Rich Lamb — Nomad Audio Engineer: The Favorite Studios of an NY Freelancer (Part 2)

TRIBECA/CHINATOWN, MANHATTAN: Two weeks ago we joined NYC freelance audio engineer Rich Lamb (pitchie@earthlink.net) on a tour of his favorite studios in and around the city. Well, he’s not finished yet – Lamb’s telling us about more go-to rooms for you to view, use and abuse (in a Geoff Emerick kind of way)…

New Calcutta Recording, 851 8th Ave., NYC, 212-704-4007

Rich Pagano — Fab Faux, Curt Smith, Freedy Johnston, etc… — is an old friend and also one of the greatest rock drummers I’ve ever heard, not to mention songwriter and producer, who just released a great solo album.  Being more creative than technical, and being unable to produce while drumming and engineering, he calls me in for a lot of basic track sessions.

I know his studio better than he does, thanks in part to my audio schooling and flexibility from working in different places, so he gets to work on his drum kit or whatever while I patch things together.

Rich is a reminder of the solid work ethic that says you should fix the drum sound IN THE ROOM, not by grabbing the EQ.  Nowhere else do I record a drum kit and almost always shun EQ while tracking!  We will move mics an inch at a time until we find the sweet spot.  It’s a modest room, not easy to mix in, plus you’re dealing with bands playing — it’s a music building, mostly for rehearsals — but I’ve always gotten good results there.

It started in 1998 with a Mackie, 1″ TASCAM, and DA-88s, then years later went to 2″ and Sound Workshop (both from Systems Two) and an expansion of the space.  Rich knows his room and is the most important part of it… then again the engineer is ALWAYS more important than his/her equipment.  Like at Mark Dann‘s, nobody works there more than I do, except for the owners.

Season Six Studios (not the official name), The Poconos

I know Jack Petruzzelli (Joan Osborne, Keren Ann, David Gray, Rufus Wainwright) mostly from Rich Pagano.  He first hired me to do a string session for a Joan Osborne album he’s co-producing and co-writing, so we picked Systems Two.  The next year we tracked Joan’s band in a house in The Poconos that belongs to Jack’s family.  It’s far enough out of the city to be a real getaway, and not that close to restaurants or shops which is why we stock up on groceries before heading there.  And it’s by a lake, which makes the experience that much more atypical and relaxing.

The vibe that comes from having no commute, camping out there with the band, and rolling out of bed into the kitchen to the smell of fresh coffee and breakfast is amazing.  For all the work I do there the pattern is pretty much the same: eat some oatmeal — Jack could turn white toast into a gourmet dish –  start recording, take a REAL LUNCH BREAK and not a sandwich or slice at the console while doing punch-ins!! Man do I hate that!! Resume work rejuvenated, have a delicious dinner, work a little more, break out the wine, call it a night before everyone’s exhausted, smoke up and listen to some 78s!

Jack makes this all happen by being a great host, producer, musician and cook, and always having interesting, talented and delightful musicians on the sessions, who don’t have to run off to some other gig.   We have a good amount of gear between us and the house has nice acoustics, so the stuff is as well-recorded as anywhere else.  It may sound really laid back but we are quite productive!  I feel healthy and relaxed just thinking about the projects I’ve done there.  TapeOp would be proud.

The Kostabi Show, 514 W. 24th St., NYC

This is a cable access game show that tapes every two or three Fridays.  A friend half-seriously forwarded me a Craigslist ad for this gig, I interviewed and they hired me.  Pretty bare bones: a little Mackie board and a few mics.

Here the challenge is in dealing with the sound of host and artist Mark Kostabi while he’s hosting in Rome, which is half the time.  Feedback is another challenge.

It’s an amusing, short gig that puts a little cash in my pocket, yet I’m always sad when I have a conflict and can’t make it.  I email-invite friends to attend as audience members whenever I know there’s a show, and invite whoever is reading this to attend as well.

Some Mighty Nice Advice

I must stress that all these gigs and contacts come from years and years of chugging away in this town!  I have a friend who just moved here from Colorado, and I understand his frustration: no matter how long you’re at it, my experience is that maintaining a busy schedule is ALWAYS a challenge.

Being busy is like being healthy: you don’t think about the opposite when things are well.  Being too busy means you can lose work, which is why I want to know more engineers with whom I can share work.  Having too much downtime is stressful too, which is the other reason I want to expand my network of colleagues.  Hats off to Steve Massey and SonicScoop (for networking events)!

But the most important thing for me is that feeling when you’re working on a song you love with good people and good sounds.  That’s when work and play are synonymous.  I’m also driven by pride in my various abilities — as a pianist with perfect pitch I usually have the fastest ears in the room, and love being the producer’s secret weapon — but also my own feelings of inadequacy, like when I revisit my old work and always hear things that aren’t right to my present-day, better-trained ears.  So I keep at this because I’m still working hard to get it right.  I’m still inspired and almost intimidated by the huge amount of great-sounding albums that are made today, and I want my next project to sound like THAT.

It’s a constant learning experience.  And it’s miraculous, after 20 years of dealing with tape, every time I think of how much we can do now at home that we couldn’t even do even 15 years ago in a full-blown studio.  The future came pretty suddenly, once razor blades went away, “undo” became a way of life, random-access editing changed everything, and generation loss became a thing of the past!

To think that we send masters by way of YouSendIt, and can make revisions on final mixes while checking email, instead of re-booking the studio, recalling all the gear and console settings, and FedExing another DAT is amazing. This January will be 10 years since my first multitrack session without tape.  This way of working isn’t perfect — it wreaks havoc on my back — but it sure is exciting when it works and there’s no spinning beach ball.

Final random thought: looking to be a studio person but wanting to supplement your income with live work?  Fine.  Just protect your ears, and don’t think you’re going to get any studio gigs out of it.  At least that was my experience!

Second final thought: In the studio, you’re sitting on your ass a lot of the time.  At least try to eat healthy.

By the way, anyone reading this is invited to join my Song of the Week emailing list (pitchie@earthlink.net).  Mostly pop-rock stuff, either new or oldies I’ve always been into. See you SOON.

– David Weiss

Beyond The Fab Faux: Rich Pagano Gauxs Solaux

HELL’S KITCHEN, MANHATTAN: New York City is a place where stars shine, but it can also be a land of long shadows. Just ask Rich Pagano, a world-class drummer who routinely shares the stage with the Earth’s top performers.  

Besides being the pulse of champion Beatles tribute band The Fab Faux, Pagano has played live and in the studio with some recognizable names: Patti Smith, Rosanne Cash, Robbie Robertson, Ray Davies, Willie Nile, gospel legend Marie Knight, Joan Osborne, Levon Helm, and Ian Hunter to name a few.  

Get the point? He’s da man. In demand. But Pagano knows how to do more than just play for the song and sing along – he also know how to write ‘em. His solo release, Rich Pagano + the sugarCane cups, proves it with a standout assembly of 12 forward-looking rock/blues/songwriter assemblages, and continues to gain momentum since its widespread distribution in December.  

Recorded primarily in his Hell’s Kitchen facility, New Calcutta Studios, Pagano took advantage of the fact that the best around were at his place for project sessions, then stuck around some more at the end to contribute to his own solo dream. Voila: Trey Anastasio (Phish), David Johansen (New York Dolls), Ian Hunter (Mott the Hoople), and Nile were all on board.  

His “house band” doesn’t suck either, packed with NYC’s who’s who of cats, including Andy York (John Mellencamp), GE Smith, Brian Mitchell (Bob Dylan), David Johansen, Steve Conte (New York Dolls), Chris Seefried, John Conte (Rosanne Cash), Jeff Kazee (Southside Johnny), Tony Shanahan (Patti Smith, David Gray), and all the members of The Fab Faux (Will Lee, Jimmy Vivino, Frank Agnello and Jack Petruzzelli).       

But who needs back story? SonicScoop has Pagano’s first-person perspective on this tale of NYC persistence. 

Q: Drummers-turned-bandleaders are always interesting. How did this evolution happen for you?

A: I was always a drummer first. But I was never concerned with being THE drummer, just concerned about being a great SONG drummer. I wanted to be a songwriter but the sessions took over and touring took over. So I founded New Calcutta Studios in the city, became a studio owner, tried to write more but became busy with running sessions.  

Two years ago I said, “I’m tired of being a studio owner. I want to produce my own stuff,” stopped advertising the studio, and started doing tracks for this album. I did let people in to New Calcutta who wound up being guests on the record, though. With some, I would give them a good rate, and then say, “Before you go, would you mind singing or playing on my track?”

Q: That’s a nifty little strategy. As that unfolded, what was your vision for the record?

A: For the last 10 years or so, I’d go backstage after a Fab Faux show, and since I do a lot of singing in that band, people would ask me when I was doing a solo record. At the back of my mind I thought, “This is my main audience. Let me make a record they can relate to.”   At the time I was writing these songs, I was listening to a lot of solo Pete Townshend and his Lifehouse demos, Woody Guthrie, Lou Reed, solo John Lennon. Levon Helm is a huge influence on me – for a while, I was his “other drummer” when he would go out in front to play mandolin in concert – so that was a template. I was also listening to a lot of Bob Dylan, which can’t hurt.  

Q: You assembled quite a house band to back you up as you got underway. 

A: The fundamental players had the same sensibilities as I do in realizing the song, but just as important is my engineer Rich Lamb. He’s a successful engineer/producer in NYC, and he also played a lot of keyboards on the record.

I don’t play piano very well, and play bass badly, but I have relative pitch, so my process for writing/recording these songs was that I would sing a melody to Rich. Then he would block out the chords for me and write out a chart of those chords. I would then go over to the drumset and work out the right groove. Then I’d go into the control room, lay down a click, then go back into the live room and imagine that the band was there with me, and lay down a scratch vocal and drum track (not at the same time) to the click and his piano playing. Every song was started that way with overdubs right behind. 

Q: “You Want to Stay High” featuring Trey Anastasio and Jimmy Vivino is a nice gift to all of us guitar lovers out there. How did that come together with Trey?

A: When Trey was over here rehearsing with The Faux, we chatted for about two hours about the process of making a great record. I said, “I have a track for you, it’s called ‘You Want to Stay High’. I also said, “I wrote this long before I knew you!”, because he had some legal issues which he has since kicked. He loved the track – he said, “It’s me.” It’s amazing hearing him and Jimmy trading licks back and forth.   

Q: Since it’s your album, I’m sure you’ve noticed that promoting it is also your baby. How are you ensuring that people know it’s out there?

A: I’ve developed a relatively large fan base being the drummer of The Fab Faux, and working with Jimmy Vivino’s band Prisoners of 2nd Avenue. I’m diligently sending out PR blasts of updates about successes for the record and every month seems to bring in a positive review from a periodical – some more influential than others. I have an assistant named Brenna who works with me, preparing all my paperwork and my copy and I send that out to create more of a buzz.

I’m also being called to do TV. We were on air in Chicago, and we did Good Day NY as well. When I see a lot of letters coming in from certain demographics about a certain song, I’ll do the current acoustic trio version there. I want to build momentum with the acoustic shows, and tell fans about the success of the CD. Then in March, we’ll do a big electric show where we’ll recreate the record. Those shows will be announced shortly at richpagano.com.  

Q: What has stepping out in front to do your album, your way, taught you?

A: I wish I did it 10 years ago! I didn’t have the sense to put the time aside to do it, and I should have stayed the course of being a person who puts out a body of original work every year. The Fab Faux is bittersweet. It became very successful and i am proud of it, but I never wanted my legacy to be a Beatles cover band, and it depressed me that I wasn’t doing what I moved to Manhattan for.   But the upside is big. Now I enjoy Fab Faux gigs more than ever, I love that my music is finally touching people – and there’s more coming. – David Weiss