ARTICLES

PICK6 - Ben Edwards

31 May 2012

It's a brilliant four weeks and believe me, we're all for it, but to be honest, it can be hard to know just how to actually celebrate NZ Music Month, when our daily/weekly/monthly/yearly focus is NZ music!

This year we decided we'd ask a bunch different local music industry participants to give their thoughts on the current state of play. We wanted to cast the net wide, and that turned out to mean a whole heap of questions and lots of pollsters – which all threatened to get right out of hand.

A quick refinement of the concept and we came up with PICK6, in which six commentators/players/opinion holders, from a variety of industry backgrounds, will get given a dozen questions and asked to pick the six that they are most keen to answer. We've asked promoters, bloggers, musicians, journalists, record company types, retailers – all sorts really.

We'll be posting their answers up here throughout the weeks of NZ Music Month and reckon PICK6 should make for some interesting reading.

All the way from the Garden City - Ben Edwards

Ben owns and runs the popular recording studio 'The Sitting Room' in Christchurch which specialises in vintage equipment, tube amps, tube mics and wood paneling. Focusing mainly on Christchurch based music, Ben has been involved with recordings for The Eastern, Delaney Davidson, The Unfaithful Ways, Flip Grater, Cairo Knife Fight, The Hori Buzz, LA Mitchell and Julia Deans. Sadly The Sitting Room was destroyed in the September earthquake. Ben spent six months re-building the studio only to lose it once more in the February quake (on his birthday no less). The Sitting Room is currently operating from bedrooms and livings rooms but will one day exist in a 'third' instance.

Are you doing anything special this NZ Music Month?

This NZ Music Month I'm actually flat out working. I’m finishing up the final mixes of another Lyttelton double album from Delaney Davidson and Marlon Williams from the Unfaithful Ways. 24 tracks of some of the best songs I've heard come out of here in years and we're all really excited by it actually, especially considering both of them were just recently nominated (separately) for the NZ Country Music Awards. Going head to head competing for Song of the Year, all the while we've been working on a joint double album that's going to blow peoples minds. Otherwise this month I'm going to try and spend as much time as I can consolidating the Chch music scene and its current 'state of disarray'.

What mistakes are typically made in your own chosen area of expertise?

I think in recording and production with bands the biggest mistake (although slowly this is less and less frequent) is many bands think that to get 'that big sound' they have to spend tonnes and tonnes of money in big studios. Simply, some of the best records and recordings I've heard recently have been made on shoestring, or by the bands themselves. The days of the big studio are dead I believe. The industry is continuously changing and I love it, if you're not open minded and go with it or think outside of what is 'normal' or has been 'the way to do things' you will get left in the dust.

Do you think the popularity of social media now makes individual band websites unnecessary?

No, I don’t at all. I think that social media has its time in the sun and I believe the sun is setting. I think that the future will be with mobile friendly sites or apps for bands, whether it be something to sell merch or music through, or a specialist touring app, or ticketing or whatever. Mobile technology and the access that it opens up to the end user (audience) is unprecedented....until then though, I'd say grab your bands domain name NOW and park it, and have a Facebook page for sure.

Do you think the album format is still relevant or would it be more beneficial for acts to simply release a series of singles?
Great question! I've been having this discussion with musicians a lot recently. Whilst recording The Eastern's latest album over the summer this was the topic that would be talked about over and over. The fact that they not only recorded but released a 'double album' is testament to the fact that clearly they and I believe there is definitely a place for the 'art' of the album. I think it comes down entirely to the reason and intention of what it is you're recording and wanting to release. For some artists it's more about bang for buck and they get more of that with a single. However for others it is more about the 'art' of music and the 'craft' of song writing and then the master craft of compiling those songs in the best order and flow to make an album. Personally I don’t listen to the radio for my music I use my laptop or phone or vinyl and nearly 90% of the time I'll put an album on and listen to it rather than shuffle or single songs.. each to their own i guess.

A piece of advice for bands/artists starting out in 2012…

Work hard on your craft of song writing it's all it comes down to as far as I’m concerned. There's thousands of good players out there, hundreds of great ideas and good looking people but great songs are hard to come by.. and then following a great song up with another and another is even harder. Again, you can spend thousands of dollars recording in the best studio in the country, but sadly you're just polishing a turd so to speak.

The one question we really should have asked you is…

You should've asked me if being in Christchurch sucks.... and my answer is 'I wouldn’t be anywhere else, I think this is the most exciting time for us and we've learnt so many important life lessons'