1. You wrote some good songs last year, get them down before you forget them.  At least make a ruff demo.

2. Pick your songs that mean the most to you and do a legacy project. Make some really good recordings that will hold up for generations.

3. Transfer that reel to reel or audio cassette of Grandma, the kids, your senior recital, or other precious memories to digital. You’ve put it off for years, now is the time.

4. If you are a home recordist, send me your tracks and I will mix and master them. I can correct the pitch, and timing and make it radio ready.

5. Take a bass lesson. I can show you techniques like slapping, navigating the circle of fifths and syncing with the kick drum.

6. Start a podcast. Simple steps to record and edit yourself, and upload it to the internet.

7. Record your audio book. If you’re an author, why not do an audio book and get it on Audible.

8. How about an album of you singing Karaoke? Pick the songs, we’ll get the backing tracks, and you get a perfect gift for yourself or a loved one.

9. Learn the basics of voice overs. We’ll determine your core voice, record various examples and make a VO demo with music and sfx.

10. You tell me. Whatever would help you realize your audio/musical goals for 2024, Zone Recording can do it! Contact Blair Today.

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This is his obituary from The San Francisco Chronicle, 1996:

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/OBITUARY-Jim-Boggio-2958216.php

Take a trip down memory lane with this accounting of the …

History of the First Cotati Accordion Festival

Written by Virginia Sager Jansen in 1991

Jim led the popular groups “The Sonoma Swamp Dogs” and “The Gypsy Jazzers”, and his humor and infectious laughter made him a friend to thousands around the world.  Jim was also co-founder of the Cotati Accordion Festival.  (see history below)

To memorialize this extraordinary man Blair Hardman led a committee that commissioned a life-size bronze statue of Jim playing the accordion and laughing his wonderful laugh.  It was installed in La Plaza Park in Cotati, and is the only life size bronze statue of an accordionist in the world.

The artist Jim Kelly of Sebastopol, did the modeling and the foundry, Bronze Plus also of Sebastopol, did the casting.  It was finished  August 22nd, 1997, in time for the annual Cotati Accordion Festival.

Original Accordion Festival Committee: Left to Right. Back Row: Eric Kirchmann, Rebecca Browne, Jim Boggio, Marian Kelly, Linda Rook, Pat Vulgaris, Vivian Weissenburger, Barbara Harris. Front Row: Richard Cullinen, Clifton Buck-Kauffman, Keith Blackstone. Not present: Steve Balich, John Olsson and Sean O’Connell (photographer).

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO make a successful musical festival with a unique concept? When asked to write the history of the first Cotati Accordion Festival, this writer went to the two men responsible for the origination of this event: Clifton Buck-Kauffman and Jim Boggio. It didn’t take long to discover exactly “what it takes”: imagination, great talent, commitment to community service, involving important support groups, and acquiring the help of a dedicated volunteer committee. The job demanded hours of work each day for some three months on the part of Buck-Kauffman and Boggio; and yes, the “calling in of favors” from good friends and business associates. It took innovation (and in this writer’s judgment, courage!) as initially, there was no money. Most importantly, it was because of the love of and respect for the accordian and Cotati, that this festival came into being.

Jim Boggio is a well-known, local, musical artist; band leader; pianist; instrumentalist, with the accordion being his specialty; and producer of shows – “among other things.”

Boggio recorded an accordion album, Accordion to the Blues at the Cotati-based recording company, Prairie Sun Studios. Now, it SO happened that a co-owner of these studios was Clifton Buck-Kauffman, a longtime Cotatian. (Incidentally, Clifton’s grandparents were the Legarretas, early Cotati chicken ranchers. The studios are on the site of the old hatchery.)

Buck-Kauffman thrives on civic involvement: City of Cotati Community Service Commission (1991 Chair); Cotati Chamber of Commerce (Board Member); Cultural Arts Council of Sonoma County (1993 Prexy); a booster of a wide range of local civic activities among other things. Get these two men together and things happen!

When Buck-Kauffman heard Boggio’s accordion album, he was dazzled. The multicultural diversity of accordion music triggered his imagination! Following the recording session, the two men were talking things over at the Tradewinds (a local watering hole in downtown Cotati.) Buck-Kauffman asked Boggio, “What do you think of the idea of having a Cotati Accordion Festival?” Both men grinned – Boggio “loving the idea.” Once the latter realized Buck-Kauffman was serious, he was off and running. The two made a deal: Boggio would be handling the musical end securing the musicians, planning the program, orchestrating the entire musical production and so on. Buck-Kauffman would handle the rest: staging; arranging for the sound equipment, posters, banners and signs; T-shirt sales; vendor booths, etc. As with any community endeavor, funding was a problem. Buck-Kauffman put it this way: “As for obtaining the services of the performers that first year, it was difficult finding people who were willing to work for almost nothing. (Now, musicians are piling out of the woodwork – everybody wants to play the Cotati Festival.)” For financial help, Buck-Kauffman turned to the organizations he served: the City of Cotati, the Chamber, and Sonoma County’s Cultural Arts Council. The coordination and cooperation of these three groups were the needed dynamics that guaranteed the first festival’s success. Private contributions were solicited. A local man, Dr. Richard Gaston, donated $500 toward the event. When one gets support from people like that … those who just believe in an idea … “I can recall that day to this day!” Buck-Kauffman and Boggio, however, bore the major burden of the costs. Out-of-pocket money, coupled with donated performance/work time, respectively, added up to a hefty sum.

Buck-Kauffman and Boggio credit several persons for having worked “above and beyond”: Rebecca Browne (currently Cotati’s Chamber of Commerce President) handled the printing of the program booklets, copy and advertising. Tom Torriglia, was/is a San Francisco-based public relations man, and a leader of the well-known bay area group,Tlwse Darn Accordions. It was Torriglia who arranged the extensive publicity resulting in unprecedented attendance for such an event held in Cotati. Barbara Harris was/is Executive Director of the Cultural Arts Council of Sonoma County. It was at her suggestion that the festival be not a one day affair, but two. She also gave of her expertise and energy. Lou Soper, first president of the Bay Area Accordion Club, contributed much to the production end of the event. Boggio was/is a member of the Bay Area Accordion Club and as such called upon many of that group for help. Behind-the-scene support came from Marian Kelly, Peter DiBono and the membership in general. Pat Ryan and Stanley Mouse, artists, created the design for the posters and T-shirts, respectively. Al and Carla Hines of Hines Signs in Cotati did the banners and signs. Guy and Susie Dynek of Paragon believed in the project to the extent that they “advanced” the cost of the T-shirts. A committee of some eighteen additional local volunteers gave much time and energy to make this project a success. Additionally, the City of Cotati generously allowed the Festival to take place in La Plaza Park, which helped bring back the street festival ambiance for which Cotati is well known. Each day they opened the event with an accordion parade. At one point in the show accordionists at large were invited to join in a Lady of Spain-A-Ring, an event in which all present could join in the playing of Lady of Spain (in the key of C).

The Cotati festival was presented as a community service, free to the public. It was held in the downtown plaza under the oaks. The response was overwhelming. “We were amazed at the reception and response to our idea. It tickled the fancy of music lovers locally, nationally and internationally!” recalled Buck-Kauffman. Boggio put it a different way, “The thing that struck me was all those smiling faces. People of all ages dancing, listening, tapping their feet — all with smiles on their faces.”

Much to the elation of those responsible (and to the surprise of the skeptics) the first outdoor Cotati Accordion Festival was conducted and concluded on a highly successful note.

If you are looking for more information about professional  audio recording, call Zone Recording Studio today at (800) 372-3305 or email us at blair@zonerecording.com.

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Hal Blaine the drummer and session musician is best known for his work with the Wrecking Crew in Southern California, playing on thousands of pieces of music over four decades, including numerous hits by popular groups, including Nancy Sinatra, Elvis Presley, John Denver, the Ronettes, Simon & Garfunkel, the Carpenters, the Beach Boys, the Grass Roots, the 5th Dimension, the Monkees, the Partridge Family, and Steely Dan  His career is highlighted in the upcoming documentary film “The Wrecking Crew” about the unsung heroes behind hundreds of chart topping singles.

Some years ago Hal took a break from the LA scene and moved to Sonoma County.  During this time he played with the legendary accordionist Jim Boggio, the man memorialized by the life size bronze statue in the Plaza in Cotati.  Their group was playing at Graziano’s restaurant in Petaluma, and the owner asked them to make a radio jingle.  So there he was, the most recorded musician in the world, right here in the Zone Recording Studio drum booth.  Naturally I was a little nervous, knowing he had worked with some of the best engineers in the world. 

Well, he turned out to be a total sweetheart, and one of the best show business storytellers I’ve ever met. 

He told us about the Frank Sinatra recording sessions.  They were double the length of most sessions, six hours instead of three.  The orchestra would get set up and rehearse the songs to perfection, while the engineers and technicians checked and double checked the microphones, chairs and music stands to make sure there were no extraneous squeaks, or rattles.  Then Sinatra would come in, say hello, and get to work.  Most of the songs were done in one take, and the Frank would leave to go have dinner with friends at one his favorite restaurants.

Blaine has played on 50 number one hits, and over 150 top ten hits. He’s is a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum, and the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame.

What follows is the transcript from Blaine’s interview on the NPR Program, Fresh Air, in 2001.

http://www.npr.org/2015/03/13/392780627/drummer-hal-blaine-talks-about-making-music-over-the-years

This is FRESH AIR. I’m David Bianculli, in for Terry Gross. The new documentary “The Wrecking Crew” tells the story of what may be the most successful group of studio and session musicians in music history. This anonymous collection of players can be heard on many hits of the 1960s and ’70s. Songs by such artists as The Beach Boys, The Byrds, Frank Sinatra, Lesley Gore, the Mamas And The Papas, The Monkees and Nat King Cole. The musicians were used by music producer Phil Spector to create his Wall of Sound.

Our next guest, drummer Hal Blaine, is featured in the documentary and is credited for coming up with the group’s nickname, The Wrecking Crew. In March, 2000, Hal Blaine was one of the first five sidemen inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He’s featured on thousands of records and over 40 number one hits. Terry interviewed him in 2001. They started with one of his hits from 1963. That year alone, Hal Blaine played on “Then He Kissed Me,” “Da Doo Ron Ron,” “Another Saturday Night,” “Surf City,” “Surfer Girl,” “Surfin’ USA” and this record, which has one of rock ‘n’ roll’s most famous opening drum lines.

THE RONETTES: (Singing) The night we met I knew I needed you so. And if I had the chance, I’d never let you go. So won’t you say you love me? I’ll make you so proud of me. We’ll make them turn their heads every place we go. So won’t you please be my little baby, say you’ll be my darling. Be my baby now, whoa oh, oh, oh. I’ll make you happy…

TERRY GROSS, HOST: Hal Blaine, welcome to FRESH AIR.

HAL BLAINE: Thank you very much.

GROSS: Now, is the opening on “Be My Baby” – was that drum line your idea?

BLAINE: You know, this was the beginnings of rock ‘n’ roll. Somehow, with my experience, I keep thinking that I was an awfully good faker. And it could be that the lick went (imitating “Be My Baby” opening drum beat) with a backbeat (imitating “Be My Baby” backbeat). And at one point, while we were rolling, I may have missed the second beat. So we went (imitating “Be My Baby” opening drumbeat) and it stuck. It became a hook and, of course, one of the most famous hooks in rock ‘n’ roll.

That also happened to me – just to get off the beaten track – it also happened to me with the Tijuana Brass when we did “A Taste Of Honey.” The song (humming “A Taste A Honey” hook) and everybody comes in (imitating “A Taste Of Honey” hook) – well, unfortunately, nobody was coming in together. It was like a train wreck. So at one point, me in my comedic mind, they went (humming “A Taste Of Honey” hook). And I looked at the band, and I started slugging with my bass drum (imitating bass drumbeat). Everybody came in. And once again, that became a major hook for that song. It happened to be my first record of the year.

GROSS: Why don’t we hear that part you’re talking about?

GROSS: Hal Blaine, what are some of the other records that had the most memorable beats that you played?

BLAINE: Well, I remember doing a record with Sam Cooke – “Another Saturday Night” it was called. And that was another one with that same drum lick every eight or 16 bars, whatever it was (imitating drumbeat). And all these drum licks kind of became the standard for rock ‘n’ roll. You know, all the drummers that I’ve spoken with through the years have told me that they grew up listening to the records that I played on, and that’s how they learned. And I grew up listening to Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich, and that’s how I learned.

GROSS: In fact, I’ve bet you’ve been to countless restaurants where people have been playing your rhythms on the table.

BLAINE: That has happened, I guess, in the past, you know? Sometimes I’ve actually – you know, it’s funny you mention that. I’ve actually turned around to someone and said, do me a favor and let me play the drums.

GROSS: (Laughter).

BLAINE: In a nice way.

GROSS: Right, right.

BLAINE: Where I would explain to them that they were trying to play their fingers along with whatever the music was playing coming out of the speakers in the restaurant. That actually has happened to me, which is kind of funny that you would hit on that.

GROSS: Now, you did a lot of records with Phil Spector, including “Be My Baby.”

BLAINE: Yes.

GROSS: What are some of the things he had you do that other session heads didn’t? What was different about working with Phil Spector?

BLAINE: Well, first of all, every Phil Spector session was a party. Everyone on the session – all the guys and girls were the first call people. Everyone wanted to work with Phil Spector because they knew that some kind of a hit record – I mean, it was the talk of the town. Phil Spector was the guy that everyone wanted to see how he worked. He had a big sign on the door that said closed session, and yet anyone who stuck their head in – he’d grab them, and he’d shove them in the studio, and he’d say, Hal, give them a tambourine or a shaker or some claves, some noisemakers. Let him play something.

GROSS: Did Spector hum for you or clap for you the kind of things that he wanted, the sound that he wanted?

BLAINE: Not on – not for drums. Phil used to use me like a racehorse. He would have me sitting there while he rehearsed, rehearsed, rehearsed. He would keep me from rehearsing, and I’d be chomping at the bit. I’d want to play. And finally, he would point to me. He used to be in the booth, and he’d run back and forth. He had a huge window. And he’d run back and forth like he was conducting a symphony. And he’d look at the strings and use certain, you know, symphonic movements or the way a conductor would do.

And he would look at me and he would say, now. And I knew he was saying now, which meant go for it. And I guess I used to go nuts sometimes on those drums because if you listen to some of the fade endings on just about all those records, we used to go into double-times and all kinds of things that were unheard of on records. And everybody would go whacko. And then there was a time when Phil threatened to put out a record or an album of all the fades that we did.

GROSS: (Laughter).

BLAINE: And the fades if – for those who don’t know what a fade is, it just means when you hear a record playing and it gets to the end and it gets softer and softer and softer until it’s gone. That’s called the fade. With Phil, it went on forever. And finally, when everyone had had enough – and I always kind of had that feeling. I knew when it was – I would go into my quarter-note triplets against whatever was being played…

GROSS: Clap a quarter-note triplet for us.

BLAINE: Well, in other words, (clapping drumbeat). It’s over. And I go (clapping and imitating drumbeat). So everyone knew here it is. This is it. And Phil would never stop the machine until I played that – those quarter note triplets. So they’re on the end of every record.

GROSS: The musicians who you used to play with on rock ‘n’ roll sessions were known as The Wrecking Crew. Why were they called The Wrecking Crew?

BLAINE: In the late ’50s, we started playing rock ‘n’ roll. A lot of people said it was a dirty word. They didn’t want to hear that kind of music. They thought the musicians were just rank amateurs. They had no idea that we were all well-learned and studied musicians with degrees and so forth playing music. And the old-timers, the guys that we kind of replaced, used to say these kids are going to wreck the business. And I just automatically started calling us The Wrecking Crew. And then I became a contractor very early on doing the hiring for the sessions that I was playing on. And I just started – you know, people would call me and they’d say, get your crew together. And I’d say, OK, The Wrecking Crew, here we go. And I’d make calls. Eventually, I had a secretary who made all my calls and so forth. So The Wrecking Crew stuck.

BIANCULLI: Drummer Hal Blaine, member of The Wrecking Crew, speaking with Terry Gross in 2001. More after a break, this is FRESH AIR.

THE MAMAS AND THE PAPAS: (Singing) All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray. I’ve been for a walk on a winter’s day. I’ve been safe and warm.

THE BEACH BOYS: (Singing) I’m picking up good vibrations.

BIANCULLI: This is FRESH AIR. Let’s get back to Terry’s 2001 interview with Hal Blaine. He is the drummer for the Wrecking Crew, the session musicians of the ’60s and ’70s profiled in the new documentary also called “The Wrecking Crew.”

GROSS: You were the drummer on a lot of the Beach Boys records.

BLAINE: Just about all.

GROSS: But, I think it was Dennis who was actually…

BLAINE: Yes.

GROSS: …The drummer with the band. I imagine at the time, nobody knew that he wasn’t the drummer on the records.

BLAINE: A lot of people did not know in the early days that Dennis did not play on those things. Sometimes Dennis would come in and overdub with the tambourine or something.

GROSS: So, did Dennis feel bad that instead of him, it was you on the record?

BLAINE: No, no. I’ll tell you – I’ve told this story before – Dennis loved the fact that while I was in the studio in the afternoon making 35, $40 for the afternoon, Dennis, that night, was making 35 or 40,000 on stage. I mean, they were making a lot of money. And he was thrilled that he could just be on his boat. He didn’t have to be in the studio. He didn’t have to rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.

GROSS: Well, let me rephrase the question. Did you feel resentful then that he was making all this money on stage and you were making next-to-nothing in the studio?

BLAINE: Not at all because I knew what it was leading to because my phone started ringing off the hook with – from Phil Spector dates and Beach Boy dates.

GROSS: Right.

BLAINE: All of a sudden, I was getting calls for Elvis Presley and Johnny Rivers, and 5th Dimension came along, and Mamas and the Papas. I mean everybody came out of the woodwork.

GROSS: Is there a Beach Boys track that you particularly like your drumming on that we can play?

BLAINE: Well, you know, there are certain songs that’ll make you cry. Songs like, “God Only Knows,” one of the beautiful songs. “Good Vibrations,” of course, was another sort of a trilogy of – Brian put that song together. Sometimes we would do, you know, five minutes on a session and he’d say, thank you. And sometimes we would work for days putting that song together. He just – he used to use little bits and pieces of this, that and the other. I remember that on one of the sessions – and I think it was part of the “Good Vibrations” – Brian wanted something different, a different sound with drums or percussion. We used to drink a lot of orange juice and they came in little small bottles out of a vending machine. And I took three of those bottles, taped them together, cut the tops off to various sizes almost like the tubes on a vibraphone. And there were three different sounds and I used a mallet that would be used on a vibraphone. And I got this knocking sound (imitating knocking sound), three different knocking sounds. And I used it on that section where we were playing (imitating tune of song section). Well, I was playing (imitating knocking sound), different tones.

GROSS: Well, why don’t we hear that part of “Good Vibrations?” This is Hal Blaine.

THE BEACH BOYS: (Singing) I, I love the colorful clothes she wears and the way the sunlight plays upon her hair. I hear the sound of a gentle word on the wind that whips her perfume through the air. I’m picking up good vibrations. She’s giving me excitations. I’m picking up good vibrations. She’s giving me excitations. Good, good, good, good vibrations. Good, good, good, good vibrations. Close my eyes. She’s somehow closer now…

GROSS: That was Hal Blaine on drums and percussion. Now, Hal Blaine, we’ve been talking about your rock ‘n’ roll sessions. You also worked with Sinatra. Did you have to get a different kind of beat when you were working with Sinatra? As a jazz singer, Sinatra was more behind the beat. Rock ‘n’ roll tends to be very on the beat.

BLAINE: One of our secrets to rock ‘n’ roll was learning to lay back. And we used to – in other words, if you were looking at a scale on a ruler, every time your back beat came on – one, two, three, four – every time we’d hit two and four, it would be just, just a hair behind that actual tune four. That was how I got the great feeling going all the time with Joe Osborn, the great bass player. And Larry Knechtel. You know, we were known as the three killers who used to come in and make these like, “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” records like that that were just so incredible – all Grammy winners. You mentioned “Be My Baby,” (imitating opening tune of song). When I did the record “Strangers In The Night” with Frank, which was record of the year and his only gold single – believe it or not – that went right to number one, I was playing the same beat quietly. (Imitating tune of “Strangers In The Night).

GROSS: You’ve been on about 8,000 different songs that have been recorded. Do you actually remember what you were on, or do you have to like, consult a list to figure out if you were on something?

BLAINE: Well, it depends. Obviously I had all those records of the year, the Grammy winner of the year, and I don’t have to think about those records. I know those records backwards. When it comes to certain songs, it was just a blur of so many songs and so many sessions. I don’t know, it’s very difficult to explain, Terry. I just played what I felt and they let me play. You know, once you kind of make a name for yourself, then when producers would come in they would say, oh Hal, just do your thing, you know, don’t worry about it – just whatever you feel. They felt that I would always do the right thing.

BIANCULLI: Drummer Hal Blaine speaking to Terry Gross in 2001. He’s featured in the new documentary “The Wrecking Crew,” which opens today in theaters in New York and LA, and additional cities in coming weeks. The film also is available now through iTunes and video on-demand. Coming up, David Edelstein reviews a new horror film, “It Follows.” This is FRESH AIR.

If you are looking for more information about professional  audio recording, call Zone Recording Studio today at (800) 372-3305 or email us at blair@zonerecording.com.

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He first came to us nearly ten years ago in 2007, as his most popular Food Network show “Diners Drive-ins and Dives” was starting to air. Guy lives in nearby Santa Rosa, and when he needed to record some narration, he picked Zone Recording. In this show he travels the country with a production team, visiting famous and infamous eateries.   Guy interacts with the locals, takes big bites of the food, and joins the cooks in the kitchen to discuss, or rather, rave about recipies, styles, attitudes, philosophies and ways to attack an entrée.

For most of the show Guy is on camera, and either eating or talking.  But for the sections where the camera follows food prep, shows beauty shots of the results, and pans the crowds, Guy’s narration was needed.

We would set him up in our voiceover booth with a microphone, script, and earphones.  Then, via our phone patch, the director in another part of the country could listen to Guy as he read the script and direct him through the earphones. (It’s a difficult task and led to many hilarious outtakes, which I am unfortunately not at liberty to release) I would record only Guy’s voice-over, and at the end of the session, FTP, or send, the audio files to the production studio, where they were waiting with the edited video, eager to drop his narration into the appropriate places in the show.  And of course the show probably had to air the next day so there was no room for error.

Through it all, year after year, he kept up his good humor and supportive nature.

Things really got exciting when he landed the game show “Minute To Win It” on NBC.  The first time my phone rang and the caller ID said “NBC” I thought they were calling to offer me a sitcom.  Actually they were inquiring about rates and schedules to do the same kind of thing for them.  The difference here was sometimes Guy had to dub in some lines that matched the video of him.  This is called ADR, or addition dialog recording.  We would set up a video monitor and he would watch himself and try to say the line exactly as he had said it on tape. When you are dealing with a national network, the timelines get shorter, the stakes get higher, and the money is better. 

Guy would always park his canary yellow Corvette or his canary yellow Hummer, or his canary yellow Lamborghini around the back of our building to not draw a crowd.  But when someone did recognize him, he took time to greet them and take pictures, sign autographs and everyone left feeling honored.  One day my Engineer at Zone Recording, Mathew Trogner, mention that he had a friend with a young daughter, who happened to be quite ill, and that she was a big fan of Guy’s.  He thought for a moment.  “Get her on the phone” he said, and proceeded to have an inspiring conversation with her.

We will always be grateful to Guy for bringing his business to Zone Recording Studio, and for all the good times we had together.

“My parents were into macrobiotic cooking—vegetarian, nondairy, whole grains, no red meat. I started cooking when I was 10 because I just couldn’t eat that stuff.”

—Guy Fieri

Looking for more information about professional recording? Call Zone Recording Studio at (800) 372-3305 or email us at blair@zonerecording.com.

The post Guy Fieri: Zone Recording Studio Hall of Fame appeared first on Zone Recording Studio.

Stephanie Derammelaere of North Bay Biz Magazine released an article back in 2008 about our very own Blair Hardman of Zone Recording Studio. Read about it here.

How many businesses can claim an aspiring rock band, a government agency and a major corporation as clients? Zone Recording Studio in Cotati (otherwise known as Blair Hardman Productions) can. Zone is a production company that records music artists, creates corporate radio commercials and voice-overs and even does forensic audio restoration for police departments.

Perhaps having such a diversified clientele comes easily to a man who has a diversified past.

Owner Blair Hardman has done just about everything, including touring as a musician with the Ice Capades Orchestra and throughout Germany as a Country Cowboy. “In 1981, I joined a country and western group going on tour in Germany,” he remembers. “It turned out to be sponsored by Marlboro cigarettes, and I had to wear the classic Marlboro white Stetson hat. For six months, we played at beer fests while beautiful German models in buckskin outfits gave out cigarette samples and T-shirts.”

Later he became a nationally published crossword puzzle writer and worked as a morning DJ in Sonoma County for two years with partner Steve Jaxon on one of the North Bay’s highest-rated morning shows, “The Jaxon and Blair Show” on KHTT/FM 92.9 “The Heat” (now Froggy Country).

“People still reminisce about their favorite moments,” recalls Hardman. “For instance, one time we were playing a game called ‘Name That Appliance,’ and we started up a chainsaw in the studio. The smoke set off the fire alarm and, for two hours, there was beeping in all the studios while the fire department tried to figure out how to shut it off!

That’s not the only audio mishap that influenced Hardman’s current passion for getting audio just right.

“When I was the bass player in the Ice Capades orchestra, we played a week each in 36 cities in the United States and Canada—250 performances total,” he says. “It was a little like running away and joining the circus. One night, during the big synchronized finale, the sound system malfunctioned, and half the band got on the wrong page. The skaters all crashed into each other and literally had to crawl off the ice.”

While these experiences are a long way from producing audio commercials for corporate clients, they nevertheless shaped Hardman’s attitude and gave him a spectrum of experience to draw on when working with a variety of clients.

“It’s very broad, because these days, almost every company can use audio for something,” says Hardman of his current clientele. “Whether it’s for on-hold messages, websites, videos or commercials, it reaches into every industry and type of company.”

It’s truly a different world from when Zone Recording Studio first opened more than 25 years ago (as part of the Zone Music store) with just one $1,000 recording device. Today, this full-service recording studio offers Pro Tools HD Accel with lots of plug-ins, a Korg Triton synthesizer, video playback, 1/2- and 1/4-inch analog tape, excellent microphones, a drum booth, a vocal isolation room, a guitar amp room and a large control room. Though Zone Music, has since closed, musicians can audition equipment from the new store, Loud and Clear, during their recording sessions, including hundreds of guitars, basses, amps and effects (although Zone’s website explicitly requests, “Please, no ‘Stairway to Heaven’!”).

Besides vastly improving its level of equipment, Zone Recording has also greatly expanded its clientele. In the beginning, the focus was on musicians, but now there are also large corporate clients, such as NBC, PG&E, The Food Network, Guy Fieri, Sonoma County Transit, Nintendo, Clover Dairy and the Sonoma County Department of Health, just to name a few. It’s important to note, however, that musicians are still a large part of the business, and Zone currently records every type of music—except for full symphony orchestras due to limited space.

Rock On

According to Hardman, recording has been a passion of his since childhood, when his father purchased a reel-to-reel home recording device. “I used to interview the neighborhood kids,” he recalls.

“I loved radio, and I loved the funny advertising on radio. Radio back then was just starting to get creative with advertising and humor. Then I became a musician. My first experience at high school of ‘being somebody’ was playing folk music at an assembly. I went overnight from being one of the masses to being invited to parties.”

In 1970, Hardman moved to Sonoma County to attend Sonoma State University; about the same time, he began playing with Northern California singer-songwriter Kate Wolf and stayed with her for about two years.

“ Kate didn’t have the most fantastic voice, and she wasn’t a great guitar player, but she wrote her own songs,” recalls Hardman, “and when we performed them, the room was always perfectly still and quiet. People would just focus completely on her, because she had absolutely unwavering honesty in her music, and she spoke to the hearts of people directly.”

Hardman continued working as a musician throughout the 1970s, with a variety of bands and playing every imaginable type of gig, until he purchased his first recorder for $1,000 in 1980; it was the first of its kind developed for home use and let anyone record four tracks—either at once or separately—meaning, for the first time, there was the ability to record oneself playing multiple instruments. About the same time, Hardman’s friend, Frank Hayhurst, opened Zone Music in Cotati, a small, 300-square-foot, one-room store. Zone Music has since grown into a multimillion dollar business with an 18,000-square-foot complex that provides music-related services such as sales, rentals, audio-visual installation, lessons and repairs. When Hayhurst was first ready to expand the business, Hardman decided to rent a room in the store to teach guitar and do some recording for musicians. In 1983, Zone Recording was officially born.

Initially, since most of his clients were musicians, he recorded everything from demo tapes for wannabe bands to bigger names such as bluesmen Charlie Musselwhite and Johnny Otis, harmonica player Norton Buffalo, legendary drummer Hal Blaine (the world’s most recorded musician, who’s most known in California for his work with the Wrecking Crew but who also played on numerous hits by Elvis Presley, Simon & Garfunkel and the Beach Boys) and Chris Hayes, who was lead guitarist for Huey Lewis & the News for 20 years and wrote “Workin’ for a Livin’,” among other HLTN tunes.

“ Blair has a great facility that’s very organized and professional,” says Hayes. “He’s a good guy and has good guys working for him. Zone is one of the nicest facilities around. If I have any questions about recording stuff or gear, I call him to see what he’s doing and what’s new.”

One of Hardman’s favorite musicians is guitarist and songwriter Nina Gerber, who got her start playing with Kate Wolf as a teenager.

“Nina has that same impeccable musical honesty that Kate had,” says Hardman. “She can play everything from a sweet acoustic tone to nasty electric blues, and she can shape her tone to fit perfectly into the mix of the music. But she doesn’t play a note unless she means it. She’s funny, irreverent and an emotionally captivating musician.”

Beyond musicians

“The recording began to take over,” says Hardman, returning to the Zone story. “I recorded for bands, singers and songwriters. At that time, I still had beginner-type recording equipment. Then I began a whole evolution of getting more and more—and better and better—professional equipment. Gradually, computers started to become involved. I went from cassette to reel-to-reel tapes to digital tapes to a combination of that and computers, and then completely into computers, which I’ve since upgraded about three times.”

Better equipment led to an expansion of recording services, which, in turn, led to an expanded roster of clients. “Another component is voice-overs for commercials, videos and audio books, because I’m a voice actor,” explains Hardman. “In fact, we worked on—and I’m in—the biggest-selling audio CD book of all time, The Secret. I’ve been in quite a few audio books for Simon & Schuster; they’re a big corporate client.”

Local celebrity chef Guy Fieri uses Zone Recording to record voice-overs for “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives,” a road-trip-type show on Food Network.

“[The show’s producers] will shoot Guy on camera, and then he comes here,” Hardman explains. “The producer is in Denver, so we have him on the phone, patched into the earphones, so we can all talk. They’ll take [various audio clips] and edit them into the show, and it sounds like he’s continuously talking, on- and off-camera.”

According to Fieri, his producer is a “real stickler,” and the final voiceover is the critical component that pulls the whole show together. So getting the audio right is imperative to the final product.

“I’ve been all over the country, and I’ve done voiceovers in every state I’ve visited,” says Fieri. “Without question, Zone Recording is one of the best—if not the best—that I’ve used. They keep the tracks organized and the signal clear. I didn’t realize that until I started having to do voiceovers in other states, and what should’ve taken one hour took two. When I come into Zone, the scripts are ready and a bottle of water is waiting for me; they’re really on point.”

Zone Recording Studio also creates a lot of radio advertising, managing everything from jingles to copywriting to casting talent.

“[Writing and producing radio commercials] is really one of my favorite things,” says Hardman. “Because I get to write funny, creative commercials, cast the talent and hear them on the radio the next day!”
One of Hardman’s clients is Michael Gerber, founder of business consultancy E-Myth Worldwide and author of several popular business strategy books. Zone edited the audio book The E-Myth Revisited and produced a radio talk show demo for Gerber.

“ Blair is very, very committed,” says Gerber. “He has a perspective about recording and a professionalism about him that I enjoy. He was responsive to me and to what I wanted. He was able to add his own perspective and his vision about what I was there to do—to give it color beyond what I was able to do myself, given my lack of experience in it. Overall, he made a very real contribution to what came out of the process in each case.”

Hardman says one of the more moving parts of his job is archiving family memories by transferring LPs, 45s, 78s and all formats of cassettes to CD, as well as restoring old and noisy recordings. He’s currently transferring 12 hours of reel-to-reel tapes from the 1950s—the life story of a client’s grandmother that she dictated when she was 60 years old.

“I play it into the computer and then I’ll put it on CDs with her picture on it. Then [the client] will give it to all the grandkids,” says Hardman. “Some of the memories are incredible. People just cry when they hear these voices from the past.”

Yet another intriguing service Zone Recording offers is “forensic audio” work, which is primarily used by police departments. “I work with local law enforcement agencies to enhance their surveillance recordings and 911 calls,” explains Hardman. “I have software that reduces the noise and brings out the voices, so if they have a tape but can’t understand what people are saying, I clean it up.”

Hardman recalls a particularly interesting project that helped the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department convict several gang members who’d been arrested for assault. The individuals had been detained in a noisy location with a cassette running. Although the police could hear whispering, there was too much background noise to decipher the conversation. After Hardman eliminated some of the sounds, officers could hear the individuals coordinating alibis and could confront them with that evidence. Long story short, the suspects pled guilty and were sentenced to prison.

Hardman attributes the longtime success of Zone Recording Studio, at least in part, to this diversified client base.

“I can relate to stoner rockers and rappers. I even have my own rap nickname: Money B,” quips Hardman. “But I can also relate to government when I work for the county and high-end, private sector corporate clients…I can relate to them all.”

No matter who or what the subject, Hardman appears to be as passionate about recording now as he was as a child. “I like helping people realize their creative dreams. I get excited when someone comes in with an idea for either a radio ad or a song, and then I can take it to the next level of creativity and actually bring it to fruition,” he says. “Only one out of every 100 people who want to make a CD actually follow through and do it. So it’s an honor to work with people who have that kind of dedication.”

Tech talk

Even though at-home recording devices have become increasingly sophisticated, Hardman claims this hasn’t posed a competitive threat. If anything, he explains, being able to record one’s own music has increased the work for Zone Recording, as more people become exposed to recording in general, and then want to step it up at a professional recording studio.

“These days, most musicians produce their own CDs and then sell them at gigs,” says Hardman. “The independent music business has gotten so big, and it’s so hard to get signed with a record label, that people do it themselves. They sell it online and on iTunes. It’s really quite easy these days to get your CD online and available for digital downloads. ”

But while technology may have made music production and distribution easier, it’s also posed new challenges.

“As technology has made it so much quicker for us to be able to do things, the deadlines have gotten shorter,” says Hardman. “It used to be, when someone wanted a radio commercial, we’d make it, put it on reel-to-reel tape and, possibly, send it to them in the mail. Now, they want it sent over the Internet, because it’s supposed to start the next day. Because we can do it faster, now they want it sooner.”

Another major change made possible by technology is the ability to fine-tune a singer’s pitch or timing using software called Autotune. In essence, a singer today doesn’t need to be as talented as in the past. Hardman says in many cases, this has spoiled people. Rather than attempting to sing their song perfectly, they’ll now opt for a technician to fix it for them.

“There’s an upside and a downside to the technology,” says Hardman. “It’s not uncommon for a singer to come in, do a few takes and then say, ‘Will you put some pitch correction on that, and cut and paste me on all the choruses?’ And I actually can. We have a joke around here that I don’t show pitch correction software to kids, because we don’t want them to know about it. Otherwise, they’ll stop practicing.”

Be true to yourself

Despite the temptation, Hardman stays true to the Zone Recording tagline, “Being at Zone Recording means never having to say you’re sorry.” He credits his extreme patience and people skills with making Zone Recording a unique experience for all his clients.

“ When it comes to the working relationship between the studio and the client, [the clients] have to feel comfortable so they can relax and express their art,” explains Harman. “We specialize in that here. I love working with people, and I’m extremely patient. You have to be patient when you’re working with people in this type of situation. The studio is like a big magnifying glass, and people can get nervous and start concentrating on smaller and smaller things. You have to keep pulling them back to the big picture.”

God knows, Hardman has had his share of audio mishaps that influenced the slogan.
“I played [with Kate Wolf] at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco,” he reminisces. “It’s a very old room that precedes electronic sound systems. We were playing there one night and were about to do our encore, when the sound system went out and the microphones went dead. I said, ‘Hey Kate, this room is older than microphones. Who needs ’em?’ So we stepped up to the front of the stage, and she sang and we all played without any microphones…you could have heard a pin drop.”

According to Hardman, despite technology becoming more accessible to the home user, he sees a bright future ahead—even within the music industry.

“ The last five years, it’s all gone online so people can sell their CDs anywhere around the world, and they don’t need the record companies anymore,” he says. “I think that’s going to keep growing. Independent record labels used to be a very small part of the business, but I think it’s just going to keep getting better for me. I see nothing but growth. The more people say, ‘Hey, I can make an album,’ the more people will either come here or they’ll need my help finishing it. They’ll bring it to me to do the mastering, which is the final polishing.”

And, as more and more companies begin using audio for commercials, on-hold messages and the Internet, Zone Recording will continue to grow.

“Unlike 10 years ago, these days every business or corporation needs some kind of audio,” says Hardman. “It could be voice-over and music for radio and TV ads, or sales and training videos. It could be podcast production, on-hold marketing messages or streaming audio for the company website, it could be our ISDN Source Connect line for super fast audio transmission.”

So listen up, North Bay: That next song or radio commercial could have been recorded by…you.

Looking for more information about professional recording? Then call Zone Recording Studio at (800) 372-3305 or email us at blair@zonerecording.com.

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photo from: billboard.com

The Grammys are airing this Sunday Feb. 7 at 8 p.m. on CBS. If you have not been paying attention, it’s okay because we have all of the insider information you need for this upcoming ceremony. The Grammys are one of the biggest nights for music, and features the year’s biggest artists and top songs.

You can find the full list here from TIME Magazine Online. However, the most favorable artists this year are Beyoncé, Pharrell Williams and the renowned new artist Sam Smith. With 53 nominations in total, Beyoncé is the most-nominated woman in the Grammys’ history. Some of the other notable performers include: Beck, Drake, Eric Church, Gordon Goodwin, Iggy Azalea, Jack White, Jay Z, Miranda Lambert, Sia, Tom Coyne, and Usher.

Some of the keynote performers are Ariana Grande, Katy Perry, Madonna, with her new single “Living for Love.” Likewise, Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartney will debut “FourFiveSeconds.” Other performances include, Beyoncé with John Legend for the Selma song “Glory,” and Mary J. Blige and Sam Smith are anticipated to perform a duet.

For clarity, Song of the Year honors songwriting, and Record of the Year refers to the actual recording. A song worthy of winning Song of the Year is the kind of track that sounds just as good stripped down and played acoustically as it does in an arena live. Likewise, a worthy Record of the Year focuses more on the quality of the production, engineering and performance.

According to TIME Magazine online, “a ‘new artist’ is defined for the Grammy process as any performing artist or established performing group who releases, during the eligibility year, the recording that first establishes the public identity of that artist or established group as a performer.”

Be sure to keep an eye for for Iggy Azalea as she tries to be the first woman to win best hip-hop album, making it a night that could be historic for many other female artists. Nicki Minaj is also looking to claim her title as the first female rapper to win the Best Rap Song with her acclaimed hit “Anaconda.”

While Beyoncé is in the running for multiple awards, 2014 was the year of breakout artists including Sam Smith, Ariana Grande and her streak of summer hits, and Meghan Trainor with her distinctive style and incredible influence.

According to the Grammys, Sam Smith is nominated in four of the most important categories, and with the success of his first single, “Stay With Me,” he is very likely to take home a win. Likewise, Meghan Trainor is in the running for both Song of the Year and Record of the Year, while Ariana Grande is up for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with “Bang Bang.”

Those are some of the must know topics for this year’s Grammys. Zone Recording Studio of Cotati, California has all of the information you need with this highly popular event.

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MARCUS OWEN/STARTRAKS PHOTO; C FLANIGAN/FILMMAGIC

Perhaps one of the most common controversies in the music industry is copyright, sampling and re-using of other people’s material, and the use of soundbites in radio commercials. Among those, however, is blatant similarities between two songs. This debate brings up the question of whether or not some songs are total coincidences or complete ripoffs.

This past weekend, The Sun reported Sam Smith and Tom Petty had a dispute, which related to this very topic. Recent reports suggest Sam Smith’s three-time Grammy-nominated hit “Stay With Me” and Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down,” were the subjects of an amicably settled copyright dispute. Rolling Stone Magazine released a statement confirming that Tom Petty now has been co-credited to Smith’s “Stay With Me” along with co-writer Jeff Lynne of “I Won’t Back Down.”

Additionally, Rolling Stone Magazine explains in an article released this week that the publishers for Petty’s song contacted the publishers for Smith’s “Stay With Me,” about similarities they detected in the melodies of the choruses of both songs. Smith’s rep explained he was not familiar with the 1989 Petty and Lynne song previously to writing “Stay With Me.” However, after listening to “I Won’t Back Down,” he acknowledged the similarity.

This is just one instance where this has come up. In fact, other artists have undergone this same issue including George Harrison with his song “My Sweet Lord” vs. “He’s So Fine” by The Chiffons, written by Ronnie Mack. Other songs include “Rudy Can’t Fail” by The Class vs. “Hate Everyone” by Say Anything and “Heartbreak Song” by Kelly Clarkson vs. “The Middle” by Jimmy Eat World.

According to the article by Rolling Stone, Smith’s rep said, “Although the likeness was a complete coincidence, all involved came to an immediate and amicable agreement in which Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne are now credited as co-writers of ‘Stay With Me’ along with Sam Smith, James Napier and William Phillips.”

Ultimately, it was decided that Sam Smith’s hit-song “Stay With Me” and its relation to Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” was completely accidental and nothing more than an innocent coincidence. That said, it was still ruled that Petty and Lynne would be co-credited for “Stay With Me.” However, the overall feel of the case was completely amicable.

While it may be a simple and innocent mistake, there is no question that copyright infringement is very real and can greatly affect a songwriter or recording artist. Here at Zone Recording Studio of Cotati, California, we desire for you to be safe and above board with your music. However, at the end of the day, there are only 12 notes, and expecting every single artist to come up with something completely original every time they sit down to write a song is perhaps ambitious.

While this may be true, it is important to check sources and verify that your songs are as original as possible. Remember, originality is key. For any tips, tricks and suggestions, call Blair at Zone Recording Studios at (800) 372-3305.

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