James Lee Stanley

I hope that you all had a grand Memorial Day weekend.   Three day holidays are especially nice as we are so accustomed to the two day break that a three day break seems like a lot more time than it is.

We stayed home and worked on our home and had the obligatory barbeque.   I simply LOVE hot dogs, but that’s not what I want to talk about today.

I recently heard someone referring to someone else as a pro and I got to thinking about the various projects that I have been involved with over the years.

I have worked with septegenarians and teenagers and everyone in between and what defined the pros for me was there from the get-go.   They came in ready to record.   And they brought with them everything that they would need.

I just finished a project with a young woman named Sheila K.    She is sixteen and she showed up at every session on time, prepared, warmed up and the songs that she wanted to record had been worked on until they were ready to be recorded…all this before she got to the studio.  

She’s a remarkable writer, singer and person.   Check her out at www.myspace.com/shirakreitenberg.com

When I did All Wood and Stones (www.allwoodandstones.com) with John Batdorf (www.johnbatdorfmusic.com) it was the same thing.

He showed up on time, voice warmed up, new strings on his guitar and some ideas about several of the songs.   He did all this before he got to the studio.

He didn’t show up at the studio and then say he had to warm up; he didn’t  show up and then decide to restring his guitar; he wasn’t late; he wasn’t unprepared; he wasn’t hungover, stoned, starved, hypoglycemic.  He was ready.

The thing about being a professional is really simple.   You think about what you want to have happen in the studio and you do everything you can think of before hand to make that happen.

You are paying for the studio by the hour,  so make every hour count and being prepared is what it is all about.

Practice, warm up, make certain that you have all that you need, strings, picks, capo, strap, cords, batteries, stand, power chord.   And I always have at least two of everything.   

Be physically ready.  Don’t be tired, hung over, stoned, …whatever.   Be prepared.   Turns out the Boy Scouts were right.