Joe D’Ambrosio Management (NY) Opens European Office

Joe D’Ambrosio, founder and CEO of Mamaroneck, NY-based producer/mixer management firm Joe D’Ambrosio Management, Inc. (JDMI)  has announced the opening of a European office based in Paris, France: Joe D’Ambrosio Management/Europe.

Joe D'Ambrosio has expanded to Europe.

Former EMI Continental Europe and Capitol France executive Emily Gonneau will be running the European office as liaison between the JDMI roster and their European clientele. Ms. Gonneau is a graduate of the Sorbonne and speaks English, French, Spanish and German.

Now in its 10th year of operation, Joe D’Ambrosio Management represents such talent as Tony Visconti, Hugh Padgham, Elliot Scheiner, Kevin Killen, Joe Zook, Larry Gold, Rob Mounsey and Thom Monahan among others.

JDMI’s clientele have worked with U2, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Katy Perry, Rihanna, David Bowie, Beyonce, OneRepublic, Foo Fighters, Paul McCartney, Sting, Shakira, Pink, Kaiser Chiefs, Peter Gabriel, Morrissey, Ayo, Raphael, Norah Jones, Modest Mouse, Beck, Justin Nozuka, The Roots, Fujiya & Miyagi, Little Joy, Angelique Kidjo and hundreds of others.

On The Record: The Madison Square Gardeners’ “Teeth of Champions”

LOWER MANHATTAN: While so many Brooklyn bands are trying to figure out new ways to distort, drown and fuzz out their sound in the studio, the Madison Square Gardeners are crafting hi-fi records in the spirit of their favorite 70s rock and roll albums by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, CSNY, David Bowie and T. Rex.

Ladies and Gentlemen...The Madison Square Gardeners!

On their latest EP, Teeth of Champions, the Madison Square Gardeners achieve better-than-ever results on this mission. With Tomek Miernowski tracking the band at Grand Street Recording in Williamsburg, and mixing by Mario J. McNulty at his own Incognito Studio in Lower Manhattan, this band of well-oiled rock-n-rollers have made a record that stands up to their live show.

Accomplishing this has been a process, says bandleader and singer/songwriter Aaron Lee Tasjan.

“What we do translates really well in our live gigs but recording has been a bit of an uphill battle for the band,” says Tasjan. “Because there was so much reverence built early on for the live shows – people were comparing it to The Replacements, the kind of music you have to see live because it’s so energetic and engaging. And we’ve struggled trying to capture that on record.”

Considering their instant chemistry on stage – doing classic rock-and-roll covers and eventually playing house band for a few select artists and venues around the city – the Gardeners naturally expected to breeze through their first studio sessions. They figured…pick a good room, a good engineer, and track four or five songs live. Don’t overthink it.

“We made our first EP at Headgear with Scott Norton, who’s a really great engineer that we knew through his work with Son Volt,” says Tasian. “We also really liked some of the records that have been made there – a couple in particular by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Hold Steady. We totally went in with the mindset of tracking live, but it was weird — even though we were all playing in the same room together, somehow it just didn’t have the spark of energy that we so easily have in our live show.”

It took an unusual recording assignment to set the band on the right track. “Engine Room Recordings asked us to do Poison’s ‘Nothin’ But A Good Time’ for their [upcoming] Guilt By Association compilation,” Tasian shares. “We spent the whole day just working on this one tune, and it became obvious to us that we were being too jock about the way we were going about making our own records – trying to go in the studio and track 5 songs all live and make it all about the vibe… We hadn’t been thinking enough about what we were trying to create sonically.

“What world did we want the band to sit in? Did we want to make super hi-fi big radio sounding records? Or did we want to be more ‘indie’ about it and make cool, garage rock sort of records? Each one is an art form. In working on that one song, and really pulling it apart, we realized we hadn’t been carefully considering the way in which we’re making our recordings. Once we got through that and turned it in (and Engine Room really liked it) then it was time to go back and reinvestigate.”

Refining The Process, Quarterly EPs, Big Sounds

That first Madison Square Gardeners EP, recorded at Headgear, came out in March of ’10. At that point they’d already been playing together for a few years, but had only just begun writing original material.

Rock and roll.

The band had always been a side project for Tasjan, who was lead guitarist in Semi-Precious Weapons, and his band-mates – all active sidemen for artists such as Ben Kweller, Justin Townes Earle, Roseanne Cash and Dar Williams. They all still play in multiple bands, but with no shortage of new material and enthusiasm for the project, they have been working through a series of Gardeners EPs and mini-tours over the last year.

“Instead of doing one record that would cost us a lot of money and time, our plan was to do a bunch of EPs over the course of a year or two,” Tasjan explains. “We figured we could put out another EP every 4 months or so – that way we always have fresh material, and we’ll always be able to tour and get press because we always have something new.”

Their experience producing the Guilt By Association cover led to a new approach on the Gardeners’ second EP, Taste the Thunder (January 2011). “This was our first attempt at working on each song until it was totally done, and I think it was definitely a marked improvement over the first EP,” Tasjan notes.

“And then in producing this new, third EP, we were refining that idea even more – [I think you always have] to make a record that’s even better, and that means across the board: that is, in the songwriting, the performances and sonically. So when we got to the point of mixing this one, I knew I wanted to get someone really serious. Mario had produced one of the Semi-Precious Weapons records, and I just knew he was going to have the right feel for this new record. It was like intuition.”

And, in recording, a process Tasjan refers to as “somewhat mysterious,” where one’s success is not always determined by practical know-how and flawless execution, intuition is often your guide. Especially when the project is not afforded tons of studio time in the great big room of its choice.

“If I could make one record like [Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’] Damn The Torpedoes, I think I wouldn’t care about anything anymore,” he shares, in a half-kidding tone. “In a way, it seems like that should be simple to do, but even when you know what you’re doing, and you’re in Avatar Studio A, the record you start out making is not necessarily the record you end up with.

Aaron Lee Tasjan and Mario J. McNulty in Incognito, Lower Manhattan.

“Hopefully, if you’re doing it right and open to people who can help you, you’ll end up with a record that’s even cooler than what you set out to make.”

The Gardeners were not going to get weeks in Avatar Studio A, but this did not change their objective just the process by which they would get there.

“We really wanted this record to sound as big and wide as the topics that we’re talking about in the music. Sonically, there’s obviously some 70s influence there…all our favorite records – Bowie and T. Rex, Tom Petty and the Rolling Stones. We really wanted to make songs that you’ll sing along to when you come to the show.

“So in the studio, we were focused on figuring out how to create that mood and that vibe, those big sounds and textures [without being in a huge room],’” Tasjan shares.

“There’s a lot of energy and passion that comes through on this record and part of it is that we really stepped up the material. But a lot of it was also that when we were tracking it, we really considered how we were recording each part. And then the mixing aspect – I knew that was going to be a big part of getting it to sound huge.

For this, McNulty’s part, the mission was clear: “The drums had to be big and powerful and the guitars had to sound thick. The vocal has to be thick and meaty sounding and the band is not the supporting cast – this is a real rock and roll sound, and I approached mixing it with that rock sensibility.”

In the sweet spot at Incognito Studio, where we previewed some final mixes, Teeth of Champions was sounding pretty epic indeed and refreshingly discernible to these ears.

McNulty mixes in Pro Tools on an HD3 rig through a Dangerous 2-Bus — a 16 channel analog summing mixer — with fader control via a Euphonix MC Mix control surface. Looking around his studio, he points out a few other important components: “the Pendulum ES-8 tube compressor is my main bus compressor, and I use a Dangerous Monitor, switching between the Focal‘s, NS-10′s and headphones.”

The care and consideration the band brought to the tracking sessions translated all the way through to the mixes, according to McNulty. “The playing was fantastic and everything was recorded really well by Tomek at Grand Street. He’d sent me some notes on what he did which was really helpful, so once I got started, I was able to approach it really organically. The songs really lend themselves to what they’re going for sonically.”

Check out our favorite track “Miracle Mile” off the new EP for a dose of the Madison Square Gardeners’ sweet Americana folk and rousing arena-sized rock-out jams all in one song!

And given the band’s ambitions, as summarized by Tasjan – “to make great records and go play gigs that people walk away from 100% satisfied” – you really ought to catch them live sometime.

Stream or buy the Teeth of Champions EP at the Madison Square Gardeners’ Bandcamp page. http://themadisonsquaregardeners.bandcamp.com. And follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

Producer Nile Rodgers Returns Home from Hospital Following Cancer Surgery

The Connecticut-based producer, songwriter and musician Nile Rodgers has revealed on his Website that he is battling an aggressive cancer. He has recently returned to his home, following radical surgery to try and entirely remove the cancer.

Nile Rodgers has revealed he is battling an aggressive form of cancer.

An NYC native, Rodgers is known throughout the world for his massive contributions to modern music. A founding member of Chic along with Bernard Edwards, that band’s hit song “Good Times” is well-known as the foundation of the landmark hip hop track “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugarhill Gang. The group was also responsible for a number of hits, including the triple platinum “Le Freak”.

Additional iconic contributions by Rodgers thus far include producing David Bowie’s Let’s Dance, Duran Duran’s single “The Reflex” and Notorious album, Madonna’s Like a Virgin, co-production of the B-52’s Cosmic Thing (which spawned “Love Shack”). Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, David Lee Roth, Ric Ocasek, the Dan Reed Network, Cathy Dennis, Patty Griffin, Jimmy Vaughan, The Stray Cats, and countless other elite artists have all been Rodgers’ clients or collaborators at some point during his incredibly prolific career.

As he boldly updates his many friends and fans on his blog, “Walking on Planet C”, visitors can join the outpouring of support and encouragement for Rodgers.

Wines That Rock: Cultivating Inspiration, Music and Marketing Zen

MIDTOWN, MANHATTAN: Sometimes a winning idea is pure as the driven snow, and other times it’s a more complex combination. The progress of NYC-based Wines That Rock shows that a great music business concept only requires one simple spin on the obvious to get ahead.

Wines That Rock were borne of a brainstorm.

Launched in 2009, Wines That Rock didn’t just inject more alcohol into the marketplace. Instead, they put their finger on something that people were really ready for, creating music-inspired wines that resulted in three initial rock varietals: Rolling Stones “Forty Licks” Merlot, “Woodstock” Chardonnay, and Pink Floyd “The Dark Side of the Moon” Cabernet Sauvignon. Most recently, a Police “Synchronicity” blend has entered the mix.

File under: “Why didn’t we think of that?” Each wine – crafted by the sustainable Mendocino Wine Company winemaker Mark Beaman – features the album’s iconic art (or the Woodstock 40th Anniversary poster), and plays off an entirely different dimension of emotional appeal than your typical bottle of vino. Like wine and food, wine and music is a prime pairing – the difference is that the latter remains largely unexplored.

As you might suspect, Wines That Rock had some connections and experience to make the idea take flight. One of the primary partners is NYC’s RZO Interactive, a division of the rock business management firm RZO that represents The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, U2, Sting and The Police. Along with Bowie, RZO created the first online fan club company in UltraStar Entertainment, which grew to over 30 artist online fan clubs and was eventually sold to Live Nation – in turn, a core group of UltraStar founders are the creative force behind Wines That Rock.

Get the picture? These are people that understand music and how to execute a business plan. Wines That Rock Co-founder/Partner Ron Roy spells out here how to grow your gestalt, and then make the market flow in your direction.

Ron Roy of Wines That Rock: He's thought this through.

How did the Wines That Rock concept come about?
One day I was sitting at the kitchen table with some baseball cards and listening to the Flaming Lips. I said, “Wouldn’t it be cool to loop this glass of wine into something that connects the music to me? If I saw the “Dark Side of the Moon” album cover on a wine bottle, I’d go check it out.

In Wines that Rock, my partners and I are from the music industry. We started UltraStar Entertainment in the ’90, and were a ticketing technology company that provided fan clubs with a VIP experience – we represented the Rolling Stones, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, David Bowie among others. It was eventually sold to Live Nation in 2005.

We’re entrepreneurs at heart, always trying to come up with some interesting things. I said, “How about this? We know we can get to the artist. So what if we could find a winery who would believe in what we’re doing, and challenge them to make an interpretation of what “Dark Side of the Moon” means, making a custom-crafted wine to put in the bottle.”

That sounds like a deceptively simple concept.
It’s traditional to make wines that pair well with food. But if you think about pairing music and wine, music is everywhere – romantic dinners at a restaurant, in a bar, on TV via commercials and film soundtracks. Even though music is part of a lifestyle that people project, no one was really taking a serious look at music and wine. So there’s an opportunity there. Last year there were 100,000 different wines available. That’s a crowded market – I don’t want to play in that sandbox with a normal wine company.

We wanted to look at it as part of an experience. When people bring these wines to parties, or when we do tastings or events, the stories just come out like crazy when they see the labels. “I saw the Stones in ’95,” “I had Pink Floyd posters in my dorm room,” “My uncle went to Woodstock.” Our wines tell these amazing stories of people, and it brings out this whole social atmosphere.

How are you picking what albums to design a wine around?
We wanted a good variety, and we look at a number of things when making this decision. To start with, we wanted to pick amazing albums, and then you also have to put your marketing hat on.

Dark Side of the Moon has sold 50,000,000 copies worldwide – it’s such an iconic album and everyone knows that album cover. Cabernet sauvignon is the best selling varietal, so when we talked to our winemaker, Mark Beaman, we told him to be experimental with it – you can do a lot with cabernet.  Meanwhile, the Rolling Stones’ biggest touring album, 40 Licks, is the only album with the tongue-and-lip artwork, and that’s one of the most recognizable images in rock. We wanted to bring out what the Stones are all about – the big, complex, heaviness of the music – and so that’s why we chose to make it a merlot.

Our winery in Mendocino County is one of the most sustainable. We won the Governor’s Economic and Environmental Leadership Award two out of the last three years, so we wanted something that presented sustainability and the Earth. When we looked at the Woodstock poster we said, “Let’s bring the whole philosophy of what Woodstock is about through the farms of Mendocino.” The result is this 2008 chardonnay.

For Synchronicity, that was interesting. Our first three wines are all varietals, but red blends are hot. We wanted something unique and different, and the word “synchronicity” kept sticking with us – bringing all these events together, and somehow they work. Mark sold us on taking several grapes that typically aren’t matched together. UltraStar worked with Sting, it’s an iconic album cover, and we thought it would be different to do something from the New Wave environment. That all added up, and when our winemaker gets excited he makes something interesting.

"Synchronicity" is a unique blend -- just like Andy, Stewart and Sting.

So once the wine is conceptualized, what kind of business arrangement has to be worked out with the artist?
For our first three launches, it’s about going to them, partnering with them and saying, “Let’s work together and make this a success: great music, and great wine in the bottle.” The fan base of bands like Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones are the wheelhouse for our demographic. They have their fan clubs, email lists, Websites, and we work together as partners — they send out a nice newsletter announcing the wine, for example. In another initiative, we’ve just launched a contest with Wine Enthusiast magazine giving away a guitar signed by Sting. All of these bands or events have been brands for 40 years, and they have a following.

Then there’s our past history with UltraStar, and one of my partners has the management firm RZO that produced the Reunion Tour of the Police – that made it easier in the case of Synchronicity. When we went to the Police we said, “We’ve been out there a year now. We’ve had great success and wide distribution, done well at the varietal level, got great press, and we’re ahead of our projections.”

It all gets back to Marketing 101. We wanted to make this a partnership, doing cooperative marketing with the band. We coordinate with the Police, Pink Floyd and Rolling Stones marketing, and that’s the model we take to our bands and their partners.

It’s obviously a very smart approach to getting a music-related idea off the ground. If someone is reading this and they’re inspired, how would you suggest that they come up with their own winning concept?
I teach entrepreneurial studies, and I tell my students every semester, “It’s so difficult to be 100% unique, and have a purely organic idea that no one else has touched in some way.” But if you can come up with an original idea, also bring in a proven idea, and look at the big picture, you might develop a hit.

Looking at Wines that Rock as an example, the wine industry is a $70 billion industry, with 100,000 different wines on the market. So our question was, “How do I get myself some of that shelf space? How can we stick out in this crowded industry?” There’s so much room in the music industry to come up with a unique idea, you just have to find it.

My favorite term in the class is, “What’s the secret sauce?” For example, if you have a mobile technology and it somehow intertwines with music, what are you putting out there that another company isn’t doing? There’s a lot of ways to skin it, so really look at what’s successful, and then look for an opening that you can prove no one else is doing. No one was doing a custom wine based on the experience of an album and a label – that I could prove when we were conceptualizing Wines That Rock.

The great thing about music is that there’s new product all the time, especially from a technologically standpoint. There are companies that have made a fortune building a widget. The idea doesn’t have to stand alone or be self-supporting – it can converge with something that’s already out there. So what’s your secret sauce?

– David Weiss

Music Seen: Music Supervisor Hot Picks * Electric Six “Countdown to the Countdown”

Artist: Electric Six

Buckle your helmets for Da Countdown!

Song: “Countdown to the Countdown”

Why I Luv It: As my loyal readers already know, anytime I get an opportunity to push high quality American rock n roll, I’m gonna’ do it, so you shouldn’t be surprised that this week I’m getting behind a brand new song from a band that ain’t so brand new.

The song is “Countdown to the Countdown” by Detroit, Michigan rockers Electric Six, and it’s hot off their yet-to-be-released 7th studio album entitled “The Zodiac” (out September 28th).

This song is an absolutely inspiring and balls-to-the-wall hard-charger of a rock song, and Dick Valentine (vocals), The Colenol (guitar), Johnny Na$hinal (guitar), Smorgasbord (bass), Tait Nucleus? (synths), and Percussion World (drums) have yet again proven that great stage names and veteran skills are all it takes to write and record a hit song. (Smiley Face) OK, just kidding! These guys can write and arrange a song with the best of them too!!!!!

If you’re not aware, Electric Six rocks as hard as MC5 or The Stooges while having the comedic sensibility of Les Claypool or even Weird Al Yankovic. If you like Queens of the Stone Age, Pink Floyd, Ween, and everything rock-n-roll in between, you’re gonna’ love this song, and furthermore, you’re gonna’ love their whole catalog. Make it a point to pick up “The Zodiac” when it comes out in September because it’s one helluva’ rippin’ super-dynamic sonic journey my friends!!!

Scene I Can See it In: “Countdown to the Countdown” by Electric Six must have been tailor made for NFL Football because this tune harnesses the raw power and fierce energy of the sport just as well as any other tune I’ve heard used for similar purposes to date.

Specifically, I think this song would be a great sonic-branding tool for the coverage leading up to and on the day of the NFL Draft. NFL Network and ESPN cover collegiate NFL Draft prospects throughout the off-season and right up until the day of the draft every April. For the last couple years, NFL Network has chosen and licensed songs to support their coverage of The Draft, and one winner of a song ends up being the main sonic-brand or theme of that years draft.

Dick Valentine sez: This meeting of the Matt Millen Fan Club will now come to order.

For example, “Dreamer” by K’Naan was used by the NFL in 2009 for limited Draft coverage, and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” has been extensively used by NFL Network over the past few years for Draft sonic-branding. “Under Pressure” plays more to the child-like emotion and nervous sensitivity in the hearts of young aspiring pro-atheletes. That’s a far cry from the pure rock fury exuded by Electric Six on “Countdown to the Countdown”, but that does not take away from the song’s undeniably strong instrumental emotion and obvious lyrical relevance to competitive professional sports.

The title “Countdown to the Countdown” (which is also the hook of the song) accurately exudes the tense, competitive emotion that every aspiring pro-athlete experiences on a daily basis. Furthermore, those words (especially the way they’re sung) put on display the immeasurable focus and hard work that each athlete puts in every day in preparation for the Draft. It’s not just the countdown, it’s “The Countdown to The Countdown”, and that is a perfect example of the serious commitment that each player makes to his sport, talent, and craft. The full song lyrics (at the end of this article) do the same just as well.

Vocal and instrumental performances are stellar on this track and they collectively hit the bulls-eye from the start of the song right up until a soaring psychedelic break at :47 in. I can see the beginning of the song being used as a backing track underneath exciting game highlights of perspective NFL Draftees. Right when the break comes in at :47 would be a perfect time for intense sweaty facial close-ups of these potential Draftee’s in a dark locker room, sitting on benches staring in to the camera lens as it pans by each player’s passionate yet stone cold face. These dramatic shots are meant to express the heart and soul of each of these players as they each individually Countdown to the Countdown of this year’s Draft.

As the break in the song builds back up to the intense rock fury of the verses and the hook, video footage could blend back in to highlight footage mixed with last year’s NFL Draftee’s having success on the field at the pro level in their rookie seasons.

The Detroit Lions of Motown take on the New York Football Giants of Yo Town on October 17!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally, I think this song is great fit for NFL Draft coverage because of the fact that it has a few distinctly unique sections that can be edited in to shorter-form chunks and used for different purposes (show bumpers, stingers, short-opens, etc) similar to my scene descriptions in the paragraph above.

Let’s all give a collective 2010 “WELCOME BACK” to NFL Football, and don’t forget to run out and buy Electric Six’s 7th studio album “The Zodiac” this September. Go Big Blue!!!!

Countdown to the Countdown

Where you gonna be when they can t control ya?
See you coming round and they gonna roll ya
Sell you in the ghetto like Detrola Cola
They start the countdown

Now you wish somebody would throw you a bone
Looking for a conflict to call your own
Well here s another song about the danger zone
It s about to go down!

35 seconds til the countdown starts
25 seconds til the countdown starts
94 seconds til the countdown starts
It s the countdown to the countdown

Time elapses
Love collapses
Over and over
Come over red rover
Our ship sails from Dover
Its cargo is time

Hey good looking with the helmet on!
Driving real fast on the autobahn
Staring at yourself up on the jumbotron
They start the countdown

35 seconds til the countdown starts
25 seconds til the countdown starts
94 seconds til the countdown starts
It s the countdown to the countdown

Can t stop listening
Can t stop watching

I need a product to use

Can t stop listening
Can t stop watching

It s called paying your dues!

Can t stop listening
Can t stop watching

Vampire movie on TV!

Can t stop listening
Can t stop watching

It s called paying your dues!
It’s called paying your dues!

Dave Hnatiuk of Autonatic Entertainment is a Music Supervisor / Sound Designer for MTV On-Air Promotions, NYC. Visit him at Autonatic Entertainment, Music Supervision Central or The Song Hunters. To be considered for a “Music Seen,” submit your track or link to Hnatiuk at submissions@sonicscoop.com.

40th Anniversary Salute to Electric Lady Studios Hosted by AES NY Section

On Tuesday, August 24th, the NY Section of the Audio Engineering Society hosted a 40th Anniversary Salute to the legendary Electric Lady Recording Studios and the Jimi Hendrix legacy.

Electric Lady Recording Studios is psyched to turn 40

Almost four decades ago to the day, on August 26th, 1970 Electric Lady  opened its doors at 52 West 8th Street in Greenwich Village. Just 23 days later, Hendrix passed away, leaving his inimitable music to live on as well as his studio, which has been the birthplace of hits for Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Coldplay, The Rolling Stones, Patti Smith, U2, Sheryl Crow, The Strokes, Jay-Z, Beyonce and scores more.

A panel presentation was a part of the evening and included:

– Jimi’s sister, Janie Hendrix, CEO/President, Experience Hendrix

– Eddie Kramer, engineer of all Hendrix’s recording sessions

– studio architect/acoustician John Storyk, who began his recording studio design career with Electric Lady, and whose international Walters-Storyk Design Group has created over 3,000 studios around the globe

(l-r) John Storyk and Eddie Kramer at Electric Lady

– long time Electric Lady engineer Tony Platt (AC/DC, Foreigner)

– Grammy-winning engineer Bob Margouleff (Stevie Wonder)

Other guests, included artists who have recorded at Electric Lady throughout its 40-year history.

While admission was strictly limited to 60 attendees, CBS provided streaming of the event via the AES NY Section Website at http://www.aes.org/sections/ny/.

Tam Lin Meets Mario J. McNulty

EAST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN: When you’re an acoustic guitar-playing singer/songwriter with folk tales to tell, everyone wants you to be the next Dylan. But Tam Lin has other plans.

“The music that I like and want to make is a lot more lush than just me and an acoustic guitar,” says Tam Lin’s Paul Weinfeld. “But, when I was getting ready to make my new record, I interviewed some producers who heard my songs and lyrics, and immediately thought to go in a rootsy direction. That’s cool, but it’s not really my sound.”

Named for the folk hero, and song adapted by Fairport Convention, Tam Lin’s music springs from the English folk tradition, composed from acoustic, electric and ambient sources. At the core, Tam Lin is Weinfeld, a singer/songwriter — the son of a classical composer and a poet — who also teaches religion at Columbia University. There is both lyrical and musical depth to Tam Lin, and he’s sonically ambitious to boot.

“I’ve been influenced by experimental folk artists like John Martyn, who brought open tunings and ambient sounds into his folk music,” says Weinfeld. “He’d perform solo on guitar with an Echoplex, and create these big, gorgeous sounds.” (He cites this Martyn performance from ’78:

When preparing to make his latest recording, Weinfeld sought out a producer/engineer he’d connect with creatively, someone who’d bring a sense of sonic adventure to the project. Those creative sparks finally flew when he met NYC-based producer/engineer Mario J. McNulty (David Bowie, The Raveonettes, Anti-Flag, Alejandro Escovedo, Angelique Kidjo).

Tam Lin's Paul Weinfeld (left) and Mario McNulty listening back to a mix.

“It’s funny, I didn’t hear Bob Dylan at all,” says McNulty, of his first impression. “Paul is more of a Leonard Cohen or Nick Drake, a gentle singer/songwriter, with this lush, almost Lee Hazelwood-style music.” Sitting with a CD of Tam Lin demos, McNulty began formulating some production ideas.

“I thought of the Talk Talk records I’m really fond of – Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock,” says McNulty. “Those are really unique records, it’s almost like free-form art-rock jazz and, sonically, they’re really interesting; textured and very ambient. Paul has this soft, intimate voice, and I thought he’d fit perfectly with that sort of subtle ambient production.”

The two began mapping out a Tam Lin project. “I have hundreds of songs in demo form,” says Weinfeld, “Mario and I decided to do four songs as a kind of EP sampler of my work, and then hopefully find funding to complete a full record.”

OMNICHORDS, OPEN TUNINGS & DIRTY TRUMPETS

McNulty booked four days at Stratosphere Studios, a NYC indie-rock favorite for its spacious layout, analog equipment (Neve 8078) and classic instruments, amps, analog synths and effects boxes.

A thoughtful arranger, Weinfeld had his songs worked out with McNulty prior to hitting the studio, but left room for experimentation at Stratosphere. “I had my arrangements, which I’d composed in MIDI using Miroslav Philharmonik, but Mario pushed me to use new and different sounds — some instruments, effects and techniques I’d never considered before,” says Weinfeld. “I arranged with organic string parts in mind, but Mario encouraged me to use more synthetic-sounding strings, so it wasn’t about finding the most faithful reproduction, it was about exploring different and even, odd, sounds.”

McNulty worked an Omnichord into Tam Lin’s five-minute murder ballad, “In The Twilight.” “That song is kind of a dreamscape, so I had this idea to use an Omnichord to get a kind of swirling sound happening,” McNulty shares. “I’ve only used an Omnichord twice before — on a Finn Brothers record and on the last Bowie record, but I knew it would work really well on ‘In The Twilight,’ which is the most conceptual track.”

McNulty’s production approach on the tunes “Age of Ignorance” and “Begin Again” played up some sonic contrasts to Weinfeld’s soft, intimate vocal. The trumpet solo on the latter, for example, had in previous iterations of the song felt too smooth and jazzy to Weinfeld, so McNulty dirtied it up Talk Talk-style. “I always admired the sound of Talk Talk’s distorted harmonicas — they sound so loud, almost abrasive, and they make such a statement in the song,” says McNulty. “So, I used that idea on trumpet for ‘Begin Again.’ I dirtied it up by adding distortion, feeding it through a guitar amp and it really darkens the sound for that solo. Those once super-sweet frequencies are tamed in the process, and then you can make it loud and gnarly.”

On the soulful, tightly grooving “Anna Lee,” McNulty’s production tamed the disco quality of the demo. “We used basically the same arrangement and vocal approach as on the demo, but we recorded it organically, adding acoustic instruments and getting a bit more creative with overdubs,” says McNulty. “We made it more rock-and-roll, in the spirit of The Band. We added an organ, which made such a big difference and we used a lot of analog synths. The chorus has this great Lee Hazelwood string part happening under his vocal. The synth sounds we used make everything sound saturated and classic.”

Another major Tam Lin sound emanates from the baritone guitar. “We used a lot of Stratosphere’s Danelectro baritone guitar tuned to open D,” notes Weinfeld, “So, I could just kapo to the right spot and then play whole notes, and just kind of strum. We played that through an old Ampeg amp turned up really loud.”

McNulty mixed the Tam Lin EP at producer/mixer/musician Mark Plati’s studio in the East Village, a private studio where he also recently mixed the latest Anti-Flag record, The People Or The Gun. He’s also currently mixing songs for Laurie Anderson’s upcoming record, Homeland.

“What’s been especially cool about working with Mario is that he’s really experimental but he’s also worked with popular artists who push things in weird directions, like Bowie, as opposed to just some experimental bands from Brooklyn,” adds Weinfeld. “The artists he’s worked with cut through.”

Learn more about Mario McNulty at www.jdmanagement.com/mariojmcnulty. And, to hear Tam Lin on record or live, follow the band on Myspace: www.myspace.com/tamlinmusic.