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Lately, I’ve had the chance to talk to several photographers about their businesses and one major theme in all their situations is they are shooting a wide variety of subjects. They are photographing weddings, family portraits, babies, musicians, seniors and fashion models. It’s very apparent that…
2012
Lots of plans for 2012. Songs being mixed. Guitars being tracked. Records being made. Stay tuned.
31 South and Dan Heermance
Two projects coming up that I am very excited about.
1. 31 South. This is the band that I play in. We are kind of like Whiskey Town meets a little bit of modern country meets Steve Earle and then talks with Ryan Adams and John Mellencamp. I am expecially excited to be recording with this band because we will be tracking everything in an old Methodist church in downtown Spring Hill. I called in a few favors and pieced together a great mobile rig (API’s, Manley Pres, monitor system) to capture what is sure to be an incredible and fun day. The idea to track outside of the normal studio setting came out of my current research and passion about recording music the way it is supposed to sound. For 31 South, we are a live, raw, jam band. So what better place to record than in an old church with everyone in the same room just rocking out. Messy? Yes. Controlled? No. If everything turns out half as cool as it sounds in my head, we will created a really cool project.
2. Dan Heermance. Dan and I started writing last weekend for his worship project. We will be tracking most of the EP at The Brown Owl out in Berry Hill, however, we may do a track or two at the same church I am recording stuff with 31 South. I have been digging deep into some out of the box worship groups like Ascend The Hill, The Ember Days and Lovlite, as has Dan. Our goal is to create a unique, spacious and powerful set of songs. Dan really wants to take the experiences he has had in his life recently as a youth and worship leader and translate them into songs he can share with those kids. Really, he wants to tell his story. And I like to help people tell their stories. Very excited about this project and cannot wait to hit the studio.
That is it for now. Check out my production page on Facebook and check out some of the great artists listed above.
New Projects Brewing and Compression
First off, I am excited to announce that I am in the pre pre-production stages for my next project. I won’t announce names quite yet, but I am extremely excited to be working with this individual and even more excited about finally making it over to the Brown Owl Studio in Berry Hill. More to come next week,
Second (and finally I suppose), I have been doing a lot of research on compression. This research was sparked by a conversation with the talented Dustin Burnett, finishing up the EP with Chad Jarnagin and digging through the book Behind The Glass. Compression is a tricky thing. I realized that my natural tendency is to over-compress while tracking. This can cause some major issues in the long run when you get down to editing and mixing. Dont get me wrong, I love a tight, compressed, fat snare sound but that does not mean I need to squash the mess out of it up front. Guys like Glen Ballard, Elliot Scheiner, Phil Ramone rarely used compression even when they moved over to digital recorders. The problem with music today, and to our ears, is that we are used to hearing that super compressed sound. Again, I do love that sound, but I believe there is something to just letting the tracks and instruments breathe.
Compression can cause loads of problems while you are tracking, especially while tracking drums. You over compress the kick and the snare is bleeding through like mad. You over compress the snare and all you hear is hi-hat. You over compress the vocal and you take away any dynamic range that may have been there. All of this to say, my goal is to back off on the compression up front. You can always add it later on. You cannot, however, take it away once you have it recorded.
Behind The Glass - Never Stop Learning
I knew when I was in 8th grade that I wanted to be in a studio. I did not care how I got there, I just knew I needed to be there. So, I started researching and learning as much as I possibly could about recording. I remember my friend Scott and I got our hands on some cheap Shure drum mics, some Samson studio monitors, a mixer and CakeWalk and spent all of our free time recording. Laughable does not even touch the surface of how bad those recordings sounded, but it was a starting point. It was hands on experience. It was also social suicide…but that is for a different type of blog.
One of the first books I picked up on recording was a book titled Behind The Glass by Howard Massey. In this book, Massey interviews 37 different producers and engineers including George Martin, Phil Ramone, Glen Ballard and Brian WIlson. At the time, I had no idea what half of the gear they were talking about in the book even was. I had never seen an LA-2A or a U47 or an API Console. And yet, this book was incredibly inspiring to me. All of these producers sharing in detail how they made timeless records. For most of them, the sounds they created simply came out of their love for music. It was not so much about a technique, although they are all extremely talented in that regard, but the feeling. It was about hearing something and recognizing the power behind that sound. It was about seeing the bigger picture, the finished product. It was about seeing the heart of an artist and helping them make that into an album.
I decided a few days ago to pick it back up and read it again. With the technical knowledge I have now, this book is seriously changing the way I think about recording. In fact, I can already tell you that it has changed the way I will approach engineering the next time I step foot in the studio.
Two points I am trying to get to here. First of all, keep learning. Use the crappy gear, read a book or two, watch some videos, etc. You will never reach a point where you know everything there is to know about recording. Second of all, if recording is not about the music for you or it ever becomes not about the music, just stop. Don’t make records. It will just be noise and there is plenty of noise out there already. This is just as much of a challenge to me as it is to anyone else who may come across my blog. I want to make records because I love to make records.
Check out Behind The Glass if you have the time. I promise it is worth a read.
Michael Brauer
Michael Brauer has mixed everyone from Cold Play, to John Mayer, to Dylan, to the Stones and Copeland. He is widely known for using what is called parallel compression, more specifically five parallel compressors. I had not even heard of parallel compression until researching Brauer, let alone five parallel compressors. Rather than try to explain, here is the definition on Wiki.
Michael is also known for the amount of analogue gear he uses. The dude has a sick amount of gear. On top of that, he had some guys come in and customize his SSL 4000 desk he uses to his exact liking. For the record, even as I type these things, I am looking up information so I know what I am talking about.
The thing that I love about Brauer’s mixes is that you can tell they are his. Once I realized what albums he had worked on, I could totally hear the fat, warm tone he brings out on each of the albums. How bad ass is it to be the guy that freaking Cold Play calls and says, “Hey Mike, we want you to mix our record”?
Brauer’s drum sounds in particular are some of my favorite that I have ever heard. They have this over-driven yet tight sound that sits perfectly in his mixes. And of course, his crazy parallel compression technique creates a perfect vocal.
As I spend more and more time researching the people who work on my favorite albums, the more inspired and energized I become to really make something of my dream. I want to be that go to guy! I want to be known for my sounds whether it be mixing, engineering or production.
I am very thankful for the people who have taken the time to critique what I am working on and show me how I can do things even better. I know that the only way to sharpen my craft is to take criticism and advice with excitement and not become prideful. Someday, I hope that I am not the only go to guy for work but the go to guy for young guns who are looking for a mentor to help teach them about the recording world.
All Music Dot Com & Stepping Away From the Mix
I spent some time today listening to mixes that I love. I landed on the Goo Goo Dolls Gutterflower album for quite awhile and realized I had no idea who had worked on that record. The album was produced by Rob Cavallo, who is currently working with Paramore and has worked on at least a dozen other records that I love…which lead me to AllMusic.com. All Music is an incredible website that lists the credits on just about every project known to man. I was able to look up Rob and find, in detail, who worked on Gutterflower. For me, knowing who worked on an album is very cool. FIguring out different mixing engineer or producer’s style, seeing how many guys were in the studio, seeing if the band actually played on the album: all of these things can be found by piecing information together from All Music (and occasionally Wikipedia). The moral of this first section is learn about the people who work on the albums you love. You never know what you might learn.
On a somewhat related note, my All Music scramble today started with me taking a second to step away from the mixes I have been listening to for the past week. After you listen to a song fifty times, you start to pick out every little thing you dislike rather than focus on the moments that take you somewhere in a song. You may come back a few days later and still feel the same about that mix, but at least you took the time to re-evaluate your biases and frustrations.
So, step back, take a breath, listen to projects that you love, learn about who worked on those projects and then get back to work.
** I also discovered that Glyn Johns is working on the new Ryan Adams record. Just look at his credits…unreal.
Watch Out Blog World
I am back. And better than ever.
I have been wanting to start a new blog for a while now that focused on studio projects, music business, engineering stuff and my general theories of being awesome. I am excited about the projects I have in the works ranging from Kickstarter and Online marketing campaigns, to finishing up an incredible project with Chad Jarnagin.
I look forward to more discussions, more blogs, more studio time and more dreaming about the future of music.
