Seminar series to help entertainment industry novices

Brad Carter spent just $400 on Steriogram's first hit.

These days, you don't need much dosh to record your own song, transfer it to a pocket-sized stereo and listen to yourself warbling, even if you suck.

And while this is all very well for the technically savvy, what about the rest of us who have trouble programming a VCR, let alone an album?

White Stripes wannabes, never fear. A software company is running free seminars today aimed at novice recording artists keen to get started and experienced producers looking to make their music sound a bit flasher.

Leading the first session of Play Music will be Steriogram guitarist Brad Carter, who knows a thing or two about making music.

Despite the band's legendary seven-figure, five-album deal with American label Capitol Records, Steriogram spent just $400 recording Walkie Talkie Man, the hit that wound up on a worldwide TV ad campaign for iPod and earned them a Grammy nomination.

"I know some people can't afford even to buy a computer, but when we started recording our own stuff, I don't even know how our hire purchase sales got approved," says Carter. "Go to Cash Converters if you have to, buy a dictaphone. The main thing is to get your songs down."

Carter will demonstrate how to take a basic musical idea through to the demo recording stage via computer, while the more advanced techniques will be explored by Clinton Bradley, a New Zealand record producer who spent 18 years in the United States working with the likes of Nine Inch Nails, Crystal Method's Trixie Reiss, 28 Days, Dirty Harry and the Prodigy's Maxim.

He has also composed music for the Olympic Games and news networks ESPN and MSNBC.

"Bands can do far more themselves now," he says. "You still need a producer to have an overview of things, but by the time you get to that stage, it makes the whole process easier if you can speak the same language."

At 17, Bradley moved from Porirua to the US when his father, a cartographer for the United Nations, was transferred. Two-and-a-half years later, his parents were ready to come home but Bradley stayed on to become a rock star.

"I didn't quite achieve that, but through being in many bands, writing songs and using music technology for my own purposes, I realised I knew more about it than just about anybody else."

His passion for technology led to a job at Sam Ash, one of America's biggest music supply chains. Eventually he became the manager at the New Jersey store, where he regularly fielded phone calls from bands requiring his expertise.

Nine Inch Nails, invited Bradley to spend three months programming their album, The Fragile. "Trent [Reznor, lead singer] is amazing. He is super smart, an amazing manager of people. He is known as being the dark prince or this brooding evil guy, but he's not at all."

Though that was a happy experience, Bradley also won a lawsuit against a band he won't name after they tried to squeeze him out of a record deal he arranged.

"At the time it was horrible and horrific but I've spoken to many other producers and it's the norm. That's the great thing about New Zealand bands. Their egos are well under control."

Back home for three years, Bradley is still tied to the US, travelling back for three months each year, and working on tracks with American artists via the internet.

Though most of his clients are based there, he has been happy to lend an ear to Steriogram, who are working on tracks for their next album. But no matter where his clients are, his advice is the same.

"You need talent and tenacity and persistence and constant plying of your craft so you're good. People shut the door, they don't want to talk to you. Keep going, keep going, keep going."

* Play Free and Easy with Brad Carter and Scott Bulloch, today, Ballroom 2, Crowne Plaza, Albert St, 4.30-6.30pm. Play Hard with Clinton Bradley, today, 7-9pm. Register at www.apple.co.nz/creative/playmusic/