Blog Ketchup

It's been a busy couple of months for me. All kinds of recording at the Library, my band Greycoats, going out to play CMJ in NYC, playing Hammond B3 and Yamaha CP70 electric piano for the Joel Hanson CD release party, renting my studio out to other local producer/engineers and in my spare time building a three-tiered mansion for Maddox, our pet tortoise.

I have had numerous sessions over the last two months, but I will focus on just a few here.

I had the distinct privilege of bringing a portable recording setup to St. Andrew's Lutheran Church in Mahtomedi, MN to record a 1.5 million dollar pipe organ, played by renowned pipe organist, Bill Chouinard, for the Norah Long project. We did two traditional hymns and then added chimes and bell sounds to another song. For the portable set up I grabbed the Digi002 and mac G4 tower/flat screen computer monitor from my basement, my API lunchbox (which I used for the close mics) and used the 002 pres for the rooms. The mic setup was; 2 - AKG C214's up close, a pair of AT4033's in the middle of the room and AKG C1000's in the far back corners of this enormous sanctuary (kinda wish I knew the total feet of cable I used for this setup). When Bill pulled out all the stops, that thing really screamed. It was really a treat to capture it.
Similar instrument, completely different set of skills, equally known for these skills, I recorded Billy Steele on the Hammond organ in my studio for the Norah Long project. Billy has played and recorded with the grammy award winning group Sounds of Blackness, working at Flyte Time studios with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. I feel so fortunate to work with such world-class musicians. When Billy plays the Hammond organ he literally becomes part of the instrument. He is able to speak, to sing, to yell, to emote through this instrument. From his soul, through his fingertips, onto the keys and through a spinning speaker. All I had to do was put up a few mic's and capture it.
Earlier in the month I had an 8-piece country band visit the Library for a day, resulting in a full album of classic country covers. They all stood in one room and played as live bands do. I mic'd up a drum kit, upright bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, harmonica/background vocals, a main vocalist, pedal steel and two fiddle players. The next day I mixed the whole thing and an album by Glen Hanson called "Is What It Is" was finished.