10.13.2007 COLDSHOT DRUMS AT APPLEHEAD
After a summer filled with more hiking than mic'ing, I'm back in the studio with COLDSHOT. Readers of this blog may recall the unfinished project we began in 2006 before the band relocated to the state of Florida. After some major personnel changes the band has emerged as a leaner and meaner 4-piece combo. Remaining from the old line-up are drummer Mike Lew and bass player Darren Barhydt, who journeyed back to New York last weekend to record drums for 10 songs. Many of these songs are new compositions and a couple of songs are re-worked versions of songs we recorded in ’06.
As usual Chris Bittner of Applehead Recording Studio was instrumental in helping us get the drum sound that we went there to get. Unlike prior sessions I’ve brought to Applehead, we opted to use the API console preamps for the close drum microphones and the Neve inputs for the room mics. It was a good choice. The drum sound is fantastic. Lomo tube mics were used as overheads, Stereo pair of Geffels in the room plus my Groove Tubes MD-1 as a distant ambient mic. Up close I used my Electrovoice ND-868 inside the kick along with the studio’s U-47 FET outside. On the snare we started with a Beyer 201 on top and an AKG-414 on the bottom. I liked the sound of the 201 at first but I began to notice the snare would occasionally sound a bit “boxy” so we switched the top mic to a Shure SM57 which had that classic midrange signature and worked better in the mix. Sennheiser MD-421 on all the toms, an AKG C-451 on the hat, which was great but crapped out halfway through the session and had to be replaced with an Shure SM81. Also used an SM81 on the ride. Mike Lew was admittedly a bit nervous at the start of the session because our goal to track ten songs was a bit ambitious, and we took out time on day one getting the drum kit sounding it’s best and tweaking the microphones and headphone mix. Once we got started tracking though he found it easy to perform because his sound was great and as a result he really got comfortable and got into a groove. We tracked six songs on the first day and four more on day two. Mike’s takes were very solid and we only asked “The Man In The Hat” (Beat Detective) to fix a few minor things. By early in the evening Sunday we were done tracking. We listened down to everything once more to be sure there was nothing we had missed, and then as assistant engineer Jesse broke down the room mics Chris and I set up to get a good drum STEM mix for the overdubs to be tracked to. The tracks ran back through the API desk and I did some EQ and compression on the tracks and got a really nice mix without any digital processing or effects. We ran the mix through the API 2500 Stereo Buss Compressor, which I asked Chris to tweak, and it sounded awesome. Monday morning Mike and Darren were on their way back to Florida with their sessions on a DVD and a reference CD to help keep them awake.

 04.06.2007

This weekend I went on a guided group hike to Shingle Gully and the Ellenville Ice Caves in the protected portion of Sams Point Preserve. This "primitive area" is entered (by permit only) from the parking area at Berme Road. From there we followed the old Smiley Carrage Road up to Shingle Gully. There we left the carrage road and began a rock scramble up the gully to the first of three major ice caves. After passing through the first two snow covered areas we headed over to "The Grand Canyon". After stopping for lunch, we entered from a point at one and and decended into the canyon which is as wide as fifty feet in some places and eighty feet deep. We worked or way along the bottom of the canyon but had to take an "alternate route" out because the next section, called "The Laberynth" was to iced over to traverce. Finally we arrived at the third and most cave-like ice cave, which we all squeezed inside of. On the way back down we stopped at "The Flume", another cravace. The hike took about six hours.

03.23.2007 MADD DOG AT BSP LOUNGE IN KINGSTON

Recorded MADD DOG performing live at BSP Lounge in Kingston NY at just after 10:00 PM. I had just returned to Stewart Airport at 8:15, after a short trip to visit my parents in Florida. Cheryl picked me up and we had a quick bite and then headed straight to Kingston on the thruway. She brought along my Mbox/iBook rig and pair of SM-81's, and a stand and her son Chris Chaos, who assisted me with set-up. We set up a standard X-Y with the Shure mics, about 18 feet from the stage of the small gallery-sized venue. The house sound guy, Kip, had an excellent mix in the room and the stereo pair sounded great, as I monitored through Sennheiser cans. Madd Dog rocked eight classic rock songs, but during the recording I had a DAE Error and the iBook lost communication with the Mbox resulting in me missing two songs. As we were by and large there to record, when they finished the set I informed the singer Jimi Bass of the problem. They did an encore of the two missed numbers. The following day at my home studio I ran the tracks through some mcdsp compression and EQ plug-ins and the Fairchild 660 and mastered discs for the band's review. I forgot to snap a shot, even though I had my camera with me, so I lifted the band's logo from their site. Click it, it's a link to the MADD DOG website.

03.11.2007 GRAVITY KRUSH DRUMS & BASS AT LEOPARD

GRAVITY KRUSH basic tracking at Leopard Studio went really well. We got drums and bass for seven songs during the weekend-long session. Drummer Pete Roan brought in his vintage Gretsch kit, it sounded great in the room. Pete played really solid to the click and recorded really well. On the kit I used a pair of Rode NKT Tube mics as overheads, preamped with API 312s, Sennheiser 421s through Neve 1272s on all three toms, in the kick drum an Electrovoice ND868 throught an API 312 and compressed with a Summit TLA50, Snare was a good ol' Shure SM57 through an API 312 and compressed with DBX 160A. On the high-hat I used a Shure SM81 through the Eureka with some compression and EQ. Also in the room for ambience was Jimmy's Lawson L47 patched through the Avalon VT737 channel. That mic got a great rooms sound, and indeed is great on just about anything. It was set to Cardiod pattern and placed in the room about eight feet back from the kit, and 3 feet from the floor.

Midway through day 2 we were done with drums and we set up to record bass. Bassist Joey Flash played through the studio's bass amp the Ampeg B-15. I recoreded a DI and the Lawson L47 on two different tracks, the Lawson through the Avalon VT737 and the DI through API 312 with DBX160A compression. Joey spent the afternoon knockin' em out and by dinner time we were done. I spent the evening doing some editing, and mixing the drums down to a stereo mix for use in the overdub sessions to follow. We plan on beginning the guitar overdub sessions in a couple of weeks. We'll be doing the guitars at the band's rehearsal space on my mobile rig. Once the guitars are done the plan is to go back to Leopard for the vocal recording.

02.27.2007 DOLOR MIX AT APPLEHEAD

 Went to APPLEHEAD with Dolor this weekend for the final mix. Engineer Chris Bittner was at the controls. We spent the first few hours putting together all the tracks from the various tracking sessions and getting them all routed to channels on the consoles. We used the API for the drums and the Neve Sidecar for the vocals. Guitars also went through the API and bass was routed through the Trident and summed there befor going to the API. We compressed the Bass sum with an EL8 Distressor, as well as the snare. We used various other compressors and processors and by lunch time the tracks were sounding great. Band Manager Phil Lorito dropped in for a listen and to give a "pep-talk". He stressed the importance of having the vocal out front. After a discussion with him I decided that we would make stems (Stereo Track Element Mixes) in addition the the Stereo Mixes, so that I would be able to "re-mix" the vocals to the music at any desired balance level. The session went really well. Chris did an outstanding job mixing six songs in two days. Here is a short film of Chris throwin' down the quick mix.

02.19.2007 MORE PINK PIGS HEAD AT LEOPARD STUDIO

Two years ago I had the opportunity to spend a week at Leopard Studio while owner Jimmy Goodman was away (see: 02.24.2005 “Some Fun Of My Own” below). I used the time experimenting with vintage recording techniques and gear, and I recorded basic tracks for three psychedelic era songs. At the time I had hoped to return at some later date and finish the songs, but I never did. I had since decided that it would be better to apply some of the same techniques to something new. When Jimmy asked me to stay again this February I jumped on the chance. I brought over some of my favorite vintage stuff and set up for ten days of old school album tracking.

The first weekend my friends Loudmouth Bill and Mr. Kane joined me and we sketched out several songs, each based loosely around grooves and progressions copied from the album “More” by Pink Floyd. Bill, Kane and I each recorded some spoken word stuff. We used a Lawson L47 and the Avalon 737 Preamp with some compression. Mr. Kane also sang on a couple of the tracks. By the end of the weekend we had eight songs.

After they left I spent a couple of days adding guitar and bass tracks, using the sketches which had been done to a click as the foundation. I ran my Altec 639B Ribbon Mic through one of Jimmy’s vintage Neve 1272 preamps and used it in several placements on two vintage Ampeg guitar amps, a Gemini I and a GU-12. I played my ‘74 Fender Telecaster, and got some great tones. Bass amp also an Ampeg, the B15 mic’d with a Senmnheiser 421 through another Neve 1272, and of course a vintage bass, my ‘74 P-Bass.

Later in the week drummer Larry Lubkurt came out and replaced all my bad drumming with excellent performances, which brought these recording to a whole other level. Larry is pro and vary talented. He came up with parts on the spot for eight songs he had never heard before, and it was awesome. I was glad I had taken the time to mic the drums in a more modern way than the crude 2-mic technique I had used on the covers recorded two years ago. I used my Electrovoice kick drum mic ND-868, and the Octava MK-219 on the snare, a pair of Rode NTK tubes for overheads, all using API 312 preamps. On the toms I used Sennheiser 421s through Neve 1272s all around. The Lawson L47 was still running through the Avalon so I used it for the room. The drums sounded amazing.

I spend the second weekend adding a few parts and mixing. Loudmouth Bill and Mr. Kane got to hear the final mixes the following week when I posted them on a hidden page on our website. The page is no longer hidden and here’s the link: More Pink Pigs Head

02.07.2007 GRAVITY KRUSH PRE-PRODUCTION

This month I began pre-production with GRAVITY KRUSH. I first heard these guys at The Chance Theater in Poughkeepsie. They have a great power-pop sound with solid grooves and excellent vocal arrangements. I attended some rehearsals and helped them choose songs for the project and identify the tempos. Then, after making click tracks in ProTools, we tracked scratch guitar and bass tracks for the drummer Pete Roan to record to. I also recorded Pete, pictured here, playing along to the pre-production tracks. I left the band with a copy of the pre-production sessions to practice to. We’re planning on beginning to record in March.

01.21.2007 DOLOR AT LEOPARD STUDIO

Completed the vocal tracking with DOLOR in December and took time off for the holidays. Then this weekend we brought the project to Leopard Studio for some final editing and pre-mixing. At Leopard used the ProTools HD rig to assemble all the elements into one session. With all the pieces in place we did a rough mix that included some effects programming for the vocals and lead guitars. We have scheduled a date for the final mix, to be done at Applehead late in February.

10.12.2006 9-VOLT AMP POWERS 4X12 CAB!?!?!?

Another productive Sunday afternoon recording with DOLOR at Tony's place, tracking vocals and solo guitar parts. Todd brought a Fender Deluxe Reverb amp to use on the solo for "American Life". We wanted a real southern blues sound for the solo. Todd played his modified Telecaster with no pedals and the amp turned up to 10, and the tone worked great in the track. I placed a Shure SM57 in front of the grill and my Altec 693 Ribbon behind the open-back cab; both pre-amp'd with the Vintech Dual 72. Todd’s solo work was awesome. Then, for the intro we tried the same sound but it wasn't quite distinctive enough on it's own, we wanted something more unique. Todd pulled out this little 9-volt powered "Smokey Amp", a practice-amp housed in a cigarette box. It's 2" speaker sounded pretty narley, but it also had a speaker output. I was amazed to find out that this thing could actually drive a 4x12 cab! A surprisingly loud 0.5-watt output actually sounded really good!!! I placed both the SM57 and the Altec Ribbon in front of Todd's 4x12 Sunn cab and we tweaked the levels from the two microphones to taste. A couple of takes through and a few more tweaks and we had what we were looking for. I was totally amazed by the Smokey Amp. Visit their website: www.smokeyamps.com. After the guitar over-dubs were done we took a break to eat, then Mike Hamel arrived. We set up the AKG 414 and makeshift vocal booth and Mike did a very strong performance on the vocals for the same song, "American Life". That's three "in the can" and three to go.

10.05.2006 DOLOR VOCAL TRACKING

Sunday I brought my iBook / Mbox rig over to Tony's house to track vocals with Mike Hamel of DOLOR. I had recently gotten my iBook back from repair. As it turns out my computer's problems qualified it for Apple's "iBook Logic Board Repair Extension Program" and so Apple fixed it for free. It was nice not to have to lug a big CPU and monitors for a change. I did haul over a few Auralex acoustic panels to create a suitable vocal booth. Russ and I propped them up in a corner of the living room, which was already a nice soft acoustic space to work in. I set up the computer in the dining room again, along with my Presonus Eureka channel strip, which I used to pre-amp and compressed the signal from the AKG 414 Mike sang through. We all monitored through headphones. Mike belted out excellent takes of two songs, "Deadened" and "Live Or Die". Good work Mike! And kudos to Chris Bittner of APPLEHEAD for telling me about Apple's repair extention program!

10.28.2006 CHAOS AT LEOPARD STUDIO

This weekend I recorded CHAOS at LEOPARD STUDIO in Stone Ridge NY. CHAOS recorded six original songs and one cover, tracking all the basic rhythm tracks, drums, bass, guitars and leads. This session was the bands second studio project with me. The last session was almost exactly one year ago, at The Barn in Cold Spring. That session at The Barn was basically a live recording. This time we did layered tracking; with Brittany recording all of her drum parts first while they rest of the band played scratch tracks direct through the board. Then we mic'd up each amp one at a time and over-dubbed all the bass and guitar parts. All the members of CHAOS were well rehearsed and did excellent work. As always it was a pleasure to be working at LEOPARD because the studio is well equipped, the vibe is really laid back and owner Jimmy Lonesome Goodman is always such a pleasant host.

Jimmy spent Saturday morning helping me get the rather extensive drum mic-ing set up. We used two Sennheiser MD-421s in the two kick drums, and those ran through my new Vintech Dual 72 pre-amps and then were each compressed with DBX-160As. The snare drum was mic'd with an SM-57, which we tracked through Jimmy's Avalon 737 with compression and some EQ. We put SM-57s on all six of the toms, summing them through the Soundcraft mixing console and then routing them to a stereo track via an Avalon 747, also with some compression and EQ. On the high-hat I used an SM-81 through a channel of API 312, and I used a pair of Rode NTK Tube Condenser Mics through API 312s for the overheads. I also used Jimmy's U47 through an API 312 pre-amp for the room mic. For the boys tracking direct I set up my Line-6 POD and Jimmy's MXR Distortion Pedal for guitarists Chris and Joe, while Bassist Carl played direct through my Presonus Eureka.

Having returned the Royer R-121 Ribbon back to Alto Music, I decided to try out one of my old Altec 639 "Birdcage" mics on the guitar cabs. To my delight the Altec sounded really good and I ended up using it for the bulk of the guitar sounds, blending it with an SM-57 and MD-421 in various amounts, mostly favoring the Altec and Sennheiser. I also used the Altec to mic up Jimmy's Ampeg B-15 bass amp, which we used not for bass but for clean guitar tracks, all of which we double-tracked. For Carl's Bass amp I used an Electrovoice ND-868 on the bottom cab, a Sennheiser MD-421 on the top, pre-amplified through the Vintech 72 and DBX-160As, and he also ran direct through the Avalon 737. I blended the mic combinations through aux channels in ProTools so each mic combo only used one track. Over all the session ran really well and we achieved all our objectives for the weekend. We plan to return to Leopard in a few weeks for another round of basic tracking.

10.22.2006 DOLOR GUITAR TRACKING DAY 2

Sunday afternoon I was back at Tony's house to track guitars with DOLOR rhythm guitarist Mike Duffy. Because his amp head, a Peavey 5150, is notoriously noisy we borrowed a Mesa Boogie F-50 single 12 combo-amp from Alto. Patched through Mike's Mesa 4x12 cab it had that thick Mesa Boogie crunch tone which complimented Todd's more mid-range tone very nicely. The amp also provided excellent clean and slightly over-driven tones, variations of which we dialed in to taste for each of the songs. Mike Duffy's "crunch" parts were tracked first, which really filled out the over-all tone of the basic rhythm guitar parts. "Clean" parts were over-dubbed next. Mike played all his parts on his Paul Reed Smith guitar. My microphone set-up was the same as the previous guitar tracking session, with a Shure SM-57 and Sennheiser MD-421 through Vintech 1272s and that lovely Royer R121 through the Presonus Eureka. This time, however, we opted for the Sennheiser MD-421 and Royer R121 combination because the Sennheiser sounded much thicker than the Shure 57. My placement was different too, with the 421 placed off-axis and the Royer a few feet back from the cab. I stuck with this placement throughout the session. After Mike Duffy was done with his parts Mike Hamel stepped in to play all the guitar parts for the song "Live Or Die" which included an over-driven rhythm part, which we doubled, and acoustic guitar which we double-tracked with both 6-string and 12-string guitars. With all the instrumentation done we'll be on to Mike Hamel's vocal tracks next.

10.16.2006 DOLOR BASS TRACKING

We actually had considered using the scratch tracks that lead vocalist and bass player Mike Hamel had laid down in pre-production because the takes were so solid. Mike had tracked direct through a Focusrite Twin Track, which sounded real good, but I wanted that tube amp sound. Instead of Re-amping we decided to re-cut the parts with both his amp and the Focusrite as DI. We lugged his amp upstairs and set it up in the jam room where we had recorded guitars. As soon as we plugged in his bass I knew there was a problem. Even at a lower volume the low frequencies from the cab caused a rattle throughout the room, mostly from the baseboard heating system. I placed an Electrovoice RE-20 right in front of the cab and hoped that the rattling wouldn't get picked up but it did. So into a closet full of cloths went the amp. We put a foam mattress liner in front of the bi-fold door, closed the door and fired it up. The rig sounded great in there. Mike played his Warwick bass through the amp and DI to separate tracks, and the blend sounded huge. He cut his tracks for all six songs in just a few hours. Next week we'll do another Guitar tracking day with guitarist Mike Duffy.

10.14.2006 DOLOR GUITAR TRACKING DAY 1

On Saturday I went to where DOLOR rehearses, at their friend Tony's house, to do guitar-tracking overdubs with lead guitarist Todd Mihan. We set up our makeshift control room in the dining area downstairs and ran a snake upstairs to the "jam room". The ProTools rig is my old Mac G3 "blue & white" and Digidesign 001 interface. I brought 2 computer monitors so I could view mix and edit windows simultaneously. We monitored audio through headphones, and some M-Audio BX5s that Todd brought . For mic preamps Todd brought his Vintech Neve 1272 (I've got to get me one of these!) and I brought my Presonus Eureka, and Rolls RP-220 Tube Preamp. I also brought two DBX 160A compressors. Todd brought several guitars including his favorite, a modified Fender Telecaster, his Sunn guitar amp and a Line-6 POD. I had asked him to bring the POD because I wanted to use it's sound to blend with the sound from the amp.

Upstairs in the jam room we positioned the Sunn amp and 4x12 cab in a corner of the room near the door, and as far from the drum kit as possible. We covered the drums with blankets to keep their sympathetic vibration to a minimum. In front of the cab I set up three microphones, a Sennheiser MD-421, a Shure SM-57 and the Royer R121 that I still have on loan from Alto Music. The two dynamic mics, 421 & 57, were positioned right on the grill and patched through the Vintech 1272 mic preamps and then compressed with the DBX 160As. The Royer was patched through the Presonus Eureka with some mild compression and no EQ. I tried several placements of the Royer ribbon mic before finally arriving at a close mic placement, which I had read about on the Royer Labs web site. This type of placement has been used by producer/engineer Ross Hogarth for heavy guitars, and uses the Royer for the "meat" of the sound and then blends the dynamic mics for variation "to taste". We ended up using very little of the Sennheiser, because Todd said he "wasn't feeling" that one. The Shure SM-57 was cranked for lead parts to give them a bit more bite and gain. I used Aux input channels in ProTools to sum the mic signals along with the signal from the Line-6 POD and this blend produced an aggressive and meaty crunch guitar sound.

Once we started tracking guitars we discovered a strange problem. Each time Todd did a stop/mute type part there was a strange ringing sound that lingered after the mute. At first I thought it was something vibrating sympathetically in the room, but after going up there to listen to the amp sound in the room we determined that it wasn't anything in the room, it was indeed coming from the guitar. We wondered if it could be caused by the mirrored pick-guard on Todd's Telecaster, but that wasn't the culprit either. Finally we figured out that for some reason the strings between the nut and the tuning pegs were causing the ringing. A paper towel stuffed under the strings on the headstock kept the ringing under control. Todd proceeded to knock out all his rhythm guitar crunch tracks and all of his leads, tracking both the Telecaster and Les Paul for rhythm parts and mostly playing the Les Paul for lead parts.

10.08.2006 DOLOR DRUM SESSION AT APPLEHEAD

I began a recording project this weekend with a band called DOLOR. I've known these guys for a while now and we've been discussing doing a project together for almost a year. Our discussions began with the idea that I might mix down some songs they had already recorded at a small studio in Brooklyn. I listened to the tracks and agreed that they needed a proper mix. Unfortunately the raw tracks were not accessible due to some contractual agreements. After months of negotiations they finally received the masters, but by this time they had decided they would prefer to start fresh, since they had some new material and were not completely happy with the tracks they had done in Brooklyn. So we tossed around dates and locations for another few months before finally deciding to begin the project with a drum tracking session at APPLEHEAD. The weekend session there yielded fantastic results, and we tracked the drums for six songs.

We arrived at APPLEHEAD with some pre-production scratch and click tracks, which Mike Hamel, the lead vocalist and bass player, had pre-recorded at home. Drummer Russ Scavelli set up his drums in the main tracking room, which is a glorious acoustic space, and his kit sounded great in that room. Engineer Chris Bittner and I set up mics around the kit and room. As usual I focused first on getting a good room sound and after experimenting with some mic placements I decided to go with my standard "X-Y" in the center of the room. At Chris's recommendation we used 2 of the studio's Geffel UM70s, which I set to the cardioids pattern. I have found that this type of placement always gives me a really nice live stereo image of the recording space. We also placed a FET-47 in the hallway outside the main tracking room as an extra ambient mic and ran that through a Tube-Tech CL1A compressor. All these were pre-amped with the studio's API console.

Next we set up a Royer R121 Ribbon mic as a center overhead above the kit. I had borrowed it from ALTO MUSIC for evaluation and so far I am quite impressed with it's sound. The R121 has a very full sound without seeming muddy. Though somewhat dark as ribbon mics usually are it maintains an excellent clarity and even responce, and it has considerably more output gain than any ribbon I have ever worked with. The true test of this mic will be on guitar cabs, but that will come later. As a center overhead it worked great. For stereo overheads Chris sugjested these crazy looking russian tube microphones called "Lomo"s. These gave a great presence to the cymbals without sounding harsh in the high frequencies. They were very smooth and pleasent. The rest of the drums sounded great through them too. We used NEVE pre-amps for the LOMO overheads as well as all the rest of the close mics on the kit.

In the kick drum I placed my new Electrovoice ND-868, off-axis, just inside the front head. This gave me a punchy sound with plenty of attack. I had to aggressively EQ it on the NEVE to get the sound I wanted but that EQ section made it pretty easy to dial up the sound. For the snare we used the studio's Beyer Dynamic 201 on top and a B&K 4011 condenser underneath, EQ'd and summed at the NEVE. Both kick and snare went to disc compressed through EL8 Distressors. Hat and ride cymbals were both mic'd with Shure SM-81s but we didn't end up using the ride mic because Russ' ride cymbal was plenty loud enough through all the other mics. On all four toms we used Sennheiser MD-421s. For the additional "popcorn" snare a good old SM-57 was just the thing. Russ wore AKG headphones, which are open-back and let a lot of room sound in. He's a really hard-hitting drummer so he also wore earplugs underneath the headphones because it was so loud.

Guitarist Todd Mihan played live scratch tracks through a Line6 pod, which we patched through APPLEHEAD's new (vintage) TRIDENT console. This helped give Russ a more "live feel" even though he was playing along to pre-recorded bass, vocal and click tracks. The sound of that TRIDENT is very aggressive. I'd live to track a punk band through it. On the first day of tracking Russ tracked four of the six songs we set out to do. On day two he finished out the set and by early afternoon Chris began to tackle the digital editing, using ProTools' Beat Detective to smooth out the few small tempo fluctuations that had slipped by us during tracking. Having Chris Bittner there to handle the lion’s share of engineering left me free to focus on parts, performance issues and shaping the sonic character of the recording. Beyond all the great gear he's my number one reason for bringing projects to APPLEHEAD.

To finish out our Sunday session I zeroed out all the monitor faders and did a fresh rough mix of the drums, which we bounced down to a stereo track for the purpose of using during our upcoming guitar, bass and vocal overdub sessions. I mixed the drums on the API console and compressed the 2-track mix with an API 2500 compressor. We listened back a low volume through Yamaha NS-10s and at high volume through the studio mains. Everyone seemed pleased. I was elated. I think this is one of the best drum tracking sessions I have ever done. From here the plan is to overdub using our personal rigs at the band's rehearsal spot. I have no reason to doubt that it will go well there too, despite the change in venue. I've got some great mics, Todd has a Vintech Neve 1272, mic pre-amp which I'm quite fond of for guitar, and I've still got that Royer R121 to play with. Besides, tone isn't in the gear; it's in the hands! Thanks to all! More to come!

06.24.2006 UMOUR AT THE BARN IN COLD SPRING

Another session in what has become a series of live recordings took place on this day at The Barn in Cold Spring. Billed as "An Afternoon Of Post-Apocalyptic Music And Art For A World Without Power" I gathered my growing collection of battery-operated toy "mini-organs" and practice amps, my "not so portable" Pro Tools rig and some microphones, and met friends at The Barn early in the afternoon. The idea was to have an "electronic music" jam without electricity.

In attendance were some of the same people that were involved with the "Splurge 25th Anniversary" session; The Anderson Brothers Em, Fred and Sean, the Umour Ritual Specialists; Loudmouth Bill, Kane and myself, as well as some other friends; Joe Kelly (of Provan) Ron Labreche (of A Bitter Mahn) and Royce Stubbs (of Admit One).

I set up the Pro Tools rig out of sight up in the "hay-loft" so as not to disturb the "Without Power" vibe. The only clue to it's presence were the three microphones I used. In the center of the room, over a large table where I had placed all the toys, was a single AKG C414. Also in place were two Shure SM81's, mounted as usual on the wall below the hay-loft.

The Andersons brought many fun instruments as well. Sean had his woodwinds, and Fred had a huge duffle-bag of drums and percussion instruments. Em brought some goofy electronic children's toys that spoke simple words and made some beeps and bleeps.

We jammed all day and into the evening, finally giving way to hunger and the impending darkness. The result was 230 minutes of recorded material which has been aptly described as "fabulously bleak". Editing of this material will be a long term project.

06.06.2006 PLANS CHANGE, STUFF HAPPENS

Few things bother me more than projects that go unfinished. I understand that sometime things come up, plans change and stuff happens. So we adapt and work through the changes. My project with COLDSHOT has presented some of these types of challenges and I've really tried to roll with the punches. Hopefully, despite some major set-backs we'll still be able to complete the project at some point in the future even though the band has re-located to Florida. Until then all I can do is reflect on the hurtles we faced and how to avoid them in future projects.

With the basic tracking done we set out to begin recording vocals at the bands rehearsal space in the basement below The Chance Theater in Poughkeepsie. As usual I brought my Mbox/iBook rig and a choice of mics. Someone brought coffee and doughnuts and I neglected to advise the band's two singers to avoid the milk. Once we got the gear set up I asked which song they wanted to start with.We began with the only song for which they had actually nailed down their final parts for. The opening lines of the song was a screaming part. Nailing the scream part proved next to impossible with the milk-coated throats. So we moved on to other parts of the song, but with voices already strained we were compromising every step of the way. Then by mid afternoon we began hearing noise from upstairs. As it turns out there was an all ages matinee of bands beginning at 4:00 upstairs at The Chance so we had to call it quits.

The following week my Apple iBook called it quits.

The next vocal session we scheduled to have at one of the singers' home. Lacking the funds to purchase a new laptop I opted to bring my older Mac G3 "Blue & White" desktop computer to the session. A much slower machine than my iBook had been but certainly able to get the job of vocal overdubs done, although somewhat cumbersome to move. We avoided dairy products and got some good vocal takes that day from one of the band's singers. The new location seemed to be working out so we scheduled the next session to be held there as well. That following vocal session was attended by the entire band including both vocalists. The dynamic between these two very different style of singers is one of the qualities which makes COLDSHOT unique but that quality does come at a price it seemed, because there was considerable discussion and sometimes disagreement between them over each other's parts. Adding to that the presence of everyone else offering their opinion created a situation where there was a lot more talking than singing going on. Then when the girlfriend of the singer who's house we were in came home from work to find a house full of people the session was over.

The next session at the singer's house went really well for the first half of the day and we got most of the first singers parts done. After waiting a couple of hours for the second singer to arrive we finally heard from him and he was still hours away so we called it a day.

Now all throughout this project we were working under the specter of the bands impending re-location to Florida. The move date was pushed back several times but finally they all moved down there with the project unfinished. The plan is for each of them to get settled in to their new lives in Florida, then pick up where we left off. This could mean air travel for me, or them, or sending DVD back-up files down for them to complete the project on their own or with someone else. In the meanwhile here are some tips to avoid some of these problems in the future:

1) No Dunkin Donuts light & sweet coffee before vocal sessions.

2) Don't let the singer warm up with a scream.

3) The Chance Theatre is a good place to see a band, not a good place for a vocal session.

4) Technology is a tool which can never, never, never be trusted.

5) It's always easier to record singers who's words have been written down and agreed upon in advance.

6) A 1,400 mile long microphone cable is impractical.

04.09.2006 COLDSHOT BASIC TRACKING AT LEOPARD STUDIO

After taking some time off from studio work these past couple of months I'm back at Leopard with COLDSHOT. With a large local following here in the Mid Hudson valley COLDSHOT is laying down six of their most popular tracks. We spent 2 days this past weekend tracking drums, bass and guitars for 5 heavy numbers one acoustic ballad. It's a lot to acomplish in just 2 days but we did it. I was too busy recording to shoot any pics so here's a promo picture I lifted from their website. More to come as the project progresses.

04.05.2006 ORSUS MASTERING COMPLETED!!!!!!!!!!

Just got back the final reference CD from Precision Mastering in LA. Tom Baker did a fantastic job and gave the ORSUS project a real sonic ass-kicking. With artwork almost ready, pressing will soon be under way. watch their site and (myspace page) for release and release party dates!

12.18.2005 LIVE BARN RECORDINGS CONTINUE...

The IGF Entertainment Barn Music Series recordings have continued through the fall season with performances by Lauren Hoffman, Nell Bryden and Robin O'Herin. I have continued doing these recordings with a stereo pair of Shure SM81s, mounted in an X-Y pattern just below the "hay loft". Though the results of this placement yield a pleasing "recorded live" ambience, I am exploring options for alternate mic placements. I'd like to get the microphones closer to the performance without being obtrusive to the artist and audience. Plans are underway to rig a mounting system, which will be suspended from the vaulted ceiling. Pictured here is Lauren Hoffman, as seen from just above where the mics were placed.

10.24.2005 CHAOS AT THE BARN

This weekend past I recorded CHAOS at The Barn in Cold Spring, NY. CHAOS a brilliantly brutal four-piece metal band, tracked two original songs, “Betrayed” and “Lost” and also recorded their own version of the classic Black Sabbath tune “Sweet Leaf”. In the day and a half we had to work with at The Barn we completed all the basic tracking, overdubbed solos and we also squeezed in a quick photo shoot at The Stone House on Dennytown Road.

To do the job of multi-tracking I brought my “semi-portable” ProTools rig; Mac G3 “blue & white” Digidesign 001 interface, Behringer ADA8000 “Ultra-gain” 8-Channel Digital Mic Preamp (that I borrowed from Alto Music…thanks Alto!) and my RP-220 Tube Mic Preamp. This gave me a total of 12 channels of microphone inputs to ProTools at once. Made a make-shift control room in the hayloft upstairs, monitoring mostly through headphones, though I also brought my pair of Yamaha NS-10s and a small Crown amp.

The band set up everything in The Barn's main room and tracked all their rhythm parts live. I used just 5 mics on the drum kit: two Sennheiser 421s on the kick drums, a Shure SM57 on the snare, and a pair of Shure BG-4.1s as overheads. On the bass amp I used an AKG D-112 through the Tube Pre and also ran a DI. Each of the two guitar amps got a single SM57. Singer Chris Chaos also had an SM57 for scratch vocals. In addition I used two room mics: a pair of vintage AKG D-12s. A trimmed-down set-up for sure but it got the whole band’s live basic tracking down with just 12 channels.

Next weekend we’ll overdub the vocals and start mixing. Here’s a link to the CHAOS MySpace Page, and some shots from the session.

10.08.05 MIX MAGAZINE REMEMBERS MEDIASOUND

In the October 2005 issue of MIX MAGAZINE photographer and writer Bobby Bank pays tribute to MEDIASOUND, the world class New York recording studio of the 70’s and 80’s and the training-ground where I learned from some of the top names in the recording industry. You can download a pdf file of the article HERE. Pictured left is the live room of studio A, and founders Joe Jorgensen and Harry Hirsch with chief engineer Fred Christie. Photo by Howard Sherman.

10.01.05 ORSUS FINAL MIX ASSEMBLY AT LEOPARD

Spent a couple of weekends in September doing the final mix tweaks for the upcoming ORSUS full-length debut release "The Pulse of Shadows and Machines". Our last night of mix tweakage ended with me burning last minute CDRs in the car on my laptop as I drove Orsus members Tommy and Gary from Stone Ridge to New Paltz to catch the last midnight bus back to NYC. With the final assembly completed we will soon be toasting a fantastic album. First it's off to mastering, which will no doubt add that critical finishing touch. I've contacted several of my top-choice mastering houses for rates and availability. No point in skimping now! As soon as pressing is under way we'll announce the final release date, and of course the CD release party!

08.28.05 SPLURGE 2005 RECORDINGS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD!

Two "songs" from the SPLURGE session at Leopard can be downloaded at: http://www.umour.org/umour_music.html

08.15.2005 SWAMP MUD MASTERING AT LEOPARD STUDIO

Jimmy Goodman of LEOPARD STUDIO called me in to tweak some mixes and then master a project he recorded there in ProTools. The band, SWAMP MUD is a New York City based blues-rock band, and the 13 songs I worked on will comprise their debut release. Singer-songwriter Eddie Lee Priest has penned some poignant and catchy songs, and his voice reminds me of a well-pitched Joe Strummer. Lead guitarist Seth Goldart has great tones and licks, and adds a jam-band like feeling to many of the middle-eight solo sections. The rhythym section (Eli Wagner on bass and Roy Luchesse on drums) holds down a really solid foundation of driving rock beats, funky grooves, Texas swing, and mournful ballads. All the basic tracking was recorded live by Jimmy Goodman, with only vocals and solos being overdubbed, all during a four day tracking and mixing session. I made a few small alterations to the bass and drum tones and some of the vocal levels, and added some over-all EQ and compressor-limiter plug-ins to the mixes to get them more crisp and punchy. As a final step we added the Vintage Warmer plug-in, which is really a fantastic tool. The band left with duplication masters, which will soon go out for pressing. Check their site www.swampmud.com for release and concert dates.

08.08.2005 SPLURGE 25th ANNIVERSARY RECORDING AT LEOPARD STUDIO

25 years ago my buddies and I began a tradition of live recorded jams, which we called "Splurge". Essentially these are unplanned, un-rehearsed spontaneous performances recorded live. Over the years we have taken liberties with the process, occasionally overdubbing a few tracks, but the spirit of spontaneity remains intact by limiting overdubs to "one per person" and "you only get one take".
So this past weekend we celebrated our 25th anniversary by booking 2 days at Leopard Studio. Joining me in the studio were Bill, Bob, Emory and his brothers Fred and Sean, and Kane. We spent most of the first day laying down literally hours of percussion jams. Fred and Sean are both trained and experienced Jazz musicians and this was a powerful influence on the direction of these live performances. We also did some completely live recordings of the "full band" with Fred on drums, Sean on sax and clarinet, Emory on bongos, Bob on violin, myself on guitar and bass, and Bill and Kane on vocals. Here are some images. Recordings to be made available soon!

08.02.2005 SCRATCHING ASS?!?!?

OK. People have been asking me "what's up with the ass-scratching picture?!?!?" I guess the story deserves to be told. ORSUS has been doing some tracking at home on their own...some backing vocal parts, digital guitar effects, some keyboards and such. During a mix session they brought in a percussion track, this rhythmical scratching sound; not like DJ style record scratching, more like a cabasa part except it sounded like ass. I mean it literally sounded like fingernails on denim. I pointed this out, acted it out, and they caught it on camera. When I saw that they had posted the footage on their site I had to snatch it. So there it is.

07.15.2005 ORSUS MIX AT LEOPARD

Mixing has commenced and thus far we have completed four of the twelve songs in the project. Three of these mixes will be pre-released as a promotional disc. As always, Leopard Studio has proved to be a great place to work. We expect to complete the project there in August.

Mixing in ProTools is a bit slow without a control surface, but the mixes sound great once they're done. We are still considering the possibillity of running them through a large format console once they are all completed in ProTools, time and dollars permitting.

05.26.2005 LOGS & TAPES & ANALOG TAPES

Spent a couple of days with my folks, transferring some of their reel tapes. They had a company that produced corporate communications events for large corporations. These shows were big multi-media extravaganzas featuring original music, sometimes with a live orchestra, a live cast of actors and sometimes dancers, slide and film projection and of course the requisite corporate talking heads. Their productions won many industry awards and they were a leader in the "industrial shows" industry for decades. It was a wonderful walk down memory lane for us, and we "digitized" a good overview of the best of the company's original songs.

I had not worked with analog tape in quite some time, but I guess it's like riding a bicycle... I was quick to repair the broken splices, and was still adept at cleaning the heads and transport mechanisms, which needed to be done frequently as some of the tapes were so old that they were shedding their oxide. Alas, a few tapes were so badly deteriorated that they couldn't be played, and one which was stored as a "pancake" (sans the reel flanges) had fallen off the hub and was a jumble inside the box. In the end we were able to transfer almost everything that my parents were hoping to save, thanks to well-logged and documented reels and proper climate controlled storage for all these years. Now that we have the music in ProTools I will process and tweak the audio, and burn CDs. As an interesting side note, a local college radio station recently spun a track from one of their productions, which had been pressed to vinyl. The show was for Coca-Cola and the song was called "That Big Bottling Plant Up In The Sky". Look for it in the WFMU archives at this link:

Black Ops Archive

04.30.2005 LIVE RECORDING AND MORE AT "THE BARN"

I've been doing some live stereo recording at The Barn in Cold Spring NY for IGF ENTERTAINMENT. So far I've recorded sets by MELODROME, a rock trio from the Boston area, and KATHLEEN PEMBLE, a folk-pop singer-songwriter from the Mid Hudson Valley. Both performed excellent sets. For both recordings I used my iBook/Mbox rig and a stereo pair of Oktava MK-012 (s) in an "X-Y" pattern from the "hay loft" above the audience. I set ProTools to record in AIFF format at 16 bit, 44.1khz so that the resulting audio files could be burned strait to CDs for the artists to take home. Kathleen Pemble later asked me to edit and master her recording.

The Barn is a fabulous acoustic enviroment, and I'm planning on bringing the mobile rig for more live stereo recordings of the acts IGF brings in. The space is very comfortable and there is an office area in the "hay loft" that can serve as a makeshift control room. When appropriate I could also bring a larger ProTools rig for multi-tracking. In addition to the audio recordings, I made some animations with my friends "Loudmouth Bill" and Kane. You can see this and other films and photography on our new multi-media art site at UMOUR.ORG The animation is titled "Where Are The People".

03.11.2005 MORE ORSUS VOCALS

Brought the Mbox and iBook rig to work on Cisco's vocals over at Tommy's house. Also brought a RP-220 Tube Mic Pre-amp, and DBX 160A compressor, and the Rode NTZ tube mic. We set up a makeshift control room in Tommy's spare bedroom, and hung some moving blankets in his living room to create a vocal booth. Cisco did excellent takes of two songs. Except for occasional noise of neighbors coming from the hallway the recording setup seems to work fine. We will be continuing this way until the vocals are completed.

02.28.2005 METRO MUSIC DRUM SESSION AT LEOPARD

Joe Kelly (of Provan) brought in a drum recording session for a commercial music project he is working on with friend Dan McKay. This was truly a drum tracking marathon, as they had 12 songs to record, and there were 3 versions of each song, a full length version, a 30 second version, a 15 second version and a 10 second version. Amazingly we got it all done in just 2 and half days, thanks in large part to the awesome talent of the drummer they brought in. We used several of Joe's mics, and many of the studio's as well, along with both house Mic Pre's and some that Joe likes to bring.

02.24.2005 SOME FUN OF MY OWN

With the time I had at Leopard Studio between bookings I did some recording of my own. Ever a fan of 60's psychedelic music I endeavored to re-create some of my favorite tunes and tones. Keeping in mind the nature of the technology of the time I limited myself to using a minimum number of tracks and I kept the mic'ing very simple. I used only the available instruments and amps, which Jimmy has at his studio. No EQ either, just amp tone controls.

I used just 2 mics for the drums. One Oktava MK-52 ribbon mic for the kick drum and another for an overhead. I ran these through API Mic Pre-amps. Getting just the right placement of the overhead took quite a bit of trial and error, as I had to record myself playing each time until I got all the drums sounding balanced.

For the bass sound I played Jimmy's very nice Fender Precision bass, which sounded great through Jimmy's Ampeg M-15 (re-issue) bass amp. I used a Sennheiser MD-421 microphone and API Mic Pre-amp. I set the tone controls on the amp so that it sounded very round and fat. Not much high-end at all. I isolated the amp with a single "gobo" in an attempt to simulate what might be done if there was a full complement of musicians playing live in the room. As with all the tracks the signal path was as simple and direct as possible; from source to mic to pre-amp to recorder.

Jimmy has several wonderful guitars and amps. For most of the tracks I played his Dan Electro through the Vox AC-15. The Vox amp does have a pre-amp gain stage for overdrive but for some tracks I opted to use his MXR distortion pedal to get a more "fuzz" tone. The Vox Wah pedal also came in quite handy. So did the "reverse" plug-in in ProTools. OK, some would say that's cheating but I had to reverse some guitar tracks to be true to the psychedelic form and since there were no reels to flip...
In all I recorded basic tracks for 3 songs. The first was "Corporal Clegg" by Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd. Then, using much the same setup, I recorded a song called "Lulu Arfin Nanny" by Kaleidoscope, and finally an original composition based loosely on another Sid Barrett track called "Madcap's Embrace". The experiment was a great success. My tracks really sounded vintage. Many thanks to Jimmy for letting me stay and play!

02.20.2005 ORSUS VOCALS AT LEOPARD

Spent these past 2 weekends working with Cisco and Tommy on vocal tracks. Gary came up too and shot lots of video, which he is posting on their site www.orsusband.com. Cisco sat at the piano and did warm-up exercises before each vocal session. Between takes, to give him a rest, Tommy and Gary also tracked some acoustic guitar and solos. For the vocal tracks I used Leopard’s RODE NTK tube microphone through the Avalon 737 pre-amp. I needed to use quite a bit of compression, as Cisco is a very dynamic singer. Between the 2 weekends we got excellent takes of about half the songs. For the guitar tracks I mic'd the acoustic guitar with an AKG 414 and used my Rolls RP220 tube pre-amp. For some of the solos we used Leopard's Vox AC-15 and Fender Bronco mic'd with a Sennheiser MD-421 through API pre's. All in all it was a very productive block of work. All the music tracks are completely done, and about half the vocalsare finished. Some of the songs still need some lyrical tweaks, which the band will be working on over the next week or so. Then we can finish the vocals and move on to the mixing process. I'm excited about how this project is turning out. It's sounding really impressive. All the time and attention to detail is really paying off. Here are some stills. Don't forget to check out the videos.

02.11.2005 AT LEOPARD THROUGH MARCH 1

I am staying at Leopard through March 1st, working on several projects. My cell doesn't work well here so call the studio line: 845-687-9207

01.17.2005 PROVAN GUITAR TRACKS AT LEOPARD

Boys And Their Toys

This weekend I’m at Leopard Studio with PROVAN. As our previous guitar tracking sessions have been less than fruitful for a variety of reasons, from failing guitar amps to poor monitoring conditions, we finally decided to come back to Leopard where we have gotten proven results before. In search of the ultimate guitar tones we have pulled out all the toys and borrowed even more. For amps, Joe and Bill brought their usual fare, the Roland Bolt and Fender Prosonic. They also borrowed a vintage Vox AC-15 and a Little Lanilei. In addition, I borrowed 2 amps; a small Supro, and a Marshall JCM-800 with 4x12 Peavy cab.

They brought 8 different guitars, and I brought along my own Fender Strat just for good measure (six amps, nine guitars). As if that won’t provide enough variables, they also borrowed several very eclectic pedal effects, from hand made fuzz boxes to a Korg multi-effect pedal. In all we counted 29 pedals.
We brought several of our own mics too; The famous Oktava ML-52 ribbon, a pair of Oktava MK-012 condensers, the Blue Dragonfly, and my dad’s Altec 639-B “Birdcage”.
While they were setting all this up I was freaking out over a problem with their hard disc drive, which stubbornly would not mount to the computer’s desk top. I called my favorite computer tech (woke him up) and explained the problem. Eventually, after much plugging, unplugging and disc utilities, the drive mounted, though the cause of the problem, and the solution still remains a mystery. Needless to say we backed everything up to another drive immediately.

By sometime after noon we were ready to start getting sounds and do some tracking. At least we thought so. We got a good tone with the Bolt for the first track but after a couple of takes it became clear that the bass we recorded weeks ago was somewhat suspect for tuning issues. Undaunted, we went online and downloaded a demo version of the Antares Autotune plug-in and bounced the bass tracks through it.
Finally we got the bass track’s pitch issues under control (thank God for the internet). We began tracking guitars (that is, after all, what we came to do!) and as is the case with most guitar tracking sessions it’s 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration (or something like that…Joe said “the inspiration happened so long ago I don’t know what the ratio is”). Thankfully Bill and Joe both had the intonation set ups done on all their guitars. Still it’s a constant battle to keep an axe in tune, even good solid Fenders like the ones they play.

Whoever said “good enough for Rock N Roll” never actually recorded a Rock N Roll record. Granted, Provan’s music isn’t your garden variety Big Dumb Rock sound. In fact the music they write is deceptively complicated and the guitars interweave in unusual ways making it quite challenging (both to play and to record). Observing the process an outsider or non-musician might wonder how we ever get anything done at all. But to be sure the end result is always something we’re all very proud of, so we persevere.

12.30.2004 PYTHON RECORDING AT LEOPARD

Just completed a very productive 4-day lockout with PYTHON, a very talented young metal band. The project included the tracking and mixing of the band's 6-song debut CD titled "Good And Evil" and also a 3-song demo of some of their newest material. The quartet arrived well equipped with double kick drum kit, Mesa and Marshall guitar amps, Gibson and ESP guitars, great sounding chops and their manager, Joe "The General" Holzapfel.

The session went really well, with everyone tracking live and then punching in some fixes. I used mostly house mics and mic pre's on all the drums, Sennheisers for kick and toms, Shure SM57 on the snare, Neuman TLM193s on hats and ride, and AKG 414s for overheads. We ran the bass direct through the Avalon 737 Preamp, and mic'd guitar amps with Sennheiser 421s through my friend Joe Kelly's Vintech 1272 that I borrowed (I've GOT to get me one of these!) Singer Joe Holzapfel sang through an Audio Technica 4033 and the Avalon 737. We did all the tracking and mixing in ProTools and stored on a Glyph drive.

PYTHON has great songs and a very original slant on the classic thrash metal style. They are certainly one of the region's finest up-and-coming metal acts, and they're playing area gigs throughout January. Check their site for details: http://www.pythonband.com

11.28.2004 PROVAN GUITARS IN THE BASEMENT

iBook and Mbox on the go again...this time to Joe's Mom's basement for some crankin guitars and rattling jars. A few well placed blankets kept the jars from being a problem, but after a few loud rythm parts the amp started sounding a bit thin, even when mic'd with the Blue Dragonfly and Oktava ML-52 Ribbon through Joe's Vintech 1272 mic pre's. Joe did track some solid rythm guitar parts and feedback before the amp started to go.

11.22.2004 ORSUS GUITARS AT LEOPARD STUDIO

Brought ORSUS guitarists Gary and Tommy to Leopard Studio in Stone Ridge NY for a weekend of heavy guitar tracking. We spent Friday afternoon getting tones, and decided that a combination of their solid-state amps and my vintage Marshall tube amp worked best for "crunch" tones. I mic'd 2 cabs, each with a Sennheiser 421 and an AKG 414, all using API mic pre's, and I also used an Oktava ribbon through the Avalon 737 for room ambience. We spent all day Saturday and most of Sunday on the "crunch" tracks. We also used this setup for some feedback overdubs. Sunday evening we switched gears and set up for some "clean" guitar tones, using some of studio owner Jimmy Lonesome's groovy combo amps. We tracked clean guitar through an Ampeg B-15 bass amp, and also did some slightly "dirty" tones through a Fender Bronco, both mic'd with the wonderful Octava ribbon. It proved to be a very successful session. Many thanks Jimmy...we'll be back!

11.08.2004 PROVAN BASS & GUITAR

"The Trials & Tribulations of Home Recording"
Brought my ProTools Digi001 rig to the apartment of singer/songwriter and guitarist Joe Kelly of Provan to track some of the guitar and bass parts for the second phase of their project. We decided to use his bedroom as the control room and his living room as the tracking area. I brought some fun outboard gear as well, and we borrowed a Joe Meek QCS from a good friend. Got all the gear set up pretty quickly, plugged in the amps and, woh! Buzz city! As is often the case in older buildings, the power and outlets were highly suspect. After trying everything from ground-lift adaptors to attaching jumper cables between amp chassis and pipes we decided to seek some help. We called the music store and asked what power conditioners they had in stock. A helpful salesperson suggested a model called the Monster Power Pro-1000. We took the drive out there and purchased this $150 power strip, brought it back, plugged it in and, guess what? No difference! Still buzz city! By now we'd had used up half our day so we made the difficult but necessary choice of living with the buzz on some of the tracks. Guitarist Bill Lutz did some of his clean guitar tracks through his Roland tube amp. We mic'd this with and Octava and a Sennheiser 421, running through Vintech 72 preamps. That worked out well. Mark Bendian's bass amp had too much buzz to use, so we went direct through the borrowed Joe Meek, which sounded great. Mark didn't want to cut his tracks in the makeshift control room though, so we ran his cords out the window and he tracked on the porch. We got bass takes for all six songs. Between the two day's of tracking, the guys had a gig backing up singer/songwriter John Hovorka, so it was quite a busy weekend, and in the end, both productive and enjoyable.

06.01.2004 MIXING AT CHUNG KING

Mixed PROVAN yesterday at Chung King Studios in the Gold Room on their SSL9000. Special thanks to Suzanne Mates of Chung King's production staff for the booking, and for setting us up with assistant engineer Jessy. The session went really well, we acomplished all of our mix objectives, and I'm looking forward to attending the mastering at West West Side in July.

Over the holiday we took a break. I used the time to visit with some of my friends in Dallas, and I did some exploring of West Texas on my way back. CLICK HERE for pictures of my WEST TEXAS DETOUR.

11.07.2003 SONIC RANCH IS AWESOME! What a fantastic facility. Amazing collection of gear, from instruments and amps to mic's and outboard gear...I feel like a kid in a candy store. I spent almost 3 days just plugging stuff in and getting incredible sounds. The 40 channel SSL console is sweeeeeeet! So is Pro-Tools HD! I've been in the studio with MINISTRY for about a week now. We're working one-song-at-a-time and have just completed the first one, "NO-W". It's fast and furious. I know we're going to make an album we can all be very proud of. 

CLICK HERE or on the photo for more info and pictures and a link to the Sonic Ranch web site.