Tell me about how Audiotree was started.
Rick Fritz: I think the original idea was that Michael Johnston, the owner, and Adam Thurston, the co-founder, just wanted to do something in music. They thought they were going to be a record label, at first. Then they decided they wanted to help bands build this "tree" of managing, recording, promoting, and tours. They wanted to make a website that a lot of things could come through, like a hub to help people find managers or be managed, recorded, or whatever – a hub for everybody involved to help indie bands. Then the brainstorming started. They came to our studio downtown – not this one, but a previous studio we were in – and they were kicking around the idea of recording, or doing some kind of streaming. It evolved from that. I was like, "I used to do live sound over the airwaves for WXRT [a radio station in town]." Famous bands would come in, and we'd do on-air broadcasts. It was just radio though – not TV or video. I threw that idea out there to Michael and Adam. Like everything, you just try it. The first time we did, it was kind of a mess.
How many years ago was that?
RF: I met Michael and Adam in July of 2010.
Did they seek you out because you were already on the radio?
RF: No. They just happened to show up to talk business with Ira Antelis, who is part of Jira, the music production company here. When they came in, Michael and Adam were sitting in the back of the room talking while I was doing a mix. Then Ira said to me, "Hey, you should meet these guys." We started having conversations about it.
You had experience doing radio broadcast, but what about video production?
RF: I studied video more than audio at the beginning of my life. When I used to work for a record label, video people were always coming around in the '90s. I'd work on album projects, and people were always saying we should document this or that. In the back of my mind, I was thinking, "This is silly. We're recording bands, but we don't have anybody filming or taking pictures." Somehow that idea got thrown out there to do this. Jon LeClerc sought out videographers from Columbia College. Three or four bands were in the studio right away; we were bumping each other around, and trying to figure it out. They were documenting it – making the videos. We weren't broadcasting the video, at that point. We were just doing the audio through a little portal in the website.
When did you start doing the video broadcast?
RF: How it started was, we were broadcasting through this webcast portal using Adobe Live for the audio. We're encoding it, and I'm looking at this stupid little picture on the window. I thought, "That's a video picture. Where is that coming from, anyways? What if we just plugged in a USB camera? Would something happen?" I went and bought a USB camera, plugged it in, and the video showed up in that window. I was like, "That's crazy!" We put one USB camera out there, and that's how it started. Then people thought we could plug in more and switch them. Ustream started making a producer program, and we got more USB cameras and started switching. I instigated the broadcasting side of it with my laptop and USB cameras. Then everyone started getting into it. "Oh, we can type little bumpers and overlays." We just kept pushing with, "Hey, when are we going to tether the cameras? How can we split them off?" Michael suggested that we put GoPro cameras on them – all these ideas and thoughts. Eventually other websites were doing nice broadcasts. "Why can't we do that?" My friend, Bill Allan, he does all this TriCaster [live video switcher] work – he was doing it for Comcast, and teaches it in school. I was like, "Bill, how can we do this?" He said, "Oh, it's this TriCaster thing," – which was the same thing Adam said we needed to get. We got it, plugged the cameras in, because the cameras have the output, and started doing it that way.
Rick, you told me earlier that you attended Columbia College here in Chicago. Were you in an audio engineering program?
RF: It was recording. They had an engineering degree for a couple of years. I didn't complete it because it was ridiculous to me. I became a chief engineer at our studio downtown in the late '80s. It happened so fast for me. I went to Los Angeles right after high school to go to the Musician's Institute. I ran out of money, came back to Chicago, and met an old producer of a band I was in. He said, "Hey, we're building a new studio downtown, and we're looking for people to help build it." I was 18 or 19 years old, at that point, so I helped carry drywall and build the studio. The crazy thing was that it was a Tom Hidley-designed studio. Then we got to working. The first session in there, I was so overwhelmed. It had a Neve 8068 board, a pair of Studer A 800 tape machines, a Lexicon 480L – a brand new thing back then, and old plate [reverbs]. There was a great microphone collection, because it was a collective of a lot of engineers in town. Because of that room, and the sound of that room, it made me sound good. I got sucked into it, and we got an SSL for another room. The studio space exploded. I think the first session I did by myself was in spring of '87 – as just like, "Hey, you can go in the B Room and mess around." I had engineered in little studios as a kid doing bands or whatever, but I didn't know what I was doing. I learned fast. It was like working in L.A. at a major studio. Famous people came in every day.
You went from someone who was helping build a studio, to chief engineer at River North Studios?
RF: Within a year, which is insane. I never left the studio. They would have to kick me out. I had an overwhelming amount of work, and training, and had to rise up. I learned every time someone came through there and did something that blew my mind. I'd say, "Well, I'm going to put that in my little bag of tricks."
How long did you last at that studio?
RF: We closed down the studio in '97. It turned into a record label and all these other things. It became Platinum Entertainment and traded on the NASDAQ as a record company. We got funded by A&M and Polygram. When it ended, I was doing a bunch of records with Brian Wilson there. We became more of a private studio, at that point. We were a public studio at first, with eight rooms when we were going crazy. We started using the main room just for our own projects – doing an album with Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys. Brian was like, "Hey, I think I want to live in Chicago." At the time, our rent from the building was so high. We said, "Why don't we just build a studio out in the suburbs?"
This was in '97?
RF: Yeah. Brian had bought a brand new, just-built house out in the suburbs. I was like, "You can't build a studio in this basement. The ceiling's only eight feet tall!" They bulldozed through the house – a brand new million-dollar home – and dug the whole thing out. We put in this giant SSL and all this gear.
Who designed the rooms?
RF: My former boss [Joe Thomas] and myself. We had already done about a dozen rooms, at that point. I got sick of going to St. Charles, Illinois, where it was. Brian wasn't a prolific writer or worker at that point in his life, so there would be long stints of nothing going on at that space. I started working in Nashville then, because I had a lot of great relationships down there.
You lived in Nashville?
RF: I lived here in Chicago, and also drove to Nashville weekly and started doing records down there with a producer named Barry Beckett. The stint of going to Nashville was only about a year and a half. I worked with LeAnn Rimes, when she had just been signed by Chuck Howard, and we cut that acoustic version of "Blue." Barry had me slated to do Kenny Chesney's first record, but I wound up going to New York to work for Ira, with a kid that got signed by Tommy Mottola.
What was it like to be working in New York City at that time?
RF: The sessions in New York – we had unlimited funds. This was '98 or so. I worked with Destiny's Child, Usher, and this kid JoJo. They were all unsigned, or they had just been signed. I was in New York for only three months, and then I ended up back here.
Why did you decide to move back to Chicago?
RF: Family, my wife, and everything. I had a house here. To be honest, I just knew so many people here, and the work was easy, friendly, and convenient.
Did you build another studio when you came back?
RF: Ira's always had studios, and I've always worked for other people at other studios. I've always been independent, ever since we got rid of our studio that we had with Brian Wilson. I decided I wanted to be an independent engineer and own all the equipment, but not have a space. I foresaw that studio ownership would be an imploding thing that would be disappearing. I always thought you could record anywhere. I built a studio in my house and could record – full-blown, isolated, and all that.
After you got back from New York, you built a studio in your house?
RF: ...and I hated it. I'd have bands come over; they'd be floating around in my house, out in my yard, and through all my stuff. I'd be working, and all of a sudden I'd go from seeing the whole band in the room, to wondering where some of them went. They'd be everywhere. I didn't have the home and studio separated enough.
Tell me about the history of the studio that we're in now.
RF: This used to be called Engine Studios. It was Brad Wood's place [Tape Op #99]. It's a great space. It's one of the few studios in town that I thought felt like a Nashville or an L.A. room, where there's a density to the space. You walk in, and you just feel the thickness of the walls; the low-end comes back tight. This room here has a lot of midrange color, and you can hear it when we bring it up.
When you do an Audiotree broadcast, who's involved in the production?
RF: Me and Patrick usually do all the audio – setting up, recording, mixing, and mastering. We usually have four videographers who split duties on setup. One or two will be doing the lighting, others will be out getting the cameras set up and formatted, and then they go and shoot. Then there's Keelan Dellisse, our Technical Director. He sits here in the control room, runs all the TriCaster switching, and talks to the videographers in their ears to get everything looking right.
What's happening as the band arrives?
PD: Unless it's a large band, we'll always set a two-hour window, from load-in time to live time. If it's a 2 o'clock broadcast, and we want the band here by noon, we'll be here by 11. Ideally, the band gets set up in a half hour or less, and then we try to jump right into soundcheck – get everybody checked and comfortable. Rick has impressed upon me the importance of the philosophical side of getting bands in here, and getting them comfortable and excited – putting them in a positive, creative space.
What's involved in getting the artists in that creative mood?
RF: Well, you're just overwhelmingly nice to everybody. We love doing this. There are so many people who don't care about bands in the touring food chain. Most bands come in here and are like, "Is it okay if I stand here? Is it okay if I go to the washroom?" A lot of them are very worn down by sound engineers, managers, or whomever. When they come in here, you want them to feel all right. They're so beaten up on the road. Most bands that we deal with aren't established; they aren't massive touring bands that have all their things and assistants.
Do you find that some of the bands are nervous when they come in?
RF: Yeah. I have to "un-nervous" them. I have to throw myself out there like I'm a blithering idiot half the time. As soon as I meet somebody on the street or wherever, I read where they're at. I understand the psychological impact of being overwhelmed or nervous. There are even times when two minutes before we're going to go live, and these cameras come up from nowhere, they're like... [makes nervous face]. And then I'm out there. I'll slay the host or myself in front of them, and just do anything to get them to laugh and be happy. Patrick's seen it, obviously. I say the stupidest things in the universe.
PD: He really does.
Let's talk about setting up and running the sound check. What happens?
PD: Ideally we'll come in and introduce ourselves to the band. Basically everything will be pretty much mic'd up, assuming they're using our drums, piano, and amps. If not, then we'll have mics loosely positioned. The videographers have everything mapped out for what they want the room to look like.
