Listening to my ipod on shuffle recently, I was reminded of a project I did a few years ago with a guy from Atlanta named Andy Deloache. It was a very casual, fun record done in only a few days at Sputnik with the two of us playing everything. The only guest we brought in was Natalie Prass, who sang some backup parts on a couple of the songs. Andy goes by “The Lady Vanishes” and can be found here. His name was taken from Hitchcock’s British-era comedy-thriller. As it happens, he has been a little more occupied with film than music recently – studying it and writing it. Listen to two of my personal favorite tracks, Karen, Don’t Stop Him, and Eliza at the Museum, below.
I feel the need to tell you all about a project I am currently finishing. It is a soul/blues record with a recent Belmont grad from Texas named Jessica Breanne. She is supported by a band of badasses featuring Sammy Stewart on guitar, Matt Johanson on bass, and Steve Smith on drums. This is a record I have anticipated for a long time and I couldn’t have been more pleased with the results. For one thing, it has always been a dream of mine to track a great band totally live in one room with live vocals. This record could not have been done any other way.
Having cut my teeth on more typical production situations – Drums and bass cut to scratch guitar/vox and build from there; I knew going into this record that there would be a lot of firsts and I would have to be on my A game to make sure everything was done right.
Preparation
To prepare for this project, I painstakingly researched the best ways to record a band live in one room. Two records that I referenced before (and later discussed with the band) were Buddy Guy’s Sweet Tea and T. Rex’s Electric Warrior. I was able to find a great interview with Dennis Herring, the producer of the former record here. I really wanted to find a place between these two very different recordings. Sweet Tea is sonically one of my favorite records ever. It’s ridiculously dirty. Every sound on that record is perfectly out of control, making the listener feel like they’re right in the middle of this jam session with amps cranked and Buddy singing till his lungs bleed. Electric Warrior is a much quieter record but it shares the attitude and grit. It obviously differs in layered studio production, style, and genre. I wanted to pull the creative element from this record whilst maintaining the raw energy and undeniable balls-to-the-wall attitude of Sweet Tea.
Tracking
How we ended up tracking the record was with the drums in one corner of the room, with bass next to him running DI, Jessica next to him so she was in the corner across the room from the drums, and guitar next to her with the amp run upstairs. I set up a PA speaker in front of Jessica so that she could feed some of the bass and guitar into it and not have to wear headphones. For most of the tracking I would control pro tools (the control room is upstairs) from my laptop with the magic of screen sharing. This allowed me to sit on the couch behind Jessica and listen to the takes live and be able to talk to the band face to face during the process. I learned from the Buddy Guy record to use bleed to my advantage. Obviously I recognize that this setup would not have been possible without a pretty large room. Because I’m working in a big open room, I am able to position the vocal mic as a room mic for the drums. Also since Jessica is a very loud singer, I was able to keep the gain pretty low so the bleed did not overpower her voice.
I finished mixing the record today and Richard Dodd is in line to master it. He is someone whose work I have admired for years (Tom Petty, Neil Young, George Harrison…come on) so I am very excited to have him on board. I look forward to sharing this with you all as soon as it’s done.
This month I have been busy in the studio helping Jars (of Clay) with the beginning stages of their new project. They decided to do some work in their rehearsal space for the month before they head over to Sputnik down the street. This means that they are still writing, pre-producing, working things out…recording along the way. I have been there helping them set up the space as a recording environment and acting as engineer so they can focus on being creative. These are artists/musicians whom I have grown up around, but I have never been so close to their process. It’s inspiring to see a band who has been together so long (15 years) continue to find new approaches to making music together and continue to have fun doing it.
“A Deeper Green” the new “quote” recording is finished and mastered. I’m really excited about the way this record turned out even though there is a bitter-sweetness attached to its release. This record signifies the last recording as “quote.” Both Justin and
Me and the Quote guys after finishing the record
Jamie will continue to make music in some form but they, for their own reasons, have decided to disband. I think this record does a great job of summing up what they do best as a collaboration. The closing/title track in particular is a perfect closing statement to their case as brilliant artists and unique collaborators. The stark guitar/vocal duet arrangement brilliantly showcases their ability to compliment each other vocally as well as instrumentally with even the simplest of instrumentation.
Another project on the horizon is the new “Choir at your Door” album. This is the name for the collaboration between Nathan Phillips (Winston Jazz Routine) and Aaron Roche. They recorded the record themselves over the summer when Nathan was living with Aaron in Riverside, California. I mixed and mastered it over the last couple of weeks. If you are familiar with the first “Choir” record (a Christmas project), you will find this project a little lighter and sunnier feeling. Something really special happens when these two brilliant songwriters work together, which is represented very well on these new recordings. Aaron has a knack for effortlessly crafting songs that sound as if they could have been written 50 years ago, while Nathan is a brilliant arranger, producer, experimenter. They’re respective talents meet to create something both accessible and dense. Check out their website for info about obtaining these new recordings.
For most of the tracking I would control pro tools (the control room is upstairs) from my laptop with the magic of screen sharing. This allowed me to sit on the couch behind Jessica and listen to the takes live and be able to talk to the band face to face during the process. I learned from the Buddy Guy record to use bleed to my advantage. Obviously I recognize that this setup would not have been possible without a pretty large room. Because I’m working in a big open room, I am able to position the vocal mic as a room mic for the drums. Also since Jessica is a very loud singer, I was able to keep the gain pretty low so the bleed did not overpower her voice.
