PLATINUM STANDARDS

OCTOBER, 1999

RECORDING & PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES

PLATINUM STANDARDS

BY ROBERT DENNIS

If you want to get someplace, know where you're going. I'm going to tell you a story about how this was well done a few decades ago and how I recommend doing it today. History is interesting if there is a lesson that can be learned - otherwise it's a bit boring. My constant comparison about what should be done today to what was done at Motown 35 years ago is only for the purpose of applying some really successful techniques in today's environment.

MOTOWN'S 1964 "TOP 5" POLICY

Somewhere in 1964 Motown became the number one hit record company worldwide, capturing 10% of the market - something no other record company managed to do up to that point, or since then. So one would assume that, at the time, Motown knew what they were doing and didn't need to "learn" what a hit record was. Berry Gordy, owner of Motown, disagreed and wanted all executive and creative personnel in the company to "learn" what a hit record was like. I'm sure that what Berry had in mind was maintaining the success, rather than creating the success. He came up with the "Top 5 Policy" for the company.

Through command channels, Berry ordered me (Mastering Supervisor) to order in any and all records that reached "top five" in the "hit singles" chart of Billboard. I was then to transfer these to tape and cut several "LP's" that had 12 top 5 tunes in the approximate order that they became "top 5 hits." The hand-cut records were distributed to various executives in the company.

Berry's idea was that the executives were to listen to the top 5 LP's in the morning as they were shaving and/or getting ready for work. He wanted the executives to have the musical influence of "smash hits, daily.

SO WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE RADIO?

Many would say: "If you want to know what's out there today, listen to the radio." But there's a big problem with this as your main influence or "standard." If a radio station plays 50 tunes in one day you hear the #1 hits and you hear the #50 tunes. You also hear the new records that have been added to the playlists and aren't even a hit of any stature.

So if you listen to the radio for your "reference" on what a hit is, your learning what a #30 hit is (the average of all of the tunes played). In other words, you are using "almost" hits as your guide, rather than "top" hits.

TODAY'S SCENE

Today music is much more diverse. The billboard Top 200 Albums include all types of music - but the ones that sell the best. Consumers buy full-length CD's and any "singles" released are primarily for promotion, rather than for profit. There are gold and platinum records that have NO singles that were released - in fact, this is becoming common.

SO WHAT DO I DO TODAY?

On the billboard Top 200, there are little black circles to show that a record (CD) sold gold (500,000 copies) and little triangles that show it sold platinum (1,000,000 copies). You can see what I mean by visiting the Billboard Site at http://www.billboard.com/ .

What I recommend is finding platinum sellers in the style of music you are going to work with. Simply buy these CD's and listen to them. This is the goal - at least your product needs to "come up to these standards." Buy several, so that you aren't influenced by just one release. Buy more CD's as new ones go platinum.

The above "formula" works if you are a singer, musician, writer, producer or recording engineer. If you are a singer, listen to how platinum records are sung; if you are a writer, listen to how platinum records are written; etc. Notice that I'm not really suggesting that you "copy" only that you judge your product by these standards.

Good Recording, Producing & Songwiting.

Bob Dennis

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