The Story of my Trident 80B part II

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When I was sealing the deal with the Trident 80B, I was in Europe. Fortunately my father, renowned author Thomas B. Speaker, took charge of finalizing the purchase. I was actually in Germany when we finalized the deal. 

As things go, I had to make plans to get the 500lb+ mixing console from a storage facility in Nashville, TN. I researched online and after one slight hiccup with a company I won't mention, I asked my guy at Vintage King how they handle movement for large scale recording consoles. He helped make arrangements for me and it was to arrive the first week of June. 

I finished out my Euro tour confident that all was being handled properly and the board would arrive in a timely fashion. Meanwhile, I had to prepare my space for such a large board. The room where the Trident will live is not ideal. Just over 8' x 11'. The board itself is just under 8' wide. I had to physically tear out a wall for the board to slide into place.

Deconstrucion

I hired Adam Aron Amram, of Ken South Rock, who also plays drums on several projects I work on. He's a friend, he's a carpenter and he's excited for me and this amazing console. He also was a huge factor in getting that board from downstairs to upstairs.

When the console arrived in the middle of the afternoon, June 4th, I thought I was ready for it. I had on call, 4 heavy lifting dudes to get the piece negotiated up the turning stairwell. However! When the console arrived, it was over weight… by a Lot! The folks on the other end had told me the console comes with a large quantity of Mogami cable. What they didn't tell me is that it would be still attached, coiled up, and packed on top of the console. There was easily an extra 300lbs of cable added to the stack. That made the console 800+lbs. Way too big for 4, let alone 5 or 6 guys, to manage. On top of that, it was still attached to its legs and too wide to fit into the front door. 

Removing the Channels 1 x 1

Luckily for me it was a beautiful day. 70 degrees sunny and perfect. I had the delivery guys wheel the console in the alley way next to my building. I knew I had to break it down and lose some weight in order to get it up three flights of stairs. Oh yeah, there's no freight elevator. 

Fader Guide Photo

With the help of Kenichi (Ken) Minami, Adams pal from Ken South Rock, we started to remove pieces of the console. We stripped out all of the faders, I had to photo the wire connections so that I could put everything back together properly. We stripped out every channel and bus channel as well. The next step was figuring out the wiring. Ken, very carefully and meticulously packed and carried the pieces upstairs. But there was just no way to get the console on the go with a 300lb umbilical dragging behind it. 

Some of the ideas where to have two guys carry it along behind. Another idea (not mine) was to cut it all off in one fail swoop and rewire it in its entirety later. WTF?! No way, that would have meant hours and hours of soldering. I knew there was a way to get that worked out and I just needed time. I sent everyone away for dinner. I needed to think and line all of the cable out to see where it went. 

Cable in Afternoon

About an hour of just sitting there looking at the console and the cables, I was kind of freaking out. Confusion, exhaustion, regret and overwhelming stress where wearing me down along with the sunset. It was getting dark now and the guys would be back soon to load the console onto dollies for the long haul to the top. I needed an idea and I needed it quick. I realized after handling the cable from one end to the other that it was all attached in one basic area. The Trident 80B patch-bay is a thing of beauty on this old console. Everything you ever need is worked thru the patch-bay and that is where every single cable with the exception of 8 small lines originated. 96 patch-points connected all of the cable to 96 cable endings. I took out the two patch-bays, and after removing 96 screw patch-points, all 300lbs of cable fell away like dominos. We're in business.

Strip It! Strip It Good!

My guys showed up as I was removing the final array of screws. That's when Adam and Josh, from GBM, took charge of dismantling the beautiful Ash wooden pieces that frame the board, and detached the legs. The console weight was now just a few hundred pounds and ready for the lift. We wrapped it in packing blankets and shrink wrap, rolled it through the front door on a pair of loaner dollies and away it went. The crew handled the console pretty easily now and in about 25 minutes it went from the alley way next to my building to the third floor loft where it will reside in the live room for testing and wiring.

Just around the corner

Big ups to Scott Loving, Dave Treut, Adam Aron Amram, Josh & Rondell for their heavy lifting!

To be continued...

Trident 80B Recording Console

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"Some of the best recordings in the world were done on a Trident such as The Beatles' 'Hey Jude', David Bowie's 'Space Oddity' and James Taylor's first album, and many more."

Built by Malcolm Toft/Trident and designed by John Oram, who worked for VOX back in the 60's, The Trident 80B was one of the most successful British consoles designed, hand wired and produced in the early 80's. Its sought after for its "open sounding mic pre's and very 'musical' eq as they say… its the classic Trident British sound." 

The Inspiration

My long time friend Jim Gerovac, of the band Craving Strange, had told me about a documentary called Sound City, with the story of a vintage mixing console renowned for its sound and pedigree. After seeing this documentary, I knew I was ready to take the plunge into upgrading my recording studio center piece. The heart of any recording studio is the mixing console. Its where all the mics get plugged into, its where the sound travels before it goes to tape, or the computer or anywhere else. The console is THE heart and soul of any recording studio's system.

For my price range I was finding a lot of 16 channel, class A consoles that were new and would do the job. But I had run into issues in the past with only having 16 inputs. It just wasn't enough. For big bands recording live, I needed more inputs. At least 24, and for the future, I'm certain I would need/want even more. I found information about the Trident series consoles on a few of the forums that I frequent. Its versatile, its known for its incredible drum sound and "musical EQ's". The Trident 80B has 32 inputs and 24 outputs. Perfect for large scale recording with room to grow. 

In my research about consoles like these for sale, I found them to be quite pricey. Even a little bit out of my price range. There were 3 on the market at the time. Two being sold through Vintage King, a reputable company whom I've worked with in the past. One of their 80B's was far from perfect, "a fixer upper" and the other was "refurbished in mostly proper working order". There was one more on ebay, that had been written very little detail and was going for 20% less money. I messaged the ebay seller and found out this console was being brokered by Warren Rhoades of Sound Stage Studio in Nashville, TN. Warren was selling it for a friend of his who has owned it for the last 10 years. Warren was actually the original owner of the console.

This is where things get interesting… 

Original Magazine Ad for the Trident Console

This particular Trident 80B console was ordered and purchased by Warren for Sound Stage Studios, in Nashville, TN back in the early 1980's. This console was in Sound Stage for about 20 years, where it recorded the likes of Willie Nelson and John Cougar Mellencamp. None of this information was listed in the ebay add. Just that it was in Nashville and in working order. Warren told me, "The console is in perfect working order, has been in storage for the last year. It comes with a bunch of cable and we need to get it out of storage as soon as possible."

I had a friend of mine in Nashville go check it out. He brought with him a music producer friend of his. "Dude, for the price and condition of this desk, you are getting a steel." I made an offer on the console, with a bit of negotiation, we came to an agreement. Now I had to get the 500lb+ thing from Nashville, TN to Brooklyn, NY.

To be continued...

Remix

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My Trident 80B console has a setting called Remix. What is Remix? Remix is common practice in the art of making music. It means just what it says, you take a mix of your song that may need some improvements, and you mix it again. 

In the old days and more of a specialty now, mixing a song meant having all hands on deck, working together with the faders, buttons and knobs of the mixing board, watching notes to a time line while the song was bounced to 2 track tape. It meant hours and hours of making those notes, and hours and hours of putting them into effect using the analog console, while the song played thru from beginning to end. 

Now a days, with the help of computer based recording platforms, mixing or remixing can be much more simple. I use Pro Tools, but almost any computer based program comes with automation, multi effects processing, plug in inserts and easier ways of getting the perfect mix without setting up hundreds of thousands of dollars of gear, for the mix of one song only to have to do it all over again for a remix.

What's this button do?

Tech Talk: Automation is when you program the volume, panning, and effects levels to move on their own. Multi effects processing could mean compression, reverb, delay, flange, chorus, equalization, or anything that effectively changes the characteristics of a signal or sound-wave. A plug-in is a direct insert onto a digital audio track. This is also typically an effect of some sort.

More recently, I've been implementing board mixes into my process of mixdown. A board mix is basically a mix of the old and the new. You send all of the audio outputs from the computer back to the analog mixing console. This gives you the chance to add analog EQ and outboard gear to final mixing stage. Also, just the fact that the audio signal is passing once again thru an analog source, can really warm up the sound. In the business of recording music, warmth = "Awesomer!"

The time saving part, is that I've already applied my volume changes, panning, effect levels, inserts and multi effects, inside the computer. I could then bounce the track down to 2 track tape, or bounce it down to a 2 track digital audio file such as Wav or Aiff. 

I read in a book once, mix your song, remix it, remix it again, and remix it again till it feels right. But the reality is, you should be very careful how far you go in the remix process. You don't want to lose the magic of a first or second mix. 

A quick anecdote: Michael Jackson and the engineer for the Thriller album, Bruce Swedien are mixing Billie Jean. Its the end of a long day and Quincy Jones has left for the night. Bruce and Michael work late into the night on what they believe is an absolutely fabulous mix of one of my all time favorite songs. When Quincy arrives in the morning, they're wrapping it up. They exclaim, after mix 91, they've got the perfect mix and can't wait for Quincy to hear it. Quincy says, "Let me hear this piece of shit." He got real quiet and after a moment said, "Now lets listen to mix 2." Mix 2 blew it all away and that's what went out on the Thriller album, mix 2.

WATCH Bruce Swedien talk about Billie Jean

One Way Or Another

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Taste. When it comes to recording music, taste is everything. What you like, what the musicians like, what the producers like, what the artists friends like, what the artist wife/husband/girlfriend/boyfriend like. Anyone who listens to the music is going to have an opinion. "It sounds too big! It sounds too far away. It sounds great! It sounds boring. It sounds like its on the radio." It's easy to hear things if you listen for them. Whenever I work with an artist, the first thing I do is ask them, "What are you going for? What do You want it to sound like?" 

Finding that balance of what sounds good to you and the group, and what sounds good to other listeners is always difficult. I have no control over the song if I'm just there to record and mix it. I can offer ideas of what I think will make things more appealing to someone like me, but it may or may not appeal to the one being represented by the art. I'm always invested in the music I'm working on even if I'm just there to push the buttons. I put the mics in place. I dial in the EQ or compression. I'm the first and only person between the artist and the tape machine. 

Tyrone with bass player Kyle Bruse

Art is an idea. Art is a concept. Art is the execution of a concept or an idea. Art is hard? Art is simple. Art is subjective. Art is none of the above? Whatever you perceive your art to be, it's best to be able to express it in a form that is able to be understood by those you are working with. "I want it to sound very natural. I want it to sound anthemic. I want it to sound like the Beatles. I want it to sound like The Black Keys."

John Ginty on the Porta B3 with Vintage Leslie Cabinet

I'm currently working on several projects where my influences vary. On one particular project, I'm co-producer with an artist. Tyrone came to me with a concept and I'm helping to take his song ideas and make them full band representations of  those ideas. I've called in some friends to be a part of the project and he is also bringing people to the project. Each time you add a player, the variables, the vibe and the concept, changes. For instance, we're working with a big hitter named John Ginty as the B3 organ player. John has the #3 Blues album in the nation right now. He plays with The Dixie Chicks and The Allman Brothers regularly. He is a master of his instrument and a creative genius. He takes the songs and puts in his parts, simple at first, and then fully flushed out with his own creative juices. Taking the songs to a place inconceivable to both myself and Tyrone. Now, we have a choice. Go with the simple syrup that has bits and pieces of flare, or go with the whole spice rack. Its a tough decision. I'm there as a critical ear and can offer opinions, but the choice is Ty's. I'm an enabler. 

Another project I just finished is with Dan & Rachel. We, very quickly, recorded and mixed a song for their future tour of Italy. Dan came over for the final mix on Sunday and we sat back and both thought it sounded pretty full and good. Once it arrived home, Rachel wanted a few changes which I implemented post mix session, put it in the dropbox and then it was complete. A few days later, they might want a tweak or two. Thus is life. Everyone hears it, and mixed with their own emotions, experiences or expectations, it evolves until its just right. I am a vessel. "I am merely a guide." I am that which is in-between concept and execution.

The point. Everybody's a critic, myself included. The bottom line. If you do your best and work hard for the people who are putting their trust in you, all will be well.

Double Duty

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Killy Mockstar came in the other day again to sing the final song of her EP and to mix up some tracks. We've shifted gears away from it sounding like a live record and we've headed full on into the world of effects, and Kenny G. Its true, our sax man was adamant about the Soprano Sax having a big, soft sound like that of the rarely mentioned Kenneth. Such is life.

Poison, a rollicking, punk racer of a song, was the final vocal performance and Kelly made quite a time of it. She is used to cueing the band for some of the changes which made our life a little harder since on this day, we have this Kelly and on cue/record day, we had that Kelly. One of the changes took some doing, counting, figuring and finessing. Once we got thru it though, we were home free and into the process of high fiving and talking about how awesome we are. Its what we do.

Add, Subtract, Multiply photo by Craig Schober

The psychology of voice. You have to be there for the singer. You have to make sure they feel confident and empowered. You have to tell them how good its going when it is, and how to make things even better if they need some coaching. Singing is a powerful force to wield. It takes a sophisticated delivery to tell someone what you think will make them feel or sound better. Tough stuff. Trust is where its at. If you both trust each other, things go very well. 

Mixing these tracks has taken on many forms. This record is very colorful. You have players in this band with so much talent and you want each person to be represented and even pushed forward on certain parts. I'm doing my best to get everyone's voice heard. We're getting towards the end and I believe it to be going very well.

No Time For Rest

Shifting gears.

Dan & Rachel have been in the last few days as well. The goal: Record and Mix one new song for an upcoming tour. We've been recording this track in bursts. They came over after my Killy Mockstar session on Friday. No break for this guy over here. As soon as Kelly was out the door, I was in it thick asking about what they needed and setting it up for the session.

Multiple timing shifts on a tempo map, plus a reference guitar and vocal for starters. Live drums, two electric guitar performances, piano, synth bass, double vocals for Dan and a super clean and delicate vocal for Rachel.

Casey Holford came in for the 4 hour band recording parts. He got a look at the new set up over here, which is nice for me to show off, and helped out a lot with the guitar tone choice. I put together a pretty big drum sound. Rachel is playing a steady kick and snare for the track, so I close miked both and then put in a few room mics for depth. 

Tech Talk: On the snare I used a pair of MD 421's top and bottom with LA3A inserts, on the kick I used an AKG D112 with API 550b & 527 comp insert. Placed middle into the port aimed at the beater. For the room, I used an AKG C 414 about 4 feet from the front of the kit, and then high in the room and 10 feet back, another C 414. For the guitars we chose the Mesa/Boogie Mark III. It has a full range of sounds and is easy to dial in quality tones. I put another MD 421 on the cone, and again used the C 414 for the room a few feet back. 

Daniel Voicing

At the end of our four hour session together, we had finished with the drums, guitars, bass and piano. The next day, yesterday, we spent about 2.5 hours on vocals and a percussive 1/4 note decaying delay sound that pops in and out of the track. I get such a great vocal sound over here. I know Dan and Rachel's voices so well, that I had already chosen the setup prior to their arrival. Here we also worked together on finding the right delivery. Rachel and I directed Dan, and then Dan and I directed Rachel. The outcome is impressive. 

Those two had to run off before we could mix it, so that is happening a little later today. Its mostly mixed at this point, it just needs a little fine tuning in the sense of vocal placements and levels. I added a wonderful gated reverb to the drums and then added the 1176 all buttons in technique to the drum bus. They sound HUGE! 

Perfect little Angels

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Two mornings this week, I went into the city for a remote recording project with Dan Costello and several groups of 4 year olds. We're recording holiday songs for the kids to give to their parents.

Remote setup. Cones!

A remote recording is any time a session takes place outside of the studio. In this case, it was in a preschool classroom in Tribeca. The backing tracks are already recorded and sound great. Dan Costello played the music as explained in a previous blog. The goal of these remote sessions is to capture the cute little kids voices singing the holiday songs. 

Initially we wanted to have them sing most, if not all of the songs. As things go with 4 year olds, plans change quickly and often. In rehearsing with the children the day of, it was apparent we would be lucky to get a clean and confidently sung chorus. 4 year olds have the attention span of fish. From moment to moment they are drifting off into teasing, nose picking, wanting to talk about princesses or wanting to distract Dan from singing the songs he's chosen. 

The kids were great on the first try in rehearsal, but once this tiny magical moment passed, they were kind of over it. We brought them into where the microphones were set up, a long carpeted room with high ceilings. I had two mics set up in a stereo XY pattern to capture the chaos. And that really is mostly what it was. Once Dan stopped singing along, he was trying to direct them with his arms. To which the kids emulated him masterfully. They also stopped singing and used his arm motions as an indication to dance around voicelessly. Hilarious! I just had to laugh, but it was "frustrating" in terms of trying to get a quality product. 

The calm before...

Eventually we recorded a few outtakes where Dan had them repeat after him, "Frosty the snowman!", "Dredil, Dredil, Dredil," Feliz Navidad" etc. I think now, the back - backup plan is to have the teachers come in for a session and sing along to the tracks just in case we don't have enough here to work with. We have two more days of recording with an entirely different group of kids. Oh Boy! 

Killy Mockstar day 4 the importance of Robot

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Kelly came over for another Killy Mockstar session. Mix a bit, sing a bit, opera a bit, you know, the usual.

We spent the first half of the session working on the mixes of the songs. With one song already in good shape, I created a template from this mix and added the elements and presets already created to the next batch of mixes. This helps save time on getting sounds and volumes. You basically start with where the other mix left off and tweak things accordingly. 

photo by Craig Schober

I've found thus far, the BeatBoxer's place in the mix to be the biggest challenge. He needs to be as present as a drummer, but his sonic impact is less dynamic. Finding just the right spot for him in the mix is imperative.

For the later half of the session Kelly got on the mic to add some operatic and robotic voices to a song called Robot. Its a 1984 kind of vibe about the lose of emotion and our modern day reliance on devices and such. Its important for this song to take you on the journey from being a human to turning into a robot. The operatic elements slowly build into the track have a profound impact on the story, especially in the musical breaks. The robotic voices are just that, part of the character turning into a robot and realizing how much easier it is to not have feelings. Pretty profound stuff.

Once she recorded five tracks of opera, she then added a track of robot voices. We spent a good amount of time narrowing down the sounds to the essentials for the story. Kelly has a vision for this one, and I want to help her find it. 

Previous Album Cover

As the elements came together and choices were made regarding what to keep and what to lose, the song came to life. Kelly was emotional at one point. Ok, that's not so unusual, but it is good to know its moving her. That's a good sign! 

There's one song left to sing and mix. With four songs in really good shape, we should be finished by our next session. The deadline for completion was changed because of the Rolling Stones. The release show was scheduled for Nov. 9th, but a few players from the Stones took over the place they were to play for their own private party. Bastardos! 

Rebecca Florence

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Now, I could take you thru the step by step of mastering her entire album. I did this, then I did that, and then I sprinkled it with this, etc. But I'd rather tell you a little story about Rebecca Florence and my relationship with her as Producer/Engineer and her friend.

A great picture of her that I'm sure she'll hate.

I met Rebecca at Sidewalk Cafe over a year ago. She was playing the open mic and coming up and into her own as a singer/songwriter on the piano. She's a bit of a wild child. Her style is entirely emotionally based. She puts her heart, soul, whiskey, muscle, and razor sharp vocals into every moment of her songs.

Early this year, she asked me about recording an EP, so we got together for a planned 4hr session to record several songs with vocal and piano. Now, at this point, I've seen her play at Sidewalk in front of the open mic crew several times. Its wild, sometimes frenzied, but always impassioned. That was what I was expecting for her session on my old Wurlitzer piano in the live room. I set up the mics and we tested a few choices for the vocals till we found the right fit. 

Then something magical happened. She took a deep breath, and played the most focused, intense, and honest performances I've ever heard from her. We recorded 5 songs the first day. She came in a week later and recorded several more. She's dark. She sings songs about heartache, about female empowerment, about love, friendship and Murder Ballads. Awesome!

The "I am not a Vampire" moment.

I told her at one point, this seems more like an album than an E.P. She smiled and realized for the first time, she was recording an album of all original material. Her first. She switched gears after that. Ideas started to flow for backing vocals, guest performances by Brook Pridemore and Bob Black, real record/album kinda stuff.

During the final stages of recording we talked about what the tracks wanted or needed to feel finished. As things go, once the roots of a song are recorded, you can start to imagine and envision other parts. She added some very cool harmonies, and some crazy cool sound effects, and at one point, we added a male choir funerary mass. I added a few ideas as well, and the next thing you know, we're doing the final mixdown, and now here we are, the record is mastered and ready for release. 

I'm proud of her. Its a full, fluid album with so much color and character. I played a few songs for Reginald M Lamar, and he loved it! Its also NOT an over-produced, perfectly polished and edited pickle. You know the kind. This is Rebecca Florence, with some bits of Bob Black, Brook Pridemore, a little more of her, and a dash of Brian Speaker. 

Look for I Am Not A Vampire next year, just in time for Valentines Day.

Al Calderon Pop Mix

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Al Calderon came in just over a week ago to sing his parts for his first cover release, Sarah Smiles by Hall and Oats. We captured a pretty exciting performance from the young pop star and now its time to mix it down and make it sound just right.

Like

The reference materials I received were also pretty sparse in production. One was a guitar and vocal Alicia Keys - Brand New Me (Carly Rose Sonenclar Cover), the other a piano and vocal "Breakeven"- The Script (Max Schneider (MAX) and Kurt Schneider cover). I'm really glad we went with the Wurlitzer electric piano sound, as I find it to have so much more character than those other single instruments. It also has kind of a nod to my favorite style of music, Soul music. 

I went thru Ben Pagano's smooth Wurlitzer performance and evened out the levels a bit. I added a pinch of compression and a small amount of delay on one side of the stereo image to give a bit of depth and to leave room in the center for Al's voice.

Soft Vocal on Top/Louder Vocal on Bottom

On Al's voice, I went in and literally drew up the dips in volume and drew down the peaks of his vocal performance. You'll always want compression on a pop vocal to bring up those quips and characteristics that the singers have. The problem with compression is that if you use too much it takes away the dynamics. So you compress some and then ride the fader a bit to bring up the soft, and bring down the peaks. Here's a pic of the Waveforms with and without the automation. As mentioned before, I split the vocal onto two tracks in order to effect them differently.

Vocal Volume Automation

Effecting the vocals is always tricky on such a clean and sparse track. You want the singers voice to be upfront and you don't want to hear any artifacts. Artifacts are fake sounding reverberations or reflections. I chose a Warm Vocal Plate and messed around with the characteristics until it felt just right. I noticed in the reference material that the vocals were very effected but the effect didn't last with the decay of the singers voice. It ended to leave some open space in the performance. I deduced that this was most likely a gate that quickens the decay without changing the tone and shape of the reverb. I had never used such a thing on a singer before but once I put it after the reverb on the bus channel, it worked like a charm. The reverb swelled in and out with the loudness of the performance and that was it! I also automated a touch of Hall reverb on two long spaces where it seemed a little reverb tail was needed. It sounds natural, and gives a roundness to the overall vocal.

Al and I spoke about it this morning. We're both happy with the outcome. The best part is his performance. The song has an arc and tells a story not only with the great lyrics, but also with his terrific vocal performance.

I fully expect this track to get about a million views on YouTube. Can you imagine? I also expect this track to get listened to by industry folks making big decisions on Al Calderon's career. He's on the move. He's currently shooting a movie with some big hitters which I'm not privy to tell you about, but it's kind of a big deal.

Waiting for the paint to dry.

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Preston in action.

Day off at SpeakerSonic means getting some stuff done I've been meaning to do for a while. Today, I'm painting the control room interior. The paint choice was based on Preston Spurlock's most recent painting here in the Live Room. We did an art/studio time trade for the Kung Fu Crimewave record that is sitting, 95% finished and has been since March, in a dusty oblivion. Hint hint, wink wink, nudge nudge.

So while the first coat is drying I thought I would take you on a bit of a tour of some of the art that people comment about when they visit this place. While most of the pieces are officially paid for and owned by yours truly, others are on semi-permanent loan to the collection, and I'll whine and moan to keep them for as long as I can.

Other Preston paintings are spotted throughout the space as well. Some of my favorites are the Jared Loughner collage, the Dolphin and the Drinking Fetus. (My titles, not his.)

Preston's Dolphin

Preston's Drunken Fetus

Eric Wolfson's Lincoln

Eric Wolfson is a huge fan of our American Presidents. He has painted all of them in one form or another and has left with us here the Lincoln and the Carter. He has a whole series in this sunflower color scheme. Folks are particularly fond of the Lincoln.

Adam Green's Bird Zoom

Another eye catcher is Adam Green's deconstructed Big Bird called Bird Zoom, from his Houseface collection. I acquired this on a really fun day hanging out with Adam. He showed me around his home and his art studio, and I brought home a few pieces that I liked. Bird Zoom is on display across from Preston's piece in the Live Room.



Not many folks will get to see this piece as its in a private room. But I'm also particularly proud of Toby Goodshank's Street Scene painting. Here's a pic. I bought this before his show opened in Berlin. Once I saw it, I fell in love with it. He's fantastic, and I'm fortunate enough to have a few of his collages as well.

Toby's Street Scene

There's plenty more to take in if you look around. Some great Piwi drawings, a beautiful Cora Sprengal original, a collage by Inas Al-soqi and a few Chris Urban paintings given to me by Crazy and the Brains. Next time you come by for a session you can see them. Till then, click on them and enjoy them here.

Christmas in Halloween w/ Danny Coz

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Dan Costello and I are working together on a Christmas record with the kids he teaches down in Tribeca. The goal: Record 6 backing tracks in 3hrs to bring to the school over the next two weeks, so then the kids can add their vocals. 

I had my piano guy come over to tweak my piano. I had in mind that we would be doing most of the session on piano. Of course Dan came in planning on doing mostly guitar. We changed gears and set up the guitar station. After a quick set up of some AKG C414 in a stereo pattern on the old Martin, we were ready to have a go. I also set up a dynamic mic for Dan to sing a scratch track into. We had to figure out the best way to get a clean guitar take and also a scratch vocal. After two passes of singing and playing guitar, it was apparent we were getting too much vocal in the quietly plucked guitar tracks. Dan decided to sing a scratch vocal after and then rerecord the guitar. And around and around we went.

I suggested again that we return to the piano. Dan is, by far and away, a fantastically talented pianist. A quick movement of the stereo mics into my standard placements, and we were ready to go. 

Daniel on the Piano

Set up: My old Wurlitzer piano has a lot of charm. Its very warm and buttery for an upright spinet. However, age is not without its quirks. If I open it up to mic it from the interior, there are few notes that are a bit tacky. Meaning they tick, or make noise when struck. So I mic this piano from the sound board. It has a very smooth and rich sound. It still captures the full range of the piano, and it alleviates any pedal noise or hammer ticks. I spread the mics apart, and put them right up on the board. I use my ears to find the best spots, although at this point, I've done it enough to know right where to put them. I add a room mic high in the room to capture the natural ambience of the overall instrument as well. Sounds Great!

Jingle Bells came to life like a lightning bug. Dan laid down a smooth and quintessential Christmasy sounding rhythm track and then overdubbed a simple melody track with the same set up. We both agreed, this was the way to go.

The six Christmas songs came pretty quick and easy. We maybe did two passes of each, and then the same for the melody. We can keep the melody or lose it after the kids perform. Its handy to have it in the mix for the kids to sing along too. Its like the bouncing ball.

After piano was tracked, we went back to guitar. I suggested whole note open chords. That seemed to work on the verses, but Dan felt it a little boring on the chorus'. He played another pass with a jangley strum on the chorus and the song felt much better. Then Dan played Ukulele to the Dredil song and we were finished.

We're a good team. Always have been. I enjoy working with Dan and look forward to a few more projects with him here in the near future. 

Next step is to capture the kids. No, that came out wrong. The next step is to record the kids. Then we'll add some jingle bells, badda boom badda bing, and the thing is done… after mixing = )

Killy Mockstar Day 3

SpeakerSonic

Kelly came in like a storm. She always has lot on her mind and with being a Semi-Finalist in the Andy Kaufman awards, she also has a lot on her plate right now.

We spent the first part of the session mixing one of the songs. God Wants You To Cum (GWYTC), is not the kind of song I would share with my Mother, but it does have a good moral. Its about a woman and her intent on letting you know just exactly how to get the job done.

photo by Craig Schober

MIX: I inserted some EQ, compression and a mild gate on the BeatBoxer's thumper and vocal mic. A "gate" is basically an envelope that opens and closes. It opens to let the sound thru, and closes to reduce it or cut the sound off entirely. This gives the percussion more punch and helps subdue some of the breaths and slight bleed from other instruments. A BeatBoxer isn't exactly going to sound like a drum kit, nor should it, but you want to resemble the drums as much as possible regarding the beat. Steady, pumping and moving the song along.

With the bass, I inserted EQ, added some mid-range and rolled of the bottom at 45hz. The mid boost depends entirely on the player and where they fit in the sonic spectrum regarding the drums and guitars. So I usually boost 1khz a few decibels, and then move it around till it brings out some nice details in the playing. You can hear it pop right out of the speakers when its in the right place. A compressor can keep the bass right in the center of the track as well. Slow attack, fast release and let it bump the meter around -4 to -6 then add some make up gain. I used a gate on Joe's bass as well. I've found that a gate can help shape the groove. You close the gate with the beat, so again, it helps move along the rhythm of the song. It also cleans up some unwanted string noise and between note undertones.

For Mike's guitars, we had two performances. The original live take, and the big guitar overdubs. The song has a Reggae vibe so I panned them out left and right. The subtle differences in the playing make for an interesting stereo effect. A little low mid EQ adds a world of good to fatten up a guitar sound. I sometimes boost 250hz up to 500hz depending on the sound, then roll off the lows at 150hz. Getting rid of low end leaves room for the kick and bass guitar.

On Blair's alto sax, I also added a little bit of mid low, and he had asked for an echo delay while recording. It adds a nice bit of depth to the track and we can keep him rather light in the mix since he sticks out so much in the upper frequencies. 

Next was Kelly's vocal. We used her live performance with the band. Almost no edits, easy and breezy. With Pro Tools 10 and 11, you can adjust volume within the waveform instead of automating each move. Such an easy way to even out a performance without messing with the dynamics. Lets you use a compressor for just those big notes and you don't have to go in and draw your levels anymore. I added some EQ for warmth and presence. Bumped up a little 7khz and a shelf at 10khz. Rolled off the bottom to about 120hz and gave another smidge of 300hz for warmth. I also added a very slight (9%) short delay (87 ms) with a medium feedback. This helps give the vocals a roundness, and is like an "uneffect". You don't hear any effect, but it sounds SO much better with it. Tricks of the trade. With a bit of ambient from a Vocal Plate, splish splash we're

moving on.

Backing vocals, again I leveled out the performance a bit with the waveforms. I spread them out left and right. Pamela's voice is so clean, I didn't use any reverb or anything. They sound great and with two performances, give a natural chorus effect. I tucked them behind Kelly's lead vocal and vu-ala! We're done.

We spent the second half of the day recording vocal for Robot and putting together a quick mix of Hypochondriac. There's still a few sessions to go. I'll basically use this first mix of GWYTC as the template for the entire EP. It sounds big and full. 

Outernational Vox & Comp

SpeakerSonic Studio

I received a message from an old friend on facebook about a band looking for a quick vocal recording spot ASAP. Outernational had played a midwest tour three years prior and she's kept track of them ever since. A facebook post lead to this session.

Outernational

Leo, Miles and Jesse came in late Monday to sing on the Lou Reed cover, Waiting For the Man, for a tribute project. It seems they had recorded the track a few years ago, and once the news got out that Lou had passed, they decided to dust off the cover, put some vocals on it and put it out in his honor.

The Goal: Record several takes of lead vocal and several takes of backing vocal. All comped and ready for mix down at another studio. 3hrs.

I had everything setup on their arrival. I checked out the band's music as well so as to familiarize myself with the singers style and volume. U87 sounds great on any male vocal, I added a touch of EQ and a pretty stiff compressor. The singer has a very loud and transient delivery, so I didn't want there to be any issue with distortion at peak levels. I also added a bus compressor to get the volume up to the bands loudly recorded and mixed track. 

Waiting For The Man Lyrics

Another simple trick I use for recording overdubs such as vocals and or guitars, is to bus the entire track (except for what's being recorded) to a mix bus prior to the master. This way you can adjust the band volume without effecting the volume of the vocal. Its like having one, pre master, fader that does not effect the original mix. 

Miles sang 5 passes of the song while Leo made notes line by line for his performance. This helped save a lot of time while comping. We had 95% of the song on those few passes and then Miles went back to the mic to punch in a few lines we missed. Jesse was singing a pretty great chorus in the control room while Miles was on mic, so once we finished comping the lead vocal, Jesse knocked out a nice even low harmony in a few takes. Then Leo added a high harmony. We comped the backing vocals in no time and after a bit of clean up and crossfades, the vocal tracking was complete.

Really nice guys, very easy to work with. Well organized. Everything was done on time and out the door. They seemed to like the space a lot, and that always feels good. They're playing a show with Brook Pridemore at The Paper Box Nov. 2nd.

Update: Here's the final mix: Waiting For The Man by Outernational

Killy Mockstar Day 2

SpeakerSonic Studio

With the Killy Mockstar band parts recorded, we spent the morning cleaning up small bits and overdubbing some Beatbox tracks with the "Human Drum Machine". 

Then it was onto recording one of my favorite things to do, guitar overdubs. First we did a quick acoustic track. Simple and easy, with the Martin and the U87, you can't go wrong. That was finished in a flash. Then, for the big electric sound, I used my little homemade radio amp. Its a 1940's tube radio converted into a guitar amp. It has a great overdrive if you turn it up pretty loud. I wore my earplugs for this one. I put a Sennheiser E609 up on the face just off center, and add the U87 about 5 feet back for some room. It scared off most of the crew for a short while. Mike, the guitar player, was quick and well performed so things went really quick and smooth. 

Then we found out Lou Reed died. Lou Fucking Reed. A one of a kind NY treasure. I say NY treasure because I want to feel like he was ours, but he truly was this worlds and beyond. He shaped a big part of my musical love life and it left an uneasy feeling in my heart. We all paused a moment to take it in, and then I did the only thing that I can do with news like that. I put my head down and headed full steam ahead into work.

With all of the band overdubs complete, it was time to move onto vocals. Kelly and I encouraged the band to get the F* out so we could focus. Kelly had some pretty solid foundation in her scratch vocals, which can make you feel confident knowing you've already got it good. My focus was on getting her to perform like a live show. She terrorizes audiences and its so incredible to see and hear, I myself, as a fan of their band, wanted to see and hear that. 

With a quick pep talk and a couple of swigs of whisky, we were underway. Here's a few picks which I think explain it better. We got there and then some. A little later in the day, Pamela, the backing vocalist came in to lay down her sweet sounds. She was a pro and we had a good vibe and work flow immediately. She came prepared and willing to improvise. We knocked out 2 songs of lead vocal and three songs of back ups.

We didn't finish everything in these two days. But we also didn't rush to a finish line. Kelly and I are getting back together on Tuesday and I think its good to have a day between what we've put together so far and the final mixes. I feel good about it and know the band is going to love the way Kelly Killed the Band!

xoxo - RIP - Lou Reed

Day 1 with Killy Mockstar

SpeakerSonic Studio

Take 5 A type personalities and put them in a band = Killy Mockstar.

Goal: 5 song EP, 2 10hr days.

Variables: Beatboxer, Bass, Guitar, Sax and Vocal all recorded live.

Challenging set up again for this one. The guitar and soprano sax take up a lot of sonic space in a live situation, and… a beatboxer? Yup. They want a live feel, so I put them all in the same room, but it was clear from the first roll, we had to separate the vocals. We put Killy in my control room with the window. She is responsible for a lot of visual cues, and needed to focus on the guys getting their parts. We also want to be able to manipulate her vocals easily. Maybe replace some parts, or effect them without effecting the band sound.

Killy and Superman

We acquired "The Thumper TH100 Vocomotion" throat mic to add some bass to the beatboxer's sound. Along with an MD 421 thru an API 550b bass boost and LA-3A for his spit parts, I feel pretty good about the outcome. The guitar player is using one of two very small amps for each song. Simple, I put a Sennheiser E609 in front of each on of them and built a little fort to tame the sound in the room. I ran the bass direct with an API 550b and LA3A insert, then put another MD 421 on the Sax. Great players = great outcome.

A couple of Thumpers taking a break

As things go, a few songs were harder to capture than others, but we were able to get pretty solid takes of all 5 songs plus some gang vocal overdubs and scratch mixes by the end of a long day. Of course, then I had to run out of the house with a remote system to record M Lamar's new show at La Mama. I'm tired today.

Day 2 begins today and I'm told there will be a Diva backing vocalist to prepare for. Are you kidding, after working with 5 Divas, I'm prepared for anything. Hardy har-har, just jokes, wink wink, nudge nudge. No but seriously, I'm afraid!

"Pop" Vocal with Al Calderon

Producers Corner - SpeakerSonic Studio

Today's session was with an up and comer making his way through the entertainment machine. Al Calderon was a featured performer on The X Factor recently. A mutual friend of ours put us together to work out a recording for future release. My role, producer & engineer. Al's role, sing his ass off.

Sarah Smiles, by Hall and Oats, has made a comeback with the help of Al and the television show. His performance led to hoards of fans and his star is on the rise. 

Posing for a picture

I put Al in a room with Ben Pegano for a rehearsal. My idea was simple, get that old school Wurlitzer electric piano sound with a clean and well performed vocal. I had a sound in my head and thought Ben, with his soul and keys background, would be the perfect match. After a shaky, feeling each other out rehearsal, there was some uncertainty. I barreled ahead with Ben coming in the next day and he laid down a smooth and dynamic performance on the first take. We recorded several more takes after that, but we ended up using 90% of the first take. WTG BP!

Al loved the track and came in to sing a week later, that being today. I warmed him up a bit with some scales and his voice was right where it needed to be. Al has a great voice. Its very clean and he can throw down a riff. It took a take or two to get the headphones and levels just right because on a track like this, where the vocal is wide open, the singer needs to be able to hear every single breath and nuance of the performance. The soft parts have to be loud enough, and the loud parts have to not overdrive the input, nor blow out the ear drums.

Today's setup; U87 with -10db pad, into the Trident. Outboard inserts; API 550b with a boost in the bass, LA-3A compressor edging off the peaks, API 550b with a reduction in the bass. This is a similar principle to a previous session. Boost the bass on the way to the compressor so the compressor leaves the high frequencies buoyant. Then reduce the bass after, leaving a very tasty and lively sound.

Photo by Alex Beaufort

For Al's headphone mix, I added a touch of reverb, and then a very heavy compressor "in the box". I simply set up an Aux and bus it to the channel. The actual recorded track would not be squashed, but in order to feel and hear all of those little vocal breaths and do dads that pop vocals love, we had to compress it for the headphone mix. The song is Very dynamic, the soft parts are practically whispers and the loud parts are like Stevie Wonder. You can't expect a singer to whisper, and then not hear themselves. You also can't have them wail, and blast out their hearing. 

For the mix, which still needs to be finished, I'm creating two separate vocal tracks. One will be for the soft stuff, and one will be for the louder stuff. I can compress them differently according to how they need to sit in the track and then I'll adjust for volume accordingly to maintain a linear sound. ~ adjust my nerd glasses ~

He sang the shit out of the song, it sounds Fantastic, and I'm glad to have worked with him. He's humble, cool, talented and he's doing some pretty great things. Success!!

I'll post a link to the track when it "drops".

Jesse Cannonball Statman - lofi Experiment

SpeakerSonic Studio

Jesse Cannonball Statman is a quirky, non-traditional, singer/songwriter with a unique set up. His guitar is… different. His songs are different too. He is, IMO, the perfect subject for this experiment.

I've been kicking around this idea of using the mic input on my crappy old hand held tape recorder as a vocal mic. It has an interesting tape saturation/distortion sound. I was hoping to plug into the mic input, but I couldn't find the one particular cable I needed. DAG! So I just taped the tape recorder to a mic stand and used the internal mic. It has less frequency range than plugging a decent mic into the unit, but the principles are the same. The input is overdriven, it hits the tape heads and produces a broken up, compressed, colorful lofi sound.

On the guitar I used a junky old webcor mic into a mediocre ART Tube MP. I cranked the Input and the +20db switch to get a crunchy sound there as well. That was sent DI thru the Trident console.

For Jesse's guitar, he uses a nameless broken open hollowed out "semi acoustic" guitar in which he places a drum mic for live amplification. To his mic, I added EQ and Distortion and sent it into my old handmade Tube amp (made from a 1940's radio). I added two room mics, one in front of Jesse  and one high up in the room for ambience and to pick up some nuances that you just can't get with close mics from a guy like Jess Cannonball Statman. He moves incessantly. 

I have this old tape delay I thought might be right for a few songs so we added that into Jesse's vocal chain with an on/off foot switch. What a wonderful tool in this world of tape and saturation and warmth. It ended up adding a tinge of noise to the input, but this is lofi, so who cares. It also added a world of good to the songs!

For the mix, I spread the Room mics out far Left and Right, to get a nice stereo image of the room and so I could also avoid using many effects in post. Jesse asked for a bit of reverb on his guitar so I put a "Warm Plate" in the bus and we sprinkled in a small amount. The guitar tone is a blend of the miked up amplifier and the preamped mic placed in front of his actual instrument. It gets a lot of meat from the amp, and gets the quick paced strum patterns of Jesse's "semi acoustic" sound. The Vocal has a pinch of delay and EQ in post. Just classic room sound and tape delay when pressed. I think it sounds crazy good. Its probably not as far out as I'd like to go… eventually. But with what I have kicking around here, I'm very happy with the outcome. I'm anxious for others to hear it to see what you think. Here's one of the songs.

Tiger by Jesse Cannonball Statman