Recorded and mixed local "sleaze-rock" band DB Sleez at Leopard studio this month. This hard rockin' quartet from Poughkeepsie, NY contacted Leopard Studio about recording there, and Leopard owner Jimmy Goodman called me in for engineering and production work because he felt it would be a good match. I went to see them in November at The Chance Theater and liked what I heard. These guys are loads of fun in that classic 80's glam-metal style. They don't just look the part, they live it! When I heard their songs "Sixty-nine" and "Could Have Left Me A Beer" I knew that this was going to be a fun project.
On day one we tracked drums and rhythm guitar for 6 songs live with lead singer Chaz putting down scratch vocals in the control room. In the drum room I used my Shure SM81's as overheads, Electrovoice ND-868 on the kick, Shure SM-57 on the snare and Sennheiser MD-421's on the rack and floor toms. Also had a single AKG C-414 as a room mic. The overheads ran through API 312 preamps and then were compressed through the Distressors, the kick was also API and compressed with a DBX 160A. Snare mic went through the Avalon VT-737. Tom mic pre's were the Soundcraft Ghost. As we were getting drum sounds I soon realized the importance of the cow bell in this band's sound ("I say more cow bell!") so I mic'd that with an SM-57 as well. The guitarist, named X-Bomb, played through a Marshall guitar rig that was mic'd with a 57 and a Neumann TLM-103 through SyTech preamps. Drummer Jesse and X-Bomb played tightly together and grooved really well even though X-Bomb was a recent addition to the band, and it was decided that we would track basics without a click, to give the recording more of a live feel.
By the end of day one we felt we had had a very successful tracking day, but after further review on day two we decided to re-cut one song, called "Rock And Roll Sleazy Mother Fuckers". After re-cutting those we went on to overdub bass guitar. Bass player Kenny C. rocked the house with blistering fury playing a Firebird bass through an Ampeg SVT rig. I ran a DI and mic'd the cab with a Sennheiser. After tracking bass X-Bomb was up again for overdubs. We doubled rhythm guitars and tracked leads. The leads really pushed the band's sound over the top, with X-Bomb placing awesome fills and licks throughout the songs as well as in the solo breaks. By the end of day 2 all the instrument tracking was done. Over the course of the following week Chaz came in for a couple of 2-3 hour vocal sessions. I had recommended tracking vocals this way because I wanted his voice to sound fresh on every song.
We spend the next full day session mixing, and the band brought copies home to listen to. Some changes were discussed and a couple of short tweak sessions followed until we had an ideal mix in the can. I took the final mixes home and began mastering them in Izotope Ozone4. I believe the album will be completed before the new year and released in January. Great guys to work with and a really fun project. ROCK ON! \m/
Guitarist Chris Mahoney recently contacted me to produce a song with him. He has been requisitioned to record an instrumental version of Led Zeppelin's "Misty Mountain Hop". Chris had heard the work I did at APPLEHEAD with DOLOR and we agreed that it was the best place for tracking basics for this project. We booked the time about 3 weeks in advance, and he lined up a drummer. A few days before the session his first pick drummer informed him that he had taken another gig, and wouldn't be able to make the session. Chris had also had another drummer in mind and so he contacted him, and the second pick guy was booked to do the session. On the day before the session the second guy bailed. I contacted drummer Larry Lubkert, whom I had worked with before, to see if he could make the session but he was already booked. Chris and I were both more than a little concerned that the session might not happen at all. I called around to other drummers I know but no one was available at such short notice. Finally, I broke down and called APPLEHEAD studio owner Michael Burnbaum to explain the situation.
Michael saved the day in a big way. He contacted his friend, drummer Josh Eppert. Josh was the drummer with Coheed and Cambria for their first 3 albums, which were also recorded at APPLEHEAD. Josh was totally stoked to do the gig. Like many drummers he sites Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham as a major influence, and it showed! Josh knew the song, knew the parts, and attacked the drum tracking session with passion and fury! We ran through the song three times all the way through, and then went back and tracked a few alternate fills in a couple of spots. After less than two hours of tracking we had slammin' drum tracks! We couldn't have asked for a more Bonham like performance. Josh played on the studio's vintage Slingerland kit, which had beat to death heads, but Josh made it sound amazing. Of course APPLEHEAD house engineer Chris Bittner also had a lot to do with the great drum sounds we got that day. We spent a good deal of time getting sounds (I'm a picky bastard) and we did a variety of microphone setups.
In addition to all the "standard" close mic'ing we did a variety of room mics and an "alternate" vintage mic setup. The "standard" setup included a U47 FET in front of the kick, and my Electrovoice ND868 inside, summed through the EL8 Distressor, and a Shure SM57 on the snare top, AKG C414 on the snare bottom, also both summed to an EL8 Distressor. Sennheiser 421's on the two toms, Shure SM81 on the hat, and B&K's for the overheads. For room mics we used an Altec 639B "Birdcage" mic about 10 feet from the kit, and my Groovetube MD1 for a distant ambience mic in the hallway. The "alternate" vintage mic setup were my EV630 in the kick and EV644 on the snare, along with a vintage STC ribbon mic as a single center overhead. I also brought my infamous dictaphone mic for an overdriven "trash-kit" sound, which we overloaded through 2 channels for distortion. All the mics we pre-amped with the studio’s new vintage Neve console. With the remaing time we tracked some crunch guitar parts with some of the same mics we had used on drums. What a great session!
My weekend tracking session with Java Jel at Leopard Studio went really well. Java and I are actually highschool buds. I recorded his first demo like 20 years ago. Java plays guitar and sings. His songs are catchy and kwerky and funky and fun. Java has had a long career of writing and performing and has recorded with several bands, one of which I got to record at a studio in Dobbs Ferry several years ago. I'm really excited about producing an album for him. Day one was certainly productive. In the first hour or so we recorded an eight song live acoustic demo. I used Leopard's Lawson L47 for vocals, though it did pick up pleanty of guitar as well. Pre-apmed and compressed with the Avalon. I suplimented the guitar "bleed" with a Shure SM7 on the guitar, which got a round tone and very little vocal bleed. The combination sounds great. I also had a stereo room mic pair of AKG C-414 set up and I tracked those as well for some natural room ambience.
At about noon drummer Larry Lubkurt arrived to meet Java for the first time. Larry played Leopard's house kit which I mic'd with a similar approach to how I'd previously recorded that same kit with the Anderson brothers. I used two Neumann TLM103's for overheads as before, as well as the Oktava 219 on snare, but in the kick I used an Electrovoice ND868. All four mics went through API 312 mic preamps, kick and snare were compressed with EL8 Distressors. I also used two AKG C-414's for stereo room mics placed in front of the glass. Room mics went through the Neve 1272's. I set Java up in the control room with the Lawson L-47 and my vintage 70's Fender Telecaster. The guitar amp was in the lounge, my 1963 Ampeg Gemini I, with the Shure SM7 off-axis at the grill. The tone I got on the guitar was wonderfully round but at the same time raw. For a couple of the songs I cranked the amp for more grit. 
Java cut scratch vocals in the control room as he cut a rhythm electric guitar track. He taught Larry the songs along the way, and we did a couple of takes of each of 12 songs in about six hours. Shortly after Larry left bass player Mike Hamel of DOLOR arrived to cut bass tracks. He learned and recorded 11 of the 12 songs in just about 3 hours. Both Larry and Mike came up with great parts and the spontinaety of this production approach gives the recordings a realy great live feel. Both of them are great guys who I've worked with before, and they're outstanding and gifted players. They both hit it off well with Java and the groove really jelled (sorry, I couldn't resist). Now with a good basic rhythm section down I can work with Java on lead vocals and guitar and keyboard overdubs. We'll pick up on that in November.
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.
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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!
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.
