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By Rob Hill<\/strong><\/p>\n Finding time amongst preparations for a western tour with his band Mulligrub, J. Riley Hill and I found a moment for a beer on Sherbrook to discuss his recording business, Mortfell Recording and career as a local recording engineer.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stylus<\/b>:<\/span> Lets start at the beginning; what was your introduction to recording music?<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Riley Hill<\/b>: I\u2019ve been doing recording since I started doing music; so around when I was 15 or so. I started with a four-track recorder and am going on 12 years now I guess. After recording a couple things, people started asking me to record their bands, occasionally doing that for money. A couple years ago I decided to try and do it full time as I already had a lot of credits and portfolio to pitch to interested bands to say, \u2018this is what my recordings sound like.\u2019 It\u2019s been awesome and seems to get busier and busier. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stylus<\/b>: <\/span>Do you work out of a home studio setup or do you do mobile recording as well?<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n JR<\/b>: I\u2019m set up to mix at home and I\u2019ll do vocal sessions there as well, but anything else is either mobile or freelancing out of other studios. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stylus: Streaming is now the most popular means of listening to music. With this new reality and the decline of physical and digital album sales has Mortfell been affected in any way? If so how do you plan to adapt to these rapidly changing music consumption patterns?<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n JR<\/b>: I don\u2019t really think that independent bands should be trying to get their music on streaming services because it\u2019s a rip off for independent artists. Services like Bandcamp are way better as you can stream it and also it reminds you to buy it. I think that for most of the bands I work with that are making a real plan to get their music out there and make a career of it, they\u2019re touring, and their fans are going to go out of their way to support them anyway. Creating music is what it all comes down to; I don\u2019t charge a lot and people like their music to sound as good as possible. I think the streaming thing is weird and it will be a while before we see it affect independent artists. In terms of independent music, people are still buying music and specifically touring acts. If you go on tour you still sell cd\u2019s, tapes or LP\u2019s. It seems like the internet has split everything into sub markets, so there are little niche markets everywhere, and I\u2019m mostly doing local independent not major label stuff anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stylus: Going through your portfolio reads like a who\u2019s who of well-received local independent artists. Do you find yourself seeking out artists that you would like to work with or do you find they approach you based on who you have recorded in the past? <\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n JR<\/b>: When I first started to do recording full time, I had just finished doing The Blisters album and although not many people had heard it, friends of the band and others who heard it really liked it and sought me out based on that recording. That was a great starting point as they are a great band and it was a good album. I don\u2019t really aggressively pursue people; I may mention I would like to work with someone if I\u2019m really interested in their music. I have a pool of people that record with me regularly and they will often send their friends to me when they want to record, which keeps me busy. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stylus: Would you ever record a band or artist if you didn\u2019t find their music engaging or palatable?<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n JRiley<\/b>: I feel like I\u2019m able to work with anything. There has only been a couple times where someone has emailed me and I didn\u2019t know what I would do. For the most part I\u2019m down to work with anything and in terms of my own musical preferences I\u2019m all over the place playing in Rastamills, Mulligrub, and my solo music, so unless I am busy enough to have to make those decisions I\u2019m not really that selective. I don\u2019t get asked to record much heavy music, and it\u2019s not because I don\u2019t like it. I haven\u2019t been asked much, but would like to record more of it.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stylus: With something as personal as someone\u2019s music is it difficult to juggle both audio engineer and producer roles?<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n JR<\/b>: I\u2019ve had it happen where people come to me after paying someone a ridiculous amount and are not getting what they want. I just try and be like, \u2018what do you guys want?\u2019 I\u2019ll give suggestions, but at the end of the day it\u2019s a service position and my job is getting what they hear in their head on record. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stylus: As a producer, recording engineer, musician and artist are you drawn to one role more than the others or do they all fall under the same umbrella for you? <\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n JR<\/b>: I kind of bounce all over the place. I really like mixing; I\u2019d say that\u2019s my favorite part but I also really enjoy producing and recording. I was doing a lot of my own music and getting bored of doing everything myself, so doing other people’s projects has been more energizing. I like bouncing things off of people and the momentum of working with others but imagine at some point in the future I\u2019ll get back to doing my own music a bit more. For now though, I need to recharge. I tried being a touring musician right out of high school but did it poorly and now that I\u2019ve worked with artists that are really good at getting things out there; I see the things they\u2019re doing both right or wrong and file it away. With artists I work with that I see making the same mistakes, I\u2019ll kind of suggest, \u2018oh, maybe you shouldn\u2019t do that!\u2019 I\u2019ll occasionally help artists I work with on the marketing side of things. It\u2019s the stuff nobody wants to do but it\u2019s what gets people to your shows. If I really like something and see they may not have the budget I\u2019ll help out just to make it happen. It\u2019s just a way to help, knowing a specific way industry people like to see things, especially with getting grants.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stylus: Are there any audio or mixing engineers that you drawn inspiration from, or use as benchmarks when listening to your own mixes?<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n JR<\/b>: There are lots of engineers that I really like. I enjoy reading interviews of famous engineers to get tips from them but a lot of the time when I listen to music I\u2019m listening to the artist more so than the engineering. In terms of mixing references it\u2019s not based on specific engineers but more as a general reference for genres that I may not be well acquainted with, just to ensure I\u2019m in the ballpark. I love talking to other engineers but the sound of music is ultimately based on the artist and band and what they want to convey.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stylus: Looking ahead, what are your plans for Mortfell as it continues to grow? <\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n J.Riley<\/b>: I\u2019m probably going to move away from calling it Mortfell as it\u2019s sort of confusing and I\u2019m essentially a freelance engineer. So I\u2019ll probably just go by J.Riley Hill Recording. If I ever get a studio I\u2019d like to call it Mortfell but in terms of marketing and where I\u2019d like to take it, I\u2019m just going to keep recording people. I would really like to record people outside of Winnipeg, but I also really don\u2019t want to move. Hopefully I can keep working with people who tour lots, so bands outside of Winnipeg will hear my work as well. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stylus<\/b>: <\/span>Do you find Winnipeg has an effect on your path as an engineer, producer and musician? \u00a0If you had grown up in another city do you imagine you would be doing the same type of things?<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n J.Riley<\/b>: I think Winnipeg is a great city for what I\u2019m doing, as it\u2019s a really artist friendly place with cheap rent. It\u2019s easy to just hole up and make art and music. My parents have always been supportive of me making art and music and it\u2019s always been what I\u2019ve wanted to do. If I grew up in a different place it would have been similar but Winnipeg definitely has an effect on how I\u2019ve done it.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stylus: Anything you would like to plug or upcoming events you are excited about?<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n J.Riley<\/b>: I\u2019m going on tour tomorrow and working on some really fun stuff right now. I\u2019m really excited for Real Love Summer Fest as Mulligrub and a bunch of bands I\u2019ve worked with are playing it and they are making a big effort to bring in out of town acts this year. \u00a0If there is anyone I\u2019m going to plug it\u2019s the Real Love guys as I\u2019ve done so much recording with them and they have helped me get my name out there. \u00a0One thing I\u2019d like to say is that for a lot of people doing music that are committed to making a career out of it, it\u2019s really hard to make money. One thing I\u2019ve noticed over the last couple of years with people that are actually starting to make some money is that it\u2019s about all the little different income streams you can make use of. If you\u2019re good at making posters or anything you can do in music related jobs, it\u2019s going to make you more connections and grow your network. I feel like that\u2019s a big mistake that I made, spinning my wheels and doing everything myself, which is kind of the worst thing you can do. It doesn\u2019t matter how good of a song you write if you\u2019re just playing it alone in your room. You have to have a story, get out there and get people on board with it. It\u2019s the community thing; if you go out of your way to help someone they\u2019ll do the same for you. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n You can catch J.Riley Hill on tour with his band Mulligrub or check out his recording business at mortfell.ca<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Rob Hill Finding time amongst preparations for a western tour with his band Mulligrub, J. Riley Hill and I found a moment for a beer on Sherbrook to discuss his recording business, Mortfell Recording and career as a local recording engineer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10388\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}