The Beatles were known as the quartet made up of John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Yet unbeknownst to many is the fifth Beatle—George Martin.
No, he wasn’t the regular Beatles wannabe. He wasn’t the squealing diehard fan either. George Martin was their producer.
“The Beatles is a universally-loved band, and how they got there is next to amazing,” says Perth Salva, a budding record producer himself. “But what’s really amazing is that they’re just a bunch of decent musicians with an incredible post-recording process.”
It’s true that music does start with the musician. But it sure as hell doesn’t end there.
Here comes the Perthman
Coming from a traditional business-minded Filipino-Chinese family, Perth’s parents did not enjoy the idea of him being a full-time musician. “It was kind of a given that I had to do business,” he says. “So I tried to find a way to incorporate business with music.”
Aside from playing the bass guitar to the sound of famed bassist and record producer Marcus Miller, Perth found a new way of emulating his hero. He is currently the sole proprietor of his own recording studio/record label under the moniker Perthman Records—“with my parents’ permission, of course”—the remedy to his own music obsession and his parents’ business-related endeavors for their son.
Having had his fair share of musicians jam in his studio, which opened just last 2008, some of Perth’s stories are pretty classic. “The other day, Kjwan was scheduled to jam in my studio. Being these big shots, I was expecting them to be really rude,” says Perth. “But they even offered to bring food to compensate for my letting them use my studio for free.”
While jamming in his house, Perth recalls his mother coming into the room. “We all just froze. Then my mom says, ‘Balita ko sikat kayo ah (I hear you’re popular around here),’” he says. “Everyone just starts laughing. I guess it just goes to show that the studio humanizes artists.”
Despite that experience, Perth still gets anxious whenever a band visits. “When I get a new band in my studio, I get butterflies in my stomach,” he says. “You have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen.”
Toasted ‘n’ rollin’
When it comes to indie hands-off music production, Gen Go and her friends’ SOMBA (JGSOM Business Accelerator) project, Roller Toaster Records, has come a long way from being a mere academic endeavor. Roller Toaster Records is on the verge of releasing and promoting their first album from the Atenean band Klieg Lights.
“Me and my friends (who started Roller Toaster Records) can’t really sing or play instruments, but we love the art form,” says Gen. “The group wanted to do something different from all the other SOMBA groups, so we chose this one.”
Priding themselves for having a hands-off approach to record producing, Gen says they let the musicians do everything creative or artistic.
“We focus on everything else. We try to pattern ourselves from the way indie labels do their business abroad—focusing on smaller markets rather than the mass markets,” she says. “The goal is giving the kind of marketing that major labels might not provide because smaller bands tend to get neglected.”
Francesco Amante, the guitarist of Roller Toaster’s own Klieg Lights, had only kind words for the label. “It’s really comfortable and relaxed,” he says. “It’s as if you have a friend with you, not a parent. It’s perfect for our set up and our sound.”
Technical difficulties
Being newcomers to the music business, Roller Toaster did not know what to expect. Beneath the scouting and the jamming lie the dirty paperwork trail and everything else.
“We (Roller Toaster Records) thought all we needed to do was sign a band, record an EP or a record and that was that,” says Gen. “Permits, copywriting, even just getting to find a band—everything was kind of a shock to our system.”
Even Perth, a relative veteran in the gig circuit, understands the plights of the newcomer. Credibility, it seems, will always be hard to come by for youngsters. With no formal education on audio engineering, he says the hardest part of the deal is getting potential bands and listeners to trust him.
“I got all my knowledge from firsthand experience, by playing around with the equipment, and from my tech friends [when] I used to watch gigs,” says Perth. “To make up for it, I sometimes skip lunch just to watch videos on YouTube. It’s become a sort of addiction, learning about how to manipulate sound.”
You get what you give
While the two producers differ in management styles, the one thing that they agree on is that the local music industry is bursting to the brim with raw talent.
“It’s the greatest feeling, to be able to find a new band and sign them and give them their chance to shine. It’s the reason we’re in the business,” says Gen.
Perth feels the same. “The best thing about it is developing new relationships with everyone, new bands and old,” he says. “Finding that great band you know can make it, and actually helping them along that path, that’s what I love to do best.”
When Klieg Lights releases its first full-length album under the Roller Toaster Records label, things will only get more hectic for Gen. “[But] it has never felt like work,” says Gen. “We just love doing it.”
In the coming weeks, Perthman Records studio will be entertaining the likes of Chicosci, and a few other established acts.
“Sex, drugs, rock and roll, my life ain’t,” says Perth. “But, right now, I wouldn’t trade places with anyone else in the world.”
Secrets of the sound
Sound recording is a science. What you hear is a combination of actual instruments and a few tricks from record producers working their magic in the booth.
The thump sound of hip-hop
What sounds like a space-aged sound engineering of the thump sound in hip-hop tracks like “Tipsy” by J-Kwon is actually produced by kicking a piece of cardboard.
The extra drumstick
Drum sounds in songs don’t always come from drummers. Sometimes producers include drum sounds from pre-recorded drum pattern samples.
Simulating stereo
Some tracks recorded in mono (i.e. single channel) can be mixed to sound like stereo. Just delay the mix in the other ear by 10 milliseconds and, voila, stereo sound.
The single-violin orchestra
One violin can constitute a full string quartet with the use of overdubs. A producer puts layers upon layers of recorded sound in different channels to simulate multiple instrumentation.
The tones of rooms
Apparently, silence does make a sound. Some artists like to record the sound of a silent room and add it to a track’s final mix.
