Peggy Weston: “Mark, you have worked in the studio with many great artists. But, who really impressed you with the way they handled themselves, and why?”

Mark Hood: “Lots of people have amazing talent, and it’s awesome to be part of the team with them. But the ones that really stand out in my mind are the gifted stars that also have the knack of being appreciative of everyone else’s contributions to the project at hand. They function as team leaders with their talent shining a bright beacon, but they make room for the talents of others to augment their own. Then you can actually get a finished whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.”

PW: “Other than arriving on time for the session call, what is the sequence of events that a session vocalist should do before it is time to enter their designated studio and be aware that ‘time equals cost’ to the producer? (i.e. warm-up voice and body, use bathroom, turn off cell phone).”

MH: “The things you mention are exactly right, but I would add a discipline of mental attitude preparation: to open your mind to the range of possibilities in the session ahead. Will the song be wonderful? Can I sing it well? Will the producer be a great collaborator? etc.”

“I have two old boring proverbs that I like to bear in mind. First: success equals preparation plus opportunity. If you constantly practice and enlarge your skills, if you prepare yourself physically and mentally for the upcoming musical encounter, AND if said encounter is really a great song with a great producer, and it fits your skill set perfectly, then magic can happen. Any one element missing from this equation, ESPECIALLY your attitude preparation, can result in a missed opportunity.”

“And, the second saying is: if you want to get struck by lightning, you’ve got to go out in a lot of thunderstorms. I take it to mean this: staying at home guarantees that you will never participate in a wonderful studio session experience. But going into the studio may result in repeated disappointments, embarrassments, humiliations, failures, hurt feelings, etc., etc. So, you may have all these good reasons in your mind why you think all producers are insensitive, unmusical jerks and all engineers make you sound bad and so on, but unless you suck it up and go back out there and try some more, you have no chance of breaking through the prevailing weather and BANG! Hit a home run, sing on a hit, meet a producer that can’t wait to use on everything and tell all his friends about you. If you really want the chance, you must keep going back out there, and you must go back with a good attitude for the possibility of creating magical music.”