Looking ahead, flourishing in hard times.

I've been giving a lot of thought lately about the projects I've been working on. Some of them are great and I like the artists and the music and some of it I don't like as much but I feel I have to do to survive. I always give 100% to every project but if I can relate to the artist and the music I try to give 150%. I just read an article about 3 recording engineers in Belfast and I'm quoting them here. "we're not here to make money, we make money to be here" This is such a cool philosophy that I'm re-dedicating myself to that concept. There are so many studios taking anyone who shows up at their door with money and so many artists looking for some kind of bargain I feel there's something missing from that equation. The missing factor is whether of not the studio and the engineer is right for your project and vice versa. These guys are going out and finding bands that they like and recording with them. Then we get into the realm of connectivity and sustainability in the sense that the studio is connected with your world and your fellow musicians. This is how you create networking and repeat clientele. The bass player in one project comes back with a side project and the drummer in that side project comes back with his main band etc. Hard to develop if the studio is just catching random one off projects. Another benefit of this plan of action is the sharing of opportunities that inevitably come up. There's a local band that I'm friends with and who I included on a compilation of local recording artists. Then I remixed a track for them for free for another purpose. I got the lead singer a TV interview that I was part of [they came to Zeroville and filmed a segment where they called me a virtuoso!...you can't really trust TV :) As a result ,now I'm working on songs for their upcoming ep as well as a full length solo cd with the guitar player who I hooked up with a gig in another band I produced and recorded...and so the web grows. I've had the biggest success in situations where I included other people and was not all about myself. Share the wealth and it will grow. Poverty thinking breeds poverty. This is my plan on how to prosper in hard times.

Building relationships

Building relationships is one of the most important skills in the music business. You can be highly experienced, have the best gear, have good advertising etc. but if your personality turns off people, what good is all the other stuff? Awareness of what your potential clients are looking for should be your first priority. There are many instances where I have to be the reality checkpoint for artists who don't have a lot of experience in the studio and have unrealistic expectations and goals. The producer/engineer or studio owner has to educate their clients in such a way as not to be condescending about the facts. Whether or not they end up working with you, as part of your job you need to be helpful and informative and have a positive attitude. We all know that the process of choosing a studio or producer or engineer can be a very personal one, and although most times it's just about price, it can be as simple as chemistry. You may be the nicest person and all your friends like you and your pets can't live without you but not everyone else will think the same. You have only your website and your phone manner to rely upon. You never meet all your potential clients, so there's a small window of opportunity to make an impression. One basic way to accomplish this is to be a team player. This is not as easy as it sounds in the ME ME ME world. You need to communicate to your client that you are there for them and it's not about all you. Not to say you can't sell yourself [just don't over-hype your abilities or achievements as that's always a turn off].

for those looking for a manager or record label

Hi, I think it's time for some education in the music biz . I've seen this day after day on different message boards. Songwriter/recording artists asking for a manager, publishing deal or a record label to sign them. All over the country people are looking for the magic way to stardom. I blame the whole Star search/American Idol mentality for this phenomenon. The fantasy that "If only someone would hear my music they would instantly know what an amazing talent I am" Then they would put me in a limo and carry me away to stardom and get fantastic gigs where a huge audience would show up etc. They would invest the sizeable amount of money , time and dedication it takes to promote an artist. THIS IS A FANTASY. I think you need to know that you'll NEVER get what you're looking for just by posting on Craigs List or any other message board. You may be quite talented and have a look and you may even have great music [I haven't heard your stuff but it doesn't matter] THERE ARE NO MANAGERS, PUBLISHERS OR RECORD LABELS SEARCHING FOR YOU~!!!! Even if they were what do you have to offer them? The only thing you would have to offer any manager is a fully operational business that has grown to the point that you are no longer able to manage it youself. No one will work for free anymore which is what you're asking...no one cares if you have RAW talent. What you need to do is put a business plan into action yourself and build a fan base that is consistent to the point where you can attract a manager who will then take a percentage of your already flowing revenue stream to bring you to a hopefully higher level of venue/audience etc. This is the current business model, and the sooner you understand this the less time you'll spend hoping for someone to come along and do the hardest part of the work for you [YOU NEED TO DO THIS YOURSELF!!!! THE PAINFUL SLOW PROCESS OF BUILDING YOUR MUSIC BUSINESS CAREER TO THE POINT IT SUSTAINS YOU FINANCIALLY] Then and only then can you choose the right management team for you. next time "Choosing the right team" good luck

Same old video...Christmas song video

Well we did it. Yesterday with the help of Laura Fay [blisstones] and Trip [Om designs] And Pam Scott {PMS management} we shot the video for "Same Old Christmas Song" http://www.oldies.com/product-view/12572.html. It's on a nationally distributed compilation cd with Shadows of Knight, Henry Gross. Glen Burtnick and others. It's already a top selling cd on the oldies.com site. We had some crazy lo-fi set design as you can see in the short poor quality video from my other camera posted below. The video shoot went really well and we all had a lot of fun shooting it. It's completely no budget and basically a wild performance of the song. We're going to edit this week and will have it up on youtube and on harleyfine.com as well as anywhere else that will show it. I'll be posting the song for downloads this week and sendijg it out to radio stations. Hey for $1.50 you can have a copy of the ANTI-CHRISTMAS SONG, CHRISTMAS SONG "Same Old Christmas Song by Harley Fine [www.harleyfine.com] .You'll be supporting good original music and musicians who are working really hard. It's like pre-sex offender Gary Glitter meets Ozzy Osbourne with a little Quiet Riot thrown in! Trip is insane as the drummer and Laura Fay looks amazing on bass and jaunty hat. Special thanks to Pam Scott [PMS Management] for her brilliant camerawork and Richard Mazda [producer of Wall of Voodoo/The Fleshtones/The JB's] for the gracious loan of camera and lights]

Zen & the art of home studio maintenance

NYC November 3, 2008 8am [or is it 9am] Woke up this morning after 4 hours of sleep and daylight savings time messing with my already jetlagged life. I was thinking about some recent experiences in other people's studios. One of the things I do is travel to professional and home studios either to engineer or for pre-production or to teach Pro tools basics. Many times I'll be there helping to optimize an already existing setup. I seen some extremely idiosyncratic setups. This is where the studio owner/artist has some crazy wiring schemes that make total sense to them and are totally counter-intuitive. They've worked this way for a while and, not knowing anything else is possible, have gotten comfortable with working this way. This works ok if you're the only person to use the equipment or you have only a limited amount of gear but when you start to introduce outboard preamps compressors etc, it becomes apparent very quickly that things can be improved. Now I don't consider myself a lazy person but I don't like working harder than I have to. For the most part, anything I'm commenting on, I've been guilty of in the past. One of the best things you can do in your home studio is get a patch bay for all of your equipment. There are several types including 1/4" /RCA/ XLR/ Bantam. The decision as to which one to use will be apparent when you list the number and type of inputs and outputs and any future growth you plan and oh yeah..your budget. Patchbays are not sexy like compressors or microphones and can cost a lot more when you add up all the cables and time it takes to plan and install. But I guarantee you will never want to go back to not having one. No more crawling around on your hands and knees with a flashlight in your mouth trying to trace wires in the back of your rack wtih people sitting around waiting. As I said earlier that was me in the past. One item that I consider a studio must have [especially in setting up a patchbay] is a cable tester. It doesn't need to be expensive, I think mine was $35 but it's been invaluable when signal goes down and you can quickly see if it's the cable and not your expensive piece of gear. It will save you a ton of time tracing which wires go where when you're setting up cable snakes etc as the testers have a signal output tone to make sure you're plugged inot the channel or gear you intended to. It will also save you money when you have a professional in your studio and you don't have to take time to figure out your secret personal wiring system while you're paying them by the hour! Now for the Zen part of this story. It occurred to me in my half awake state that the level of organization and ease of operation of your studio setup is analagous to how easy it is to operate your life. The easier it is to operate your life the more opportunities you can recognize and take advantage of. It's like the crazy notion if you have a clean and uncluttered workspace you wont have any creativity..when just the opposite is true. Have fun make music. harley

Michael Aguirre of the Blisstones

I've been engineering the debut solo album from Michael Aguirre of the Blisstones and I have to tell you, you're in for a real treat when this comes out in 2009. It's a really cool andinteresting project and some very talented musicians are on there especially Joe Magistro [Rich Robinson band, The Black Crowes] on drums...he's one of the best drummer I've had the pleasure to work with and made me sound like a genius

Finally...The Bramblemen debut cd.

Well..... after 2 years of hard work we finally completed the Bramblemen debut cd "FAST TRAIN TO MEMPHIS" The brainchild of Rich Bloom who began the project as a movie treatment and ended up writing and recording the sound track There's a cavalcade of talent that appears on this one. Including Ian Lloyd [Stories "Brother Louie"] Bill Cunningham [The Boxtops] Steve Holley [Paul McCartney & Wings, Ian Hunter band] Job Graboff [Ryan Adams, Beat Rodeo]. Richard Mazda [producer of Wall of Voodoo, The Fleshtones, the JB's] co-produced the title track with me and I produced and engineered 4 other tracks and mixed 9 out of the 10 tracks. I also appear in the video for Fast Train as a nasty bartender!