While the music is obviously an important component of the music industry (some would even say essential), what really keeps the industry running is people. Each person involved has a specific and important job.
To highlight some of the most important and highly coveted jobs in the music industry and find out just what it takes to get that dream job, as part of an ongoing series Tone Deaf will be speaking to some of the music industry’s biggest and brightest.
Most recently, Tone Deaf caught up with Australian music legend Lachlan Goold, known to the bands he’s helped achieve stardom as Magoo. Having worked on some of the most iconic releases in Australian music, including Regurgitator’s Unit and Custard’s Loverama, we reckon he’s a frontrunner for having the best job in Aussie music.
Coming Into The Fold
I did a short course in sound engineering in 1990, but I decided to continue with a real engineering degree (mechanical) that I started straight after school. Luckily, when I finished in 1991 there was a mini-recession and no work for graduates.
Not wanting to go back to study, I went on the dole and worked part time at a recording studio/rehearsal room called Red Zeds. I started recoding all the jobs no-one else wanted to do and tried to convince the live bands I was working with to come and and record. I was very driven towards what I loved doing.
The main overarching thing that I do is listen. I listen and let the band or artist know how the song is coming across. Is the message getting lost? Is there anyway it could be clearer?
This involves everything from sitting in a band room with a band for weeks before you record, changing things, trying things out, to putting up some mics, pressing record and hoping I don’t say anything stupid. I love the diversity of this job.
Early Beginnings
Before I was doing this, I was studying. I’ve never had a real, full time, wage-paying job. For that I’m very grateful, but there may be a time…
Brisbane was great at that time in the early ’90s. Bands like Screamfeeder, The Dreamkillers, and Custard decided it wasn’t a good idea to move to Sydney and break up like every other Brisbane band. They could just drive!
Joh was ousted and the liquor licensing laws changed. There were venues opening up and a great live scene followed. Things changed really quickly and the band scene grew out of that. There was such a wide variety of music happening and the gigs would have wildly differing bands on the bill and no one seemed to mind.
As I was getting busier and I started travelling more, I realised how good it was in Brisbane. The scene all over the country was pretty good at that time as well – Front End Loader, The Cosmic Psychos, Magic Dirt, You Am I, etc.
Favourite Moments
There have been many. Regurgitator and I kinda grew up together. They had a better idea of what a good sound was than me, but I wasn’t afraid to try anything. I learnt so much working with those guys.
Being on the roller coaster from the very beginning was great fun. They’re still a great band and I still love seeing them play. We had so many adventures together. From Thailand, to dumpy old warehouses, to beachside mansions, and of course the bubble, recording with them was never boring.
I really worked out the effect of the environment on the sound. The rooms you are recording in, but also the outside environment. Every particle affects what you are doing.
Custard. Making Loverama, I think, was the most fun I’ve ever had recording. They are such great players. Not in a ‘music shop/show us your chops’ kinda way, but in an instinctive, spontaneous way. Great songs and so many laughs.
The Cruel Sea/Tex Perkins. These guys are similarly great musicians, but they live and breathe every note. Still a lot fun to work with. Most of my day is spent setting things up so they’re in the right place for when the mood is right. Then I just get to sit back and listen in the best seat in the house.
Not From There was another band where we really gelled. There’s a certain chemistry that grows when you do multiple recording with the same people. These guys were such an odd mix of personalities and made music that was so different to anything else.
Midnight Oil are a fantastic machine to watch. I think I learnt how to produce a record with them, although my version of the record was rejected by Sony. They had such a chemistry together, it was a pleasure to be part of the process.
A Day In The Life
Yes, my days are not typical, but they are becoming more similar. I split my time between lecturing and researching at QUT and, mixing songs for various people. Mixing is definitely my favourite part of the process and it’s what I’m thinking about when I sit in the band room nutting out arrangements.
I’m still recording things sporadically, but I seem to be busy enough doing all that other stuff. I would recommend this job to anybody. It’s a great job. A dream job, but it does take the right personality. When I drop the kids off at school, I feel like I never had to grow up and I love it.
Pros/Cons
On the downside, there’s not a lot of ‘proper’ work out there, but there’s no shortage of bands that need recordings. Being self-employed isn’t easy and the constant up and down of the music industry is particularly hard when you have a family.
You need to have an entrepreneurial streak. You need to make a job out of something that a lot of people expect you to do for free. Like anything, it’s about supply and demand, but you need to create that demand for yourself.
That being said, without too much effort you can have access to decent recording gear and just do it! When I started, the first step of recording was booking a studio, and an engineer, you couldn’t do it anywhere else.
Now you can do it yourself and many bands do, but hopefully there will come a time in a band’s development where they will want some outside ears on their project. Overall, you have to love it to get into it.
Insider Tips
It’s all about communication. After all, that’s what a song is: communicating an idea or emotion. The essential part is being able to tap into that and the pathway is not always clear. Sometimes you have to dig deep to find the core of the song, only to realise you’re doing it all wrong.
I’m addicted to the ‘sound’ of records. I don’t know what it is, but I love a great song that sounds great as well. I’ll still listen to a great song if I don’t like the recording, but it takes me a lot longer to come around to it.
In order to succeed at what I do, you need to be patient, driven, a good communicator, tactful, and a good listener.
Proudest Moments
Overall, somehow maintaining my career and having a family is by far the hardest and most rewarding thing I’ve done.
Unit by Regurgitator was a lot of fun. We set up an early digital recording studio in an old printing warehouse. The environment for me was not ideal. The control room was just in one corner of this warehouse with underlay on the walls to deaden the sound. If you leaned up against it, it made you itch.
However, the rooms were good to record in and there was a sense of freedom with the music. Mixing the record there was hard, but we got there in the end. I found it hard to judge how the song really sounded.
I would record a mix on to a DAT tape (this record was before we recorded on computers), take it home, make notes, and come back to the studio to make the changes. My housemates became very familiar with the record.
I’ve really enjoyed working with The Jungle Giants over the last few years. Again you get those connections you can only get with a band over multiple recordings.
It’s different working with people that are half your age, but that’s part of what makes me feel young at school drop off. They’ve really blossomed and their new record is really good.
Lessons Learnt
Don’t expect to make money out of running a studio, although it’s something you have to do. Don’t work too much. It’s better to get in, get it done, and get out. Always answer your emails. You never know who will pop up in 20 years’ time.
The Future
The overall production of Australian music has improved so much in my time. In the ’90s, if it was Australian there was only a handful of guys making most of the records that sounded good. Now, most of what you’ll hear on Unearthed will be pretty high quality.
I’m currently doing a Phd on the state of the recording studio, so I’m very interested in how the industry is going. As I said, there is no shortage of music to be recorded, it’s just the environment to record it in that’s changing. Is this affecting how the music is being recorded?
The music climate in Australia is very different to what I grew up with. Music festivals seem to dominate and club shows kinda struggle comparatively. I love a festival as much as the next guy/girl, but I’d rather go to a club show any day.
The Valley in Brisbane is so overcrowded on a Friday and Saturday night with people going to super clubs, yet the music venues are still the same ones I visited 20 years ago. Thank God they’re still there, but they certainly haven’t grown like all the other entertainment options.
There is no shortage of bands, but as there is less money to be made, it’s only the really passionate ones that survive.
If you’re interested in becoming a music industry professional, visit www.aim.edu.au to explore the huge range of music industry courses they have to offer.
