Profunk's Future

When I get back from this junket I'll be moving into a new phase, spending Monday through Friday in the studio, 9am-9pm. My goal is production: CDs, DVDs, books. At the same time, one has to play live to keep the ear and other instincts honed! I hear a lot of musicians complaining that folks aren't supporting live music any more. Home entertainment options and generally loud and obnoxious blues bands are cited as reasons, along with aging of the Woodstock generation. I'm not feeling my age, but improving my diet, incorporating daily exercise into my routine and producing tangible, sale-able and mass reproducible products with less performance wear and tear are my goals! Because the home studio is small and I'm using a dedicated hard disc recorder rather than a computer based system: 1) Record the drums "live" in the room with guitars going direct. That way we have the ability to re-record any part, or punch-in to cover minor errors. I'm using a Roland BR1600 with 16 tracks internal. Really, it's only 14, because 2 are required for mix-down. After recording basic tracks we'll bump the drums up to a stereo channel, leaving 3 of the first 8 tracks devoted to bass and 2 guitars. And there may be a vocal scratch track and/or temporary track with spoken cues to guide further work. 2) Next, record lead vocal, acoustic piano, one or two channels for synth. Also, sax, flute, bass clarinet and background vocals can be added using virtual tracks and mixing down to 1 or 2 channels depending on availability of tracks. After the lead vocal is recorded there are still two stereo pairs and 4 individual tracks available. 3) I had experience as a recording technician for GRT in 1969 and again in 1974. Not the top dog in our studio, but I processed almost every release for Atlantic, King, Capitol, Blue Thumb, Chess, Checker and Sun in those years. Using state of the art tube amps and reference speakers calibrated my ears for the sound of a good tape master. (I transferred from our in-house copy to cassette and 8 track master loops.) I was a guest at Pacific High in San Mateo during the recording of the first Malo CD, looking over the shoulder of David Rubinson and Fred Catero. As a performer I recorded with Leo DeGar Kulka, Paul Stubblebine (Wally Heider / Hyde Street Studios), Ray Dobard (Music City Records, 1959) and Dave Wellhausen (both at his SF Studio and at Fantasy Records). And I worked seven years as a pro audio-visual tech. That's just to say that I do know what I'm doing. 4) I have a program that allows me to do CD mastering, a $500+ add-on that many bands ignore, or contract out and often receive very little value-added in return. If you want to be played on the radio, your disc has to match station standards, they won't be bumping up the volume or adjusting the EQ just to accommodate your stuff! I'm still in the trial and error stage using the software, but proper tweaking after listening to a Profunk master in A-B comparison with someone else's admirable release will insure acceptance. 5) Legalities include bar-code, getting our label it's own unique code and developing inventory control. Acquiring rights to other people's tunes, joining a composer's society (BMI or ASCAP primarily) for royalty tracking, developing a channel of communication with the Harry Fox Agency, copyrighting originals and getting SRs for your masters -- these are functions performed by the artist-owned record company and publishing company. Part of the reason for my upcoming road trip is to develop a list of high class venues and promotional outlets (radio stations, college papers, newspapers, other entertainment media). But mainly it's for rest and relaxation and visits with my wonderful cousins and friends in the Northwest. I hope you'll revisit the Profunk website in the future for progress updates, links to other independent innovators and performance listings. Thank you, -Don Baraka-