We have recently been discussing the production of another recording of our own for TP. We have an artist in mind whom we will be meeting with later this month. This artist is well known for very high energy live performances, and in preliminary discussions we have found that we share a strong conviction that an audience always makes a performance better.
I have been rallying for some time for a recording session in a studio with a live audience in attendance. Picture cocktail tables along the walls of the tracking room, right in there with the artists and the microphones. I first saw this technique used for a one man show by Paul McCartney at Abbey Road's studio 2, aired on PBS' Great Performances several years ago. And I've since been an "audience" myself for one of the songs on the Jacqui Naylor album we recorded. You can say what you want about how real your audio system sounds - but this is the definitive "totally immersive experience" - sitting in the tracking room sipping a cocktail while the magic is happening.
Naturally something like this would not be an inexpensive undertaking. Paul and I started scratching out numbers and figured that this would probably cost about 10X as much as we usually budget to license one of our albums made from an original master. So regular subscription rates are not going to cover the cost of production.
What I am wondering is if there would be subscribers and their friends interested in purchasing a ticket to sit in on one of the recording sessions, right in the tracking room. This could be a once in a lifetime chance for such an experience. I'm not yet sure what we would have to charge. It would depend to some extent upon how many three hour sessions we would schedule, how many folks we could comfortably fit into the tracking room and so on. Maybe a couple hundred per person? Maybe a bit more? I know this all depends upon the artist. I can't divulge the name of the person we are talking to at this very early point in our discussion, but I guess I can say that this person is quite well known as a musician and a producer (Grammy nominated), and they have an idea for an album that would make for a pretty mindblowing experience for the audience.
Any interest?
