Mar 3, 2008 3:25 PM

Want a recap of what was said at these hot panels—or wish you were there! Check out these synopsis on the highly attended panels.

COMING SOON: VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS!

TUESDAY, MAY 20: MIX PANELS (ROOM A)

11 AM

STUDIO: The Full-Blown Demo: Tips and Techniques for Songwriters/Artists
Moderator: Russ Long
Panelists: Jason Lehning, Chris Grainger, Richard McLaurin, Carl Tatz

Engineer and moderator Russ Long’s panel kicked off the event in grand style with a round-robin discussion of what exactly record and publishing companies look for in a song. Panelist Chris Grainger said right off the bat that he hated the word “demo” and thought that the band played differently if they thought the recording was just a temporary stop on the way to the record. Jason Lehning and Richard McLauren chimed in with similar comments, saying that they preferred to look at the recording as the best possible representation of the song, no matter what that involved. Designer/engineer Carl Tatz offered valuable tips on the practical side of speaker and studio setup. Questions from the audience were lively as they queried the pros on how they could make their recordings more “pro,” even with limited gear.

12:15 PM

STUDIO: Recording Guitars: Capturing the Feel of the World’s Hottest Players
Moderator: Kevin Becka
Panelists: Chuck Ainlay, Michael Wagener, Terry Christian

The guitar panel was packed with eager attendees looking to benefit from the panelist’s diverse recording backgrounds. Grammy-winning engineer Chuck Ainlay brought interesting insights to the discussion with stories about working with guitarist Mark Knopfler, while Michael Wagener represented the metal side of things talking about his work with Dokken, Skid Row and Poison. Approaches to recording and processing varied with Terry Christian, who uses “quite a lot” of compression when he records acoustic guitar, while Wagener uses a more hands-off approach, always recording acoustics as an overdub. Other interesting techniques revealed involved recording a dry DI input to a track and then using plug-ins or reamping later to beef up the guitar’s presence in the mix.

1:30 PM

LIVE: Recording the Show: How to Capture the Energy of Live Performance
Moderator: George Petersen
Panelists: Robert Scovill, Buford Jones, Marc Repp, Stephen Law, Dan Wothke

2:45 PM

LIVE: Plug-Ins Go Live: Using Software for Dynamics and Effects
Moderator: George Petersen
Panelists: Lee Moro, Robert Scovill, Colin McDowell, Shane Adams

4 PM

STUDIO: The Making of a Hit: The Basic Production Components of a Hit Song
Moderator: Sarah Jones
Panelists: Paul Worley, Clarke Schleicher, Andrew Mendelson

Wednesday’s “Behind the Hit” panel featured the team behind the debut album from blazing-hot new country act Lady Antebellum. Producer Paul Worley pointed out that the music industry is at a crossroads: “We’re a slave to radio in a lot of ways; quite often what gets played doesn’t move the dial and doesn’t do commerce, and ultimately doesn’t put a roof over our heads…we’re all kind of in this middle position, and my position is that we have to make music that moves the dial.” Worley stressed that to be a hit, music needs to make people feel something; he achieved that goal with Lady A through an old-fashioned recipe of rehearsing—“really getting around the music”—and when they finally got into the studio, just recording what they had already figured out. Worley emphasized the importance of an emotional vocal performance: “If the song is king, the vocals have got to be the thing to deliver that.” Engineer Clarke Schleicher concurred: We have an entire building of tools to make record…ultimately, a great vocal performance has to be captured on something, the problem is you gotta get a great vocal performance.” Andrew Mendelson from Georgetown Masters brought the mastering perspective, noting that that there have been encouraging developments in the loudness wars, with more clients—even record labels—asking for less compression and more dynamics.

5:15 PM

Next BIG Nashville Presents: Inside the Outsiders—the Artists and Producers Making Music Beyond the Row
Moderator: Mike Levine
Panelists: Silver Seas' Daniel Tashian and Jason Lehning

WEDNESDAY, MAY 21: MIX PANELS (ROOM A)

11 AM

STUDIO: Making the Mix Personal: Tools and Techniques Inside and Outside the Box
Moderator: Wes Bulla
Panelists: Bil VornDick, Jeff Balding, Bob Bullock, Julian King, George Massenburg

The mixing panel, chaired by Belmont’s Wes Bulla, was packed with an all-star cast of Nashville engineering talent. One of the funnier comments involved panelist Bob Bullock, engineer of more than 50 Gold and Platinum albums, stating that the reason he came was “to hear what George had to say," and that he always learned something whenever Mr. Massenburg spoke. The panel took off on an esoteric note with the group discussing the more undefinable aspects of their craft. Bil VornDick likened a mix engineer’s use of the console as “his instrument,” saying that he never really thought about how he got the sounds he achieved, but just reacted to his instincts and grabbed EQs, faders, etc., as he felt the mix evolving. Massenburg added that the console was the mix engineer’s equivalent of a guitar player grabbing a Strat, Tele or other appropriate instrument as he searched for a tonal color. Jeff Balding and Julian King expounded on their approaches when mixing inside and outside the box, and although they differed in technique, they reached the same conclusion: The song is king and no amount of technology can overcome a bad composition.

12:15 PM

BUSINESS: The New Label: Methods for Promotion and Distribution
Moderator: Tom Kenny
Panelists: Andrew Kautz, Andre Fischer, Steve Day, Ashley Heron, Johnny Rose

1:30 PM

STUDIO: Studio Survival Strategies: How to Keep Rooms Filled
Moderator: Tom Kenny
Panelists: Scott Phillips, Danny White, KK Proffitt, Steve Tviet

2:45 PM

STUDIO: Speaker Optimization: Making Your Mixes Translate from Home To Studio
Moderator: George Petersen
Panelists: Carl Tatz, Steve Durr, Ed Seay, Bob Bullock, Bob Hodas

4 PM

STUDIO: The Making of a Hit: The Basic Production Components of a Hit Song
Moderator: Sarah Jones
Panelists: Lee Ann Womack, Chuck Ainlay, Tony Brown

The stars came out for the final panel at Mix Nashville: Grammy-winning artist Lee Ann Womack, producer Tony Brown and engineer Chuck Ainlay treated the audience to samples of never-heard tracks as they talked about the sessions behind Womack’s upcoming fall release, and shared their insights on what truly makes a hit. Everyone agreed that something about the song—the intro, a particular instrument, the chorus—has to draw the listener in right away. The group discussed preconceived ideas about elements that make a hit; in particular, the notion that a country hit has to base its hook on the chorus. “I think they think it’s gotta have a hook, and the hook is usually the chorus, when you think about a lot of country songs,” said Brown. “That’s what I’ve always liked about R&B; a lot of time the hook is the mood of the record. It just kicks off and you go, ‘I’m digging this,’ and you dig it all the way through the whole song, not thinking about the chorus or the verse, or anything. And so when we go in to cut a record for our format, we naturally think about the hook, but I have been very prone to think about country music the way I think R&B artists thought about R&B.” Womack offered the artist’s perspective, adding that being true to oneself as a songwriter is key. “Some of the biggest hits we’ve had is when those ‘experts’ in the middle get out of the way and great music is created. Songs can go Number One—I could probably name Number One songs that y’all wouldn’t remember, that I wouldn’t remember, but there are some that stick around forever and those are the good ones.”

5:15 PM

Next BIG Nashville Presents: Inside the Outsiders—the Artists and Producers Making Music Beyond the Row
Moderator: Mike Levine
Panelists: RCA recording artist Landon Pigg and producers Ian Fitchuk and Justin Loucks.

Logic Studio for Recording and Production feat. Jimmy Nichols & Band