By: Rick Landers
Marco Delmar – Owner of Recording Arts Studio, Arlington, VA.
Finding a recording studio producer that will be true to your music, as well as one that will take your raw homemade recordings, and draw the best out of them can be a tough search. Finding the right professional “ear” is critical. They need to not only hear you, they need to know how to listen, with empathy and with an ability to grasp your vision for the song.
The search can be frustrating, it can be expensive, until you find the right person who can help you focus, turn your song to reach its own potential. And, in the end a great producer and engineer will save you money.
So, Guitar International was on the hunt for a “best of” producer to find out what makes a great producer or engineer and what to look for and expect from a recording studio.
Marco Delmar’s name kept popping up as a guy to meet, and several Washington, D.C. area musicians suggested his Recording Arts studio as a favorite place to record their music. I checked out Marco’s background to find that he was an award-winning producer and engineer, a host and producer of a music themed radio talk show and he had some cool rock performance chops.
Thirteen Washington Area Music Awards (WAMMIES) for his production and recording work, got my attention and I dug In more.
With New York City stage time with The Electrics, including the group being signed by Capitol Records, as well as touring with Robert Palmer, Iggy Pop and Alice Cooper, I figure I found the professional studio owner that I wanted to meet. So, I drove to Arlington, Virginia, to Recording Arts studio to meet the guy with impressive credentials.
It didn’t take long for the two of us to click. Although, we came from different music-oriented backgrounds, there were enough commonalities to grasp where the other was coming from.
I toured his studio, even worked on a track and watched him work his magic that seemed more intuitive than technical. He mixed a previously recorded song, basically cutting and pasting, and dipping into his cauldron of recording expertise to polish up the track.
Delmar obviously knew what he was doing and wasn’t some hack. He’d recorded a lot of studio albums with legends of the industry, including some with members of The GoGos, Talking Heads, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, The Sweet and a favorite local D.C. group, Emmet Swimming.
According to his portfolio, his client base included work with such heavyweights as BMG, Epic Records, Imago Records, Capitol Records, Shanachie Records and Luak Bop. He’d recorded Basehead, Citizen Cope, Christylez Bacon, Margot MacDonald, Patty Reese, and more.
Artist development is also one of his strengths, and Marco has worked with the career needs of full bands, ethnic music artists, classical ensembles, singer-songwriters and others. He’s been on both sides of the music equation, the professional performance side and now the pro-recording side, and he can help promote artists with his own show on Arlington Independent Media radio station, 96.7 FM.
With over two decades in business, his Recording Arts has built an excellent reputation with its full spectrum of musician support including: CD productions, mixing and editing, live music videos, mobile recordings, music business consultation, artist development and voice-over recordings.
Given his total package experience in performance, recording and consultation services, Guitar International, got with Marco Delmar of Recording Arts, Arlington, Virginia, to get his professional insights into an area of music that oftentimes is a cauldron of mysteries to many musicians.
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Rick Landers: How about filling us in on how you first got into music, what or who inspired you to pick up an instrument, and your first experience on stage?
Marco Delmar: I can’t remember not being into music, or thinking of it as the only way I could make a living. But, I do remember looking at the Beatles at Shea stadium when I was a young lad, seeing 50,000 young girls screaming their heads off and thinking, “Yep…that’s for me”.
Aside from that, music just always seemed like the easiest thing for me to wrap my head around and excel at, and has been a perpetual ear worm in my life.
Rick: Guitar can be pretty easy to learn, as far as the basics, but we all run into plateaus that seem insurmountable, like learning the fret board, building shred-speed and other things. Is there any step-by-step advice that can be applied to all of these challenges?
Marco Delmar: Always remember that music is a matter of the heart. It is a means of expression, not an athletic event. So, if you’re trying to “say” something that requires a certain set of skills on your instrument, then it’s worth investing the time to learn it and train your fingers.
You can’t learn and excel in every style of music, or anticipate every riff you might be called upon to play. So, it’s important to learn and play the music that is nearest and dearest to your heart. This way you’ll never mind the investment in time, as it will always give you immediate gratification, and will always be exciting to learn and perfect.
Rick: Many, if not most of us who play an instrument never get past basic recording. What led you into the engineering and producing side of music?
Marco Delmar: Well, in a former life, I had the good fortune to be signed to a major label contract with Capitol Records, when I was 23, and the guitarist/writer for a band called The Elektrics. We were a New Wave, punk band out of New York City and got an awesome glimpse of the technical side, by recording records with producers, such as Rob Freeman [The GoGo’s], Peter Ker [Dave Edmunds, Marilyn Manson], Tony BonGiovi [Talking Heads], and Neil Dorfsman [Bruce Springsteen, Sting], all of whom gave me an in-depth understanding as to what a producer does, and what his relationship to the artist should be.
In-between recordings we did the usual tours, supporting Robert Palmer, Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper and others, and also got an in-depth understanding of the many vagaries of touring. I quickly decided that the studio portion of the equation was much more to my liking. As much as I’ve always enjoyed playing shows, when you’re on the road the down time is really dead time, unlike when you’re home playing clubs.
In the studio, there’s just never a dull day. You’re always knee-deep in the music, and I found that a greater reward. Once I met my wife of 35 years I was determined to no longer tour, and used my many years of exposure to great producers to fashion my own career, and haven’t looked back once.
Rick: The terms producer, recording engineer, etcetera, can seem a bit confusing. In brief, how would you describe the roles and functions of some of the people involved in making a fully produced track?
Marco Delmar: These definitions have evolved a bit, what with most producers having learned some measure of engineering.
Basically, an engineer’s main responsibility is to assure a great recording, using and operating the right equipment for a given job, and assuring industry standards are met, from a technical standpoint.
A producer’s main responsibility is to oversee the entire project, guarantee it’s marketability and viability, as a commercial piece of art, and make sure the songs, arrangements, performances, mix and final delivery of it is at the top of the current industry standards, from both an artistic and commercial standpoints. As you can see, there can be some crossover, but what really sets the two positions apart are not functionality, so much as responsibility.
Rick: Who are some of your favorite producers/engineers that have inspired you or whom you’ve learned from over the years, and do you have a “best of” list you think we should be aware of and listen to?
Marco Delmar: Well, we all owe a great debt of gratitude to Sir George Martin for setting the bar so well, and so high. But, there are so many great producers it would be hard to single out one. I loved the ones that produced me as an artist, of course, but I continually run into good ones every year.
Basically, it’s an artistic relationship, and the best producer is the one that makes you feel 100% like an artist, always keeps you in the loop, and takes care of all things related to the recording project, leaving you to concentrate on expression, vision, and direction. The best producers are also great musicians, never forget that.
Rick: Taking a raw song and making it into a radio ready production almost seems magical. But, there’s likely a road map of learning to get to the point that becomes intuitive. Is there a sequential path to learning and understanding the art of recording?
Marco Delmar: Oh, very much so. It’s fairly methodical, and certainly not rocket science to those of us who make a habit of it. Like anything, learning the road map is important, but my favorite part of recording is that aside from the path of production, to always look for moment of serendipity and moments of inspiration from the artists. Those are the things that truly make records special, and you simply cannot plan for that, just be on the lookout. Also, fun must be had. Fun records to make are always fun records to listen to.
Rick: I’d hazard a guess that only learning the skills of production isn’t enough and there has to be some other more internal thing going on that makes a good recording person into a master. Any thoughts on the psychic or internal things going on that spark genius?
Marco Delmar: You have to allow that you don’t know everything, that every record has its own spirit, that every record will teach you an enormous amount about the artist, yourself, and what makes the listener tick.
You cannot lose that sense of wonderment that pulled you into the field in the first place, and never ever assume you have cornered the market on the “possible”. It’s art, it’s organic, ever changing, and if left to its own devices, terribly exciting. Our job is to do our best to capture that, and knowing when to hold, and when to fold. Modesty and curiosity are the producer’s best traits.
Rick: Do you miss getting up on stage in front of a responsive (positive) audience? What were some of your most memorable gigs?
Marco Delmar: Sometimes, but it certainly doesn’t eat at me. I did it for so so long, since I was 10 or so, that I certainly don’t feel I didn’t get my fair share of it. Now I get my jollies watching others enjoy that gift, even more so that if I was doing it myself.
As for memorable gigs. Well, we regularly played The Ritz and Hurrah’s in New York City, and those were simply fabulous venues, awesome spirit and audiences. Really enjoyed our Robert Palmer tours, Philly Spectrum, that crazy rotating stage in Baltimore, all come to mind. But, the dark New York City clubs were the best, CBGB’s, Max’s Kansas City, and others.
Rick: I’d imagine you get a lot of performers coming in and they’re decent, but occasionally you hear someone that grabs your attention. What turns your head, someone’s voice, their phrasing, or maybe the lyrics that you want to capture or a combination of things that cut through to your sense of good or great music?
Marco Delmar: It’s all in the spine chill. No matter what kind of music it is, or even the talent level of the musicians, if an artist really connects with the essence of the music, which is an emotion communicative art, then you will be moved to feel the emotion that led the artist to write it in the first place.
That to me is the Holy Grail, that you really feel the artist “gets it”, that the connection is everything, and the only way to connect is through actually feeling the emotion of the song when you are performing it. Without that, you have musak, .dinner music, background fluff.
You take Todd Watts of Emmet Swimming, and yes, a more perfect example would be elusive. Todd feels every second of every song he ever sang, even in rehearsal. He has one mode, “go” mode. You cannot listen to them without being moved, that more than anything else is what makes them so good. And that, more than anything else, that connection, is what I always look for first.
Emmet Swimming – Marco Delmar – Mixing Engineer
Marco Delmar: I’ve been through a litany of partners in crime, engineers extraordinaire, and eager interns. Mike Ivey of Basehead was my first partner, and for a time so was Citizen Cope. The road pulled them, as it should, but they helped establish a pattern of excellence.
Basically, those who stayed were those who enjoyed music for music’s sake, not just for the bucks. If you’re into it for the money, you quite likely won’t make much of it. Producing records is not really a business, it has to be a passion. And if you hold on to that, you can make a living.
Rick: This pandemic we’re now experiencing has made it tough on people in the music business to keep going, given the need to keep out distance from one another. How are you able to be agile and viable as a business person, as far as navigating the constraints of this new environment?
2020 Eric Selby release supported by Marco Delmar, Recording Art.
Marco Delmar: Music never goes away, no wars have ever stopped it, they even had orchestras in the concentration camps. Musicians always want to keep moving forward, and I find they’ll work it out one way or another. These days, there’s a plethora of file sharing that goes on.
I always highly encourage musicians to have little home set-ups, and that’s proving quite fruitfull in this environment. Luckily, I always have a backlog of editing and mixing to do and whenever this pandemic lifts, an avalanche of pent-up tracking is already threatening. Musicians always find a way.
Rick: How about a quick rundown of the professional services your shop offers, including your ability to work on site with your mobile recording work?
Marco Delmar: My shop is based around producing records, and whatever that entails, be it some live recording, some studio, etcetera. But, the goal is a record you can be proud of, and that people will buy. That’s enough for one shop. You can’t be a jack of all trades in this business.
Rick: Any words of inspiration to working musicians and others in the music industry who are having a tough time keeping gigs and keeping their careers alive, if not thriving?
Marco Delmar: Frankly, I’ve been getting most of my inspiration from the musicans themselves who seem undaunted, and exploring with enthusiasm all the other ways they can express themselves. See, for musicians, it’s all about being able to do that.
So, the venues can change, the methodologies, the audiences, etcetera, but as long as real musicians can connect emotionally with a real audience, there’s no chance for failure. Just stick to it, because this too, shall pass.
