June 2, 2010

PAVI Guest Lecturer Gives Acid House Interview on Recording and Production

PAVI guest lecturer Tony Marriott of JonesForTones Productions gives an interesting interview on recording and producing at PAVI's Blue Wave Studios to Acid House Magazine.

Article retrieved from:: www.raisedonindie.com June 2, 2010.

The Acid House Interviews – Tony Marriott

Tony Marriott is a multi-instrumentalist and the hottest bass player around. He has worked on nearly every one of my projects over the years, and we have spent many hours talking production, gear and life stuff. Tony is my go-to-guy, and he cooks.
- Jenn Ashton – Rave on Studio

ja ~ Tony Hey – thanks it was you who got me started on the interview idea! Can you tell us briefly about your background, some of your accomplishments to date, and where you are at now in your career?

tm ~ Sure, I’m originally from Toronto but moved to B.C. at age 8, so I’m basically from here. Musically speaking, I studied in Los Angeles at the Musician’s Institute and in Boston at Berklee.

Most people know me as a session bassist, but I play a little guitar and drums too and have also released 3 CDs under my own name. I lived in California (L.A and S.F) making a living as a session bassist from 1987-1997 and these days I still do a lot of bass sessions but I’m mostly focused on my production company JonesForTones.ca.

Currently, I work out of Blue Wave studios, which is also home to Pacific Audio and Visual Institute www.pacificav.com or PAVI as they call it. I feel very lucky to work in a studio of this calibre and especially one with such a rich musical legacy. Right now I’m working with Myk Gordon, The Broken Condom Babies, Sensible Shoes, and a drum loops CD for session drummer Bill Hicks.

ja ~ That’s awesome! And that’s what I wanted to talk about – I wanted to ask you specifically about the music industry today and the sea of talent out there. I think it was you who once said to me ‘everyone can be a producer now with the free audio programs available’. So that being said, how are you competing and staying competitive in that industry?

tm ~ I think I might have said these days anyone with computer and a DAW thinks they’re a producer  lol, but I think what you said is more accurate. Anyone ‘CAN’ be a producer.

In all honesty, as far as being competitive I’m not sure about that. There are many fish in the small pond called Vancouver. Maybe the best way is to carve out a niche and not try to be everything to everyone. I’m guilty of this to a degree because I really like lots of different genres, but I’m kinda old school in my approach to recording rock. Most of my production ideas come from records made in the 60’s and 70’s. I try to ‘engineer’ or manipulate as little as possible.

The sound of commercial rock radio today is not something I strive for. On the other hand I like the way bands like Radiohead mix in elements of electronica. As of now anyway, I am trying to stick to basics, like using 2″ tape, at least in the early stages of production. As has been said by many, ‘..if you try to copy current trends, your songs will already sound dated by the time you release!’.

ja ~ One of my artists sent me this link today to a mobile recording studio, that will come to your house, can you comment on that? I guess this industry is wide open and if you can think outside the box, not that this is new, but they are making it readily available to the general public, that’s their audience.

Is this kind of thing taking advantage of the consumer? I mean, can you really get a good product outside of the studio? or does it matter given that most people will only listen on mp3, if the music even gets to the listening public?

tm ~ Not that it’s a bad thing, but this is nothing revolutionary. I mean mobile recording isn’t new by any stretch. As to whether you can get ‘good’ recordings on location or not depends on many factors. The musicians, their instruments, the acoustics of the space, the engineer’s ability. The recording gear is important but it’s important to keep in mind it presupposes all the above are in order.

In response to the MP3 question, I’d say a large percentage of music consumers have always listened to music through sub-par systems. I don’t think this is any reason to lower standards of production. Conversely you could say there are many audiophiles out there with better sounding systems than ever, so maybe we should raise our standards. I look forward to the day SACD (24-96k) is accepted by the mainstream market, (haha) If ever.

ja ~ Yes, great points, and yes, (I still mainly use 44.1!). Oh and hey, any comments on the come back of vinyl?

tm ~ I love the sound of vinyl but I ‘d be really surprised if it ever came back into popularity.

ja ~ Just one more: I am talking with a lot of people about having to do so much more in today’s industry to be successful, did you ever think you would have to be a marketing expert and business person when you were at Berklee?

tm ~ It does seem that you have to spread yourself pretty thin these days but It’s never a bad idea to understand as much about the biz as you can. I mean why leave the important stuff to some supposed expert. I think even in the past artists eventually learned everything, sadly, lots of times by getting screwed. It’s like anyone going into business for themselves, the more information you have at the outset the better your chances for succeeding. I’ll let you know.

ja ~ Thanks Tony, as always, nice chatting.

JonesForTones.Ca