Greg Norman (bonus): Life at Electrical Audio

greg norman --> intern --> musician --> repair tech --> engineer --> greg norman

Greg Norman has worn many hats. For 15 years he's worked for Steve Albini, helping build and run Chicago's Electrical Audio, but he also records at his home and takes on many other projects.

And he's a nice guy.

What makes for a good engineer?

You don't want to be the dick in the way. Or just not have a good way of communicating. I don't have a problem telling a band that they've flubbed a take. There's a way to communicate that in a way that doesn't make everyone feel awful! I still talk to people who have recorded and had bad experiences. At the end of the session, they hated the guy because they had the worst direction and communication. It's tough. You're stuck together in a room for 12 to 14 hours a day!

I finished a session the other day where I went 10 hours without eating anything and kept suggesting breaks. It never happened.

It's funny you brought that up. That happened to me last week. A person came in to record five or six songs for basic tracks in two days. It was that sort of scenario. It felt like if they weren't doing something every second that an opportunity was being wasted. I can deal with that for two days or so. The longest session I worked on was 3 1/2 months. It was four people, and their mom, who never wanted to take any breaks. It was a trial. I remember saying, "You know, I'll do this again but I need a significant amount of money." The studio salary didn't cut it. 

You lost three months of your life!

Exactly. I broke up with a long-term girlfriend. Everyday was noon to midnight. It was a mixed blessing. Usually the types of bands that come in here are short and quick. They're paying for everything themselves. We never got into that stride of a big studio getting big sessions that last for months and months. We saw a tiny bit of that around 2000 to 2003. But our main fuel is bands that come in from three to twelve days. No one's had to give up six months of his or her life to babysit. I'd have to get paid really well to burn bridges with all the other bands I'd have to turn down. They'd go someplace else and get used to not recording with me! I'm a pretty patient person, so it does depend on what's going on. 

"When people ask me what bands I've recorded that I like, I never think of the bands I like musically. I think of the good times and the people I get along with."

I think there's a misperception that someone in our shoes has a preferred way they'd always like to work.

Definitely. When people ask me what bands I've recorded that I like, I never think of the bands I like musically. I think of the good times and the people I get along with. People who are great, funny and smart. There are some great bands musically that bring a weird sort of tension and make mixing go on for a long time. I wish bands had more money to do what they wanted to do. I feel like a lot of bands that record here are just making it — just squeezing that last $200. It's cool when you work with people who have recorded a lot of records. They know the expectations and they're not stressed out by it. 

Yeah, when you get someone that's one their fourth or fifth record they know to book enough days. They come prepared.

They know what to expect. It usually goes more smoothly. I look forward to those sessions with old friends too. I almost feel bad.

You're getting paid to hang out with friends!

Right.

What other work do you do?

I do a lot of freelance tech work for some stupid reason. I'm curious and interested in it. I have a Sony MXP-3000 board and I bought that board because it has a modular EQ section and a modular mic preamp section. I bought it so I can make my preamps and stick them in there. 

Creepy Dave

Electrical had this guy who was basically a professional intern. He just bounced around from place to place. He was weird, very quiet. His nickname was “Creepy Dave” and he was fine with it. Somehow he ended up working for R. Kelly. The next thing you know, we turned on the TV and there he was dancing in an R. Kelly video! Some skinny white guy, dancing in a party scene. It was weird!

Those were based on the old MCI consoles, right?

Yes. The MCI — the way I look at it, Sony came in and flooded MCI with an opportunity to change up and make something reliable! [laughter] I was looking, at the time, to buy an MCI JH-500 console because I love the way those sounded. They have great Jensen-style mic preamps. They've got the modern super features of a big console. I looked at one with Bruce Breckenfield, one of the old consoles he had there [Chicago Recording Company]. He was showing me the inputs and switches. You could tell all the switches had been replaced 10 years ago. I know this is going to be a muscle car in my garage. It's not going to be anything I can do anything with! If I want to record bands, I should not buy this console. So I bought the Sony because it worked. The switches worked. If you don't like their preamps, you can put your own in. Or put API ones in. It took a while to finish the preamp module, but it's finally done. I'll waste my time and money doing that. Before I knew better to maintain relationships with girlfriends and wives, I used to be a terrible tape machine addict. [laughter]

Really?

I had broken machines off of eBay and from radio stations. I had seven tape machines in my house at one time. It was crowding the living room.

It's like you were taking in stray cats or something!

Yeah, it was totally like that! It was awful. We talked about how it feels to have a project looming over your head — it felt like that every time I walked into the living room. I couldn't breath. I decided I was going to work only on the things that made it easier to make records. I fortunately got down to three machines. All of them work. I sold the rest of them and they paid for themselves.

That's cool!

I did have a bad experience when I went to Toronto to buy an ATR, which I bought on eBay for $800. It was a perfect eBay learning lesson! It turns out it was a parts machine [the seller] was using for all the other machines that he had. Everything on the machine was broken. We're good friends with Mike Spitz at ATR and we've bought a few of his machines that he refurbed. They're like brand-new machines when you get them. So, I basically paid $800 to take a "class." Mike Spitz was generous enough to help me learn on the machine and figure out my mistakes. He's got standup ethics about how to deal with people.