Tips for Managers
(update 18/01/2000)

Normally the manager has nothing to do with the production of an album, or very little. But if I decided to dedicate a whole topic on the subject, it is because a lot of times the typical band "manager" does a lot more than that. In fact, it's almost always him who goes through the nightmares of fund raising for the production of the album, filling out forms for copyrights of the songs, of the lyrics, the legal aspects of the whole process...

My goal here is not to sum up all the things tied to this full time job (feel free to consult us for more information on financing), but rather to gain time in the studio. So I limited myself to just that, and it's already a lot (check out the other tips as well !!!)

Copyrights on samples

In a lot of musical styles, it's become a habit to include samples of other well known albums in the songs. Even if don't come from popular albums, there are nonetheless laws that are very "clear" on the subject (ha ha ha !).

Rather than ending up in court once your album finally picks up media coverage, you'd better "clear" each sample by contacting the corresponding record label. The song Pump up the Volume by MARRS had about forty samples, most of them went to court. The whole thing was unprecedented in the record business and led to more defined copyright laws concerning samples. Some rap labels, a style that over exploits samples, have lawyers that spend the most of their time clearing samples for the different projects underaway.

So check out what the musicians are doing during the composition stage of the rehearsals, and always debate if you want to take the risk of using a sample without letting the record label know. Unless the sample has been tortured so much as to become unidentifiable...

Album cover, booklet, concepts...

Don't wait for the pre-mastering stage to be completed before you start worrying about something that, to me, is quite important for an album : the visual aspect.

As soon as pre-production, you should discuss about the concepts you want to apply to the booklet, to the CD itself and to the packaging (maybe you don't want to settler for a "jewel box"). It may seem weird, but a band that already knows what they want on their booklet helps the producer get a better feel about the desired sound of the album. Conceptual art, drawings, pictures, text, may also inspire him during the recording and mixing sessions.

Anyway, even if it's just for technical reasons, you'd better have those films ready for printing way before the pre-mastering is over :

If you manage well enough, between the time where the factory receives the glass master and the moment they are ready to deliver your CDs, you can expect about 7 work days.

Whatever you do, it takes at least 15 work days for the printing job ! It's quite strange since that technology is a lot simpler than CD replication, where the work is done at a scale of only a tenth of a micron.