Getting all the Right Stuff
The challenge of every Liberian music production house
Published: 30 May, 2008
Every successful musician knows that the key to a successful album is a creative mix of the right artist, the right production, the right engineering and the right management. Omit any of these and you'll have a situation comparable to why George Weah couldn't win the 2005 presidential election. He didn't have all of the right stuff. The music industry in Liberia has grappled with this particular problem for the better part of the past 2 decades.
Instead of investing in the right stuff, the usual remedy has involved round-trip expenses to Ghana or Nigeria for proper production. “Before, I used to go to Ghana and Nigeria for editing and production,” says Emeka Obiamiwe, head of Nu Era Incorporated in an exclusive interview with the Daily Observer. “But I wanted to do everything 100% Liberian.”
And even at that, sometimes the cut doesn't make the final cut. Many artists slaughter their songs with poor diction and lack of vocal training. Or, even when they can hold their own on the mic in a live session, the studio engineer may care less about tonal value and more about his thumping beats. So there goes the entire song the bad apple that spoils the album. You get the point which, I'm afraid, cannot be stressed enough. But these are the real frustrations of many listeners out there who are exposed to more qualitative music coming out of Ghana, Nigeria, UK and the USA.
There are less than a handful of studios trying to do things right. But now the trick is to get all the right stuff at the right time, in order to compete with music from abroad. Music producers in Liberia will need to do or die in order to get their artists recognized anywhere outside Liberia.
“It's a process,” says Obiamiwe. “Before an artist goes into the studio, he or she must be prepared artistically, technically and psychologically. Artists must be nurtured and trained how to be artists. That's why we haven't come out with any releases since we set up our studio last year. Since December, we've had our artists in a vocal training course and just recently they entered the studio to begin recording.”
New Era Incorporated is a multimedia marketing firm in Congo Town which is heavily involved in audio and visual production. The company has invested in a brand new cutting-edge studio featuring digital professional audio recording and editing equipment and software. It's a simple setup, though highly sophisticated. The studio has the industry-leading Pro Tools software suite mounted on an Apple Power Mac computer for recording and editing. Pro Tools is regarded as the world's leading digital recording and editing software that provides unlimited tracks for recording as well as thousands of effects and tools for editing sound.
Liberian Music
“What is Liberian music,” asks Obiamiwe. “We as an industry have not taken the time to really secure a sense of direction of our national artistic products. See, Hip-hop has evolved into a culture and has taken root on every continent the world. Can Liberian music get there? What is 'Hip-co'? What constitutes Liberian music? We need to host a forum of musicians and intellectuals to converge and brand and copyright a form of Liberian music.”
Most of the music coming out of Nu Era in the near future focuses on “Hip-hop, R&B and Gospel with a dash of African,” according to the music executive. “We're trying to put out the best that comes out of Liberia,” he says.
Nu Era is on the verge of releasing their first house album, a compilation CD, in collaboration with the Bluelinks record label. A sneak preview of the album is nothing short of what you'd expect when you have all the right people. Artists including Fifi, Black Ghost and the shocking duo 220, to name a few, are names to look out for. On the Gospel side, look out for a sextuplet by the name of GLOW (Glorious Ladies Of Worship).
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