Jeff Evans: 


They have messed you around, not you messing them around

I am very very very good at what I do. Period. 


About 24 years ago in regards to a booking at a studio my band recorded at. The owner and engineer was Jeff (can't remember his last name.) The studio had just been newly built, 1988, Sydney, Australia. 

Anyway, it was a 12.hrs booking, the band was well prepared and all our performances done (better than expected) as we got to mixdown and had finished way ahead of schedule and happy with the results. At that point we decided to have a break, get a bite to eat and then load-out.... 

When we returned from our break; Jeff nagged us about making his own 'creative alterations' to the instrumentation, he (Jeff) wanted to add his own 'creative input' to the song, record some additional work. Initially out of curiosity the band agreed to give it a shot, three to four hours later a remix was done and then the band took a 15 minute break.... 

During that break the lead singer, myself, the girls (singers) and others in the band looked at one another and very promptly and unanimously agreed that the re-mix along with Jeff's creative input was not suitable at all, totally different musical direction, we all definitely didn't like it at all.... 

We went back into the studio and asked Jeff to bring up the original mix and finish off the session. He disagreed, clearly he was not happy about our decision but the band said no, we want the original mix please. (afterall, it's the band that paid for the session, not him.  The song was co-written by the lead singer and I, his name was also Greg, it was a Greg and Greg collaboration  

From that day on I never accepted any studio bookings unless the studio staff had good solid references and not trying to muscle-in on the writers creative work(s) at my expense. 

I don't doubt 'you're very good at what you do Jeff' and I wish you all the best.  Again please NOTE: Jeff this person I'm talking about is not you. He was based in Sydney, Australia at the time. You're based in Melborne. It's just that your first name is the same, that's all. No offense intended. 

I did check out your site and there are some things you could do to improve it (add to it) overall design and for example; Here and check out the other pages.  Phil's site is well designed AND I can honestly claim that he is highly respected in the music business. He truly is a genius and his exemplary work is not just flawless but well above most other studio owners I know. 

For Aussie bands based in Sydney, Australia, I highly recommend Electric Avenue Studios: 

Even though I am good at what I do and often I am left to do it I would never impose an opinion over what the client or band wants. My first priority is to please the client. I have done changes to mix while the client was away for example and they did not like it so much and wanted to go back to our previous mix state and I am always happy to do that. I think it is interesting to find middle ground and please yourself and the client at the same time. As an engineer it is good and healthy to arrive at other sounds by doing things you would never had thought of. As long as your basic parameters and mix parameters are met to a certain degree.

But sometimes the band hires you because they have heard an album (you have done) they absolutely love the sound of but when you actually get in there and start doing it they literally take over and start mixing the album themselves. When that starts to sound bad and get away from what you are hearing in your head then it is time to sometimes stand up to the client and say this is starting to sound bad and I don't really like it. This is not the reason you hired me remember. Go away and let me do my job.

I don't have clients around for the bulk of the mixing. I do most of it with them away and they come in at the end of the day for listening sessions and note taking etc. Then I think it is fine to amend your mix, please them and you are still happy at the same time. 

Yes my website is not great and severely out of date too but it has been search engine optimised by one of the best in the business though. I literally own the term 'Music Producer Melbourne' if you do that search even out of millions of results I am 6th on page 1. The actual website itself is almost not important. I still get work and enquiries off that site every week. But saying that I am going to revamp it this year and make it simpler, more focused on what I do and look better etc. The music is all our of date on there too. I cannot change it easily from my end as it stands. But it is the search engine performance that really counts.

If dem clients werz mines. Day be swimming with da fishes with 
Bin Ladin and their brick feets. Forghettaboutit! You know what I am saying? Capiche!?

I've been on both sides of that fence.  Sounds like a typical "band" (no offence to you musicians out there).  You made an informal (it sounds like) deal w/ them.  But you have the power, since you have 60% of the money and the masters.  You've tracked and mixed (?) 3 song but only finished 1 - which they didn't like.  It sounds like they will probably be a pain to work with and hardly worth fighting w/ for the rest of the money.

If it was me and I didn't want to mess w/ them anymore I'd eat the 40% and give them the raw tracks and they have a finished one.  If they want any of the money back I'd point out that you did over 2/3 of the work as stipulated, but you'll be happy to forgo your last 6% so everybody is happy.  They can go find another mixer/mastering engineer for the last 40%.

Lots of bands do that these days and I've heard some horrible mixes self-mixed by bands.  Unless it is more money than I think it is and you have a written contract.  Still if they have problems coming up w/ 24% they don't have a pot 'o gold you can easily dip into.  Cut 'em lose and try to fair since they most likely will bad mouth you.  do the right thing - that won't help w/ their talk around town but if you ever need to explain your position to a prospective customer you can give 'em the facts.

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Tough call here Charles. Everyone runs their business differently while trying to keep everyone happy. One thing you can't ever do, is set fee's where people pay over time. However, you can always have it to where they pay you for what you do that day...and that's what you SHOULD do. Some rules of thumb I use.

1. Communicate with all clients both by phone, email, and of course in person. Get a feel for them before you do business. Schedule a meeting between them and you before any work is done. Call it a client interview, meeting, plan of action or whatever else. You should know in 10-15 minutes whether they will be good to work with or not.

I've stopped so many jobs from taking place this way. I've stopped even more through email. When someone keeps asking "can you do it cheaper" questions or seems to be acting like a tight @ss when I go out of my way to give them better service than anyone alive, they insult my intelligence. No one will get the service I give them for the prices I charge. My time and experience are worth something.

As soon as they upset me and make me think twice, it's over. I came into this world without them, I'll leave that way. I love my job, I love servicing my clients and live this stuff 24/7. When it looks as though I will not enjoy the experience due ot a tude or someone coming into MY world being too forceful or not as "human" as I'd like, I walk. I got people banging down my door to work with me, I will not settle for less. If the Lord takes those that are banging down my door away, I still will not settle for less. I'll get a new job before I'll eat someone's slop for the sake of making money.

2. I work, they pay. If we agreed that they pay in increments, this means each time I work, they pay. Each time we get together, I work, they pay.

3. No one gets any CDR's or rough mix files until they pay for what was done that day.

4. If I do the work and you don't like my work, I still did the work. I could have done someone else's project. I will try to accommodate, but if they are still unhappy and don't want to work with me, they still owe me for the time I put in. This is non-negotiable and there will not be a refund EVER. The client knew this going into it. I have a 3 strike rule. I work on something, they don't like it, I fix it again to their specs. If they still don't like it, it's a set fee per hour.

5. Huge jobs/net jobs: Half down on the entire job. They trust me giving me the first half, once I finish the job....I trust them for the second half. Once I'm done, the rest of the money is due.

6. Releasing the audio so they can take it somewhere else: This is totally your call. They own the songs, you own the media as well as the production unless they pay for it. If you wish to release them, they supply the hard disc/flash drive. If it's a matter of pasting the files onto a drive where it takes 10-15 minutes...go for it and don't charge them a dime. Get them out of your place. Just don't give the tunes away unless you feel you were compensated enough for the creation of them.

Any paste's lasting 30 minutes or longer, require a fee. In 30 minutes time, you can pre-master a song for an album. In an hour, you can literally pre-master and master a complete song for the most part. Time is money. Be as nice as you can, but remember, the nicer you are, the more people seem to take advantage of your good nature. I'm fair but I'm firm.

Anyway, hope some of this helps and you resolve the issue. If not, just get them out of there so they don't cause you any more grief. However, if by chance any of their gripes are legit with you...and you re-evaluate all that's transpired and find maybe you are sort of at fault for some of this (not saying you are, I'm just making you think a little) then by all means try to strike up a meeting and see if there is a way to make everyone happy. Communication is the key...and it's usually best to communicate with everyone instead of hearing from one band member or hearing something said that came from another band member. You'll be surprised at how face to face communication changes things up. Good luck Charles!

-Danny