Here's Weird One

Al_Huero · Post by **Al_Huero** » Sat May 27, 2006 5:29 pm

I did a couple of recordings for a band. They put an album out and some reviewers critiziced the singer's voice; so I was contacted by the lead guitar player and he was interested in getting mixes of the songs without vocals just "for his use"; saying he'd like to have the songs just as instrumentals. I told him what I'd charge to do it and he didn't have the funds at the time so the issue went away. He's now left the band is publicly criticizing the other main member; and has again contacted me regarding getting the vocal-less mixes.

Now I'm getting squeamish about all the "song ownership" issues. And on more of a moral ground--should I be giving disgruntled member copies of the songs for his individual use?

I'd appreciate any thoughts others might have. At this point I'm considering contacting the remaining band members to see how they would feel about giving the guy the mixes; but given his current behaviour I doubt they'll be inclined to consider it.

And I guess on a somewhat larger issue--I run a pretty low key home studio and sessions just reside on my system more or less for perpetuity. No one I've recorded ever seems much interested in getting their digital "masters" and insuring that I scrub the discs. Maybe I need to start instituting a policy that when the sesssion is finished, I make the band take along the raw session files and just be done with it.

Autodidact · Post by **Autodidact** » Sat May 27, 2006 6:15 pm

Al_Huero wrote: At this point I'm considering contacting the remaining band members to see how they would feel about giving the guy the mixes; but given his current behaviour I doubt they'll be inclined to consider it.

thats what i'd do...

thethingwiththestuff · Post by **thethingwiththestuff** » Sat May 27, 2006 6:26 pm

as far as digital masters go, i give clients a 44.1/16 reference disk, an 88.2/24 mastering dvd, and EVERYTHING else we did, meaning the digital performer sessions folders. i render all used session files in one folder per track as contiguous files to zero, so that they can at least remix the final versions with someone else regardless of their platform. if they want alternate takes and such, they can search through the mostly labeled audio files that are on all the other dvd's. i keep a final copy to listen to and use for demos, and delete everything else.

for this particular guy........jeez. i'd say if they are his songs and he wants them without vocals, he needs to re-record everything that way with new musicians.

Al_Huero · Post by **Al_Huero** » Sat May 27, 2006 8:06 pm

Yeah, we'll see. I've got a DVD burner and I've given a couple of bands the final stuff. I just hate getting in the middle of this kind of thing.

tommy · Post by **tommy** » Sun May 28, 2006 10:39 pm

I wouldnt mix intrumentals for this dude and I would explain to him that you simply dont want to get into the politics of it. if he gets wierd about that then he's lame. He probably is lame based on him getting his panties all bunched up because a reviewer didn't like the vocals. So now after reading said review, he needs instrumentals? Whatever...
As for giving your clients the sessions after all said and done, I always do this. It's no different than giving your clients the 2" reels afterwards. They paid for it. Their songs are on it.

Al_Huero · Post by **Al_Huero** » Mon May 29, 2006 4:00 pm

Yeah, I got in touch with the singer and agreed to contact the label they're on if he brings it back up. By all rights I'd guess the people that released the record ought to have the final say.

snuffinthepunk · Post by **snuffinthepunk** » Mon May 29, 2006 4:26 pm

i'd be willin to bet that the guitar player either wants to start a new band and find a "better" singer, or he thinks he can do the vocals better himself. cocky bastard. but yeah, if they're on a label, then technically the label owns the song so they'd be the people to go through, and they'll say "no that's ours" etc blah blah san dimas high school football rules!

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Mon May 29, 2006 6:22 pm

Just be honest with everybody. Sometimes, these things have a surprising way of working themselves out. If it was the band that was paying you for the work and the band is still active without this guy, then the material is the property of the band, of which this guy is apparently no longer a member. Explain it to him that way and tell him to work it out with them and everything should be cool. He can't possibly be mad at you for that (he may even appreciate the sentiment) and maybe (however unlikey it may seem) the band would be cool with him paying you to mix instrumental versions. Weirder things have happened. But in any case, don't try to play sides outside of what is obviously the honest thing to do.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

Zildjian · Post by **Zildjian** » Mon May 29, 2006 6:45 pm

Perranfulo wrote:
Al_Huero wrote: At this point I'm considering contacting the remaining band members to see how they would feel about giving the guy the mixes; but given his current behaviour I doubt they'll be inclined to consider it.

thats what i'd do...

Definatly dude, this is standard procedure.

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