The "Record" light is on...

uh

2010-06-01T06:44:00.001-07:00

www.electraplay.com

NEW SITE

2010-06-01T06:42:00.000-07:00

So finally, the new electraplay site is up and running. As part of our new site, we will be regularly updating all of the new happenings via our news page. Check it out! As a result, this page will self destruct in 48 hours. Big things are planned this summer...so stay tuned!

Holy Diver

2010-05-17T09:45:00.001-07:00

It had to be around 1984 and I can vividly recall hanging out in Kayle Kiener's warehouse listening to music that we had each brought in as examples of the "kinds of songs we wanted to write". Kayle was the metal head in the group and he had a cassette of Dio's "Holy Diver". I knew of Dio from his days with Black Sabbath after Ozzy left, but had not heard of this solo project. The first song that stuck out to me was "Rainbow in the Dark". Of course, that song went on to become one the 4 or 5 standard tunes that every guitar player in the day learned to play. Holy Diver was also one of the early metal albums to really incorporate synths, which eventually became the norm in 80's metal. Dio was one of those artists who wasn't super well known in the mainstream, but every fucking guy who was even remotely into metal or played metal music not only knew who he was, but regarded him as a metal god.

Ronnie James Dio died yesterday at the age of 67.

Happenings

2010-04-09T10:43:00.000-07:00

Town Monster begins "dress rehearsals" tonight at the studio for their 4/30 CD Release Show. We will also be recording their set....just for the hell of it.
National Act "Maps and Atlases" will be in Monday to record a few demos while out on tour. We had Dave in last winter with Good Old War and it will be nice to see him again.
The Mors Ontologica live session airs on WCRS' Local Pop on Weds, the 14th.
Sleepers Awake begin pre-production on their new album on the 17th. Looking foward to having them back in.
GEU returns on the 24th for a new round of tunes.
HRGQ comes in May 1st for their 3rd record.

Someone mentioned a TFS reunion this spring but that is yet unconfirmed.

2010-04-02T05:54:00.001-07:00

Listen to Mongrel.....

http://thetownmonster.bandcamp.com/album/ohio-sessions-ep-02-february

The Town Monster....

2010-04-02T05:06:00.000-07:00

we will be recording "Valhalla" as a bonus track next week.....my personal favorite. I love this version as well. Autumn People will be released April 30th and supported by a live show at Circus. More to come...

http://thetownmonster.bandcamp.com/track/valhalla

Going Deaf

2010-03-29T10:49:00.000-07:00

I have no doubt that I am going deaf. Although this will become just another annoyance to the people that I have regular contact with, it is certainly bound to become one of the more frustrating "quirks" that I exhibit....that is constantly responding to people with "Huh?". I realized last week that I had to continually ask my business associates to repeat themselves, particularly in public places where the ambient noise is louder than normal. I ended up trying to read lips as well as I listened intently but it didn't help. My grandmother and father are both virtually deaf so I suppose it is a genetic predisposition. Of course, all of the years of loud music hasn't helped I'm sure. Naturally, I'm blind without contacts and that sucks too. Given the choice though, I would rather go deaf than blind.

I read an interesting article this week in Scientific American about how music actually affects your sense of taste. So certain music will either enhance or dull the taste of certain foods. Additional research is to come, but many high level restaurants are of course very interested in this.

With the exception of my brother-n-law, I never met anyone named Adam who I liked.

The silence is deafening

2010-03-18T06:07:00.000-07:00

I knew weeks ago that last night would be special. James and I have worked with and become friends with all 5 of the bands that were playing. We have become friends of their friends and of their friends' friends. From the moment I walked into Skully's last night until the minute I departed, I was surrounded by a huge community of people who I realized I had become very close to. These were people who support each other and genuinely care about one another. There is this incredible sense of camaraderie and partnership that I always hoped would exist in the local music scene and I saw it so clearly last night. And it is so real.

As I drove home last night, I turned off the radio and tried to reflect on the evening's events in silence. The ever present ringing in my ears though remained and I knew then as much as I ever have, that I can never turn off the radio.

9:30

2010-03-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder that tonight's show starts at 9:30 with the Blastronauts. I encourage you to come. Would be nice to see old friends.

Seeing Green...

2010-03-16T12:59:00.000-07:00

So this Wednesday is St. Patrick's Day. Historically, I've never been one to really celebrate this occasion since I drink plenty on most nights, but I'm looking forward to this year's event. On Weds night, all of my favorite bands that I have had the pleasure of recording will be playing at Skully's...for free! Monolithic Cloud Parade, Lost Revival, Town Monster, Blastronauts and The George Elliot Underground!! I can't think of a better lineup and in order to ensure I am able to attend, I have cleared my normally double booked schedule on Thursday.

I can recall probably around 93 or 94....Ishkabibble playing Ruby Tuesday's on St. Patrick's Day. They did it every year and always had this "little person" dressed up as a leprachaun who danced around for the entire show. That same leprachaun use to hang out in the short north all the time. He would come into all of the bars and everyone would always buy him liquor because it was so funny to see him get wasted. A little freaky for sure but.....Good Times. I'm sure that little leprechaun drunk is dead now but I will honor his memory as I sip a fine Irish Stout this St. Patrick's Day.

Justice for All

2010-03-12T05:07:00.000-08:00

It has been two weeks since I last had chest pains but that near record accomplishment came to an end this morning. As I departed for work, I decided that I had heard enough of the latest Sade record and rummaged through one of the cabinets in the garage for something to listen to. Naturally, 90% of the CD's in there were CDR's that were unmarked, which is sometimes fun to go through because I never know what old recording will turn up. But remarkably, I did manage to find a practically new, unscratched version of Metallica's "Justice for All" (see last post as this album is in my top 10 of all time).

Bill, Don, Christy, Tally, Ron and I used to rock out to this record on a daily basis circa 1989. We each had specific songs that we would air drum and "sing" to. I remember loving doing air drums to "justice for all" and Christy would do "shortest straw". Bill would lip sync "Blackened" and we would all freak out at how "perfect" he did it. It's funny because I remember so little of that time yet when this album went in, so much of it came back to me.

What a great way to start a Friday morning. My heart is racing..my ears hurt already... and I made it to work in half the time. Nothing like a 40 year guy racing down 670 listening to Metallica in his Volvo. Good Times.

My favorite top 10 albums of all time...

2010-03-08T10:23:00.000-08:00

Although I am clearly old and mostly out of touch with today's music scene (I leave that responsibility to James), I have been thinking about the albums that have influenced me the most in terms of both musicianship and sonics. I'm not even going to try and list them in terms of what I think is best from top to bottom, but here are my top 10 in absolutely no particular order, understanding of course that with the exception of a couple, this list could change dramatically depending on the day you ask:

London Calling - The Clash
Dark Side of the Moon -Pink Floyd
Us - Peter Gabriel
Duran Duran - Duran Duran
Operation Mindcrime - Queensryche
Justice for All - Metallica
Soul Cages - Sting
Blood Sugar Sex Magic - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Mr. Bungle - Mr. Bungle
Lost Tribe - Lost Tribe

Stupidest things ever heard.....

2010-03-02T12:09:00.000-08:00

A friend reminded me recently of a question he naively asked me about a year or so ago that at the time, I thought was hysterical. I still do. No fault of his though and I shouldn't laugh. I mean there is no such thing as a dumb question right? I guess even from musicians who should know better..... here are a few I have heard over the past couple of years that come to mind...starting with my aforementioned friend's question.....

Scenario #1
Q: So I finally got these new stereo speakers for my home stereo but I can't figure out where to plug them in?
A: You plug them into the back of your receiver with the speaker wire.
Q: I know that man, I'm asking about how to I plug them into power outlet in the wall?
A: My god......

Scenario #2
Bassist of a really good rock band is getting ready to lay down his tracks in the live room downstairs. I mic him up and tell him I will be talking to him from upstairs. I go up to the control room and start playing back the track, adjusting sends and asking him if he can hear me. No response from him at all. I have the room mic on and I can hear him fine so I know it isn't that. I keep turning knobs and scratching my head. I can't figure out why he can't hear the music. Finally, I walk down to the live room and see that he didn't put the headphones on.

Scenario #3
My "assistant" (one guess who this is)...calls me a few weeks back in a panic because he is ready to record a live session and there is nothing playing through the speakers. He has checked and double checked everything...or so he thought. "Did you turn the power amp on?" "Oh.....cool"

State of the Union

2010-03-02T09:34:00.000-08:00

Last night, I read a rather lengthy post on www.gearslutz.com from an anonymous "well known producer" who had a few harsh things to say about the current state of the music industry and the associated affect on studios and freelance engineers/producers. Essentially, his contention was that the proliferation of the Internet and illegal downloading has led to the demise of the industry. He cited the fact that there are only 4 major record labels left in the world and studio after studio closures (including Abbey Road, although it was recently saved by the British Government) are putting professionals out of work. He went on to absolutely discourage anyone from choosing this as a profession.

First of all, illegal downloading isn't hurting the artists, it is hurting the labels, distributers, retailers and everyone in between. Artists have never made anything off of record sales anyway. For years, the labels lined their pockets with the artist's product and never thought twice about how they were taking advantage of them. My bet is on the fact that this "producer" spent his career as a corporate hired puppet of the labels that took advantage of artists at every turn and now he is bitching because his "services" are no longer required.

The fact is, music is richer and more accessible today than ever before and anyone can get in on the game. The resources of a label or a multi-million dollar studio is no longer required and we are all the better for it. Engineers and Producers who understand that the game has changed and are willing to embrace it will acheive greater success than ever before. Although technology now allows anyone with a pc or mac to record an album, software will never replace knowledge and that is the difference.

I'm guessing most people involved in music feel like I do....that this is something that we have to do...not something we ever chose to do. In the past 6 months, I have been exposed to more new music than I had during the entire 80's and 90's. That's a good thing, no?

Winter = Snow

2010-02-22T05:12:00.000-08:00

This winter has sucked. But it is winter and it does snow (I have to think Mr. Jacob Halpern for pointing this out recently on facebook). Prior to the snowpocalypse, we were very priviliged to have The Entrance Band come in for a session while on tour. First of all, I had never heard of The Entrance Band (maybe because I'm 40?) but I had heard of Paz Lenchantin, who is the bass player for said band. Paz played on the first two albums with A Perfect Circle and was in Billy Corgan's Band Zwan after Smashing Pumpkins. First of all, she is hot. Secondly, she makes me question why I would ever even attempt to play bass. She is simply fantastic and it was a pleasure to have them in. They worked on a new demo, yet unheard by anyone, and it was cool to be part of that. Here I am with Paz. By the way, James and Michelle have both forbidden me from wearing this sweatshirt or any athletic oriented clothing to future sessions where cameras may be present.

Next up, we had The George Elliot Underground in for a 3 song session. These are the guys who have been actively attempting to corrupt my protege James for the past 4 months for late night parties and various excursions that are unmentionable via this blog. Suffice it to say, it was one of the best times I have had in a long time in the studio. They are just so much fun and and it comes across in their music. They have an incredible following in Columbus and if you ever get a chance to see them live, you must. I have a feeling one of the tunes we recorded this month will be on the radio real soon. Here we are after wrapping up the mixing session this weekend....(note that I did not wear any sweatsuit related items).

In the next couple of weeks, we plan on getting a media page together to finally showcase all the great bands we have recorded in the past year. We have tons of material, including alot of video that we need to share. For now, we are just trying to make it til spring....

February.....ALREADY?

2010-02-01T13:40:00.000-08:00

My god, it has been since Nov since my last post? Well, time flies and I'm lazy apparently. There has been way too much going on to report on right now, but suffice it to say that we have been very busy. Some great national bands such as Annuals, Goold Ole War, Crystal Antlers, Cast Spells, Hacienda and Lovedrug have been in and we have had a great time with those sessions. The Town Monster album "Autumn People" was completed and is set to be released within the next couple of weeks. James and I have been producing radio segments that should be airing very soon on WCRS and just a whole lot more is in the works.

2010 will be a great year. Sometimes I forget that I'm 40 though.

Full Belly Food Drive, corporate branding and the mystery of soundchecks

2009-11-12T06:20:00.000-08:00

Last night was the Full Belly Food Drive at Skully's, sponsored by CD101 and us. Let's be honest, I typically avoid late night excursions during the week but given the cause, our sponsorship and the great bands that were playing...I just had to go. It was a great turn out and we collected a ton of food for the mid-ohio food bank. Thanks to everyone for supporting the cause!

For those of you who are a little confused over our corporate branding strategy, all I can say is...so are we! We have probably 4 variations of our name and several iterations of logos to boot. We are going to nail it down this week though...maybe we will have to take a vote.

I really dig Skully's. It is a perfect venue for live music and the people that run the place are great. The bill featured Blastronauts, Town Monster and The Lost Divide. I think there were about 7 video cameras going so there should be some really good footage online soon. For me, the highlight of the show was Town Monster. Obviously, I've been talking quite a bit about them all summer but last night was really the first opportunity I had to see them play a Venue like Skully's, with great sound and ambience. They absolutely Killed!

Finally...there is something incredibly cool about any band that can take the stage without a sound check and still rock.

Newest News

2009-11-03T05:03:00.000-08:00

So it has been awhile since our last update and quite a bit has been happening....first off, the Town Monster album is nearly done. We are targeting the next two weeks for final mastering and then we'll be spreading the word for a special listening party at the studio. There will also be a cd release show coming up, so stay tuned for that.

We've had several other acts come through in October and recently just set up our video capabilities. In support of their CD release this Friday at Scarlet & Gray, we recorded a live session last Saturday with Sleepers Awake. This session will be on Local Pop, which is on WCRS at 9pm on Weds, Nov 4th. We will have the video of one of those songs up on myspace, facebook and on electraplay.com, right after the show airs. I really dig this band and they sound phenomenal. James and I concluded last night after listening to the live sessions that they are the tighest live band we have seen to date in Columbus.

Next week, we will be filming an infomercial of sorts for the studio..Bill has done a great job with figuring out all of this video technology. Last night, we tested the green screen and I got to do Weather. If you know me at all, I'm sure you can imagine how much I enjoyed that. In all seriousness, I would make one hell of a weatherman. Anyway, if anyone knows any spokesmodels, send them our way!

hella good

2009-10-07T13:06:00.000-07:00

So the tedious process of editing down tracks for mix is well underway for Town Monster. This is an interesting time in the process because you have to remain disciplined. I have a tendency to want to move fast, especially when ideas hit me and I've tried hard to resist that urge over the past few weeks. This part of the process involves core editing and basic tonal shaping both on individual instruments and in the context of the entire mix. As much as I want to just dig in and start banging out mixes, I am trying to be careful to make sure the foundation is solid before adding any signficant "production".

In the past, I remember all the additive things I would try to do to mixes, to make them sound more "pro", I guess would be one descriptor. Rarely though did that approach prove fruitful. I'm finding more and more that taking a more "subtractive" versus 'additive" approach ends up sounding better and ultimately reveals the true essence of the song. It is also fair to say that this is a much more difficult process to master. I think we all have a tendency to be more additive than subtractive in most of our daily lives. Of course, having great musicians and songwriters doesn't hurt.

Last night, we did listen to several different CD's of all sorts of different genres, just to dicuss different production approaches and techniques, etc. I was really pleased with 2 things in particular, 1. even unfinished, the TM stuff is standing up to everything we listened to and 2. their "sound" is unique and distinctive. It is the essence of who they are and you can feel it when you listen.

Lastly, one of the songs we listened to was "Hella Good" by No Doubt. Whether you like them or not ( i don't like Gwen's lyrics) that song is probably the single best mixed pop song I have ever heard, period. Just listen to it.

Galileo

2009-09-21T05:31:00.000-07:00

Last week must have been the unofficial start of the 09-10 flu season and it kept me down most of the week. Finally though, on Friday, we were able to resume tracking vox for Town Monster and we managed to get a couple of tracks completed. The guys had most of Sleepers Awake over during the session, along with Jacob from Blastronauts, so with 10 or so of us there, we were able to set up a couple room mic's in the live room and do gang vox on Guantanamo. I love gang vox and was really impressed with the natural verb coming from the live room. On Saturday, I was able to start the premixes and things are really sounding good!

Earlier in the week, The Outer Sounds sessions were featured on the hour long "Local Pop" segement on WCRS. Pat interviewed James and Jacob and they played various cuts from the sessions we've been doing all summer. It looks like it may turn into a regular gig which is really cool. Of course the show ended with a little tune from Truth for Sanity, which was a particular surprise to me and was a much appreciated pick me up during the week of flu.

Finally, Blastronauts played the Independents festival downtown on Saturday, which James helped to organize. I wasn't able to attend personally, but hear it was a smash. Jacob heads back to Boston next week, so we will be working on a couple new Blastronauts tracks early this week before they have their CD Release show on Thursday at Oldfield's on High. (check out the article this week in Columbus Alive)

http://www.columbusalive.com/live/content/features/stories/2009/09/17/ca_m_locals.html?sid=108

They then go off to Athens and Cincy for a couple shows before Jacob heads back. Of course, we'll be continuing to work on Town Monster later in the week and we have a solo artist coming in on Saturday to do a couple of demos. It is going to be a busy week!

Town Monster tracking continues and a special surprise guest appears!

2009-09-14T06:32:00.000-07:00

Each night last week was dedicated to recording vox tracks for the new Town Monster record. We also worked a bit on guitar and that experience was really interesting. There are only about 3 or 4 tracks on the album which feature any guitar, but in each of those, the guitar is a critical element of the track. For live use and on the demo, Nate uses some old digitech (i think) "all in one" effects box thingy. When Bill and I first heard the scratch tracks of it at work on the tune "Silkworm", we were pretty impressed with the tone and overall feel of it. We thought we would go for that sound, but only better on the record, so we spent quite a bit of time messing with the Boogie gear we have, various mic'ing techniques, boxes, etc. Suffice it to say that the $50 FX box sounds 1000 times better for that song than anything we could squeek out of the Mesa. $50 FX box versus $3,500 in Amps and $50 FX box wins! No shame in that. I can't wait to hear from the gearslutz who want to inquire on how we got that incredible tone...

On Friday night, we continued working on the vox tracks and burned off some rough stems to evaluate over the weekend. For where we are at this point in the process, I think we are all pretty thrilled with the sound we are getting. Nate's vocals are so dynamic and inspiring. It is going to be alot of fun to mix.

And then, around 9pm..Sidwell showed up with a special guest...Kate from the Two-Bit Terribles!! I could write a book about the TBT's and our time together but will spare everyone that entire story for now. I will say that Kate has been in Morocco for the past two years and was visiting her sister here in town. Unfortunatley, a recent tragedy with the loss of her brother n law was the catalyst in bringing her here but she is doing well and it was great to see her. We spent some time catching up and we watched the TBT documentary that we filmed a few years back. Good times....even with all of the drama. Anyway, Kate let us know that when she returns to the states in November, they are to have an official "Band Meeting", so I guess we'll see what happens with that.

I like big checks...literally.

2009-09-01T08:17:00.001-07:00

So a few months ago, we wrote and recorded a jingle for a Titan Insurance contest. Titan is part of Nationwide and Bill's girlfriend works there, so she was eligible to enter. We wrote the song, recorded it, and shot a video all in a weekend and entered. Weeks have gone by with no updates and we sort of forgot about it.

Yesterday, Kathy was called to a "mandatory meeting" where she was announced to be the winner and was awarded this special check. I've always wanted a check like this. Probably a little too obnoxious to hang in the studio, but how cool.

Anyway, I can't get that jingle out of my head now. I hope this isn't what our music career has culminated with...becoming jingle writers. Then again, at $5K a pop, I shouldn't complain.

The Town Monster

2009-08-31T12:28:00.001-07:00

Well, my first blog posting ever and I'm already disappointed that I can't choose "Calibri" as a font. Nevertheless, here we go...

I suppose the intent of this blog will be to chronicle the various happenings in the studio as well as happenings out of it. Probably an occassional rant or two and more than one observation that will likely get me into trouble from time to time. Oh well, such is the life of a blogger.

This past weekend, we had "The Town Monster" come in and start tracking their first full length album. I had originally met these guys (Nate, Matt & Mike) back in the spring when they came in to do an Outersounds podcast with James. I was immediately drawn to them because of their extensive use of synths. I'm a child of the Big 80's and synths haven't been that prevalant in mainstream music since, well...the 80's. But it wasn't just the synths, they are great musicians and infuse quite a bit of jazz and rock into their songs, all of which are hooky and memorable. Best of all, they are absolutely great guys! I was really impressed with how well the 3 of them interacted with each other and just how courteous they are. That is probably the single biggest obstacle to most bands' success is just being able to manage getting along with each other. (That is...aside from being able to write decent songs and just not sucking in general)

I was really looking forward to this project and I can honestly say that the sessions this weekend exceeded any expectations that I had. We spent somewhere between 26-28 hours over 3 days banging out tracks and we made great progress. Drums are always the most tedious, but I think we got some of the best drum sounds I have ever gotten on this session. They were absolute warriors on Saturday, banging out all 9 tunes with drums and bass. I'm jealous of Mike's bass playing. He has a Tobias bass, which sounds incredible and he plays it beautifully.

Yesterday though was the best....a room full of keyboards, soft synths and computers that would have made Nick Rhodes proud. Here is Nate with just a few of them...

Tonight, we are mixing down what we have in order to evaluate over the next week or so. I'll be out of town for a few days and we will pick back up after Labor Day...I already can't wait.