An actual post about recording...

I haven't posted much lately because after I finally got into my new studio I was (and still am to a certain degree) working my fool head off catching up. Just this week I finished the Tim Lemmens album and began mixing Elizabeth Hunnicutt's album. Of course, since I am also the producer of her record I take some liberties while mixing to add elements that I feel enhance the song. I will share two of those here.

Today while mixing her song, "I Will Raise You Up" I wanted a bigger, boomier kick drum sound. The song starts with a slow drum groove with enough space for a longer decayed bass drum. Since Steve Goold played a tighter bass drum I couldn't achieve it with compression and certainly did not want to attempt a cheesy digital reverb on the bass drum. So, I sent the bass drum signal out into a bass amp which was shooting it's low frequencies into a larger than life bass drum that is on loan to me from my friend Matt Freed. I put a Senheiser 421 against the front head and then compressed a room mic with a long release that was set to the timing of the song. I sent those two tracks back into ProTools. This reamping technique easily accomplished the long bass drum notes I was looking for.
She also has a song "Be My Calm," which she wrote in her car as she was stopped somewhere in Nebraska during a torrential downpour. She nervously tapped out the rhythm on her steering wheel and this melody and simple chorus came to her, so she opened her MacBook and recorded it in Garageband (three cheers for modern technology). During the recording of the basic tracks I plugged in two matching Shure KSM44's but then returned them to their protective metal cases. Placing one on Steve's floor tom and one on his snare drum I told him to keep a steady four on the floor kick drum pulse and then lightly tap on the mic boxes with his finger tips, bringing the element of tapping on her steering wheel, how this song was birthed, to the final production. A week and a half ago I was listening to the Fender Rhodes part we had recorded, which works great in the bulk of the song, but wasn't working for me in the quiet chorus. I wanted something that sounded more like a music box. So one day, I went to my local thrift store and purchased a music box for $3.99. Back at the studio I put a mic in front of it, turned the crank and forced it to only play one note at a time as I recorded it. I then separated each sound and labeled them to their corresponding musical note. I wrote out the chord structure for the chorus of the tune and proceeded to place each note on the grid within ProTools, creating a legitimate sounding music box version of her chorus. I liked it so much I decided to start the song with it.
I will be finished mixing the record by the end of January!

points on jazz project

A quiet blog does not equal a quiet studio. The new studio has been bustling since day one of being open. I made some time in my schedule for some jazz instructors to come in and track a Dave Brubeck piece in 9 movements. They all tracked it live and will add piano later. It was a first time event in the new studio to actually have each musician in their own isolated rooms playing together. A dream turned into reality for me as I engineered these guys tearing it up.

Build-Out Phase DONE!

After months of sweat and toil the studio is finally finished! There are a few small things left, hanging the big green curtain, a couple lights and bookshelves, but the studio is ready for recording and mixing. I purchased about 2500 books, which will be featured on several walls and will thus be changing the name of thes studio to "the Library." Pretty excited about the name change. Here are some photos of my new workspace(s)...

Main tracking room
Control Room
This is the large isolation room. (both of my iso's are far too large to call them "booths")
I inherited a turn of the century baby grand piano from a guy across the hall!
Small isolation room
The beautiful view from my control room.
As you can imagine, I am really excited about the new space and look forward to capturing hours upon hours of good music here.

Build-Out Phase Six

All the trim and baseboards have been installed. The rooms have been painted and now I am waiting on the final inspection so I can finally get all my stuff moved in and set up.

On the road...

On a two week tour with Greycoats to the big apple and back. Will return at the end of the month...

In the meantime...

I brought some of my equipment home and am working on mixes in my basement until the new studio is finished. It's actually been a decent place to work!

Build-Out Phase Six

The second layer of sheet rock has been applied and the sanding will soon be finished. Yesterday I had my custom studio window installed. It is enormous! A whopping 8' 4" long by 4' 4" tall. Two insulated panes of glass one flat and the other at an angle. On our way to the finishing touches...