When considering how to record brass and reed instruments – and when recording saxophone in particular – the player and the tone he’s able to get from the instrument are vitally important. If you’re recording a professional with a lot of studio experience who knows how to get certain tones out of the instrument, you’re going to have a very different approach than if you’re in a home studio recording someone who’s new to the instrument and playing stacked notes.
“Take Grover Washington, Jr., for example,” says Jon. “I had the good fortune to record sax with Grover on a session in the mid 90s. He was as good as it gets. His tone was amazing. You could pretty much put a mic anywhere and it was going to sound good because he could resonate his sax really well.” Read more.
I work in waves. I can write a ton of songs in a few months then nothing. I used to freak out that my songwriting creativity was gone forever. Now I know this is just how I work. I have three phases of my music career process: the touring, the creative and songwriting, and the business. They seem to weave in and out of each other. When I’m in touring mode or song writing mode, I’m never really psyched about booking, making phone calls, or sending emails. When my touring and creative spurts are over, I kick my music business plan into high-gear.
