Elliott Bay Recording Company End Of Year Update

I just wanted to thank all the artists and producers who came to my studio (Elliott Bay Recording Co.) this past year (2009) to record their projects with me.

Loni Rose, Elliot Mazer, Dr. John, Blue Thunder (Seahawks Drum Line), Loren Weisman, Skye Cantrell, Tamara Lewis, Rebekah Ann Curtis, Ed Zincavage, Housain Moudavi, Ramon Shilo, Yogi And The Yoginis, D.A. Thompson, Samaurai Bow, Kane, Aradia Of Seattle, Jon Anastasio, Abinave Mouly, Lilly Marchuck, Images, Bruno Modello, Alek Villa, Peter Fosso, Marti McEwan, Vee Allen, Alex Ivy, Mossback, Tod Rainey, Barry Pollack, Deb Seymour

Aside from all the sessions, I recorded 32 of my orginal songs for music publishing/licensing. It was a busy year!

Vintage Amps And Guitars At Elliott Bay Recording Company

Elliott Bay Recording Company has just acquired a fabulous collection of vintage guitars and amps! Guitars include a 1957 Gibson Les Paul, a 1964 Gibson ES Hollowbody, a 1963 Fender Telecaster, a 1970 Gretsch Rogue and many more. Some of the amps include 1962 Fender Concert Combo, a 1959 Fender Deluxe Combo, a 1980 Marshall JCM 800, a 1964 Ampeg Fliptop, a 1968 Vox Berklee 111, and many, many more. Check out the website (www.elliottbayrecording.com) for more information.

Mid Year Studio Update

Just wanted to say thanks to all the artists who came in to record during the first half of 2009!

Loni Rose
Elliot Mazer
Blue Thunder (Seattle Drum Line)
Skye Cantrell
Yogi And The Yoginis
Housain
D.a. Thompson
Brain Grenade Entertainment
Samaurai Bow
Kane
Aradia
Tod Rainey
Tamara Lewis
Hilary Harris
Ramon Shiloh

Purchase an MP3 of Ethereal Motion or license a song

Music Videos Are Important For Promotion

I am a very firm believer that a local band trying to make it in the music business today needs a good quality music video to help showcase and promote themselves.  A good quality music video isn't something that your friend videotaped at the local bar and stuck up on your website!  

Myspace is littered with bands that have a horrible quality video, with bad lighting and even worse sound of the band playing at a local bar.  This really is worse than no video at all!  With myspace and other parts of the internet becoming as big as it is, record companies and management companies are starting to frequent those pages more and more.  First impressions are of paramount importance, so if they can immediately see and hear your entire package with good quality sound and video, and like it, there's more of a chance that they might get ahold of you.  If all they hear is a badly recorded demo and that aforementioned video, they will pass you by.

If you want any sustainable chance in the highly competitive music market, please don't put your video from last Saturday night's gig at the local bar on your site.  Rarely does it look good and sound good.  You're just hurting your chances.  If you're not hurting, then you're definitely not helping!  If you're not helping, you're wasting your time!

Some Reasons Why A Band Or Artist Need A Good Recording

In my opinion (and of various other music industry professionals) there are many reasons why a band or artist needs to have a good, well produced recording of their music.  Here are some in no particular order:

1.  Most, if not all , people can tell the difference between a professional sounding product and one that was quickly put together in your friends basement.  There is a sonic difference between a $3,000 Neumann U87 microphone and any number of $70 cheap chinese microphones.  Put together with many overdubs, and the difference becomes much more apparent.

2.  Without a good sounding product, there is no way a major/minor record label will take a second look at you or your band.  They have far to many submissions to listen to, and if they don't like what they hear immediately, they will go on to the next cd.  Even bad music recorded well will make them listen a bit longer.

3. With the proliferation of music throughout the internet via hundreds of different music sites, band sites, personal sites and more, a band or artist needs a good representation of their music to get noticed above the millions of songs they are competing with on the internet. 

4.  When you're playing gigs and you don't have a cd to sell, you're losing a lot of monetary gains by not having a cd to purchase.  If you have a good sounding cd, more people will begin to notice.  If it's a bad sounding product, only your friends and family will love it, and those aren't the people who are going to tell you the truth!

Elliott Bay Recording Company

What is Elliott Bay Recording Company:

Since this is my first blog, I'll explain what Elliott Bay Recording Company is.  It's a studio I built in the Capitol Hill district of Seattle, WA.  I started construction in January of 2002. After 3 months of construction, I was able to start with sessions.  It took another 3 months to actually finish the final work.  Throughout the years, I've continued with little projects to ultimately create a well designed acoustic space.

I've been recording and producing bands for over 20 years now.  I've been to several countries to produce artists, having recorded about 500 records to date, 8 of which have gone gold.  I spent 10 years in Los Angeles working with a wide variety of artists, from 40 piece orchestras to small jazz combos, and everything else in between (to partake in a cliche!).  I've been in Seattle 13 years now.  

Some of the artists I've worked with in the past are: Andy Williams, Susannah Hoffs, Melissa Etheridge, Morris Day, Frank Stallone, Linda Blair, Steve Lukather, Grant Geisman, Elliot Eastman, Bobby Womack, Los Tiranos Del Norte, Lalo Y Los Descalzos, Andrea Marcovicci,Undergod, The Olympics, The Marvelettes, The Mayfield Four, Bone Thugz and Harmony, Rod McKuen, Ronny Cox and many more.