Courtesy of Justin Fisher
When we plug into the world of music, there's always a story within a story on how the song came to exist. Although many listeners focus on the beat, the lyrics and hooks, and the trending drama surrounding an artist, one rarely gets a chance to hear the entertaining details of how the song was actually recorded. Since 2003, Emmy Award-winning Chief Audio Engineer Justin Fisher at SmithLee Productions has been making music come to life behind the boards. Recently, the studio received its RIAA Platinum Record for working on Keith Urban’s single “The Fighter” featuring Carrie Underwood, a single from Ripcord that has sold over 1 million copies.
How did this recording project find its way to SmithLee Productions?
They were hitting the deadline for getting the record done—literally days before the record was supposed to go to mix. So, Carrie was going to be in town in a couple days to do a show. The producers decided to fly her to St. Louis a few days early to have her cut her track. They do a duet, her and Keith Urban. They were looking for a place, and SmithLee was referred.
What was the recording process like that session?
There was a producer here that came in who basically wrote the song named "Busbee," and Keith Urban was on Skype here and there. He was in the middle of filming a music video. So in between takes, he would pop back on Skype and listen to the track to see what was going on. That was a long day. It was a 12 -hour day, which is funny because I get bands all the time that want to make a whole record within twelve hours...a whole record! We cut and edited one vocal, choruses and bridge. One vocal, 12 hours.
Was it because Carrie wanted it to be perfect?
No. She wasn’t here more than two hours. She came in, and we cut multiple takes of course, but she is a professional and knocked it right out. You get to that level of singing and you have to be good. She knocked it out super quick.
The music nerd in me is coming out. What type of set-up and microphones did you use to record her vocals?
She has her own microphone, a Telefunken ELA M 250, and they had a driver bring it over in a separate car before she arrived. He brought it so we can have it set up before she arrived. The producer wanted everything a certain way, so I had to rewire things in the studio to have the things they way they wanted and needed it to be, so everything was just perfect. One of the things the producer specifically mentioned to me was having the room decked out for her to perform. We had flowers and lights...I spent the previous day just getting the room ready for her. It probably wasn’t anything that she even asked for, but just a thing of making sure the room looks good for her when she comes in so she can put on a good performance.
Is 12 hours studio overkill for mixing a part on a record?
Not really, because it was going to the guy that’s mixing the record, Serban Ghenea. He mixes so many Top 40 records from Britney Spears to Justin Bierber...those kinds of people. The reason they were here so long was because they were editing and tuning up until the time they had to send it to him the next day.
Do you find yourself in situations where you have demanding deadlines often?
With national artists, yes. Local artists don’t figure the timeline out properly. Perfect example, they come in saying we booked our CD release show already, and we have got to get this out. It is two weeks away, and they don’t even have album art ready. I quietly smirk at this point during the interview, for I know this all too well. You do realize that this sometimes takes weeks to do. The major label stuff takes weeks to do. They already have a deadline to have it released and are working down to the wire.
What other awards have you won?
I have won a couple of Emmys. One for a documentary called Deadline in Disaster (a 2013 Emmy Award in Cultural Documentary) about the Joplin Globe’s role covering the Joplin tornado and another for Trustees for the Public: 200 Years of Missouri Newspaper History Documentary. I have also won a couple of Telly Awards.
