Session Buzz: Who’s Recording In & Around NYC — A Monthly Report

GREATER NYC AREA: Tons of sessions happening around the city this Fall. Among the many, we find Black Star back at it out in Greenpoint, Department of Eagles recording in Astoria, Jukebox The Ghost in Park Slope, Oberhofer and Steve Lillywhite in Williamsburg, Spacehog in Gowanus, and OneRepublic making a new record in Manhattan. Read on and get up with what’s happening in studios all around town.

Starting smack in the middle of Times Square, producer Salaam Remi has been working with Jennifer Hudson on music for a new commercial out of Quad Studios. Meanwhile, Sean Paul has been working on new songs at Quad for an upcoming album, as has Atlanta MC Future, who recently signed with Epic Records. Producer Rico Beats has been working out of Quad as well, with various writers. Quad’s Q1 and the Q Lounge has been a listening session hotspot, hosting recent events for Young Jeezy and Mac Miller, and serving as the location for MTV’s Sucker Free Countdown with DJ Envy.

In Chelsea, BMI and composer Rick Baitz held a string arranging workshop with the string quartet Ethel and several string arrangers at Shelter Island Sound.  Nona Hendryx and band were tracking at Shelter Island, with Richard Barone producing for a new album for Tracy Stark – featuring drummer Trevor Gale and guitarist Ronnie Drayton. Steve Addabbo tracked and mixed. James Farber mixed jazz singer Alma Micic’s new album, and Ian McDonald of King Crimson fame was in tracking with Steve Holley on drums.

Addabbo also recently finished a 5.1 mix for the Robby Romero long-form music video “Who’s Gonna Save You” (a song co-written by Addabbo), which premiered at the American Indian Film Festival.  The film will be featured and officially released November 28 at The UNEP Conference in Durban, South Africa.

Downtown, OneRepublic has been recording their new album in Germano Studios, with singer/songwriter Ryan Tedder producing and Kevin Porter engineering. In other recent sessions at Germano: Fabian Marasciullo has been mixing T-Pain‘s new album; Isabella Summers aka Isa Machine (from Florence & the Machine) has been producing NYC-based artist/songwriter L.P., and working on her own solo project, with Kenta Yonesaka engineering; Asher Roth recorded vocals, with Oren Yoel producing, and Porter engineering; CJ Holland has been writing/recording with Swizz Beatz, and Kenny Lloyd engineering; Alicia Keys has been recording with Ann Mincieli engineering; and Sandy Vee returned for more writing sessions, and recording and mixing sessions with Jesse McCartney.

Just up the block, The Lodge’s Emily Lazar, Joe LaPorta, Sarah Register and Heba Kadry have been super busy this last month, mastering Garbage’s cover of U2′s “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” for Q Magazine’s AHK-toong BAY-bi Covered, the new Shiny Toy Guns album mixed by Tony Maserati, Arcade Fire’s “Sprawl II” Remix by Damian Taylor, Delta Spirit’s new album produced by Chris Coady and mixed by Tchad Blake, Daniel Bedingfield’s latest, Maya Postepski’s (of Austra) side project TRST – mixed by Damian Taylor – and an album by Tender Mercies, a 20-year-project by David Bryson and Dan Vickery of The Counting Crows.

The Lodge has also mastered recent releases by Brand New (Your Favorite Weapon reissue), Dion DiMucci, Harts, Future Islands, Frankie Rose and Porcelain Raft.

Further downtown, at Engine Room Audio in the Financial District, Soulja Boy and Waka Flocka recorded in the Penthouse Studio (equipped with an SSL 4064G+) with Ben Lindell engineering, and Chris Albers assisting.

And Mark Christensen mastered two new mixtapes for Trey Songz (Atlantic Records) – LemmeHoldDatBeat 2 and Anticipation 2 – and his Inevitable EP – as well as albums for Brooklyn band The Color Bars and UK indie rockers Tiger Shadow, Lloyd Banks‘ Cold Corner – also mixed by Albers at Engine Room – and War Music by Dr. Dre protégé Slim The Mobster.

Over in Queens, Department of Eagles’ Fred Nicolaus and Christopher Bear (Grizzly Bear) recently recorded drums and piano for an upcoming release with Kieran Kelly at The Buddy Project. Pianos for singer/songwriter Kyle Patrick’s new EP were also recently recorded at The Buddy Project, with producers Ben Romans and Jarrad Scharff, and Kelly engineering.

And in Gowanus, Brooklyn – Lady Lamb the Beekeeper has been recording at Let Em In Music with Nadim Issa. Aly Paltro aka Lady Lamb recorded this cover of Bob Dylan’s “All I Really Want to Do” for Brooklyn Based. According to Issa, Paltro liked Cher’s cover of the song, recorded in the 60s with Sonny Bono producing and “as such, we went for a really roomy sound with the whole band playing live in a room. A huge part of the mix is actually my two room mics, which were set up in MS.” Next up, Issa will work on the Lady Lamb full-length.

Nearby at Bryce Goggins’ Trout Recording, sessions for the new Martha Wainright were underway. Goggin, assisted by Adam Sachs, recorded drums for three songs as well as some vocals and electric guitar, with Wainwright, Yuka Honda and drummer Yuko Akari. Goggin also recently mixed a song for Marco Benevento. And Adam Sachs recently engineered a recording session with Space Hog at Trout. The band recorded three basic tracks live while being filmed for an upcoming video release. There were no overdubs, and Sachs also mixed one of the songs in the following week.

Out in Park Slope, Dan Romer has been recording, producing and mixing Jukebox The Ghost’s next record at his studios. And fellow-Rocket Music producer Mark Saunders has been writing/producing and mixing Amalie Bruuns’ next EP at BEAT360 Studios in Manhattan.

In Williamsburg, Brooklyn-based duo Little Silver recently tracked songs for a new EP at Fluxivity Recording, using the studio’s Neumann tube mics (U67, U47, M49) in the recording sessions, engineered by Gary Maurer. Also at Fluxivity, composer Gordon Minette and engineer Matt Shane mixed an album of Christmas songs – Under The Holiday Star – for Stella Artois via Human Worldwide. And music educator, songwriter and professional bassist Mariana Iranzi visited New York from Boston to record a 12-song children’s record, Hola Hello. A four-piece band recorded the songs live at Fluxivity, with producer Billy Herron and engineer Jeremy Loucas, assisted by Ed Mcentee.

Meanwhile, Brooklyn band Oberhofer has been recording their new full-length album for Glassnote out of Mission Sound in Williamsburg, with Steve Lillywhite producing. Also at Mission, NYC-based blues guitarist Dave Fields is in with producer David Z cutting tracks for his upcoming release, and the Cassette Kids are back to cut tracks with engineer Oliver Straus.

Nearby at 3 Egg Studios in Williamsburg, engineer Brian Penny has been working with I’ve started working with drummer Charlie Zeleny on some upcoming projects. To kick things, Penny reports, Zeleny decided “to play a drum solo in one take up all 6 stories of the 3 Egg building, involving more then 80 drums, 100 cymbals, 90 microphones, and four Pro Tools rigs. Video to come!

Meanwhile, Suckers have been recording their latest album at Vacation Island in Williamsburg, with Matt Boynton producing. And going back over the past month or so, Vacation Island has been destination to a number of cool sessions, including Marnie Stern and Justin Pizzoferrato tracking some new music,  Christina Files mixing Talk Normal, Free Blood finishing up tracking and beginning to mix their upcoming release with Boynton, as well as mixing sessions with Lucy Michelle.

Also out of Brooklyn, Joe Lambert Mastering in DUMBO has been the final location of production on a couple anticipated new records. First, Lambert recently mastered Sharon Van Etten‘s new album – for CD and vinyl – produced by Aaron Dessner of The National for Jagjaguwar Records. According to Pitchfork, the album was recorded in Dessner’s own studio and features performances by Beirut’s Zach Condon, Julianna Barwick, Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner, the Walkmen’s Matt Barrick, and Thomas Bartlett of Doveman.

And Lambert has also mastered the new School of Seven Bells full-length, Ghostory, produced by Ben Curtis for Vagrant Records. Other albums mastered out of JLM include Peter Salett‘s new EP and the Don Byron New Gospel Quintet‘s Love, Peace, and Soul, produced by Hanz Wendl for Nottuskegeelike Music

And recently out of Rough Magic Studios in Greenpoint…Blacksmith artist Idle Warship (Talib Kweli and Res) released Habits of the Heart – largely recorded by Rough Magic chief engineer Alby Cohen. Kweli came back to Rough Magic recently to record two new tracks with Yasiin Bey (Mos Def), for their Black Star project. The first new, Madlib-produced single “Look Sharp” debuted on The Colbert Report. Cohen engineered those sessions, assisted by Chris Pummill and Aaron Mason.

Also at Rough Magic, drummer Sim Cain (Rollins Band/J. Giles Band) and keyboardist Bernie Worrell (Parliament/Funkadelic) came through to record on Myself’s latest Punk Floyd project.

Up in Yonkers…at Oktaven Audio, engineer Ryan Streber has been recording, editing and mixing new works by flutist Claire Chase, and composer Reiko Fueting – both for New Focus Recordings – the debut album by new music ensemble, counter)induction, for New Dynamic Records, and pianist Max Barros‘ recording of the complete piano music of composer M.Camargo Guarnieri for Concert Artists Guild.

Oktaven and Streber also hosted recording sessions for new works by composers Vivian Fung, Ryan Francis, and Jakub Ciupinski, pianist/composer Michael Brown, and a film score by composer Gil Talmi and Konsonant Music for a documentary feature. Streber also engineered tracking sessions on location at the Academy of Arts and Letters on 155th Street, with the Talea Ensemble for an upcoming CD of music by composer Anthony Cheung.

Down from there to Avatar Studios…the legendary Studio A has been hosting some big sessions, including the cast album for Follies – featuring the largest orchestra on Broadway with Bernadette Peters and Elaine Page – recorded with producer Tommy Krasker, and engineer Bart Migal assisted by Bob Mallory and Tim Marchiafava. The Morehouse College Glee Club was also recorded in Studio A – for Spike Lee’s upcoming film Red Hook Summer – by Jonathan Duckett, assisted by Charlie Kramsky. And America’s Got Talent star Jackie Evancho recorded with an orchestra for her holiday release Heavenly Christmas, with producer Rob Mounsey and engineer Lawrence Manchester.

The orchestral film score for So Undercover was also tracked in Studio A with composer / producer Stephen Trask and engineer Greg Hayes. Additional recordings were done in Studio B and the 5.1 mix was done in Studio G with engineer Tim O’Hare.

And on the album recording front, Ingrid Michaelson recorded in Studio A with producer David Kahne and engineer Robert Smith; Billy Ocean recorded with producer Barry Eastmond and engineer Anthony Ruotolo; Joe Jackson mixed an upcoming release with engineer Elliot Scheiner, assisted by Aki Nishimura; and Adam Lambert recorded with producer Nile Rodgers, and engineer Rich Hilton.

Also in Midtown, Area 51 NYC Studios has been abuzz of late, with Talib Kweli also logging time on numerous projects, with engineer Michelle Figueroa and John Lurie. Jive/RCA artist Jacob Latimore has been tracking at Area 51 with producer Chris Jackson and engineer Alberto Vaccarino. And R&B artist Deborah Cox was also recently in to work with producer Devo Springfield, and Figeuroa engineering. Interscope artists Far East Movement were also in working with engineer Jay Stevenson.

In the Brill Building at KMA Music, EMI writer/producers Twice as Nice have been holed up in sessions with Pete Wentz and Bebe Rexha of Black Cards, August Rigo, Neon Hitch, Andrea Martin, Elle King and James Bourne in Studio B, with Serge Nudel engineering. KMA also hosted CNN interviews with both Peter Gabriel, and R.E.M.

In other KMA sessions…Neyo recorded vocals for the upcoming T-Pain album, with Ben Chang engineering, Unique has been recording and mixing his new album, with production by Chuck Harmony and Claude Kelly, and Chang engineering. That same team — Chuck, Claude and Ben — also worked with Jade Alston on an upcoming release, and with Sony artist, Karmen, and Universal artist, CJ Holland. A$AP Rocky finished up his album at KMA, with Pat Viala, and Roc Nation’s J. Cole recorded and mixed his most recent album at KMA, with Juro “Mez” Davis engineering.

Across the Hudson in Hoboken, Caligula – a hard rock band featuring Erik Paparozzi of Cat Power and Bambi Kino – have been working on a record out of Nuthouse Recording, with Tom Beaujour mixing. Beaujour has also been finishing up a new track with Doug Gillard of Guided by Voices.

And new to “Session Buzz” is a private facility we recently came across called Newkirk Studios – home base to producer/engineer Ben Rice, in one of those awesome landmark houses in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. There, Rice has recently held sessions with the band Blackbells, who tracked and mixed a song for Surfrider, and The Wicked Tomorrow whose EP Rice is mixing. He also tracked and mixed a full-length “pop rock” album for Nocera (“Summertime, Summertime”) out of Newkirk, with bassist/producer Antar Goodwin, Reni Lane and Gian Stone.

Finally, and as previously reported…the members of Vampire Weekend were at Excello Recording in Williamsburg writing and recording material for their next release, tracking to tape with Ethan Donaldson and Nathan Rosborough. Engineer/producer Chris Shaw was also Excello working with the group Nick Casey – which is Nicholas Webber and Casey Spindler with the rhythm section of Dan Rieser and Tim Luntzel. This crew tracked between 20-30 songs over just two days. Also at Excello, engineer/producer Scott Solter recorded cellist Erik Friedlander‘s latest solo project, and mixer/engineer Hector Castillo recorded with singer Sophie Auster and singer/songwriter Clarence Bucaro, and recorded the soundtrack for the film, La Camioneta, with composer Todd Griffin.

And we know there’s so much more going on out there! If you’d like to be featured in “Session Buzz,” please submit your studio news to submissions@sonicscoop.com.

Session Buzz: Who’s Recording In & Around NYC — A Monthly Report

GREATER NYC AREA: As always, there are a number of interesting recording projects underway in studios throughout the NYC area. The following is but a sampling of recent sessions, and works in progress…a snapshot of what’s going on around town:

We’ll start at Great City Productions in Chelsea, where Anand Wilder of Yeasayer has been producing a musical called “Coal Into Diamonds,” an homage to the hard rock and psychedelia-inspired musicals of the 1960′s and 70′s

Co-produced and co-written by Wilder and pianist Max Kardon, “Coal Into Diamonds” features performances by members of Vampire Weekend, MGMT, Dirty Projectors, Chairlift, Man Man, Suckers, and Dragons of Zynth. Engineered by Britt Myers and Geoff Vincent, and mixed by Britt Myers at Great City, the 11-song LP will be released on Secretly Canadian.

Next stop – Fluxivity in Williamsburg, where Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Colin McGrath recently mixed several songs with producer William Berlind, and engineer Brian Thorn, and Flight of The Conchords’ Jemaine Clement and engineer/producer Matt Shane worked on some new songs for an upcoming film project. John Agnello also visited Fluxivity to overdub and mix songs for an upcoming release for Barton Stanley David. The sessions were mixed to ½” tape on Fluxivity’s Ampex ATR100 recorder.

Universal artist Jay Picton was in town from London, recording his debut release at Mission Sound in Williamsburg. Oliver Straus tracked an assortment of New York’s “A” team musicians for this album including Jack Daley, Steve Wolf, James Poyser of The Roots and Clifford Carter. Mike Peden produced.

And at The Buddy Project in Astoria, Julia Nunes tracked a new album with producer/engineer Zach McNees, Pipe Villaran (former lead singer of Los Fuckin Sombreros) recorded his debut solo EP with producer/engineer Kieran Kelly, and Nate Campany recorded some finishing touches for his solo album, with Kelly engineering.

Meanwhile at Vacation Island Recording in East Williamsburg, indie cult hero R. Stevie Moore “and some friends” recorded a song for a benefit compilation. Jorge Elbrecht from Violens produced the tracks and Matt Boynton engineered.

And, bouncing around, up at the Carriage House Studios in Stamford, CT, Johnny Winter has been working on a new record, his first studio album in 7 years. The record was tracked and mixed by engineer Brendan Muldowney on Carriage House’s SSL 4000 E series console and produced by Paul Nelson. Guest guitarists include Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, Vince Gill, and Sonny Landreth.

Back in town, Avatar Studios has been hosting Ingrid Michaelson recording her upcoming album with producer David Kahne and engineer Roy Hendrickson; VHS or Beta mixing an upcoming release with Martin Brumbach engineering; Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks recording with Regina Spektor for HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, with Stewart Lerman producing/engineering; the Baby It’s You cast album recording with producer Richard Perry and engineer Frank Filipetti; and New York Yankee Nick Swisher recording a kids album with producer Loren Harriet and engineer Danny Bernini.

And as previously reported, Sear Sound hosted Sting composing and recording on the 1973 Steinway “D” grand piano, with Rob Mathes arranging and co-producing; Foreigner tracking with original frontman/producer Mick Jones co-producing, Jeff Pilson, Tom Gimble and Kelly Hansesn completing the band, and Wyn Davis of Total Access Recording engineering; and the Gipsy Kings working with engineer James Farber mixing to RMGI 1/2″ 900 tape using Sear Sound’s ATR 102. Bernard Paganotti produced and supervised the Gipsy Kings mixes from France.

Also previously reported, Manhattan Center Studios hosted the recording of a 52-piece orchestra for Tony Bennett’s Duets Album 2. The all-star team on the sessions included Producer Phil Ramone, Conductor and Orchestrator Jorge Calandrelli and Engineer Dae Bennett.

Renee Fleming was recorded singing live with a  69-piece orchestra in Manhattan Center’s Grand Ballroom and adjacent Studio 7, equipped with the 108-input Neve VR, for Steven Speilberg’s animated film Tintin.

Two video crews were present at the sessions, one for a polycom set up allowing Speilberg and composer John Williams to attend the session from LA. The second crew performed motion capture, which will allow the film’s animators to capture Fleming’s facial expressions exactly for her animated character. Todd Whitelock was the engineer on the session.

Back in Brooklyn — at Grand Street Recording — owner/producer/engineer Ken Rich has been working on new records with NYC singer Deborah Berg and Nashville singer-songwriter David Mead. And S-Curve artist Diane Birch spent a week at Grand Street with English producer Ant Whiting. The pair began production on her next record, with Tomek Miernowski engineering.

Miernowski also produced and engineered “Dress and Tie,” a single for singer/songwriter Charlene Kaye and Darren Criss of Glee. Ken Rich has also been working on The Compulsions’ newest project, with Hugh Pool co-producing. And actor/artist Michael Pitt mixed a live recording from Paris with Miernowski.

And we know there’s so much more going on out there! If you’d like to be featured in “Session Buzz,” please submit your studio news to submissions@sonicscoop.com.

On The Record: Ella Riot Make “Love Child” At Mission Sound

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN: Late last year, the Ann Arbor-based electro-rock band known as Ella Riot loaded into Mission Sound in Williamsburg for three days of tracking sessions with Oliver Straus. Wanting to capture some muscular rock rhythms to punch up their electronic production, Ella Riot tracked live band takes through Mission’s mighty Neve 8026.

“We wanted to do live tracking of the rhythm section to reflect the intensity of our live show,” says Ella Riot guitarist Bob Lester. “The last record we did was very multitrack, done piece by piece in our home studios. And it was a bit sterile and less in-your-face than what we do live.”

The band had been introduced to Straus over CMJ 2010 when they recorded a song at Mission with producers Patrick Ermlich and Eshy Gazit of NYC-based Modern Vintage Recordings.

At the time Ella Riot was still known as My Dear Disco, the name adopted when the band formed at the University of Michigan in 2007. As they conceived of their new record, Love Child, and planned to make a more “live” than electronic record to reflect an evolution in their sound, they finalized the name change and immediately made plans to return to NYC to record.

Still very much electro-based, Love Child adds a harder-edged pop-rock punch born out of a new production process that merges Ella Riot’s studio wizardry with live performances on drums, bass, guitars, keys and bagpipes. Coming into the studio with fully fleshed-out electronic versions of the tunes, they were able to infuse the productions with the energy and immediacy of these live performances.

“Mission Sound was a great studio for us because you get the space, the technology and Oliver’s ears,” says Lester. “He can hear what you’re going for, reach into the equipment and pull the nastiness right out of it. It was the first time we’ve been in a studio where without having to force the thing to sound how we wanted, it was just immediately way better than I could have imagined as soon as he pulled it up in the monitors.”

At Mission, it was all about capturing the moment. The band worked fast with Strauss as their guide. “Ollie’s sound is really built into the record in a lot of ways because we committed so many things to “tape” in those sessions that there’s really no undoing,” says keyboardist, bagpiper and vocalist Tyler Duncan. “And that was a really fun part of the process – allowing it have that spontaneity. So this recording is really a true snapshot of those three days.”

As such a beat-driven band, drums were a main focus of these recording sessions, and they are all psyched on the outcome. Says drummer Mike Shea: “The drums sound huge. I brought in my acrylic drum set – a giant bass drum and two floor toms – and it sounds super beefy and raw and the room compliments it really well.”

Back in Ann Arbor in his home studio, Duncan mixed the record, merging the live band tracks with their programmed sounds. The result is a modern-electro-pop collage primed as much for the dance floor as the rock venue as the synch license, punctuated by revving stutter edits, catchy pop synth riffs and rock drums and guitars of varying grit and heft.

Love Child by Ella Riot

Meanwhile all the lead vocals were recorded and edited by Ella Riot singer Michelle Chamuel and Duncan back in their bedroom studios in Logic. “I think of vocals the way an electric guitarist approaches their instrument,” says Chamuel. “With no effects, it can sound bland, but with effects, you get a whole different tone. Singing dry vs. effected is like the difference between a screaming guitar solo with distortion vs. without.

“For me, it’s so much easier to record while I can hear the effect – it’s like I’m synthesizing my voice to get the tone that will best express the emotional content. So I do it on my own rather than wasting the studio time having to ask for more reverb or feedback, etc.”

Lester, too, worked on his guitar parts and sounds before and after the tracking sessions at Mission. “We’re definitely a band that approaches music like electronic music producers,” says Lester. “But Tyler did the lion’s share of the mixing on this.” Duncan considers this role like that of a sound designer – “mixing is part of what this music is; it’s about how all the pieces work together.”

First off, he was able to replace all of the synth bass and programmed drums with live tracks. “Coming out of Mission, the drums sounded really rock and raw, and while I wanted to uphold that, I also wanted to bring the electronic vibe back into it in subtle ways, i.e. making the kick have a balanced relationship between the techno ideal (having it really thumping between 45 – 60Hz) but also have the slap of a rock drum. I wanted it to have that studio punch but still feel roomy and live.”

On the unique instrumental jam, “Clubbin’” a Uilleann bagpipe lead sits surprisingly naturally within the record’s electro-pop world.  “The pipes were recorded live with the band at Mission Sound using a Foltec ribbon microphone,” says Duncan (the piper). “I find ribbon mics tend to smooth out the pipes in a nice way – they need some character and warmth to translate well in recording.

“And after the recording, I used anything and everything I could to fatten them up – PSP’s Vintage Warmer and Mix Saturator, URS’ A10EQ, Waves C4 multiband compressor and API compressor were used on all the pipes tracks.

I used Native Instruments Guitar Rig for the solo pipes with some intense distortion + delay + phaser effects that are blended in with the solo. Also used some iZotope Trash for some subtle saturation and vintage delays, and most of the parts are doubled in stereo to thicken it even more.”

Proof of concept, the aptly titled Love Child bears the signature traits of both the band’s live musicianship and electronic production savvy. And it wouldn’t exist in quite the same way without one or the other. The dancefloor anthem, “It Could Be,” for example, incorporates chopped up samples and synths and manipulated vocals — things that as Duncan points out “could never be done with an instrument.”

“There’s a lot of ear candy if you’re listening for it, but it’s all on a bed of this live band energy, the best takes of us playing together as a band in the studio. No time correction, no pitch correction – this is how we play.”

For more on Ella Riot visit the band website – www.dancethink.com – named for the genre they’ve coined to describe music. And download “Love Child” on iTunes.

The Neve 1073 LB Reviewed by Nic Hard

The Neve 1073 LB is a new 500-series “reissue” of the classic and revered microphone preamp originally designed by Rupert Neve in the 1960s.  The classic Neve 1073 has been used on countless albums and, based on my experience, leaves very little to be desired. So the question is…does this latest addition to the gamut of “new vintage” preamps hold up to the original?

As with most vintage gear “reissues” there is always question of whether it actually does the same thing as its namesake, or if it is just another pretty box with a cool logo.

To me, the best way to ascertain the quality of a mic pre is to AB it with its kin. Seeing as I am not a gear “addict” who has blown my entire life savings on numerous studio bits, I needed to enlist the help of a friend.

I went to Bushwick Studio, where owner/engineer Josh Kessler was happy to geek-out over a mic preamp…oh, and provide some amazing guitar and vocal stylings (apply sarcastic tone) to test it on.

I figured this Neve should be tested against one of its contemporaries. I chose a mic pre that I have loved for a while — the Vintech X81. So for the first test I had Josh play some of his best guitar riffs through an Oahu amp (made by Oliver Archut of Tab-Funkenwerk), miked with a [Sennheiser] 409 and straight into the Neve 1073 LB, then to “tape.”^[1]

At first the differences were barely noticeable, in fact the Neve sounded more solid and thumpy than the Vintech in the extreme low end^[2].  Subtle… definitely nothing to write home about, yet.

Switching to vocals, Josh’s “golden voice” ringing through a U47 with an original Berlin PVC m7 capsule provided a little more apparent difference between the two.  The Neve seemed less aggressive around 6k. Just a touch smoother than the X81.

All in all the difference between these two was minor.  Certainly not make or break.  If anything I preferred the Neve.  It was all a little bit boring actually.  So, I thought that I should really put them through the ringer and that is when I discovered a real difference.

Now, some of the recording purists and those who love pristine may want to not read any further.  For those who enjoy grit and edge this is where the two preamps were noticeably different.

Switching back to the 409 on the guitar amp, I wound the preamps up to 65db of gain and ran them through an SR-71 Blackbird to bring the gain into the converters down, no real compression happening. Fuzz…thick, blistering, chunky, wonderful fuzz. The Neve sounded great. 100% useable, fuzzed-out guitar. Even at 70db gain it held together and was exciting!

At 65db the X81 was dramatically thinner — most of the bottom end seemed to vanish and at 70db was buckling and choking. Now that may not mean much to some people, but to me it does.

Alright, so we’ve seen the 1073 LB up against something similar…however I was not entirely satisfied that I had put it through its paces, so I phoned up Oliver at Mission Sound^[3] in Brooklyn, who has a whole console full of original 1073s!

This time around the difference was a bit more dramatic.  Again, using nice gainy guitars as source we flipped back and fourth between the LB and the original.  The LB was definitely brighter and sharper, but unfortunately not as beefy or pleasant to listen to as the original 1073.  Same on vocals, the overall sound of the Neve LB was not as “creamy,” there was a pleasing sparkle to the top end on the original.

Again cranking up the preamps to 65 / 70db of gain (using a distressor to bring it down) the difference was similar to the difference between the X81 and the 1073 LB except this time it was the 1073 LB that was not as good.  The Original 1073 cranked up even at 70db sounded f+*^))ing awesome!!  I would track guitars like that all day long.  The breakup and fuzz was beautiful. Still good on the LB, but not quite as good.

At the end of the day the 1073 LB surpassed my expectations. I did not think it would out perform the X81, of which I have been a big supporter. I would happily track an entire record using the 1073 LB feeling certain that I would get a damn good result.

The Neve 1073 LB 100% discrete 500 Series mic pre is available via Vintage King Audio for $995. Contact any of Vintage King’s reps at 248-591-9276 to arrange a demo or purchase.

Nic Hard is a Brooklyn-based producer/engineer/mixer who has engineered and/or produced albums for The Bravery, The Church, Aberdeen City, Tv Tv, The Kin, The Ropes and The Perfects (among many others.) For more on Nic, or to get in touch, visit www.nichard.com.

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^[1] PT 8.1, Apogee ADx16 and DAx16 converters with Antelope Trinity clocking. For those that really want the nitty gritty, the monitoring was through Klein and Hummel O500C monitors, and NS-10s running of a Bryston 4B SST.  About forty feet of Mogami wire, Neutrik connectors and the air temperature was about sixty nine degrees (just kidding about the temperature).

^[2] Bushwick’s x81′s are modded with 620 ohm resistors on the output which does change their overall character some.

^[3] Lynx Aurora 16 converters, monitoring was ProAc studio 100s.

Session Buzz: Who’s Recording In & Around NYC — A Monthly Report

GREATER NYC AREA: Both through the grapevine and straight from the source(s), we’ve been hearing about a number of different recording projects going on in studios throughout the NYC area. The following is but a sampling of recent sessions, and works in progress…a snapshot of what’s going on around town:

Starting in Williamsburg, Chrissie Hynde and J.P. Jones are cutting their new album at Mission Sound this month, with Victor Van Vugt producing. Hynde and Jones released their debut collaboration, Fidelity, as J.P., Chrissie and the Fairground Boys last summer.

A couple stops away on the L train at The Brewery, Staten Island-native hip-hop veteran JoJo Pellegrino and producer Lofey (Nas, Foxy Brown, Beanie Sigel) wrapped up mixing Pelligrino’s upcoming mixtape with engineer Andrew Krivonos.

For the song “Love,” which features Chris Brown, they guys completely mashed up the track with a new instrumental and had to make pitch and time elastic audio changes in Pro Tools — complete surgery — spending 20+ hours over a three-day stretch tweaking and perfecting little details.

“We really wanted it to have a certain feel so we worked until we got it right. We’re totally psyched about hearing the feedback on JoJo’s project,” says Krivonos. Pellegrino released the track on Monday… check it out!

Meanwhile, at J Rock Studios in Chelsea, engineer Jamie Siegel recorded with Fall Out Boy lead singer/songwriter Patrick Stump for his upcoming solo album. With Stump producing and playing drums and Matt Rubano on bass, Siegel recorded a couple key parts for the opening track of Stump’s new solo record.

“We tracked live bass (with an octave pedal) and a drum solo that added a really interesting depth to a mostly electronic track,” says Siegel. “One week after the recording session, the EP Truant Wave debuted at #5 on iTunes.”

Downtown, the new Will Knox album was being produced entirely within Flux Studios on the Lower East Side. Produced by Fabrice “Fab” Dupont and recorded by Flux chief engineer Meredith McCandless, the album was tracked live to a minimal amount of tracks over 4 days and mixed the following week over a couple of days by McCandless and Dupont.

“There was no editing, no tuning, no MIDI, just a few B3, Wurlitzer and Glockenspiel overdubs,” Flux manager Chris Sipes relays. “Old school spirit for a new school sound!” Dupont also mastered the record, which is being released as a comic book with download codes for the music — no CDs are being printed.

And at Germano Studios, Keith Richards has been writing and recording new material with NYC native multi-instrumentalist producer Steve Jordan. NYC-based Dave O’Donnell engineered these sessions in Germano’s Studio 1.

Across the Hudson, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Jennifer O’Connor has been recording at Tom Beaujour’s Nuthouse Recording in Hoboken. Beaujour is co-producing, recording and mixing, and collaborators include Jon Langmead on drums, Michael Brodlieb on bass, and cameos by Kendall Meade (Wurlitzer), Richard X. Baluyut (vocals and guitar) and Amy Bezunartea (vocals and guitar).

And just a ways up the River, at Bicoastal Recording in Ossining, jazz singer/songwriter Michael Franks and bassist/producer Mark Egan worked on a new song, featuring Clifford Carter on keys, Joe Bonadio on drums and Chuck Loeb on guitar. Bicoastal owner Hal Winer was the engineer. In another recent session at Bicoastal, NYC string quartet Ethel recorded with engineer/producer Dave Cook, and Francois Moutin tracked some new material with trumpeter Lew Soloff and vocalist Anne Sila with Winer engineering.

Back in Manhattan at Threshold Studios, Freelance Whales were recording and mixing a new track with Jeremy Sklarsky engineering and co-producing. Sklarsky also recently engineered sessions with composer Tim Janis and Alexa Ray Joel. Check out Threshold’s new website/blog at www.thresholdstudios.com.

Over at Stratosphere Sound, where songwriter/producer Amanda Ghost and producer Dave McCracken have recently taken up residence, Florence Welch was in for writing sessions with Ghost — McCracken producing and Andros Rodriguez engineering — and John Legend was also in for sessions with the duo, engineered by Adam Tilzer.

And as previously reported…

Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore and Yoko Ono are making a record together at Sear Sound in Midtown Manhattan. Chris Allen is engineering.

Fluxivity, Nat Priest’s custom Neve 8048-equipped Williamsburg studio, recently hosted Matt Mays with engineer/producer Ted Young, and Juan Son with Blonde Redhead drummer Simone Pace producing and Brian Thorn engineering.

Also, portions of Kurt Vile’s latest Matador album, Smoke Ring For My Halo, were recorded and mixed by producer/engineer John Agnello at Fluxivity, along with a few other local studios, including Magic Shop, Headgear, Water Music and Vacation Island.

Speaking of Vacation Island, it seems Beirut recently mixed their latest record at the Brooklyn studio with producer Griffin Rodriguez.

And speaking of Headgear, Agnello has also been working there with Joy By Proxy, Andy Shernoff and Sons of Bill. And coming up, he’ll be tracking and mixing a new album there with Staten Island-based indie rock foursome Cymbals Eat Guitars.

And we know there’s so much more going on out there! If you’d like to be featured in “Session Buzz,” please submit your studio news to submissions@sonicscoop.com.

Matt and Kim’s “Sidewalks” Mastered at The Lodge

Brooklyn dance pop duo Matt and Kim released their latest album, Sidewalks, last month on the Fader Label.

Lead singer Matt Johnson stopped by The Lodge in NYC earlier this year to attend the album’s mastering session with Joe LaPorta, who also mastered Matt and Kim’s 2009 record, Grand.

Matt and Kim recorded Sidewalks with Ben Allen (Gnarls Barkley, Animal Collective, Deerhunter) at his Maze Studios in Atlanta, and with Oliver Straus at Mission Sound in Brooklyn.

Follow Matt and Kim via www.mattandkimmusic.com.

And, for more on The Lodge and mastering engineer Joe LaPorta (Bear Hands, Armin van Buuren, Neon Indian, Bear in Heaven, The Smith Westerns, etc.), visit http://www.thelodge.com

Mission Sound Welcomes Dead Leaf Echo and a Cult Hero from the U.K.

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN: In the past few months, Mission Sound has hosted current buzz-generators Matt and Kim, Arctic Monkeys and Animal Collective, as well as perennial punk-rock veterans Bad Religion. This month, Oliver Straus’ Williamsburg studio welcomes Brooklyn shoegazers Dead Leaf Echo and UK-born producer John Fryer. We stopped by to talk shop and got an earful.

Before helping Industrial artists like Nine Inch Nails create raw and powerful new sounds in the 90s, Fryer established himself as a capable, smart-mouthed young engineer at London’s Blackwing Studios. It was there that he would team up with seminal artists Cocteau Twins and Depeche Mode to invent unique and influential new textures for 4AD and Mute Records as early as 1981.

Fryer is a natural choice for Dead Leaf Echo, who spend their days imagining up wide expanses of ethereal guitars anchored by tight, driving rhythms. These stark, yet deeply textured soundscapes create a foundation for songs that Textura describes as “four-minute cathedrals of dreampop splendour”.

If there’s anyone who knows about developing these kinds of expansive textures, it’s Fryer, who is unafraid of using technology to make a sonic statement. “It’s all about warping sounds,” he says, “Bastardizing them.”

Fryer’s early home-base, Blackwing, was built out of a deconsecrated church that lost much of its original vaulted ceilings to new construction. This environment, coupled with an experimental nature, led Fryer and his contemporaries to rely heavily on early AMS reverbs, delays and Eventide Harmonizers to add lush, hyper-real colors to the sonic palette.

As the analog and digital eras merged, technology also began to play a greater role in sound generation at Blackwing. Fryer was behind the board when art-punk trailblazers Wire shifted gears for It’s Beginning to and Back Again. He told us about their use of early Akai samplers: “With Graham (Lewis) and Bruce (Gilbert), it was about manipulating sounds. If anything made a sound, it was an instrument. Plug an object straight into the sampler and there you go. Detune it, whatever, and you have a new voice.”

He was also present just when computers started to become central in the studio. “In England we were using the Ataris. Then Trent (Reznor) comes into the studio with his Mac” he says, referring to an early Macintosh Plus used to sequence rhythmic tracks on the Pretty Hate Machine sessions. “It was the first time I had seen a Mac in the studio, and now here we are, working on one today!”

At this point, Oliver Straus, (Mission Sound’s Owner/Engineer) looked up from a quick drum edit on a widescreen display 10 times larger than the monochrome 9-inch screen of the original Macintosh Plus. Oliver’s skills here are one of the reasons Dead Leaf Echo chose Mission Sound: Straus knows drums.

Fryer and Straus worked together to tweak live sounds throughout. At times, they steered toward tight drum-machine-like beats, and on other occasions, swapped drummer J. Parker’s normal crash cymbals for washy, heavy rides that would pair with well-nuked room mics to create a slowly swirling sheen with exaggerated decay.

Sounds like these add depth to Dead Leaf Echo’s atmospheric fabric, which is often woven more out of mood than of melody. It’s a shimmering backdrop that spotlights singer LG’s wandering, gossamer vocals and has earned them regular opening slots for textural mavericks Chapterhouse, Ulrich Schnauss, and A Place to Bury Strangers. Today, these Brooklyn locals are recording their first full-length after a series of well-received EPs the band released in small, handmade batches over the past two years.

Like 4AD founder Ivo Watts-Russel, DLE’s current collaborator wasn’t trained as a musician, and speaks pictorially about sound. Still, John Fryer is able to give pointers about song structure and musical phrasing: “Since I don’t play, music comes down to a feeling, and I do whatever I can to enhance the mood of the music,” Fryer says.

He sees this perspective as a unique asset that even helps avoid ego battles in the studio: “Even if the musician can’t play worth a damn, they can still play better than me!” He also suggests his background keeps each artist’s musical vision pure. “I’m not a failed musician, you know? I’m there to make the band’s record, not mine. ”

Ironically enough, this veteran producer and “non-musician” has been an instrumental contributor to albums by 4AD artists This Mortal Coil and Hope Blister. He’s now hard at work finishing his first personal record, collaborating across oceans on a project called “Dark Drive Clinic,” and lending his talents to fight global warming through a new multimedia project.

Before leaving this team to finish their session we asked Fryer what’s changed most over a career that’s seen three decades of constant evolution.

“In the beginning of the 80s, A&R people loved music. You’d go to a meeting and everyone was talking about making great records, great songs. By the end of the 80s, they were talking about making a great product and moving units.”

Although he spent much of the mid 90s working on big-budget projects, he’s not a snob about scale. “A lot of the early records had small budgets. 4AD could send a band in to make a record in one or two weeks. I’ve worked with bigger budgets and longer timeframes. It doesn’t always make for a better record.”

See Dead Leaf Echo live at Vaudeville Park in Williamsburg on January 7, 2011 and catch them on the WNYE 91.5FM show “The B-Sides” on January 12. For more on Dead Leaf Echo, visit www.deadleafechonyc.com

Justin Colletti is a Brooklyn-based audio engineer and music producer who’s worked with Hotels, DeLeon, Soundpool, Team Genius and Monocle, as well as clients such as Nintendo, JDub and Blue Note Records. Visit him at www.justincolletti.com.

Stacie Rose: On Fearless Songwriting, Sharp Synch Licensing, and her ALTER EGO

RUTHERFORD, NJ: When an insatiable appetite for songwriting collides with a quest for success, artists like Stacie Rose are the result. You could say this career-focused New Jersey native is fast-emerging, except there’s a lot to suggest she’s already arrived.

A young but oft-licensed songstress with a clear ear for hooks, her cuts have already garnered synch uses from clients including MTV’s “The Hills”, VH1′s “Tough Love”, Paste Magazine’s “SONGS FOR HAITI” compilation, amc, FX, ABC, Escada fragrance campaign, American Airlines Radio, and FUSE TV. Those tracks, several off of her Shotgun Daisy! album, are about to get a run for their money from her dual ALTER EGO EP releases of Raw Sugar and Means to an End (Enchanted Records), going first to her Pledge Music supporters on July 20, and then to the big ole’ world on August 17th.

She’s no calculating bean counter, though. Rose’s approach to creativity and collaboration are what keep her energized, as she revealed in the SonicScoop interview. Listen to what she lays out here — we say this is How to Make it in Music, 2010 style.

You’re a pretty prolific writer. How does a song get started for you?

My approach to songwriting varies a little. It generally starts with a lyric, a gut feeling or story that leads to a lyric, or sometimes I just grab the guitar and start strumming, and humming, and then it’s racing around looking for a pen and something to jot ideas on, like junk mail or the back of a magazine, and then my digital recorder to sing into.

Then, it’s Demo One, followed by Demo Two, many versions, verse and chorus — sometimes days in between, then a bridge might emerge.

Maybe that’s more my process: My approach is really capturing the essence of the moment, or concept, I’m writing about. I try to bring my perspective to things, my metaphors, and create a mood, a picture, or emotional landscape. Sometimes I try to teach myself a lesson, work through a  personal challenge, or celebrate an epiphany.

I used to feel very evolved, but I seem to be going through a new phase where I am suddenly tripping upon survival skills, questioning things, reacquainting myself with my inner strength and writing through it all. Sometimes I don’t try to do anything at all, no goals — and the songs/words pour out.

That lines up with the very thing that I’m trying to relearn this week – that change is GOOD. So how does that songwriting approach reflect how you see yourself as an artist?

I view myself as a unique, pop songwriter, both fiery, and feminine. I’m almost always in motion, even when I am still.

I’m not an anarchist, but certainly do not conform to anything or anybody. I don’t follow the pack. I do take my work/songs very seriously, but don’t take myself tooooo seriously. I have dark comedy tendencies and the deepest love of melody and words. I’ve come to accept my own dichotomies. I can rock out pretty well, but can also turn a shy side. I’m part late-night, acoustic singer-songwriter girl, who sometimes likes to mash and trash it up!

That’s multiple personalities! But at SonicScoop, it’s not a disorder. What’s been your approach or strategy for developing your musical career?

My goals are to continue to create music on my terms with people whom I respect, and enjoy sharing the process with. I always want to give myself the room to grow and experiment. It’s important for me to be true to my heart, my vision and to stay in the moment as much as possible, enjoying, or at least feeling the process even when it’s more difficult.

I really make a grand effort to help these songs out into the world, so that they can have a life, and hopefully work their way into people’s homes, hearts, heads, and iPods.

You’ve built up a great track record all ready with synch placements – MTV, VH1, FX, FUSE TV. How did you get started on this track? What role have music-to-picture placements had in your artist development?

The Orchard managed to place my song “Here’s Looking at You” in an ESCADA “Sunset Heat” Webisode. When I saw the footage, it felt really fitting. The song is up tempo and free-spirited. The episode was summery, sexy, & beachy.

I’ve actually had two songs in racy bathroom scenes, which I think is kind of funny and interesting. My good friend and filmmaker, David Kittredge, used my song “Promised Land (remix)” in his award-winning film, “Pornography: A Thriller”. The song pumps in a club as two guys size each other up in the men’s room. Another song of mine called “Back to Life” made it into an episode of the FX show, “The Riches” (with Minnie Driver and Eddie Izzard). That song played in a bathroom scene in which Minnie got groped at a neighborhood house party by her husband’s colleague. Good stuff!

Then the placements in MTV’s “The Hills” and VH1’s “Tough Love” got a lot of buzz since those hit shows are such guilty pleasures! I had a song called “Find Your Way” in an amc movie spot, and it was wonderful because it aired just before my last record Shotgun Daisy! was released.

The movies being promoted were stellar and stories within the spot really meshed well with the lyrics and melody. The characters in the movies were in fact “finding their way” A really great spot, and good match! And, amc was super cool and artist-friendly, including an artist/song/label credit, which helped with record sales. The spot is on YouTube and gets a lot of love from fans, and made new people aware of my music.

In general, the licensing is a really great way for artists to earn money and to continue creating. The consistent placements have really helped me to build buzz, gain momentum, and get people’s attention.

Licensing PROPS. So does it get hard NOT to think of synch-ability as you continue to write? Do you find yourself wondering if a song is going to work for picture as you write it?

I usually don’t think about synch when I write. I might just have a knack for finding a universal way to convey things. I like being poetic, and crafty in my writing but I also want people to get it — I believe in the power of a good pop song!

It may sound obvious, but why do you think having an understanding of synch licensing is important for emerging artists?

You want to be able to market yourself and bring your songs to the surface, reaching the masses. You’ve got to know the game if you want to play. People are watching TV, webisodes, and films. They won’t always seek you out, so you need to find ways to bring the music to them.

This is a sneaky and savvy way of getting your music to be heard and felt. It’s quick and painless. And, if they dig it, they might come back for more, seek you out, purchase your music, stalk you, blog about you, etc…

Well put. Switching gears, do you have your own studio in NYC, or do you record at other people’s facilities? Where do you like to work?

I demo all my songs at home on a digital Sony mini recorder. If I’m on the run, with no guitar on hand, I will sing into my iphone(recorder ap). If I mean business and am going for a real recording or even a pristine demo, I will work at Defy Recordings with Robert L. Smith. He gets beautiful sounds. I work on a lot of arrangements with Jeff Allen at his place in the Bronx, and often bounce around to various studios (mostly in NYC) to work on various side projects.

When someone works with a variety of producers like you do, how do you decide who to work with?

I guess I mostly work with the people I love and trust the most because it’s like home. Robert and Jeff have really been constant collaborators. Both of them have introduced me to a myriad of amazing singers, musicians, and writers.

David Patterson and Rob McKeever (both guitar players) have consistently helped me find a voice for my songs through the years, so I often turn to them as I write.

I am really loyal to those who have been on board since the get-go and, at the same time, incredibly open to meeting new artists and melding my music with others. I feel as if I’ve been collecting new friends and building momentum mostly because of the exciting energy that comes from good, soulful, collaborating. It’s the key to my success as an artist.

That’s BIG. Did that work go into your new EPs – two different projects — that are about to come out simultaneously?

I’m about to release the most exciting project of my musical career thus far: The Alter-Ego EPs, officially due on on August 17th. I raised a good portion of the budget for this through PLEDGE MUSIC.  I have been sharing the process, and progress through PLEDGE, Facebook, my website, Twitter, blogs etc…

This is really the first of many concept projects for me. The Alter-Ego EP: MEANS TO AN END is a bit more raw than my other records, and veers off on an edgier, live-ish path.

The sound and approach is mostly influenced by some of my classic rock heroes. Jeff Allen ( the producer of this EP) and I got our dream band together, did two long rehearsals and then went right into the studio and recorded six tracks in one long day, so that the ideas would be slightly rough around the edges and possess that raw, unaffected energy that comes with the initial creation of something.

We recorded with Oliver Straus at Mission Sound in Brooklyn. He got stellar sounds, and the day is one of my favorite memories. Since then I’ve been finishing my vocals, and we’ve been adding a few exiting overdubs –The icing! It’s being mixed right now!

The Alter-Ego EP: RAW SUGAR is pretty dancy. It’s pop at its clubbiest for me and has been really exciting to make.

Robert L. Smith has produced this EP with me. It’s been intensely collaborative, constantly evolving and there are so many exciting people involved. It’s a departure for me in a way, but feels totally natural. I’ve worked with Robert to corral and empower the various producers, mixers, programmers and singers involved, to help shape, and make these songs a sensation.

In doing so, I have felt new sides of myself emerge. I see neon, champagne, and many costume changes in my future. So, I guess I would describe the overall project as gritty and pretty, pop and pow, sugary and savory, thunder and lightning. They go together but are totally different.

On another musical side of you — you introduced me to a really interesting project involving the Beatles and some ukuleles…

Well I’m sort of late to the party, but happy to have been invited nonetheless.  This whole thing happened pretty organically. I had the good fortune to have been introduced to the amazing singer-songwriter/vocal producer Mike Harvey. My friend/producer/collaborator Robert L. Smith hooked us up for the ALTER-EP project I am currently working on.

Mike’s soulful voice has become a key ingredient in the dance/pop songs. He introduced me to David Barratt who founded the high-concept art project THE BEATLES COMPLETE ON UKULELE with Roger Greenawalt. It’s like “Where’s Waldo?”, but with ukulele. You’ve got these amazing, intricate, arrangements, and exciting incarnations of beloved Beatles songs, and somewhere within each track there is a UKULELE! How fun is that?!!!

Sometimes the instrument plays a large roll, sometimes it’s a bit more discreet, but it’s the common thread that binds this project together. I loved having the opportunity to pick the song I wanted to approach in my own way. When I got the list of available songs, my eyes raced down the page, searching for I ME MINE (written by George Harrison)… it was free! It was MINE! once I declared it so, David built the most gorgeous, hypnotic track for me to sing to and the rest is history. The track should make its way into the world this summer!  It’s quite a unique and exiting project, with so many amazing artists lending their voices.

The track we heard was indeed awesome — although the latest post (July 2) on the blog makes note of “irreconcilable differences” between Roger and Dave. Intrigue! Anyway, so you’re off to a good start: What advice do you have for songwriters/artists who are just getting started now? And in that vein, what do you know now that you wished you had known a few years ago as you were getting started?

WOW — I wish I had known so many things when I got started and I really knew nothing. It was a blessing in many ways because it taught me to be resourceful, organized and creative.

I made countless mistakes, and made astonishing waves by being fearless, and stepping up to things. I always acted like I had it going on, and this confidence seemed to draw others into my orbit.  Sometimes I wish I possessed the same brand of moxie now.  Ignorance is bliss, to a point. Knowledge is power, always–and some place in between that–if you can remain open, stay focused. learn from mistakes, trials and errors, and hold onto that raw, gutsy, mojo… that’s magic!

I would also tell a newbie, to do things on your own terms. There’s no fast track, no tricks, and no finite way to make or promote music today. Find what works for you. Define your own sense of success. It’s ok if you don’t have all the answers, but you have to be willing to learn, ask, and try.

You don’t know? Draw from your heroes and influences but always try to be unique, authentic and GOOD! Persistence often pays off. Put good energy out into the world, treat others as you wish to be treated, seriously, and don’t do it if you don’t love it and burn for it.

Thanks for some inspirational insights. Lastly, why do this in NYC and not LA, Nashville or Nairobi?

Because NYC is still the best place in the world, with the best pulse, the hottest vibe, and an intangible energy force-field! There will always be a certain artistic history, and edge about NYC that reminds you that you’re alive and that anything is possible. There’s both a toughness and friendliness about it.  There’s an infinite amount of inspiration, beauty and grit, swirling about to draw from!

It might be the BIG apple, but when you’ve done the circuit for a bit and start to see how small certain circles really are, it’s quite a cozy, comfy place to be writing, recording and performing music. And that street cred thing about making it in NYC is still something to shoot for.

– David Weiss

We Are Scientists: Birthing “Barbara” At Mission Sound & Beyond

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN: Barbara. What does this mystical word evoke in your imagination? For We Are Scientists, this isn’t just a likely moniker for the hairdresser down the block. No no: It’s the title of their infectiously delicious new album. It’s a woman you want to get to know.

This week marks the release of disc #4 from WAS, and it’s a musical milestone worth noting. The Brooklyn-based duo of Keith Murray and Chris Cain rock melodic all across the 10 songs here, energized by the punch of new drummer Andy Burrows and fully focused on a tighter sound.

Working with producer/engineer Ariel Rechtshaid, We Are Scientists hopped from NYC to LA to London to bring Barbara into the world, in all her glory. Once you dig into these hooks, we dare you to forget them. Wait! Make that a DOUBLE DOG DARE.

The new album sounds terrific. What was the recording philosophy
 going in?

Our starting point, before we even got going with any songwriting, was 
the desire to return to being a three-piece on stage. We spent the last 
album cycle (2008’s Brain Thrust Mastery) touring with a fourth man on keys and second guitar.

While it was a lot of fun, and the songs on that album — with all their four 
and five-piece arrangements — remain some of our favorites, two years of 
that left us yearning for the excitement and simplicity of the trio: 
three instruments, three voices, as much noise as possible.

So we wrote songs for three pieces, and when we went into the studio to record them,
 we wanted to make sure the end result sounded like just three people,
 that reproducing the songs live would be feasible for a three-piece.

That’s logical. How did that affect your choice of studios, which spanned NYC, London and L.A.? Where did you record in each city, and why?

I’d say our studio choice was a balance of financial responsibility,
 logistical requirements, and the knowledge that the record needed to
 sound decent or people would make fun of us.

We’re putting this album out on our own label, Masterswan Recordings, which despite an
 association with glamorous peregrinations and flagrant excess is actually just Keith and my laptops and bank accounts, so our sensitivity to recording costs was fairly high.

Luckily, these days, when you cut money from the studio budget, that tends to mean the lounge isn’t full of brand new furniture, or the TV in the lounge isn’t 3D, or one of the
 controllers for the XBOX is missing. Thanks to the state of technology, even very inexpensive studios have everything necessary to record top-notch sounds. 

The logistical concerns arose from our decision to record with a drummer who lives in London and a producer who lives in LA. So all of us did some traveling once or twice, and we ended up doing sessions in London, NYC, and LA (at Strongroom, Mission Studios, and Sunset Lodge, respectively).

It’s the global village! Tell us more about what led you to Mission Sound in Brooklyn. What made it the right place for you to work, and which songs from Barbara were recorded there?

We discovered Mission Studios because Arctic Monkeys used it for some of their last record, and we dropped by a few times to fray power cables, pour laxative into the coffee pot, and generally do whatever we could to slow that monolithic band’s steady ascension into the western musical canon.

While our focus was sabotage, we couldn’t help noticing the homey splendor of Mission Studios. When it came time to book something in New York, we were surprised and delighted to find that this place was within our budget. We ended up recording drums and bass for “Nice Guys,” “Foreign Kicks,” “You Should Learn,” and b-sides “Pound for Pound” and “Down the Hall,” all in a fairly intense two-day session engineered by local maestro Chris Coady.

Let us inside your Scientist™ brains: What are one or two new recording tips that you learned recording Barbara?
I learned that, at least with our recording approach, the actual bass guitar you’re using is much more important than amps, pedals, mics, etc., in getting a good bass sound.

In LA we had access to a rental place with an amazing range of instruments that they let us take back to the studio and pay for only if we ended up using them on the record. So 
I blew through about six classic basses before striking gold with a ’76 Gibson Ripper. We spent nearly a day fiddling with an old Ampeg set-up that belongs to our producer to get the sound that we used throughout the first guitar’s session. It sounded great, but it was no accident.

After that session, I spent a week hunting down a nearly-identical Ripper to eventually take on tour. And the nifty thing was that when we did the final drum work at Mission Studios, we went ahead and recorded scratch bass using my new Ripper through a D.I., and it sounded so good afterward that it went on the album.

For an example of the bass 
recorded through the arduously tweaked Ampeg, see “Rules Don’t Stop” or “Break It Up”; for the bass through a D.I., see “Foreign Kicks.”
 
Sorry, that was a long, nerdy story. I can’t even re-read it, and it’s my story.

Nah, we love nerdy gear stories! Moving on to the mix, who mixed the album and where? And what was different about having your new drummer, Andy Burrows’, drums in the mix? What other factors affected how “Barbara” was constructed differently?

The incomparable Dave Schiffman mixed the album at his home desk in Los Angeles. I never even saw the set-up. Dave would just send us test mixes to listen to and we’d email back comments. He was fast and effective as hell.

Andy’s the best combination of “expressive” and “tight” that I’ve ever seen in a rock drummer. I think from a production/mixing standpoint he’s kind of a dream to work with because when you record him, his instincts are so good.

It’s always worth pushing Andy for an extra fill idea because nearly every one he spits out is useable and awesome. His beats are very creative but in a way very conservative in that they always, always serve the song, not the drummer’s much-mythologized desire to lay down beats that grab your attention. So I think we and Ariel and Dave — producer and mixer respectively — had an unusually clean set of drum recordings, and also an unusually rich, coherent set of options, when putting together the final tracks.

Other than that, the big difference with Barbara was the staggered recording sessions. In the past we’ve always gone in for a couple weeks and banged out the album. This time we had several multi-week breaks, which could’ve hurt momentum, I guess, but instead gave us plenty of time to let ideas marinate and to make sure everything sounded the way we wanted it to.

There was an opportunity to live with choices for a while, and then to change them if we wanted to. In short, we were able to fix all of the problems that would otherwise have made it to press, resulting in an indisputably perfect record. Trust me!

The proof is in the listening: We can’t get “Jack and Ginger” out of our heads. Tell us 
something surprising about how this song was written or recorded.

I can tell you that the synth line in the verse, which is a pretty big hook, was kind of an afterthought — the song was written with no keyboards (actually, there was originally an organ filling out the mix, but no lead synths). We were working in Ariel’s guest house/studio after all of the recording was done, just getting rough mixes together, and he
 started fiddling with a lead synth line that immediately engaged all three of us.

We spent five or ten minutes honing the exact melody to where it is on the record, and suddenly realized with some horror that we had broken the Prime Directive for this record: we had added a fourth fucking instrument to a track. It really tortured us, actually, the decision of whether to leave that synth line on there or not. In the end we decided that the song would still sound good live without the synth – it would just be different.

And there’s no rule that says the live version has to accord perfectly with the record. Over the course of the few shows we’ve done thus far on Barbara, though, we’ve always had one idle friend or another come out and play that part whenever an idle friend was to be found.

Honing in on the homeland, what borough/neighborhood of NYC are you based out of? After having traveled the planet over, why do you still think NYC is the place to be?

I’d say we’re based out of Brooklyn. Since we moved here back in 2001,
 I’ve lived in Manhattan and Keith has lived in Brooklyn, but we’ve always practiced in Brooklyn, and that seems like the musical seat of the band. I guess?

Maybe we’re pan-New York. I suppose I wouldn’t call us an intrinsic part of “the Brooklyn scene” the way maybe a Dirty Projectors or a Grizzly Bear are. Let’s say we’re pan-New York with a Brooklyn bent.

New York City is the place to be because the number of top-notch restaurants is staggering; the people are (contrary to legend) very approachable; the people are serious about accomplishing their goals, and act like it; the people are fucking good looking; the city is fucking good looking; the city is easier and cheaper to navigate than any competing metropolis; and the city (in keeping with legend) has everything you could possibly want to watch, listen to, taste, interview, photograph, fuck, read, or record.  

— David Weiss

Gig Alert: Andrew Rose Gregory and The Color Red Band Present The Song of Songs at The Living Room (5/27)

On Thursday (5/27) night, singer/songwriter Andrew Rose Gregory — of Brooklyn indie-soul family band, The Gregory Brothers and Auto-Tune The News — will present his yet-unreleased country-klezmer concept album, based on The Song of Songs at The Living Room, 8PM.

Gregory will perform The Song of Songs with the Color Red Band, a 7-piece ensemble featuring musicians who’ve worked with Sufjan Stevens, Danielson, Welcome Wagon, Diane Birch and Sarah & the Stanleys.

Inspired while reading the Song of Songs on tour, as well as by modern works by Sam Amidon, Tom Waits (Alice) and Sufjan Stevens, Gregory wrote his Song of Songs album over 2008-09. He recorded it last summer at Mission Sound in Williamsburg with engineer Zach McNees (Bjork, John Legend, The Pixies).

The album was recorded live in three days, except for the vocals, many of which are sung in duet with Gregory’s singer/songwriter sister-in-law Sarah Fullen Gregory, of Sarah & the Stanleys. Those were overdubbed later. Players on the record include Evan Mazunik (piano, organs, accordions), Alex Foote (guitars), Jay Foote (bass), Justin Keller (winds).

Listen to some of the Song of Songs tracks in the music player here.

Andrew Rose Gregory & The Color Red Band will perform The Song of Songs at 8PM on Thursday at The Living Room, followed by Kelley McRae at 9PM.

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