JANUARY My 2012 started on January 2nd, with an incredible recording project at a legendary San Francisco recording studio. I'm not at liberty to divulge more information at the moment, but will hopfully be able to go into greater detail soon. Loud guitars, rock drums, and a vintage Neve!
~
I was interviewed by Andy Brawner for TapeOp, the esteemed magazine about creative recording. I talk about my days at Smart Studios, mixing with synthesizers, working on a wide range of projects, and why I love weird, broken stuff. Read the interview here.
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The first single from the Yellow Ostrich record I recorded and mixed last year, Strange Land, is now available for listening and download (via SPIN.com). Release date is March 6th.
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Collected a number of remixes I've done for a cassette release on Crash Symbols. I love the work the Dwight and Jheri do, and I'm honored to be part of the Crash Symbols family.
Finished some repairs, built a new snake for the home studio, bought a new sampler (!), and prepared for a busy February. I have several Beaunoise cassettes in the works (including the next Ambient installment), but production has taken longer than expected (due to so many people making tapes these days). Hopefully coming soon!
DECEMBER I spent the end of 2011 working with a band called Conrad Plymouth. I first heard Christopher Porterfield's music when I was still working at Smart, and had been hoping I could make a record with him ever since. As luck would have it, I found myself returning to Wisconsin in early December to record Conrad Plymouth's debut LP, ninety minutes from the dirt road I grew up on.
Instead of working in Madison or Milwaukee, we instead chose to work in Fall Creek, at Justin Vernon's April Base studio. In a former life, April Base was a split-level ranch with attached vetrinary clinic. Now it houses a lovely professional studio, with a generous live room (finished in repurposed basketball court) and comfortable control room. I spent many years dreaming of 'destination' recording, living in a studio with the band and being able to work without interruption - April Base offered all of that and more. [I'd like to thank all of Team April Base for being so wonderful and welcoming.]
We recorded a few overdubs shy of an album's worth of material, and Chris traveled to Portland for a few days of cleanup in my studio a few weeks later, adding additional vocals, guitars, and couple synthesizer pads. Very excited to hear where the mixes of this record end up.
~
Codes and Keys, the Death Cab for Cutie album I engineered, has been nominated for a Grammy ('Best Alternative Album').
NOVEMBER The Exurbs album is now available digitally via Bandcamp. Cassettes are coming soon on Zod Records. Exurbs is a studio project I am part of with dear friends Andrew Fitzpatrick and Jeff Sauer, and I'm thrilled to share this first release with the world.
Rolling Stone called Mr. Gnome a "Band To Watch", and gave Madness in Miniature a favorable review.
API did a small story on me as part of their 'Word On The Street' feature. Having been a fan of API for years, I was more than happy to describe my love for the 525, the 550b, and the Lunchbox. I use API products on almost every project I work on, and they have never let me down.
Video for 'Mary (Alternate)', a song I had the pleasure of mixing for the Yellow Ostrich debut The Mistress.
New equipment, repairs, recapping. Working on original music and remixes. Exciting projects in coming months.
OCTOBER After mixing the Bailiff record last year, I came to the conclusion that Chicago's Soma Studios was my favorite recording studio in the Midwest. Incredibly well-appointed and immaculately maintained, Soma's fantastic listening environment and impressive synthesizer collection make it very conducive to my style of working. On top of that, they have a completely restored Trident A-Range console - the same console I learned to make records on at Smart Studios.
Taking this into account, you can imagine how excited I was to return to Soma in October to start work on new Clive Tanaka material. While Mr. Tanaka wasn't in attendance (we worked with session musicians, based on outlines provided by his manager), the sessions were incredibly productive and a lot of fun. The live room at Soma is very 'discrete' and quite flexible, allowing for both tight, small, sounds or big, bombastic, over-compressed drums. Soma's microphone collection gave me many colorful options to choose from, and being able to work on an A-Range once again was a true joy. Overdubbing for Mr. Tanaka will continue throughout 2012.
~
Mr. Gnome's third LP, Madness in Minature, has been released!
Mr Gnome Madness In Minature
PRESS | Mr. Gnome:
~
I've also released another Beaunoise album:
Beaunoise You Never Close Your Lips When I Kiss Your Eyes
Available digitally via Bandcamp, and on cassette from the wonderful folks at Burger Records & Tall Corn.
SEPTEMBER After a busy August away from home, I spent September working in Portland at Mix Foundry- the 'B' room of Type Foundry. Smaller in size and scope than Type Foundry, it is designed primarily as a mix / overdub room, and is furnished with a Neotek console and small collection of outboard gear. When I needed a place to mix the Yellow Ostrich record, the band and I came upon Mix Foundry as an ideal solution: small, efficient, affordable, and close to (my) home. I was able to bring some of my favorite outboard equipment to the session (including the trusty BX-10), and the band got to experience two weeks of Portland life. While the record we mixed isn't slated for release for a while (their debut was released while we were tracking), the results were fantastic, and the entire Yellow Ostrich album was one of the most efficient projects I've worked on. Many thanks to the band and everyone that helped us in one way or another. I am proud to have been part of such a great record.
~
The debut LP from Chants was one of the first projects I mixed after moving to Portland. While finishing up songs for the new Chants EP, Jordan again asked me to lend a hand, though in a different capacity. While fairly happy with his mixes already (and planning on mastering once again with Carl Saff), Jordan was still looking for additional character and tone. To accomplish this, I did some 'creative pre-mastering': processing and summing stems of finished mixes using analog equipment and a console. While the results were subtle, the improvements were noticeable, and added additional life and depth to Jordan's already-excellent mixes. I've been working perfecting this 'creative pre-mastering' process, and plan on offering it as a service to clients starting in 2012.
AUGUST Last year, Yellow Ostrich released The Mistress, one of my favorite albums of 2010. When the band decided to re-record several of the songs for the Barsuk re-release of The Mistress, I had the pleasure of mixing and mastering them. At the time, they were planning their next LP, and asked if I would interested in working on it. Being a tremendous fan of the band, I of course told them 'yes', and in early August, I headed to upstate NY to track the follow-up to The Mistress.
Initial tracking took place at The Isokon, a remote house-turned-studio owned by D. James Godwin. Tucked away in beautiful Woodstock, NY, the Isokon was the ideal 'live-in' studio arrangement: MCI console and tape machine, lovely vintage Russian microphone collection, and lodging for four people. Having plenty of space and time (and silence), we set about recording basics for all songs on the record, hoping to get all of the drums recorded before leaving Woodstock. Living in close quarters in the woods felt very reminiscent of the Bailiff record I made outside of Chicago last year - at night, we would sit on the porch and listen to cicadas or go for short walks in the dark.
After a week in Woodstock, we decamped for nearby nearby Kingston, and continued with overdubs in the converted-attic studio of a 3-story Victorian. Having completed all of the drums at The Isokon, we focused mainly on Jon Natchez' horn overdubs and Alex's remaining vocals. Though we worked diligently, the flexibility and comfort of recording in a non-studio environment made the entire process very relaxed and peaceful, and we were able to focus our efforts without becoming fatigued. We finished tracking a day ahead of schedule and spent the remaining time shooting a music video:
Yellow Ostrich: Whale
~
Upon returning to Portland, I mixed the debut EP for my friend Adam Schneider's band, Minor Characters. Adam and I met on the Bailiff album last year, and stayed in touch after he left the band to pursue other opportunities. It felt good to be mixing again after so much tracking, and the tracks the band presented me with already sounded very good. Because of time and scheduling concerns, we mixed very quickly, which made for very decisive, exciting mixes.
JULY My second cassette, Beeptunes, is now available: physical is here, digital can be purchased at beaunoise.bandcamp.com. Unlike the ambient tapes, this release is focused on rhythmic, sequencer-based electronic compositions. Made with analog and early digital sequencers driving Serge, Buchla, Korg, Roland and ARP synthesizers, without the use of MIDI or a DAW. Special thanks to the Roland MC-4b.
~
I spent two days tracking guitar, bass, and assorted overdubs with Jonah Crowley at Type Foundry Studios – a staple of the Portland recording scene and home to some incredible records. The studio is spacious yet comfortable, the people are super-friendly, and it offers a great selection of microphones, outboard, and instruments. Plus, it's close to home! The material we tracked turned out great, and I look forward to doing more work here in the future.
~
Remixed the lead track off Bending Brass, the debut cassette from Irish electronic musician The Cyclist. It’s a great tape that conjures up thoughts of Boards of Canada, tape wow and flutter, and broken keyboards. To be released on a remix tape by Crash Symbols later this summer.
JUNE Filmmaker Jenni Nelson contacted me about writing original music for her short film, Love Hacking. Based on the true story of a robot inventor that falls in love with a girl from Nepal, it is a charming film about finding love in the modern age. I composed original electronic music for use in the film using Logic Pro and the instruments in my home studio. The results were great, and I had a lot of fun - I’m hoping to do more work like this in the future.
~
Elsinore is a band from Champaign, Illinois that released an excellent album called Yes Yes Yes last year. To fill the space between releases, they’ve decided to release an EP of new songs, entitled Life Inside An Elephant . I was lucky enough to mix the title track for them, and they also asked to do a remix of it. EP due out in a couple months.
~
Get In Control, the second album from Omaha / Chicago band Go Motion is out now – you can buy it here. Recorded with love and mixed on a console at Smart Studios. Here is my favorite picture from tracking Get In Control.
~
Red Balloon, the debut
album from Chicago band Bailiff is out
now. I have nothing but the
fondest memories of the month we spent in the woods tracking this
record, and mixing it at Soma
(one of my favorite studios) was a great way to finish.
~
I mixed three
interludes (actually more like ‘mini-songs’) for
dear friends Mr
Gnome. Though we’d
finished mixing the album proper a few months ago, the band decided
they’d like to write some bridging pieces for between some of
the songs. Madness in Miniature is
now complete, and will be out before too long is out now on El Marko Records.
~
I felt the need for more accurate metering in my home studio, and decided to invest in a pair of Dorrough 40-A Loudness Meters. The Studer 169 has both VU and PPM meters, but I wanted something a little faster and more accurate. Also, I’ve found myself doing more and more mastering work, and being able to both see and hear peak and average information vs. a reference was becoming critical.
MAY Codes and Keys is out now on Atlantic Records. I am so proud to have been a part of it – my congratulations and sincere thanks to the band and everyone involved.
~
Yellow
Ostrich is Brooklyn-based band
of fellow Wisconsinite Alex Schaaf. His self-recorded, self-released
album The Mistress
was one of my favorite records of 2010, and I was beyond thrilled when
he asked me to mix four re-imagined songs for the Barsuk re-release of The Mistress
(August 16). I'll be spending more time with Yellow Ostrich later this
summer.
~
I also had the pleasure of mixing four songs for Chris Vos, an old friend who writes songs as The Goodnight Noises. Chris and I worked on a project together years ago (at Smart Studios), and it was it was great to reconnect with him and work on music together once again.
APRIL Though the Death Cab for Cutie album is mixed and mastered, I ended up doing a little more work on it: preparing samples for use in live performance. This involved combing through multitracks for sounds that are difficult to recreate live, and building a custom sample-based instrument out of them for guitarist Chris Walla to play on stage. Using NI Kontakt withing a Muse Research Receptor, we crafted custom instruments that would trigger sounds, recreate keyboard patches, and provide some of the ambience and aesthetic of the album. For footswitch triggering, we enlisted the Moog MP-201 foot pedal controller: a MIDI-capable expression pedal. The MP-201 is really quite incredible: you can use it to control / trigger almost any kind of analog or digital synth, it has built in LFO's, and can save all of your settings as presets. Plus, it's built like a tank. Once again, the folks at Moog have really done well.
~
The Groundislava song I remixed with Clive Tanaka is available as a bonus 7” with his excellent LP – purchase them here.
MARCH Because I’ve been doing a lot of mixing at home, I made a few significant upgrades to my studio. The most exciting change has been the addition of a vintage Studer 169 console.
The 169 is a Swiss-made, late 70’s recording and mixing console, manufactured by the same company famous for their tape machines. I have the 10x2 configuration: ten mono mic pre / EQ channels feed a stereo master (with limiters!), plus an additional stereo input, two sends, full talkback and 2-track monitoring. The quality, care, and thought that went into this console is immediately apparent upon using it – every detail has been accounted for, and the options provided in such a small package are quite astonishing.
The console is completely modular, and every channel is configurable via a series of internal jumpers. This means I can quickly and easily convert any number of channels to pre/post fader sends (for ‘dub’ style mixing and effect throws). A direct out can be tapped from any point in the signal chain, which means I can use the 169 as portable sidecar for tracking drums or for location recording. At home, I use it as either a submixer (in conjunction with the Metric Halo interfaces) or as a ‘stems’ mixer for analog summing. The monitoring capabilities are remarkably flexible and robust for such a small package, and I’ve even done some basic mastering with it, as well.
Most of the console has already been recapped, making it very quiet and consistent from channel to channel. I’ll probably continue with some slight modifications / upgrades over the next year, but I’m already blown away by the way it has improved both my workflow and the sound of my mixes. It feels great to be working with a console again.
FEBRUARY The first installment in my series of four ambient cassettes is now available! Physical can be purchased here (sorry, sold out) and digital is available at beaunoise.bandcamp.com. I'm really excited about how these cassettes sound, as many of these pieces were composed specifically for the inadequacies of the medium and the wide scope of playback systems. Each release in the series is dedicated to specific tone and theme. Collected together, they represent the scope of ambient, electronic, and electroacoustic pieces I write. When the series is complete, all four tapes will be packaged together with other ephemera.
PRESS |
AMBIENT ONE:
The 405
Fieldnoise.com
Get Off The Coast
JANUARY When I left Seattle in November, I assumed my work on the Death Cab for Cutie album was complete, as mixing duties were being handled by Alan Moulder and Chris Walla in London. However, I returned to Avast! Studio A in January to spend several days mixing the title track, 'Codes And Keys' with Chris. It was a thrill to mix on yet another A-Range console, this one being in impeccable condition. Codes and Keys is out May 31 on Atlantic Records.
~2011
~
DECEMBER Finished mixing the third Mr. Gnome LP, with mastering to be handled by Troy Glessner at Spectre. Completed work on two ambient cassettes, the first of which will be out in early 2011. Prepared old compositions for pyhsical and digital release. Mastered a remix for Clive Tanaka, who used one of my ambient pieces in a year-end mixtape. Studio upgrades, new equipment purchases, old equipment repairs, Buchla upgrades. Saw Low on their Christmas tour.
NOVEMBER Mixed Corey Hart's Winter Bones EP at Smart Studios in Madison, WI. Finished tracking (fingers crossed!) the Death Cab for Cutie album (entitled 'Codes and Keys') at Avast! Studios in Seattle. Started mixing the Mr. Gnome album in Portland.
OCTOBER Returned to Sound City for more work on the Death Cab for Cutie album. Began mixing the Mr. Gnome album at my studio in Portland. Mixed the Bailiff record at Soma Studios in Chicago. Three incredible bands, three great cities, three of my favorite studios.
SEPTEMBER
Traveled to Ohio to
record guitars and
vocals for the third Mr.
Gnome album in a hundred-year-old
town hall. More
tracking for the Death
Cab for
Cutie album: a week at Two
Sticks Audio
in Seattle and a week at Tiny
Telephone in San Francisco
(recording strings
with Magik Magik
Orchestra).
AUGUST
Recorded Bailiff
in the woods outside Chicago: three weeks in living and working with
the band in a remote, monastic environment. Continued work
with Death
Cab for
Cutie
at London
Bridge Studios in
Seattle.
Remixed a song
for Clive Tanaka
while in Chicago for a day. Mr. Tanaka also used one of my songs to
close a mixtape
for International Tapes.
JULY Mixed the Chants album Onlooker at my studio in Portland - mastering was handled by Carl Saff. Tracking for the Death Cab for Cutie album continued with two weeks at The Warehouse, Vancouver, BC.
JUNE Started tracking the new Death Cab for Cutie record at Sound City in Los Angeles.
MAY Recorded a song with The Lonely Forest for their upcoming EP. Tracked good friends Testa Rosa in Milwaukee. Mixed two songs for Sky Road Fly at Smart Studios in Madison, WI. Moved to Portland, OR and started putting a mix room together.
APRIL Mixed The Ericksons record don't be scared, don't be alarmed. Engineered for Butch Vig on a song with Never Shout Never. Recorded Sylvia Beach. All at Smart Studios in Madison, WI
MARCH The highlight of March was working with The Ericksons: two sisters from Minneapolis, via Brooklyn. Jenny and Bethany have been writing songs and touring for the past five years, and already have a very strong album behind them. However, they wanted to expand on their sound (primarily acoustic guitar, some banjo) a bit, and they came to me with the idea of tracking a record somewhere between a stripped-down 'singer-songwriter' album and a dense 'full band' album.
To accomplish this, I enlisted the services of drummer Jeff Sauer (of Czarbles and Exurbs) and bassist Josh Franke. We made an incredible effort to keep additional elements (bells, drums, percussion, electric guitar, organ) as subtle and tasteful as possible. Our biggest fear was making an overproduced record: it was very important that nothing distract from the strength of the Erickson's writing and performing. It was an exercise in extreme restraint, and the entire project was focused very precisely on making sure our parts and playing were appropriate, tasteful, and subtle.
Because Jenny and Bethany are such strong performers, I felt it was important to maintain this element on the album. Most of our basic tracks were done live, with very little or no isolation. For two of the songs, we tracked them using a pair of microphones, live to two-track tape, no headphones. I was lucky enough to borrow a vintage AKG C12 for the project (thank you, Tim Curtis), and this paired with Smart's vintage U47 very nicely. Some of the best vocal sounds I've recorded.
After three very long days, we had an album's worth of material tracked. This was the last session I will track at Smart, and I cannot imagine a better way to close my time there: working with close friends (both new and old) to bring an incredibly organic creative work to life. Thank you to everyone involved for making this a recording experience I will never forget. I will be mixing the songs in my new home studio over the next two months, and I cannot wait to hear the completed album.
FEBRUARY A large part of the month was spent mixing the Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin record. After overdubbing in Portland and back home in Springfield, the band sent nine of the songs to me for mixing (the others went to the project's producer, Chris Walla). It was exciting to hear where the songs had evolved to since they left me back in September, and I was thrilled to finish them in the same room I started them. In an effort to get away from staring at glowing rectangle all day, I mixed them through the A-Range, using Flying Faders, and relied only on analog outboard for processing. The album will be mastered by Roger Siebel at SAE, and is due out on Polyvinyl in several months.
JANUARY The New Year brought big news and some big changes. On January 1st I was notifiied that Smart Studios would be closing in several months. Smart has been my musical home for the better part of a decade, and I'm completely devasted to see it go. However, I still plan on making music and recording, and I'm both excited and optimistic for the freedoms and opportunities this change will provide me. Over the next few months, I plan on relocating (to the West Coast), improving both my home studio and my mobile recording setup, and changing the way I make records. If you're interested in working together, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Time Since Western returned to Smart to mix another song we tracked in Portland last summer, and both Andrew and I were even happier with the way this one turned out. Mastering was handled again by John Golden, and his work sounds fantastic. I hope to work with both Time Since Western and John in the near future.
~
2010
~
DECEMBER I spent a day working with Charlemagne. The Charlemagne debut was one of the records I completely fell in love with when I started working at Smart, and I had always hoped I would have the opportunity to work with Carl and Emily. We spent the day tracking their Bowie + Eno influenced-song '4-ever', and I continued mixing it while they went to play a show that night. Great music, wonderful people to work with.
Mixed three more songs for Mr. Gnome. To fill the gaps between records, Mr. Gnome decided to relase an EP for their upcoming tour. My only instruction was to 'go completely crazy', and I was left alone with that concept in mind. Lots of BX-10, Space Echo, distortion pedals, and even some Serge modular synthisizer ended up adding to the madness. If you'd like to hear these songs (on the 'Tastes Like Magic' B-sides EP) or any of the other Mr. Gnome work, it can be found at mrgnome.bigcartel.com.
NOVEMBER Chris Walla returned for more electronic music composition. Our approach was more sophisticated this time, and we managed to setup and maintain multiple layers of synchronization (audio level, between Logic and the Studer 827; MIDI level, between Logic and various drum machines; and 'prehistoric clock' level, between MIDI and pulse-based clocks). Our approach at songwriting was a bit more refined as well, and we finished with solid groundwork for several songs this time around. This session was also the first opportunity I had to bring the 200e out for a test-drive, and it performed very well: musical, tasteful, and reliable - but also experimental, bizzarre, and exotic. I look forward to using it on upcoming sessions, and I'm excited to continue working on these songs.
OCTOBER Began mixing the first four songs of the upcoming Testa Rosa album - more mixing to take place in November.
SEPTEMBER Two projects dominated September: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin and Mr Gnome.
SSLBY
are
four awesome guys from Springfield, Missouri. Will, Phil, John and
Jonathan came to Smart to make their next record with producer Chris
Walla. Together, we laid the groundwork for the album - drums, bass,
guitars, and a few keyboards - over 22 days. From there, the band
traveled to Portland (after a short break) to finish overdubs with
Chris. A wonderful group of guys writing great songs. It was a great
experience.
Mr Gnome
is a
two-piece from Cleveland, comprised of Nicole Barille (on guitars and
vocals) and Sam Meister (drums, keyboards, and the occasional ominous
vocal). I had the pleasure of mixing their previous album Deliver
This Creature, and they
returned to mix their new album Heave
Yer Skeleton with me at Smart
Studios. Mr. Gnome and I share a lot
of musical loves (including using too much delay), and they trusted my
insticts enough to turn me loose with their new record.
Tracked
in Los Angeles at Josh Homme's Pink Duck Studios with Justin Smith and
at Ante Up Audio with Adam Korbesmeyer, Heave
Yer Skeleton
extends and experiments with elements Deliver
This Creature only
touched on. Look for it in November.
AUGUST In August, I recieved a 200e modular synthesizer from Buchla and Associates.
The 200e Series is the modern incarnation of Don's legendary 200 Series, and in many ways is a logical extension of that system. Designed in the 'West Coast' style of synthesizers, it is more of an open system than the subtractive Moog design. Control voltages travel on stackable banana cables, audio on mini phono jacks. Most of the modules offer a incredibly concentrated amount of functionality, and have rather esoteric names (i.e. 'Source of Uncertainty'). The advantages of the 200e system are many, including patch memory, full MIDI implementation, and the fact that it is currently in production. And, just like the orginals, they are hand-built in Berkely by Don and his Associates. I look forward to learning and using the 200e on future sessions.
Testa Rosa began tracking songs for their next release. One of the joys of returning projects is hearing how the band, the writing, and and the music has grown and evolved. Testa Rosa is no different. This round of tracks includes a 'classic' Testa Rosa tune, an edgier rocker, and a sprawling epic. I'm excited to see where these lead.
Time Since Western
and I mixed one of
the songs we recorded in Portland. While the tracks we returned with
already sounded pretty good, being back at Smart helped me make sense
of a few issues with the mix. Add a little BX-20 and Super Prime Time,
and a moody, spacious song got even deeper. Listen to 'Dizzy' here.
I spent a day tracking drums with Lake
Delton
- the new project from Awesome Car Funmaker frontman Ryan Corcoran.
Shifting gears from high-energy rock to a more introspective sound,
Ryan has developed a talent for recording himself over the past five
years. However, he still wanted to capture high-quality drum sounds and
performances, and I was happy to help him with some big rock drum
sounds.
Nora Germain, her brother Carl, and session bassist Matt Rogers spent a day tracking and mixing some standards, including a great Django tune. All live, all on tape, no computers, no editing, fast and dirty, it was a welcome breath from the largely electronic works I've been doing lately.
JULY
Three
studios, two states, and many, many hours later: the Gardening,
Not Architecture album is
officially complete. It might be the most
fractured record I've made. Some songs are completely
electronic,
some are completely organic, but most have elements of each. Parts of
it were completed several years ago, and parts of it are brand new.
Tracked on RADAR, ProTools, and Logic, and mixed at Hall of Justice,
Smart, and my home studio. Also, the two members involved in the
project live 2000 miles apart. Whew.
In the end, Sarah Saturday's voice and lyrics act as a thread to tie
all of the songs together, giving the album a familiar, human
continuity. It's a great record, and Sarah is currently touring in
support of it. Mastering was once again handled by Roger Seibel at
SAE. Many humble thanks.
~
Nathaniel Bartlett is a marimbist that recently returned to the Madison area. Mike Zirkel and I worked with him a few years back, recording an album comprised of his own compositions, Steve Reich pieces, and Phillip Glass pieces. He's also very in touch with multi-dimensional sound, incorporating it both into his recordings and his performances. In his own words:
My performances seamlessly meld my five-octave acoustic marimba with electronics, a powerful custom computer named Atlas, and an eight-channel cube of loudspeakers.
Nathaniel returned to Smart to record a library of esoteric percussion samples to use on his next album. Because he often pitches them down several octaves, they needed to be very high-quality, high-resolution samples. He brought a ridiculous amount of strange percussion objects I had neither seen nor heard of, and left with 25GB of audio to sort through.
JUNE
Completing
the Go
Motion
mix, I returned to Portland, OR for more work at Hall
of
Justice. Several days getting
settled prepared me for my first
project: Gardening,
Not Architecture. Starting with
outlines of songs prepared months before, we tracked in an 'open'
format: whatever we felt the song needed was added. Anything we felt
got in the way was left out. After weeks of very specific
working, it was liberating to record music this way: letting the music
go where it wanted. The songs we tracked will be completed and mixed
once I return home, but they already show promise in their unmixed
state.
MARCH,
APRIL Over a year ago, I
started a casual
recording project with two dear friends: Jeff Sauer (Czarbles)
and Andrew Fitzpatrick (All
Tiny Creatures, Yoinkles
Gibraltar). When we started, it
was to be
an experiment - simply three people in a studio, recording whatever
they wanted to record at the moment. We gave ourselves the limitation
of working on 2" tape to prevent any second-guessing, editing, or other
distractions. Six songs came out of the session, and we left it at
that.
However, after some listening, it became apparent that the material we
had tracked had merit, and we decided to complete it. We had several
additional sessions - a few overdubs, and some mixing, and by March, we
all felt like all of the songs had been completely actualized. The
result is an interesting mix of 70's German experimentalism and "My
Life In The Bush of Ghosts" playfulness.
FEBRUARY After a few months off, Go Motion returned to Smart to continue work on their next full-length release. Eight long days of work brought us to the point of having all drum, bass, guitar, and most keyboard tracking taken care of. Once again the SPL Transient Designers were a big help in getting the drum sounds I wanted, and we chose to supplement the live kick and snare tracks with samples triggered from a LinnDrum. Guitars were all tracked using the Trident A-Range's preamps, and direct bass was tracked using the A-Designs REDDI. I simply cannot say enough good things about this DI box.
The songs have all been precisely adjusted to fit the optimum tempo, and care has been taken to leave space in the mixes for vocal tracks. It's shaping up to be a fantastic dance record, and I'm really excited to hear the vocals we record next month. It has been a long record to make, but the best part (mixing) is on the horizon.
......
Cougar signs with Ninja Tune. Ninja Tune (home of Kid Koala, Coldcut, DJ Food) has long been one of my favorite labels, and I'm honored to have my work be associated with them in any way, shape or form.
......
JANUARY Chris Walla returned for another week of synthesizer and sequencer work. While our first excursions were a bit aimless and meandering, it appears as though we've developed a method for writing and recording electronic music that is both spontaneous and organized. Dedicating ourselves to the Studer A827 is a very helpful 'limitation' that also lends a very pleasant sonic fingerprint to the music. Our setup has grown more complicated each time (I counted 12 sequencers, all locked together in time during this session), and the music has started to refine into something quite listenable and enjoyable.
Cougar was back in the studio again, this time mixing a track not featured on the album. The song is a collaboration between the band and Paul Smith (of Maximo Park), and the only Cougar song to feature vocals. Aggressive synthesizers, lots of Valley People kick and snare sounds.
As other work has slowed a bit, I've had more time to work on the various side-projects I've accrued - including the Krautrock-inspired recordings I made with dear friends Jeff Sauer and Andrew Fitzpatrick. Revisiting these tape-tracked experiments a year later has been an exciting rediscovery of inspired sonics. A few guitar, synthesizer and percussion overdub sessions (plus liberal use of the Eventide H3000) has brought us even closer to completing these six tracks.2009
~
DECEMBER
The focus of most of my projects
has become very electronic lately. Perhaps I had some sort of
premonition back in August. I spent a cluster of days with Chris
Walla of Death
Cab for Cutie
and Tim Curtis, generating sounds and working on methods for electronic
music production. We had a pretty large collection of vintage and
modern synthesizers (including an EMS VCS3) at our fingertips, and they
were utilized to the fullest. Plans have been made for more sessions in
the future.
I also spent a long weekend working with Clive Tanaka
(and numerous friends)
on the holiday-themed dance track 'Gift of the Magi'. Thanks to Clive, Kilroy,
Awesome
Car Funmaker and
others for holiday memories that will last a lifetime.
NOVEMBER
Mixed five songs
with We
The Living at Smart Studios.
While most rock projects
I've worked on recently have happened at a pretty fast clip, We The
Living took the time to make sure everything sounded proper. We ended
up recalling the first song we mixed, and made some slight improvements
to it - an incredibly luxury for me. It was thrilling to work on songs
until they felt properly executed, with nothing lacking. I also
managed to make good use of the Serge
modular system for one of the
tracks that needed some extra
atmosphere.
I also tracked and mixed several songs with Magnetars
- a dense,
atmospheric rock band from Chicago. This was the best possible case of
home/commercial studio convergence via ProTools: having brought scratch
tracks from home, they recorded new tracks over them. I had a blueprint
for all of the songs, and it made for very fast, very efficient work.
Our mixes came close to being finished, but we left them knowing there
would be subtle changes yet. Again, advantage goes to computer-based
recording.
OCTOBER
Brad Loving is an
electronic artist from Chicago,
making music under the name Lobisomem. I was fortunate to have the
opportunity to mix Brad's newest record at Smart Studios, using the
Trident A-Range console. It was exciting to mix an 'in-the-box' record
through an analog console, using analog outboard and summing, then
print the mixes to the ATR-102. As much as I love pure, raw electronic
tones, being able to put some air/transformers/oxide between sound and
my ears is usually a pleasant thing. Mixing Lobisomem was no different,
and the result was a complex juxtaposition of tones and colors. Out on
vinyl in 2009.
SEPTEMBER
Rediscovered how much I enjoy working
with analog electronics.
I often use synthesizers as processing tools while mixing records -
their experimental nature is something I find extremely rewarding. I
sometimes forget that synthesizers and electronic music is what drew me
to recording in the first place.
~
Heard mastered versions of the Cougar
record, the Freshwater Collins
record, and the Pale
Young Gentlemen record for the
first time this week. Roger Siebel
at SAE
mastered all of
them, and once again, he has done fantastic work. I'm excited to hear
them on vinyl.
AUGUST
Molly
Bancroft and I
worked together, tracking vocals over instrumental tracks. Molly is an
incredibly talented vocalist and songwriter who has written songs with
a number of DJs and producers (The Orb,
Gabriel
& Dresden, John Shelvin,
Morgan
Page). Molly approached
me with a simple task: record high-quality vocals and harmonies,
leaving enough options for the song to be arranged, mixed, and remixed
at a later date. Not having a specific mix goal was a very liberating
way to work, and we managed to be very productive - usually completing
a song per day.
Go
Motion has made a
conscious effort to make their next record closer to dance music.
Tempos have slowed down, parts are simplified, and basslines have
become more important. After several recent sessions, we're nearing the
end of tracking - only some keyboards and vocals left to record. Every
time I work on this record, I'm reminded of how incredible the REDDI
sounds on
bass guitar.
........
The
Hotel Lights record Firecracker
People is out now, on Bar
None Records.
I had a very small hand in this record - the incredibly talented Al
Weatherhead is the reason this record sounds so incredible.
JULY
Drumagog
came to Smart
Studios and myself with
the intent of creating a custom drum sample library for the newest
version of their drum-replacment software. Having a high-quality
library of drum samples (from a room I know and love) is the sort of
mixing tool I've dreamed of for a while now, and I was excited to have
a hand in creating sounds for the library.
The mic setup for this project was very thorough. Because the option of
adjusting ambience and spatial information afterwards was very
important, I used more mics than I would on a normal drum tracking
session. Kicks and snares each had three microphones, toms each had
two, and overheads were recorded both in stereo and mono.
Adding to the close mics were several different room mic combinations:
a single U47 for mono, a C24 for stereo, an MS pair for additional
stereo, and a compressed mono kit mic.
The sampling process was also very thorough. We used four different
kits (two modern, two vintage) and a number of snares and cymbal
combinations. Each drum was multisampled at eight different velocity
levels, and we recorded sixteen variations for each of the eight
velocity levels. It took a very long time, and was a bit mind-numbing
at points. Thankfully, Drumagog will spend all of the time editing,
sorting, and
arranging all of the samples.
JUNE
Finished
two records: Pale
Young Gentlemen and
Cougar.
The Pale Young Gentlemen record is strikingly more mature than their
first release - more space, better pacing, and more sophisticated
writing. The lack of piano and the addition of strings is perhaps the
most tangible difference, but it's also very different sonically.
Our goal was to make a modern pop record that didn't feel modern. Make
it sound 'old' without resorting to the t elephone filter trick. We
tried to be delicate (but not too delicate) during the recording and
mixing process. We were subtle with compression, tried to make sure it
didn't get too bright or too loud, and left some parts rough around the
edges.
The Cougar record couldn't be any more different. Discrete and modern
sounding, it utilizes both acoustic instruments and electronic
treatments to create vast, sprawling soundscapes. We used large amounts
of destructive compression to transform drum sounds. Some of the songs
clocked in at over 90 tracks, with multiple sections or 'movements',
each movement using different drum treatments, spaces, etc. It was a
much more complicated record to mix, but the end result is very
listenable, very dramatic.
~
Started to dig into Max/MSP a bit more. Continued developing
ambient soundscapes. I've used the Denshi
Block
electronic system I got as a birthday gift last year for a lot of these
tracks. I've had good luck building different types of radio receivers,
then sabotaging certain parts of them and recording the results.
Spent a fair amount of time recording mundane sounds around my house
(faucets, typewriters, bird, tea kettles, toilets....) with the
eventual goal of writing some 'found object' music.
MAY
The majority of May
will be spent either tracking the new Pale Young Gentlemen record or
mixing the new Cougar record. Interspersed with these projects will be
days with Silent Sirens, Testa Rosa, Letter 8.
Pale Young Gentlemen continued with four days of strings overdubs and
five days of assorted overdubs. Instruments
recorded thus far:
cello, violin, viola, harp, French horn, xylophone, bell set, lead
vocals, backing vocals, ceramic bowl, triangle, and incredibly
over-compressed snare drum. Mixing begins at the end of the month, and
will be finished by mid June. The album is sounding excellent already,
and is undoubtedly a step above their previous, excellent release.
APRIL
Tracking
for the upcoming Pale Young Gentlemen release has commenced.
We spent three days on basics (drums/bass/acoustic), and will record
strings next month. Spent two long days with Clive Tanaka tracking and
mixing his vocoder-heavy dance song 'All Night, All Right'. Watching
Clive work is amazing and inpsiring. Recorded guitars for the upcoming
Go Motion record - great drums sounds are now paired with great
guitars.
Devised a method for 'tape-stopping' sound effects using a digital
delay and the Korg MS-50. It's easily repeatable, and works somewhat
reliably.