Heavy Gravy Edition: We'll be celebrating kickass new singles from Melissa Erin and our Special Bud Suzie Chism!! Cat Galan is playing her first Tight 5 Tuesday!! The notoriously amazing Ricki is gonna bring down the house! Hilarious comedienne Allison Summers returns with a Tight 5 of new material! And as always, music from Frasco and The Snipecatcher! All brought to you by Southern Grist and The 5 Spot!! $5 cover. See you Tuesday!!
11/14/2024
We have a brilliant lineup of artists for this Tight 5 Tuesday! Join us at The 5 Spot. Doors at 8pm, $5 cover, 21+
11/01/2024
Tight 5 Tuesday: Halloween Edition
Gavin Rossdale of Bush. 🎸🔥
Photo by Darius. ❤️
10/03/2024
Posting this to force myself into finishing s**t. Gotta write one more verse, and I think I have something unique here. Or at least unique to my songwriting. Not what I thought I was going to write today at all. Kinda psyched. 🤓
10/02/2024
Great times at !!
09/30/2024
Four in the goddamn morning, but I finished it. Maybe it's just a first draft, maybe it's the real thing. At this point, it doesn't even matter. I did what I came out here to do. Anything else is just a bonus. F**k me, that hurt. 😞
09/29/2024
Second verses are murder. It's the part of songwriting where I have to overengage, and get to the bottom of what I'm trying to say. And why it should be said at all. It's vulnerable and emotionally exhausting. Even sitting here alone.
I'm sifting through second verse ideas right now for two songs that are otherwise written. I hope to share them both with you at Tight 5 Tuesday on Oct 8th.
I may have decided today to stay up here in the mountains for the remainder of my trip. This little stone cottage is inspiring, and there's not much to do other than work on songs. And that might be just what I need right now.
09/28/2024
I came to the mountains in a little Peugeot. Didn't buy the insurance. Dirt and stone roads. Tough Jeep s**t, in my little hatchback Peugeot.
I came to the goddamn mountains to write one good song. To live with my feelings, without judgement. Miles away from human ears. Hadn't planned to see three strays peering in. Clawing at the window screens. Begging me to knock it off. Some people sing like a cat whose tail got stepped on. I guess I'm still working towards that. It'd be cool to have a tail.
The kittens don't much like my songs, and I'm allergic to kittens. But when no one is looking, they sit on my lap all together, and we talk. Mostly about the ridiculous politics and hierarchy of kitten society. I try to tell them how hard it is to write a meaningful tune. Their blank kitten faces don't lie; they live much more interesting lives than I.
See, that rhymed. Look at me go. Hashtag lyrics.
09/27/2024
Music is powerful, man. Had a super awesome night hanging out with endorsed artist, . He's an incredible engineer and guitarist, and one hell of a great guy! His place— Grindhouse Studios— overlooks the Acropolis, with a perfect view of the Parthenon. We spent the evening listening to music we'd worked on over the years, and talking about how hard it is to balance life with entrepreneurship in 2024. Thanks for the hang, George! And thanks to the man who knows everyone, . 🎸🔥
09/26/2024
I'm s**t drunk. It's after 4am, just like it'd be wherever I was. I feel content; creative. Am I a narcissist? My head is in my hands now. Nobody else is awake. Drugs do a funny thing, don't they? There's half a sleeping pill on my nightstand, but I don't deserve help. I was sober when I woke up, not since. At breakfast, I met the dog who's been barking me awake at night. I thought he was an island pest, turns out he's just some s**tty tourist. Like me.
In this wreckage, I looked in the mirror before bed. I felt content, maybe even handsome. Am I a narcissist? Green really flatters whatever messy shape my body is in. So does darkness. That nice little pill is doing its work, and my consciousness is coming to a close. I've always felt good in darkness; creative. But what fun would it be to simply submit? There are no other sounds interrupting the waves, goddammit. This is the best time to be alive. It's going on 5am, and I feel content. Maybe even okay.
I hope that dog is dead. Am I a narcissist?
09/25/2024
09/25/2024
I adore this quote from Anthony Bourdain's episode in The Greek Islands, yet I'm not lonely. I feel no pain in being here alone, or alone in general. And yes, I do try to imitate his life at times. Or anyone's that isn't mine, for that matter.
"My rented villa is pleasant enough, but, to be perfectly honest, lonely. Is it worse to be someplace awful when you're by yourself or someplace really nice that you can't share with anyone?"
The twist of this trip is that I'm not moved to sing if others might hear. Despite being known to scream my lungs out, in front of far more talented people than I, I've figuratively lost my voice. Pages of prose and potential lyrics have been written, yet I have a newfound insecurity about opening my stupid mouth. I was embarrassed alone in my fancy home about how long it took to get my guitar, a beaten-down and cracked acoustic mess, into perfect tune. How could I perform after such a humiliation?
I think I'll go to the mountains next. Find a space where no one can hear me struggle to love and accept myself.
09/24/2024
A few glasses of wine in, I decided that I would float in the Mediterranean until the sun set. How irresponsible. In fact, someone might stop me. Tell me it was getting dark and I should make my way to shore. There was no one there at all. And the sun began to set. I could see right down to my bright white feet and the rocks below me, as less light reflected off the water. The sea versus sky blurred into one tall, confused horizon. Behind me, the mountains were haloed in lavender.
I thought about my nephew; what his future would be like. What advice an aging idiot could give to propel him to his own profound salt water moment. Of course he's 11, and anything said from the heart would be inappropriate. I don't like kids anyway. He'll be a teenager with opinions on art and music soon. I'm sure I'll be quite interested in him then, but he'll have no use for me, his drunken uncle who floats in the sea.
09/23/2024
Got some sun. Meditated on a deserted beach. Swam in the sea. Started reading a new book. I needed this. ❤️
09/22/2024
Playing a few songs at Jul's Music Pub, before my ferry to Serifos. 🎸🔥
09/05/2024
The full, original Tight 5 Four lineup will be rocking out this Tuesday. Tim, Marshall, Lemmy, Emma, and myself. It's our first show all together since May, and it'll probably be a while before everyone's schedule aligns again. We'll also be celebrating comedian Allison Summers' birthday. So, come on out!! It's gonna be a blast!!!! 🎉
05/29/2024
We are so proud to welcome Southern Grist Brewing as the new official sponsor of Tight 5 Tuesday!! They are a local business, supporting local musicians!! As of today, The 5 Spot is carrying a wide variety of their products, including an NA beer that's famously delicious!! Let's drink 'em all up!! Cheers!!! 🍻
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This whole thing started in an 8’ x 8’ bedroom in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn. I was a singer/songwriter disappointed with the studios I could afford. Being the stubborn type, I decided to spend my recording budget on equipment for my own little space. I tracked and mixed my first album, In Light and Shadow, myself. It did well, charting an ACQB Top 100 song “Anchor,” which led to me recording music for other artists. This pet project developed into The Brooklyn Outboard, a full-service recording and mixing studio. Thankfully, by the time the studio had a name, I was able to rent a bigger space.
That first solo album had been mastered by Joe Palmaccio, one of the greats. But as I neared completion of my second record, my entire budget to release, promote, and support the album was stolen. A momentary acquaintance with [celebrity name redacted] led me to hire a lifelong friend of his as my manager. A few months into working together, he used his access to my business finances to take everything I had and disappear. Anything I couldn’t do myself was now off the table.
I had already put a year of work into making the album, I wasn’t about to publish “heated” mixes. I had no choice but to tackle the dark art of mastering. I bought Bob Katz’s Mastering Audio, the only print resource available at that time. I studied plug-in manuals, memorized the user’s guide of every piece of outboard gear I had, and fell asleep each night reading one of two textbooks: The Science of Sound or The Physics of Sound. I experimented for weeks with those 8 songs.
In completing that record, I discovered a new passion. I spent the rest of my time in NYC taking on less tracking, in favor of mastering work. And in late 2013, I moved to East Nashville to pursue a career solely in mastering. My first big projects in town were O’Shea: The Famine and The Feast – which went on to be nominated for several Golden Guitar awards in Australia – and local crowdpleasers, The FUTURE: Blood Moon. Today, I’m thankful to have broken into the Nashville music scene, mastering my fair share of albums and singles heard on Lightning 100, as well as artists from all over the USA, and occasionally the world.
My East Nashville mastering room is the realization of a lifetime of work in music and audio. It’s treated and tuned to impeccable accuracy, and stocked with some of the finest equipment available. It took over two years of planning, construction, testing gear, and even a shootout of two hi-fi amps and three pairs of mastering speakers to get everything just right. The listening experience is otherworldly; I find myself noticing completely new layers and dimension in songs that I’ve heard hundreds of times. It is my favorite place to listen to music.
Master Frasco Audio Lab is not a factory. You won't get the best result the engineer could achieve in an hour, before handing your project back to an assistant and interns. I take pride in my work and handle everything myself, from beginning to end. Mastering is the last step before your music is available everywhere. Let's make sure it's perfect!