By Slim Man
I’ve got to tell you about my addiction. It’s been taking up most of my time. And almost all of my money. I have a confession to make, Slim People.
I can’t stop making CDs. I’ve tried 12 step programs. I’ve gone to group therapy. Hypnosis. Shock treatments. I’ve even tried anti-music therapy…I listened to Milli Vanilli non-stop for 3 days straight.
Nothing has worked. Why, you may be asking yourselves, would any musician want to stop making CDs?
Nobody buys them anymore. When I went back east recently to visit the nieces, I asked them, “When was the last time you bought a CD?”
You would have thought I’d just asked them if they’d ever bought a pager.
CDs used to be all the rage. They’re shiny, circular discs that hold lots of music, up to 74 minutes. About 20 years ago, CDs were very popular. How popular?
Michael Jackson sold more than 30 million CDs of just one album, Thriller. There were stores all around the US and the world that sold nothing but CDs. People used to collect them; they had racks full of thousands of CDs that they would show off to their friends. CDs were a huge industry.
And then people were able to download CDs on the Internet for free. And soon after, they were able to stream music without even having to download CDs. Nobody owned music anymore; they rented it. CDs became a thing of the past. People started using them as coasters.
Artists still release CDs, but they’re seen more as a promotional tool than a source of income. But if you’re a musician, you need to release new music. A lot of musicians these days release singles, one song at a time, the way they used to do in the 1950s.
But for me, I like coming up with a sound and a concept for a full album. It’s nice to be able to write a bunch of songs that sound like they belong together, and record them in a way that makes them sound like a cohesive unit.
I was sitting around the Slim Shack the other day, and came up with this crazy idea to record the new Slim Man CD in a real studio, with real musicians, all playing in the same room at the same time.
But, to do it that way, you’d have to go into a genuine, bona fide recording studio. You can’t do it in your cousin’s home studio at the trailer park.
So…How much does it cost to record at one of the best studios in the world?
Some of my favorite all-time recordings are Frank Sinatra’s Swinging CDs, and Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong’s duets. They both have one thing in common: they were recorded at Capitol Studios, home of Capitol Records. Nat King Cole was one of Capitol’s biggest artists, until a band called The Beatles came along.
Capitol Studios is in the Capitol Building, an iconic structure in downtown L.A. It’s a tall, circular building, which looks like a stack of vinyl records. The architect designed the building around the recording studios, with 10-inch thick cement walls, silent air-conditioning, and the whole building floats on a concrete slab covered in rubber tile and cork.
My favorite Slim Man CD is Bella Mia. We recorded it a while back in a studio outside of Washington, DC. We set the band up in the main room, they played and I sang…all at the same time! We did 12 songs in two days.
So how much would it cost to block off a few days at Capitol Studios?
I called them yesterday. They were very nice. I asked them about the main studio, where Frank and Nat King Cole recorded. They told me you get to use the same Steinway that Nat King Cole used. You can use the same mic that Frank used.
The price? $2,400 a day for 12 hours.
And Westlake Studios in L.A., where Michael Jackson recorded Thriller? It’s $2900 a day.
I might need to check into rehab, SlimNation… This is one bad habit I need to shake!
Who loves ya?
Uncle Slimmy
Slim Man is a music addict and also has a cookbook, Slim Man Cooks, available on his website, slimman.com
