what do you do when bad word is spread about you

[dungeonsound615]

So let me set this up, I talked to a guy who puts on battle of the band shows in my area. I proposed that th enext band that wins i would offer five free hours of recording time. He liked the idea a band one ent me an email and were hopefully still setup to do some recording in November.

Now a while back i worked with a band who came in cause they liked the work i did with a former band of theres. Trying to make this story short the end result they were not happy with and either was I lots of low end rumble from teh guitars which i tried to fix, and even retracked some of. So i get an email from them telling me how there not happy i call them saying lets fix it, and sent emails also and no return from them. they payed for there time when they made a deposit and ended up with a crappy mix which im not proud of either and wanted to fix for them.

So some friend of theirs tells this guy puttig on the battle of the band shows that there friends got shafted by me cause they got a crappy mix. When honestly i did everything i feel in my power to try adn fix the problems, i called offering to fix things and get them a mix they would be happy with but never heard back from them.

I just dont want bad word to get out about me when im really a hard working person who tries to make every band i work with a happy one.
this just sucks i hate when people say bad things about someone and i dont want my rep to be ruined.

sorry had to vent a little

Mike

[joel hamilton]

Ignore it and record people. Do good work that speaks for itself. People may hear about that incident and be like "really? the stuff I heard was awesome!"

I have meetings with bands before recording to make sure we are going to fltter EACH OTHER, rather than get surprised by an asshole that doesnt give you anything workable and then blames YOU all day long for their shoddy performances and/or attitude.

Nobody really gets mad if you take a flattering picture of them. Even jerks have to be nice to you when you make them look good.....

[chetatkinsdiet]

Mike,

That really sucks, but that's business. There are plenty of people that have been treated horrible and gotten shitty service at WalMart. But, the fact is that millions more have gotten great prices and pretty much had great service as well. So, the good stories out there outnumber the bad. It really sucks that this is going around about you, but if you can fire back with some bands that have had good experiences, then no biggie.
later,
m

[dungeonsound615]

Thanks everyone, i just needed some words of confidence i can always count on the tapeop board to be there.

Mike

[MichaelAlan]

Dude...
There is this ...fast-food-studio near me in Riverside. I will even "name names".
"Love Juice Labs" in Riverside. Here's why: I heard a friends'bands' CD and almost puked. What the crap? This is terrible, how do they stay in business kinda reaction. Long story short, I some heard stuff they did after that which was pretty good, then some more...then more. Of course my opinion changed. Good work speaks for itself. Even though they have like 584390 bands in a week, bangin out demo's assembly-line style, you can't argue with a good mix. My friends' band must have got them on a bad day...just like your bad day.





Check out www.purevolume.com/briertone. They are one of the GOOD DAY bands. You WILL like them.

[nestle]

just look forward, the situation sucks but think how you can avoid it in the future-

One way I've found, and this took a real long time to come to terms with is ask for them to bring in an example of a mix they admire. It's tough becuase as an engineer or studio you want your own sound and style, but it really helps define what they are after and you learn to mix diffrent ways. when they leave and your A/B ing your mix and thier fave you've won 'em over. next time you put your stamp on it-

[cgarges]

All you can do is keep making records as best you can and try to keep everyone happy. If you do enough projects over enough time, there is no way you'll keep EVERYONE happy, as there are a lot of poeple with differing opinions out there. But for the most part, if you keep doing good work and the majority of people with whom you work come back to work with you again, that reputation will outlive anything any one band will say about you. Especially if they're unreasonable people. Others usually see through that sort of thing eventually, if not immediately.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[MASSIVE Mastering]

Let's not forget the BAND'S responsibility in some of these situations - Great sounding bands tend to sound great almost no matter what you throw at them.

I've done straight-to-two-track recordings of "world-class" artists through 57's, 58's, 81's and Allen Heaths that sound WAY better than the mediocre sounding bands I've recorded with Neumann's, SSL's and hours upon hours of studio time.

Same thing with mastering - Great mixes "want" to sound great after mastering.

Irritating mixes can struggle to just sound "less irritating." Anyone who has ever recorded a Metal band with Crate stacks and guitar tones that sound like Pantera through a cheap stereo know what I'm talking about here...

Switch that with a nice 60's Les Paul through a Fender Twin or a Dumble - You have to TRY to make it sound bad. You can almost mic the handle with a 57 in a wet paper bag and get a usable tone.

So, Illegitimi Non Carborundum (don't let the bastards grind you down). Give it your best to tell the bands thr truth of their own sound. Some of them won't like to hear the truth - But I've found that most will respect you more for it.

[wayne kerr]

"Love Juice Labs" in Riverside.

That has got to be the worst studio name I have ever heard!

SMH

[bigtoe]

managing difficult people is the worst...

do you what you just did...be friendly and/or professional back but be firm. a lot of bands will come back a couple years later and go 'oh jesus we didn't know what we were doing...'

people who talk too much shit are lame to work with anyway...cuz they seem to do it no matter what you do. if it's really bad...look at it like you discovered what a pain these folks are and refer em somewhere else with a disclaimer...

taking anything personal in this stuff is just asking for sleepless nights and an early death for no good reason...go pro not low.

i'm really rhyming too much lately. i feel like don king.

see ya...

Mike

[supafuzz]

not everone is going to love you or what you do...
you can't sweat it..and you can't let it get to you....

you know who you are.......

just keep doing the best you can!!

H

[Moon Unit]

Just be professional about it. Be calm and collected . . . never get on the offensive. Apologize, offer to rectify the situation at no cost, etc. Basically just show a ton of class in the matter, and that you're not going to stoop to their level and badmouth them. Keep taking the high road, and eventually it will pay off.

[@?,*???&?]

Take it onboard and realize that something you did had a consequence. If you feel it's difficult overcoming that, then make adjustments in the future. Do better work, take more time to get it right, whatever. In a small market, you could be hurting your future. In a larger market, you may have a greater level of forgiveness. Still though, move on and keep doing great work!

[Scodiddly]

Not much you can do.

But you know what? Those people who were obnoxious idiots to you will be obnoxious idiots to other people too. Keep doing a good job and trying hard to make your customers happy, and that band eventually be recognized for what they are.

The people you like working with will like working with you.

[Slider]

I'll mention something I've never talked about in this forum before.
I had a very bad drug habit in the 90's...REALLY bad.
I went through hell to get better.
Although I haven't even seen a drug in over 7 years,
and I don't even live where I did when I had the drug habit,
I still constantly hear about people saying I shoot heroin or smoke crack or something like that.
You can't believe how much this bums me out.
But there's really nothing I can do about it.
So I just try to do good work and be nice to people and hope that everyone I work with will say good things about me and my work.
You just can't control what everyone says about you.
Other engineers will try and talk bad about you to get your business, or bands who just suck and blame you for making them sound like themselves.

Just focus on doing good work and not being a dick.
It's really hard for me to not be rude to crappy musicians who think they know it all.
It took years for me to learn constraint.