was [keyboardist, producer] Michael Beinhorn and [bassist, producer] Bill Laswell. We were never happy doing just one thing so we had these offshoot bands. Massacre was created on a dare because there was a guy in New York at the time involved with that mid-70s progressive rock scene in England. He had arranged some show in an artsy-fartsy lofts in midtown Manhattan. He asked Fred Frith to put a band together to open that show. We started rehearsing for it, but realized that we didn’t have a name. The show was on Valentine’s Day—hence the name Massacre. I did a lot of different things around that time. There was another band called Deadline based around drummer Phillip Wilson and Robert Quine. In that band I played guitar. I was obsessed with rhythm guitar and Nile Rogers. I’ve been dabbling in guitar for a long time.

What was your first big break?

My big break was becoming a member of Scritti Politti… I was the drummer in from 1984 to 1988. It was three young guys that wanted to anything and everything you could possibly do in a recording studio. That was my PHD in recording technology!

Are you self taught on drums?

I took drum lessons at age 10, on and off, until age 14-15. But it was pretty traditional, rudimentary stuff. I was bored to tears. At some point, I convinced my parents to buy me a kit and I just played to records.

How about in the studio?

I’m completely self-taught. I learned by osmosis, basically. Probably the single most important piece of equipment I ever bought in my life was a Tascam Portastudio in ’79. In that little box, the basic principals of signal flow, record, playback, bussing, are right there. Once I figured that out, I realized that when I was in bigger studios working on bigger consoles, it was the same… just bigger with more channels. The Portastudio was an incredible learning tool. It’s all right there.

What’s your preference: playing live on stage, or working behind a console in the studio?

Behind the mixing console, for sure. Pretty early on, I liked the studio. It was much more creative. I wasn’t much of a performer, per se. Playing live was fine, but I really didn’t like the road. Mostly because it was uncomfortable. The first tour I ever did was with Zu, which was what Material was called for a few months. Me, Michael Beinhorn and Bill Laswell—and a bunch of other people—got a school bus and converted it into a little hippie mobile. We traveled around America and slept on the bus or on people’s floors. That was awesome. The next tour was in France and we were in a van, again staying on people’s floors. At that point, at 17, I realized, ‘This sucks!’ Bouncing around with cymbal stands hitting you in the head when you were trying to sleep. I never once toured in a proper tour bus. The only high-end touring I ever did was with Lou Reed and even then we didn’t have a bus. We would stay in very fancy hotels. I remember we did this tour in Italy once, and we had three sports cars—one red, one black and a blue one—to get us around. I don’t even know how they got the gear around. They must’ve rented backline. That was kind of fun.

Are you known for a certain sound or technique or specialty?

Not really… I’m not sure if that has hurt or helped my career. I have made very “electronic or machine”-based records (Information Society) as well as unapologetically organic ones (Matthew Sweet’s Girlfriend).
Analog or digital? What’s your favorite format to work in?

I miss the sound and the technically forgiving nature of analog but, if you’re crafty, you can get digital to sound wonderful. Digital is just too convenient to live without. In the early days of digital, a lot of us had the (wrong) impression that “digital was digital” and that you couldn’t screw it up. It has gotten a little easier to deal with lately but, as Bob Ludwig has famously said, “Never turn your back on digital”.

What’s your gear philosophy? Are you a gear guy or is gear just a means to an end?

GEAR GUY! Except when something is slowing down a session… I don’t care how great “this plugged into that and then through a this or that” sounds. If it takes away from spontaneity, forget it and just hit ‘record’.

What are you ‘must-have/can’t live without’ tools?

In the “real world”: my Soundelux U95 microphones, my Aeron chair, and my Hofner bass. In the virtual world: Nuendo, Universal Audio, UAD-1 (all plugs), Waves plug-ins and BFD.

What are you currently working on?

Aside from my golf handicap (12.7), writing the perfect pop song, scoring independent films and the new Obedia VOIP system. I’ve done some surround mixing and, in fact, last year I was nominated for a MIX TEC Award for “Best Surround Production” for the last Crystal Method record. I’m the A/R guy for DTS Entertainment, a division of DTS. They have a small record label that they release surround versions of music out there. It shows off their technology really well. I’m also working with Intel to help put their computers and chip technology into the studios of various high-profile engineers, producers and musicians like George Massenburg, Nathaniel Kunkel and Michael Boddicker. I’m involved in helping spec out systems for their needs and then supporting them. I also do some testing and trade shows for Gibson’s new Digital Guitar that uses their MAGIC IP-Technology.

How do you keep the phone ringing for work?

I’ve been fortunate to have been involved with some truly great projects: Scritti’s “Cupid and Psyche ‘85” [drums & Producer], Lou Reed’s “New York” [guitar, drums, producer], and Matthew Sweet’s “Girlfriend” [guitar, drums, producer], among others.

What inspires you creatively?

Beer. But seriously, what inspires me is great music, brilliant songwriting and ingenious production—especially if there is a cross–pollination of styles or genres. I haven’t figured out how to get Led Zeppelin and Kraftwerk into the same track yet, but I’m sure someone (probably in hip-hop) will do it. When I sit down to write something, I have to start with a Wurlitzer A200 sound.

How have studios and sessions changed in the years you’ve been at it?

They are considerably less luxurious these days. I miss the smell of Mylar in the morning! The free food went away in the early 90’s. I think the main thing that has changed is that when you used to go into the studio, there was a staff of people there whose sole purpose was to help keep your session moving along, keep the gear working, and keep you comfortable. When working in my favorite studios I felt confident and in control. These days, a lot of work is done in people’s houses and garages. On the one hand, we have experienced a fantastic democratization in the creative field but there has been a trade off. This is how the idea for OBEDIA was born.