8.13.11 Lydia Kavanagh at Leopard Studio

Worked with Lydia Kavanagh (of Golden Palominos) on a beautiful Christmas song she wrote called "It's Christmas" at Leopard Studio over the weekend. The song is so moving, both joyful and mournful, really tugs at my heart strings.When she first sent me her demo of this song, it's beauty actually brought tears to my eyes.

After picking her up at the train from the city we drove out to Leopard, arriving shortly after noon. The primary accompaniment for the song is piano so I set up a stereo pair of AKG C414s under the piano lid in an X-Y placement and I put a third mic, a Sennheiser underneath the sound board. All the mics went to API 312 preamps. The 414's were also mildly compressed through the Distressors. It had been so long since she had recorded the demo that we had to re-learn the piano part. There was some debate as to whether or not to play to a click track, beacuse of several tempo retards during the song. Lydia played through it without a click, and then I learned the parts and played through with the click, mindful to retard insomuch as possible with the click. We decided to use my piano track so that we would have option of using the tempo grid's editing options later.

Next I set up for tracking Lydia's vocals. I choose a Neumann TLM103 and patched it to the Avalon VT-737 with mild compression and no EQ. Lydia's voice doesn't need any help, really. She always sounds wonderful and the Neumann sounded very natural on her voice. We ran through the lead vocal track a few times and then listened to the various takes, taking notes of which takes we liked best. Once we were both happy we'd got it I made a comp track from all the best bits, and we moved on to backing parts, which went very quickly.

We were about to break for dinner when Lydia noticed that her dog (a darling little cockapoo) that she'd brought up with her, was acting a bit listliss and disoriented. We were both gravely concerned, so I rushed them both to the vet's office. Turns out the poor pup had gotten into something toxic while romping in the yard that afternoon, perhaps some rotting compost or a poison frog. It ended up being a long and difficult night for us all, with her dog needing overnight hospitalization. It turned out OK in the morning though. Doggie's fine. I brought them, both exhausted, back to the train and then headed back to the studio to to a rough mix, backup the files and tidy up the studio.

We may add some counterpoint or rhymical elements at a future session, but the song is incredably powerful on it's own and could easilly stand on that alone.

I have to say that despite the doggie drama it was a wonderful session. I have known Lydia since we were in high school together, had worked with her before, many years ago, and have wanted to work with her again ever since. Many thanks to her for making the trip upstate, it is truly an honor and a privilage to get to work with her on such a beautiful project!

Tape Op Magazine

I've been reading Tape Op for years, and have always respected editor Larry Crane for his skills and his opinions. This current issue, #84 has both opening and closing statements which I would like to publicly applaud, and if I may dare, add a thought to.

On the contents page Mr. Crane always writes an intro, and in this issue he writes of the joy of working with good musicians; "Getting to work with players that intuitively understand and support a song with their abilities is a treat. At times I've felt privy to the best 'private performances' I'll ever see from my favorite artists". He closes the intro saying "I feel lucky." Yeah, Larry, I'll bet you do! Having polished more than a few turds myself, I certainly share your affinity for recording real talent!

He also closes every issue with a column he calls Larry's End Rant, and in this issue, in a piece titled The Big Misconception he rails on journalists who espouse the view that "anyone can make a record on their computer at home nowadays." He explains how a laptop and cheap audio interface are hardly all the tools actually needed to make a great record, which is largely true. The quality of the audio interface's digital converters has a huge impact on the quality of your recordings, as does all the elements of the front end (i.e. the mics, microphone preamps, etc). He goes on to talk about the room acoustics, monitoring, and so on, and also mentions having the skills to use these tools. He almost forgets to mention the importance of having "some amazing material" and "players and singers that can perform it."

This brings me to the thought I would like to add.  I understand the point of this article is to say that you  can't actually do everything on your little computer that it used to take a whole studio to do, so don't believe it when you read that in some other trade publication. Agreed. Ultimately, however, performance trumps it all in my opinion. In light of Mr. Cranes opening statements in the intro I would like to emphasize that at the heart of it all, what we're really in this for is great music, and great music does not require a $10,000.00 Telefunken microphone or the worlds most expensive digital converters, what it requires is great writing and great musicians.

Case in point: The Complete Recording Of Robert Johnson. The only recordings of Robert Johnson's music come from two sessions: three days in a hotel room in San Antonio in November of 1936 and two days in the back of a Dallas office building in June of 1937, using the most minimal of equipment, which was all that was available at the time. Eric Clapton has called Johnson "the most important blues singer that ever lived." These recordings are not technically stellar by any stretch of the imagination, in fact they sound awful. There is even some debate if the speed and pitch are correct. These facts not withstanding this is considered by many to be the greatest Mississippi Delta Blues ever recorded.

My point: performance transcends the recording. Period.

SUPER SECRET SUPER SPIES AT LEOPARD

 

Throughout 2010 I've been working on an Umour production, (see www.umour.org) with a core group consisting of myself, Em, Lopudmouth Bill and Kane. We've joined forces with Fred and Sean Anderson of Anderson Modern Music on drums and woodwinds, Chris Lough on bass with Leigh Ann Lough doing some vocals, and Lex Samu on trumpet. Also joining us for a few tracks of vibes is Jimmy Goodman of Leopard Studio, where we've been recording. The music is sort of a lounge/jazz/rock album from a nostolgic era that never existed. It's a concept album with a story line and charactors and many elements are intended to be used in a video trailer for a film that never gets made.
We started off in March of 2010 doing basic tracks for the first batch of songs. I had put together some scratch tracks over loops of some of the vintage lounge jazz I'd been listening to, and we built our songs from those spontainiously in the studio. Also joing us at this first session were Bob Plotkin on violin, Steve "Java Jel" Gelsi on piano and Mandolin and Jeff Carter on guitar. We spent a weekend at Leopard and came away with a lot of great material. Some of the tracks were fully hashed out songs and others were instrumental pieces with vocals and other instruments to be added later. I did many of the overdub session at various locations with my mobile rig. In August we went back to Leopard Studio for more basic tracking and to date the project consists of over fifteen songs. Editing ond overdubs continue, and although we have no real deadlines I hope to have it finished before the spring of 2011.

6.28.2009 CHRIS MAHONEY AT APPLEHEAD

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!

12.06.2008 JAVA JEL AT MY HOME STUDIO

Java came up to my place for the weekend to track some overdubs. I had recently set up a somewhat impromptu studio in the guest bedroom at my house, and this was the first time I had a chance to use it. The room has an angled roof and nightmarish acoustics, which I had to tame with copious amounts of studio foam on the walls and ceiling. It seemed to work out well, and we got a lot accomplished. For vocal overdubs I used the Neumann TLM-103 through the Vintech 1272 preamp, compressed lightly with a DBX 160A. I also used the Neumann for acoustic guitar overdubs along with a Shure SM-81, also through the Vintech and DBX. I placed the Neumann near the bridge for a full-bodied sound and the Shure where the neck meets the body for a brighter sound, and Java's wonderful vintage Gibson acoustic guitar sounded great with these combined. We also did some electric guitar tracks, Java again playing my Telecaster through the Ampeg Gemini I, miked with the SM-81. Java also did some keyboard tracks, playing my newly acquired vintage Whirlitzer electric piano. Mid day Sunday our friend Bob Plotkin came by to add some violin tracks. We worked together on string arrangements for a couple of the songs, and Bob also did some improv stuff. His violin parts added a whole new dimension to several of the songs. I used the Neumann, Vintech and DBX on his violin as well. Bob was kind enough to snap some pictures of the session. After they left I spent Sunday evening doing some pre-mixing. Java hopes to have the project finished in January. Visit his site www.javajel.com

10.12.2008 JAVA JEL AT LEOPARD

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.

8.04.2008 ANDERSON MODERN MUSIC AT LEOPARD

 

This session stands out as being the most relaxing and enjoyable session I have ever done. To be fair, the fact that I have known these guys since before we were ten years of age may have had something to do with it. What really made it special though was that this was a non-commercial venture, and we were all there by choice to enjoy (and record) some Free Jazz.

This is a genre that for many is an acquired taste, but as performed by this quartet I found it very tasty. Fred and Sean Anderson, identical twin brothers are the core of this group playing drums and woodwinds respectively. Fred played Leopard's house drum kit, a vintage be-bop style set, which I mic'd in a traditionally minimal fashion with two Neumann TLM-103's for overheads; one placed in front of the kit and facing down at the snare, the other placed above the floor tom, but equi-distant from the snare. I also placed an Oktava 219 condenser on the snare and I used my vintage AKG D12 in front of the kick. All the drum mics went through API 312 preamps. I compressed the kick and snare slightly with Empirical Labs Distressors.

Sean plays both alto and tenor sax, clarinet, flute and an assortment of exotic instruments. For his saxophones I brought out my Altec 639B "Birdcage" ribbon microphone, and for the clarinet I set up a Neumann KM-183. Trumpet player Lex Samu played in front of a Sennheiser MD421, and rounding out the bottom end was Chris Lough on upright and electric bass. I used a Shure SM7 microphone for both his upright bass and for the studio's Ampeg B-15 bass amp, and I also took a DI. The bass mic ran through Leopard's Avalon VT737.

Having had the previous weekend in the studio to set up and test mics, preamps and settings, I was ready for the group to pretty much just walk in and play. They seemed relatively unaware that a recording was even being made, with only Chris monitoring through headphones to better hear his acoustic bass. The vibe was very chill and the music was very intense! For more on this unique group visit http://www.myspace.com/andersonmodernmusic