"Devil Stole My Katie" - electric rhythm guitar
David Hinckley getting into some of that Richard Thompson rhythm guitar stuff on the new album from Adam White. That's a Danocaster Guitars offset into an old Princeton Reverb. And yes, the good ol' stock gray compressor plugin is my favorite comp for this kind of thing. Gets it sounding like you had a Dynacomp in the chain while tracking. Fight me.
The New Review - "Hustle" (excerpt)
Two hot tracks coming on wax from The New Review, recorded on tape at the Shop. Stay tuned.
The Only Humans - "Ghosts Of Harmony Bridge" teaser
It's been a privilege working these last few months with The Only Humans on their debut LP. Here's a teaser of the song "Ghosts Of Harmony Bridge." Album coming Fall 2017.
Vocal "Mellotron" sampler
Like anything else, the hardest job of a record producer can also be the most satisfying (when it works). Digging endlessly for the best treatment for a song, the perfect craft to the arrangement, the right sounds in the mix. But it only works when the people involved trust each other. I've been lucky to work with Adam White on his new LP - long overdue but coming at you very soon. The album is an encyclopedia of song craft, each arrangement taking shape apart from the others on the record; built to order to satisfy the song alone, influenced only by the lyric. One song was eluding me, the simplest, hookiest, arguably leadoff track. It needed a pad (but not a typical Hammond organ or Mellotron), wistfulness (but not nostalgia), eerie, evocative, almost creepy atmosphere (but nothing too stylized). I kept coming back to the idea of voices. Something human but disembodied. Synthetic but familiar.
"I'm Not In Love," by 10cc. It hit me one day. As always the answer is DIY. While those blokes spent weeks recording "ahhs" onto tape, I benefited from the impeccable vocal ability of Liz McBride. Liz sang two octaves of the diatonic E major scale, I processed things a little, and built a library into my old trusty MicroSampler. Direct into a BURL AUDIO B1, reverb from Valhalla DSP's VintageVerb. I haven't entirely worked out the voicings (as you can probably tell) but this is the sound. Again, the important thing is trust. I'll cut this part when Adam is in the room so *he* can produce me. Only do what's necessary for the song.
Spent all last Spring bumping Ride The Surf by Today Junior, loud as hell, with the windows open. I was blown away by the discovery of an album that good from a new band, and determined to do whatever possible to be involved with their next effort.
Now that it's springtime again, I'm glad to say that it's almost time to open the windows and floor the gas pedal to the sounds of a new future classic, this one recorded & mixed at the Shop. (It was raining earlier today, and the sun came out while I was working on this.) Here's a glimpse of your favorite album of 2017.
"Desert Of Eden" Bass/Kick Sidechain
One of the many good things about having a rhythm section solely comprised of producers is the unity of purpose. Everyone working for the song. Zach Toporek and I cooked up this arrangement on a Keith Cooper song that locks the interplay of the kick drum, snare, and bass together into one big breezy engine, creating effortless forward motion. Here I'm using the stock PT comp to sidechain the bass with the kick, pushing only about 3db to enhance the back n' forth, and bring out the "snap" of the downbeat. Nearly everything will be done with analog hardware come mix time, but one of the only plugins that will stay is the amazing Deflector compressor from Kush Audio / Sly-Fi Digital, sitting across the bass bus. New album from Keith Cooper coming soon.
6BM8 stereo tube amp
Some of you got on board for Patrick's latest custom build, but most of you missed out. Bespoke, hand-wired 2-watt 6BM8 stereo tube amp, perfect for home listening, secondary studio monitors (like the one that will power our 70's-era Realistic B-speaker pair), or any application for immaculate small-power tube tone. Don't miss out next time. (The song is "No Woman" by Whitney.)
Grundyverb (Tivoli impulse response in Altiverb)
In November 2015 I was lucky to play at TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht with Titus Andronicus on the #TMLTaroundtheworld tour, in the lineup of Le Guess Who? festival. Tivoli is perhaps the finest concert hall I've ever been lucky enough to experience, not just as a performer but in the audience for bands like Metz and A Place To Bury Strangers. And here I am a year later, back home halfway around the world, using an impulse response of the very same room, in Altiverb, to give The Sun Lions their desired drum sound. (We named it "Grundyverb," after legendary underrated drummer Hugh Grundy of The Zombies.) Sometimes I'm OK with living in the future.
Civic - Paper Snowflakes
If you know anything about the Shop, you'll know that we take the holiday season very seriously. The balsam fir incense is lit, and so is this new Xmas single from CIVIC, recorded by our buddy Stephen and mixed by Elio at the Shop.
https://civicmusic.bandcamp.com/track/paper-snowflakes
Mellotron arrangement teaser
No better way to start the day than with a Mellotron arrangement on the M-Tron Pro for Zach Toporek. Hot jam tracked at the Shop, featuring Wayne Whittaker and Harrison Seiler in the rhythm section.
Bass Fuzz Demo
Here's a quick demo of that beautiful new germanium bass fuzz built by Patrick. Sloppy playing by Elio.
Peavey T40 bass (with flats) --> fuzz --> Aguilar Tone Hammer 500 --> Avatar 2x10" cab --> Sennheiser 421 --> John Hardy M1 --> Pro Tools (24/48). No EQ, limiting, or compression.
This is an old-school germanium fuzz pedal of the Tone Bender lineage with a variety of circuit improvements, as well as several components optimized for bass. True bypass, 9V battery operation only. Let us know when you're ready to own one for yourself.
Adam White horn tracking
This is the best part of the job. Nothing beats a great horn section playing together. We've got Tree Palmedo on trumpet, John Cushing on trombone, and the legendary Eric Alexander Hewitt on baritone saxophone, tracking live around three ribbon mics (RCA 74B on trumpet, Royer Labs R-121 on bone, and Coles 4038 on bari), with a Lawson 47 on omni, for the room. No EQ, no compression. Thanks to Adam White for letting me write charts on these incredible songs.
The Soul Shop is a modern recording studio in the classic analog tradition Built in 2007 by Patrick Grenham & Elio DeLuca.
