Here's a bit of a sad story …
I was called in 1996 to arrange strings for a new group Az Yet by Babyface for their first record. One of the songs was titled "Through My Heart"- for which I used a small string section & a couple of other instruments. When I got to Oceanway Studios,I met some of the band members & Brian Mcknight (for the first time). It turned out that Brian composed the song, & produced it.
I remember going over the parts first with the musicians playing without the track yet to get the balance right - (something I always do when working with ensembles of brass or strings).
They sounded good, & I told the engineer to lay one down…
They played wonderfully - very responsive to the tone of a sad lyric, but as I approached the studio I saw Brian behind the glass laughing & shaking his head. I wondered what he might have not liked about the arrangement. When I got inside I asked him if anything was wrong... he said he was laughing at how good it all sounded on the first take... (whew... ok). We tracked it again, but I believe they kept that first take. Brian & I worked on a number of his projects after this. I believe we have done some of our best work together.
I asked him if anything was wrong... he said he was laughing at how good it all sounded on the first take.
The album did extremely well (especially for it being their first one) - certified gold, and over 700,000 copies sold. I didn't hear from anyone after that for over a year, but one day I ran into one of the members of the band at a Whole Foods store. I congratulated him, & asked how they were doing. Sadly, he told me that between all the money spent on the producers, the cost of recording, management, tour support,& equipment the group came off the first tour in deep debt. A couple of relationships had broken up, & he told me that no one in the band was up for doing it again. I haven't seen anyone from the band since.
This business can be unforgiving- especially to emerging artists. I hope this doesn't continue to happen to new ones…