Posted: 2/7/06
Brownsville man reflects on his Grammy
It was a big moment for Brett Huus, but he isnít coasting
By David Heiller
Argus News Editor
A dream came true for Brett Huus one year ago.
The Brownsville man traveled to Los Angeles, California last February 13, where he won a Grammy for his role in the production of a CD called Cedar Dream Songs.
The CD by singer-songwriter Bill Miller won for Best Album in the Native American category.
Huus ìmasteredî the CD at his studio, Sound Strations Audio Productions in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The mastering process is the final step in the production of a record. The work buffs and polishes the sound, Huus said while sitting at his kitchen table on February 2. It involves making critical decisions on the sound, and finding what the music needs.
Huus described the work with terms like volume levels, song sequencing, time between songs, equalization, brighter, duller, fatter, smaller, balance, reverb, compression, and expanding or limiting the dynamics of a song. Thatís the technical side, what Huus calls the left side of his brain
Huus has those skills, but his craniumís right side is working quite well too. He is a musician and songwriter himself, and has recorded two of his own CDS. His most recent one, called Present Moment, was eight years in the making. He just finished it three months ago.îItís like the plumber whose pipes leak,î he said with a laugh in explaining the length of the process.
He said he made the CD for professional growth and development. ìBy producing my own music, I become a better producer for my customer,î he said.
His home overlooking the broad Mississippi River Valley two miles north of Reno is a good place for creating his own music. ìYou get your peace and quiet,î he said of the secluded spot.. He seldom even listens to music there. He gets plenty of that at his studio.
Huus views himself more as a composer and songwriter than an engineer. Most of his income is from music production, things like jingles and soundtracks for videos for corporate clients. Composing songs and music for those customers satisfies some of his creative needs.
He thinks he has settled into the technical side and artistic side of what works.
About the Grammy
The Grammy award was 30 years in the making. Huus and Bill Miller played music together back in 1975. Miller told Huus then that he was going to win a Grammy some day.
Huus did some live concert work for him after that, and followed his career while embarking on his own. He first started with a basement studio. He still remembers his first piece of equipment, a 4-track Teac recorder.
A progression of ever-improving analog equipment followed. Then in the early 1990s, digital equipment came out. It started a revolution in the recording industry, Huus said, and allowed smaller companies like his to compete.
In 1998 Huus opened Sound Strations in La Crosse. He started doing work for country singer Michael Martin Murphey. Murphey heard Miller do a live performance, and that led to a reconnection between Miller and Huus.
Another recording engineer brought over a CD of Millerís nine songs in 2004. The music was different, Huus said, all instrumental work with some chanting. Huus mastered it in May of 2004. Other people who won Grammys on the recording were percussionist Terry Nirva, recording engineer Michael Von Muchow, and Nashville keyboardist Joshua Yudkin.
Huus feels very fortunate about the Grammy, and happy for his old friend. ìBillís been out pounding the road since college,î he said. People knew Millerís work, and thatís what helped earn the Grammy, Huus said.
ìIt was nothing short of an odd ballet of sorts,î Huus said.
After he won the Grammy, Huus said he got a little depressed. He asked himself where he would go from here. ìIt means everything and it means nothing, really,î he said of the award. ìItís a complete paradox.î
He doesnít want to be too taken with what it means. ìItís important, but itís not important ultimately,î he said.
Huus takes his work seriously, but he can joke about it too. He gave this reporter a copy of ìPresent Momentî and said, ìYou can turn them into coasters if you want.î
The message from the Grammy is you either coast or push, Huus said. He feels he is pushing harder. He recently put a baby grand piano in his studio. He feels he is recommitted to the process of going forward.
Huus is working on a new CD called Little Black Dress with Terry Nirva and Clay Riness, a singer/songwriter from Coon Valley, WI. They all bring different musical backgrounds. Itís a different project, Huus said. You donít feel all the weight to do all your own material, he said. It took him a year to write his material for the CD.
Huus grew up in Neenah, Wisconsin, and moved to La Crosse in 1975. He moved to his home five miles south of Brownsville along Highway 26 in 1985.
He has two children, Lauren 20, and Jackson, 16. Jackson, a sophomore at Caledonia High School, has a band of his own, and his father is happy to listen to them practice in the basement. Huus said he doesnít want to put any pressure on his son to follow the old man. He said the bigger picture is something he learned from his own father, to focus on something and stay on task.
Huus is also happy to share his musical knowledge with other people. He was happy to be able to tell some of producers in person at the Grammys what a difference their work made for him, and he hopes to have that impact on people too.
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