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I first
have pre-production meetings with them to discuss direction, hear ideas they have,
and we discuss their likes and dislikes and listen to and discuss song choice.
Then I go through a listening process song by song on my own and start to get
a feel for song arrangements and groove. Sometimes I'll make midi demos to work
out and experiment with the ideas I hear. During this process its nice to get
the artist in frequently and see if they're getting excited with the production
direction. Then when we're clear about the sound we're after, we'll work out what
keys and tempos are going to work best for the singers voice. Then the musicians
get booked, I prepare charts and the studio magic pretty much evolves onward from
there.
Jana: I've noticed your greatest successes are in the Country market,
is this because you prefer this genre of music?
Louis: I actually
came from a rock background in my teens and was a pretty steady working studio
musician from my early 20's on. I really do appreciate all genres of music. But
after I worked as a guitar player on the last season of a nationally televised
country show SUN COUNTRY with Ian Tyson, Ian hired me to engineer and do the guitar
work on all of his now famous COWBOY Trilogy albums. I also produced "AND STOOD
THERE AMAZED" and after that, the calls for me to produce country artists really
started to pour in. So I guess its really by that chain of events that I became
known as a country producer, but I have continued to produce a lot of other genres
in between the country recordings. I did a great singer songwriter folk type album
last year for a great songwriter Rob Heath, there's been various jazz albums and
various film and television projects. I list them all on my website...www.louissedmak.com
Jana: What have you found to be typical "time wasters" through the recording
process?
Louis: Time wasters in the studio are usually gear related.
I try to keep my studio well maintained before the musicians get there to avoid
gear problems/breakdowns while they're there, but sometimes breakdowns do occur...
a studio can behave a lot like a car, so I try to take good care of the equipment
and hire players who I know also take good care of the gear they bring. That's
an important aspect of being a professional.
Jana: Do you have any Do's and Don't for the artist?
Louis:
Artists need to properly research the producers they're considering as much as
they need to consider every other aspect of their careers. Just as they might
audition players for a band they should listen to various other productions recorded
by the producer to hear what they've got to offer. The tracks pretty much speak
for themselves.
Jana: What about 'Magical moments'?
Louis: There's often
the moments during a recording where the music all comes together with such great
feel or the singer or a soloist is just really caught up in the moment and an
unexpected lick or simply an amazing performance occurs that makes the hair on
my neck stand on end. As a musician I thrive on those moments.
Jana: We've come a long way from a lone mic in a room full of players
… what's your take on today's recording technology?
Louis: I've
worked with the evolving technology, I'm a bit of a gear head and I love it. For
example, pitch control. It's a touchy subject for some. I love to record great
singers who have great pitch and if they can lay it down in a couple of takes
its a dream. But, with pitch control you can focus more on a great performance
than pitch. I let the singer sing their heart out, and then if they happen to
jump off road pitchwise for a second I can just tweak the pitch glitch without
compromising the whole track. I think if you could bring back Louis Armstrong,
Billy Holliday or Patsy Cline and put them into a modern studio that they'd love
the new technology too.
Jana: How can production values make or break the chances of radio play?
Louis:
At radio, each format has a production standard, which is pretty high these days.
Listeners and programmers aren't fond of playing poorly recorded music. Now, among
all the great recordings out there... there's a huge range of production styles;
Roots acoustic is pared down as a production style and its either well recorded
or its not. More instrumentation and more complex arrangements and unusual sounds,
perhaps samples etc. might sound "overproduced" to some, but that sound does suit
some formats.
Current country radio is playing more music with bigger rock
/pop production values along side the more traditional simpler country production
of say a Randy Travis type artist. Some fans are loving The BIG and RICH rock
type sound that suits that type of act, others want more of a traditional sound
etc. Whatever suits the artist and ultimately the song is what interest me the
most. I try to serve the song. Distorted amateur recordings that are out of tune
and out of time and have sloppy playing and poor arrangements tend to not get
played on radio and that's probably a good thing. That being said, it gets tougher
and tougher for new artists to get radio play even when they do have great songs
performed well with great production. So, for the arts and everyone involved trying
to make a living in the music business, it never ceases to remain a challenging.
LOUIS SEDMAK is among the busiest producers in Canada with an impressive track
record of successful ventures in record production, songwriting, television &
film music. Productions by Sedmak consistently see a warm welcome at the top of
the charts from national radio. 2004/05 saw the latest from Sedmak Productions
with the release of the sophomore album by CCMA Independent Female of the Year
Lisa Hewitt, her debut single 'One of these Goodbyes' rocketed to top 20 status
while 'Take Me There' is showing signs of promising chart action as well.
A
04/05 Greatest Hits" package released with 3 new Sedmak productions from one of
Canada's top 10 Male country vocalists Duane Steele saw each of these singles
reach top 30 success at radio.
OPEN ROAD RECORDINGS country artist Jake Mathews
enjoyed tremendous TOP 30 radio support for both his 01 /02 self titled album
including singles; "DO YOU ONE BETTER" ,& "THAT'S HOW LONG" , ." RUSH " and "
I'M GONE" and even better success with his second 03/04 album "TIME AFTER TIME".
Reunited with Louis Sedmak, the producer of his debut project, Jake Mathews,
says he couldn't have found a better collaborator, "Louis has a great set of ears,
and he's so well-trained in music, it just seems we're on the same wavelength,"
says Mathews. "He really understands the emotions I'm shooting for. We just have
identical visions."
"I'll Be Alright", the fourth album for multi award winning
country artist Duane Steele, generated 6 top 30 hits and a win as Independent
Male Vocalist of the Year by the CCMA for 2001.
"There's No Lookin' Back"
by The Poverty Plainsmen also a critically acclaimed Sedmak production, had the
debut single "SAME THINGS" rocket to # 13 on BDS and the album garnered the group
Independent Group of the Year 2001
Album
Discography
Colleen Rae - 06 Spring release Producer, Engineer. Guitars
Rob
Heath - 05/06"Couple of Times Round the Sun - Producer, Engineer. Guitars Lisa
Hewitt 04/05 "The Road I Chose" -Producer, Engineer. Guitars CCMA 2005 Indie Female
of the Year
Jake Mathews TIME AFTER TIME -Producer, Engineer, Guitars
Duane
Steele- "I'll Be Alright" Greatest Hits package (3 new cuts) Producer-Engineer-guitar
2001 CCMA Independent Male Vocalist of the Year
The Poverty Plainsmen-"There's
No Lookin' Back" Producer-Engineer-guitar CCMA 2001 Indie Group of the Year
Jake
Mathews "Self Titled" -Producer, Engineer, Guitars
Steve Fox "Small World"
Engineer
Tracy James- "Dreaming Out Loud" -Engineer
Poverty Plainsmen
"Gotta Be a Believer" - Producer, Engineer, Guitars
Pazzport -Jazz Fusion-
-Engineer- Ian Tyson "And Stood there Amazed"-Producer, Engineer & guitar
Ian
Tyson "Cowboyography"-Engineer & guitar Ian Tyson "I Outgrew the Wagon"-Engineer
& guitar
Cori Brewster-One More Mountain-Producer-Engineer-guitar
Rock
N Horse "Highways" Producer-Engineer-guitar
Paul Lamaroux " Sce-nar-io " -Engineer-guitar
Grace Under Pressure-Co- Producer-Engineer-guitar
Television and Film
& Video
"This Living World"-a ten part series for Kings Motion Pictures
"Cowboys of the Americas" broadcast by the Disney Channel
"Jake and the
Kid" - CBC
"EDD Electronic Digital Delivery" Promotional video.
"Young
As You Look" Prairie Dog Productions
"The River" Prairie Dog Productions
"The
Long Walk" Bibby Productions Ltd.
S.P.C.A. Promotional video for Katherine
Bibby Productions
Syncrude - Promotional video
"The Day the Rainbow Cried"
talking children's book soundtrack by Wallis Kendal, Tree Frog Productions
Awards
Canadian Country Music Awards nominee Studio of the Year
Alberta Recording
Industry Assoc. Producer of the Year
Alberta Recording Industry Assoc- Guitar
player of the year
Canadian Recording Industry Assoc.- Certified Platinum
Albums- Ian Tyson Education
Highest Honors in guitar, class of '88
G.I.T. THE MUSICIAN INSTITUTE in Los Angeles, California.
Songwriting Credits
Lost in You- Duane Steele-"I'll Be Alright"
Lost in You The Poverty
Plainsmen-"There's No Lookin Back" # 30 BDS Canada 2001
The Goodside of your
Goodbye- Duane Steele-"I'll Be Alright" #18 BDS Canada 2001
Johnny's Dream-
Duane Steele-"I'll Be Alright"
All Figure Out-The Poverty Plainsmen-"There's
No Lookin Back"
Eternal Love- The Poverty Plainsmen-"There's No Lookin Back"
There's No Lookin' Back- The Poverty Plainsmen-"There's No Lookin Back"
After
the Harvest- The Poverty Plainsmen-"There's No Lookin Back"
Slide Over I'm
Driving- Lisa Hewitt 2000
All the Love- The Poverty Plainsmen-"Gotta Be a
Believer"
Borderline- The Poverty Plainsmen-"Gotta Be a Believer"
Mama
Told Me- The Poverty Plainsmen-"Gotta Be a Believer"-Top 20 Canada Ragtop Wedding-Debbie
Nelson
What Are you Waiting For-Rock'n' Horse- # 26 The Record Cnd national
Chart
I'll Be There for You- Rock 'n' Horse
LOUIS SEDMAK PRODUCTIONS-PRODUCER
- COMPOSER - ARRANGER www.louissedmak.com
Email: lsedmak@shaw.ca
6916-82 Ave. Edmonton
Alberta T6B 0E7 780-469-2115 Read
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