posse in the studio?

[joel hamilton]

All the sweet stories from 160 Varick st.....

I have done a few sessions there.


I like the story of ODB Jumping up on the Neve VR with timberlands on, making one of his crew go get the LL cool J "im bad" gold record, smashing it on the floor and pissing on it from up on the console.

Thats the kind of shit I really like while mixing. Helps me concentrate.

[Randall]

I hate to admit it gut if I get a phone call inquiring about the studio and I get the slightest idea that it is a bunch of hip hoppers I tell em this is a private facility and I dont do any outside projects,if they walk in off the street,I show em to the door,I dont let em in my control room or see my gear,,if that sounds racial,,sorry,thats just the way it is,,the way it has to be,,I dont need no wannabe gangster outlaw shitheasds running around in my facility aint no chump no punk no sucker,I can talk more shit than the average mother fucker,,your sister your bnrother and all the mother fuckers gonna show you were its at with a baseball bat,,gimme a break,,who needs it

[black mariah]

Reminds me of the time I came home from work to find a small posse in my living room. My bandmates thought it would be cool to bring some friends along. That sure as fuck didn't last long.

I think every situation has to be handled differently. When you're dealing with a solo acoustic singer it might be good to have a couple of their friends around to lighten the atmosphere a bit. With 20-something metal bands, you can't have anyone or anything external around. If the person in question is someone that the whole band would like to be there then it would probably be cool, but I'd limit it to just one person at a time.

[cactus]

Seems like there would be good psychological advantages to keeping the posse away. When I was at recording school, everybody and his respective mother was in the studio, and then the artist couldn't perform because of Stage Fright!!

[housepig]

never had to worry about the posse in the studio bit, but I have had the joy of the posse at the rehearsal space - we had the nice big space with couches, fridge and microwave, and many nights we had the posse roll in.

on those nights I left early a lot because we ceased to get anything done.

an occasional part of the posse was another 3-piece band. found out one of their rules - nobody allowed at the space (except the band) until after 9:00 p.m. They'd start around 6, so they had a minimum of 3 solid hours under their belt before any guests were allowed through the door.

I think the new band (some of the old bandmates from the posse space) is going to have that same rule...

maybe that could be an option - set a time several hours after start, and "lock out" any guests until after a certain time. Might be a decent compromise between no posse and no recording, and it might show the group the contrast between "getting things done" and "entertaining the posse"

- housepig

[tiger vomitt]

for me it was more about making sure little pieces of gear dont grow legs. thats why i didnt want the posse around when i started the thread. im not being antisocial about it, it's just that i dont have an extra set of eyes in the back of my head. you know, an ebow here, a glass slide there, maybe a smokey amp or something...there are too many little things around here for a person to steal.

[black mariah]

One or two people is probably fine, but once you start worrying about your shit, it's time to deposse your studio.

[tommy]

I use to second at a place where hip hop and RnB was almost 100% of the clients. Ive done sessions with the posse in the house and they were always well behaved. Most of the clients were of the DIY regional following ilk so studio time/money was an object. They couldnt afford to book studio time just to party. I took on the cheaper graveyard shift gigs with a few gangsta rap types along with the girlfriends in tow and they were always nice to me and I got the feeling the girlfriends knew to stay out of the way.
Lots of blunt smoke and weird mix drinks involving cheap pink sodas and vodka but that's about it. No incidents. They were there to finish there project so we worked. Generally speaking I think the ugly stuff happens with the bigger budget high profile gigs weather it's hip hop or white boy flavor of the month. Ive never worked on anything on the level of deathrow records so I wouldnt know anything about that except what you hear on vh1.

[JES]

Yeah, I think it depends a lot on the hip hop you're recording, like the last poster suggested.

Also, way more dangerous than gangstas in the studio is KIDS (although I suppose if it's your kinds in your studio, you can train them to behave themselves). Nothing like the son of the drummer playing with the monitor poweramp in the middle of a mix to freak out the engineer. . . .

Best,
--JES

[wayne kerr]

My faorite story of this brand was a guy in LA who booked late night studio tours because it was "the only time I can make it." Ten minutes after he arrived, like ten guys would bust through the doors, Glocks and Tauruses drawn and pointed at the head of the poor schmuck who was giving the "tour." In addition to the heat, these guys also packed electric screwdrivers. In about fifteen minutes, they would relieve the studio of EVERY piece of gear (and mic) they could get their hands on. So, what was this genius doing with all the booty? Selling it on ebay? Fencing it to pawn shops? Nope. He worked for a guy who owned a pretty well-known rental company! SO one day, some guy rents like a PCM90 or something from this agency (apparently, his was recently stolen!) and he noticed something unusual: ONE OF HIS OWN PRESETS STORED IN MEMORY! It was only a matter of time until the cops put 2 and 2 together and busted this guy.

I never had a problem with this kind of crap, and I did PLENTY of rap, but I was always very careful about who I booked - generally only guys who were referred to me. MY problem was always GETTING PAID! Interestingly, I NEVER, in 16 years of recording, had a problem getting paid when the artist was paying the bill. In fact, the gangstas would pay IN CASH before we began each day. When it came to labels however... well let's just say that there's a certain Japanese equipment manufacturer out there who owns a couple of labels and a couple of movie studios - the name of which is now a four-letter word to me... hey wait a minute, it IS a FOUR-LETTER word! I won't name names, but it starts in 'S' and ends in 'ONY'

E

[bedbug]

For the sake of the posse, I'd have a no guests rule. No one's mentioned yet that if you're in a studio, and you're not playing an instrument, or producing/engineering/what-have-you, it's incredibly boring. Even if you are in the band, the downtime is incredible. But maybe that's just my personal experiences, trying to explain to an engineer that, although important, I think there are things more crucial than the difference between HALL1 and HALL2 reverb.

[black mariah]

Yeah, that's another thing. How long can the posse sit still and not be bothersome? The studio is the music equivalent of a cubicle. Would you want to go see an accountant at work?

[I'm Painting Again]

you can get theft insurance?

[TapeOpHillary]

when i started working at sound on sound in nyc, one of the things i wanted to accomplish was to learn more about hiphop because i hated it musically and stylistically and socially.
after working there for 3 years, i've come to realize that i hate it even more!
one of the worst things about it, to me, is the posse aspect.
that's probably because i'm not a party-er, however.

granted, most of the clients that come through SOS are commercial "artists" with commercial ways of making records on major label budgets, but nonetheless, except for a few, they are all the same.

there's a reason why hiphop is all about the posse. it's a fucking party, that's why. the rappers don't get psyched up unless there's a crowd on the other side of the glass whoopin' it up along to the beat...
it's the glamour. doesn't matter the color of their skin, i'm talking about the white folks too...!
smokin blunts, drinkin hennesse (sp?), eatin spicy southern food.
it's like clockwork.

and i feel bad for a number of reasons.
1. the general assistants have to clean up after the "party" every night.
2. some members of the entourage usually have to take the subway home and go to their lame minimum wage jobs the next day when they'd rather be making music as well.
3. i have to watch all of this happen and sometimes fix stuff they break or clean out an entire rack of compressors when someone spills beer on it.
4. what would the "artist" do if all those people weren't there to cheer *him* on.
5. how much money could be saved if food budgets didn't exist.

this is why i do not record hiphop...
i couldn't handle actually being in the room with a party while i'm trying to work.

:rant pant:
hillary

[soundguy]

who started the posse?

It would be cool if it was lionel ritchie when he got up on his solo career.

someone had to start it officially.

The Tshirt Im wearing now says "henesee, offical posse beverage"

Perhaps Im not seeing it because Im in it, but at least rock and roll doesnt have a lame stereotype beverage...

dave