The Console Is King: UM Project and Allen Farmelo Re-Imagine The Classic Console For A Modern Room

FORT GREENE, Brooklyn: “It’s like the future of yesterday, today!” A step into Allen Farmelo‘s Fort Greene mix room reveals a  unique new console which sports sleek, retro-futurist lines, and suggests an untapped ability to serve double-duty as the helm for the Star Trek Enterprise.

Housing up to 24 channels of API channel strips, an integrated control surface, a computer keyboard, and speaker stand, this striking new desk-on-wheels owes much of its heritage to classic “mid-century modern” designs, where form and function are effortlessly linked together by a minimalist’s eye.

Although it looks like a factory-fresh commercial console, the new board is actually an ingeniously designed housing that could be filled with any variety of 19-inch rack gear.

For his custom desk, Farmelo took the idea one step further by working exclusively with API’s Legacy-series channel strips, which bring the full functionality of an analog console to bear, providing classic EQ and dynamic control as well as built-in auxiliary and multi-bus routing.

This promising new concept is the moss-green fruit of a collaboration between Farmelo and a French-born Brooklyn designer named Francois Chambard, who runs his own boutique design outfit, UM Project.

Despite it’s high-dollar look, feel, and performance, Farmelo says that everyday studio owners would be surprised by just how much they can accomplish with Chambard, a craftsman he calls “an incredible resource for the recording community.”

While it didn’t make financial sense for Farmelo to buy a 16-channel API or Portico system at $50,000 off-the-shelf, he says he could get started on building a great-sounding modular console bit-by-bit as his needs evolved.

Farmelo’s genuine satisfaction with Chambard’s work is clear: ”Just look at it,” he says. “It’s indestructible, collapsible, and uniquely beautiful. He can design you a desk from scratch, and build it himself. And the whole thing is customizable.  You could do the same kind of thing with your favorite 500-series modules and a Dangerous summing box.  Whatever you want.”

Since the analog routing built into the Legacy series strips is a rare luxury among 19-inch rack gear, engineers looking to follow in Farmelo’s footsteps might simply rely on their DAW for grouping and sending, design an analog routing matrix for 19-inch rack pieces, or commission Chambard to build a frame for their favorite vintage console strips and master section.

A Unified Workflow & Sonic Palette

More than just providing a unique and breathtaking retro-modern look to fill out the room, the new console is evidence of one man’s desire to address the functional shortcomings he sees in today’s DAW-centric studios. “It seems everyone has got ten different preamps, 30 different mics, and a thousand different plug-ins,” says Farmelo. “When it comes to the mix, people spend half their time just trying to get it to all sit together. It’s like a picture that’s been painted with oils, acrylics, charcoals, and pastels all a once. That approach can make it very hard to get a cohesive sound.”

Frustrated with the work-flow of these piecemeal-style studios, Farmelo started cleaning house in his own racks: “When I finally heard the API 7600 channel strip, I said to myself: ‘Good. Done!’ It’s got one of the best preamps in the world, one of the best EQs in the world, and a really great compressor for controlling dynamics.”

Once he amassed a respectable handful of these channel strips to serve as a recording and summing system for his personal mix room, Farmelo never looked back:

“My goals is to unify my work-flow and my sounds by limiting the choices I have. I’m tired of all the options, tired of finding out how awesome the next thing is. I want to make records, not shop for the next must-have compressor! I believe that one of my jobs is to create a convincing ‘other reality’ in my work. This approach helps me achieve a cohesive tonal unity in my mixes. That’s what’s missing in the digital realm.”

Even with fewer than a dozen API strips filling his bays, Farmelo heard what he was hoping for.  But creating a unified sonic palette wasn’t the only goal. When he realized he was essentially building a console in his racks, Farmelo figured he could take it one step further: by removing the strips from traditional horizontal racks, where they lay on their sides, far and away from the sweet spot.

Working with Chambard to build a console-style housing complete with faders was the next logical step, and, it helped him fill in the last piece of the work-flow puzzle: “Working with a console allows you to turn off the screen and use your whole brain on the mix. You’d be amazed by how much using a mouse and staring at a waveform takes away from listening.”

A New Golden Age: The Console Comes Full Circle

In many ways, the idea that recording consoles are great for recording studios is nothing new; maybe “no-brainer” to boot. The idea of developing a personalized small-format console, built to the demands of an individual studio ties us back to the very roots of the recording craft.  Step by step-by-step, engineers at RCA, Neumann, and Universal invented and expanded upon the first multichannel audio desks. And now the console has come full-circle once again.

Traditional consoles “evolved,” says Farmelo and like-minded colleagues, to suit the specific needs of multi-track recordists. It’s not surprising that many of those needs have yet to change.

What is surprising is just how much Farmelo and Chambard found in common as they compared notes. For visual cues, they initially  bonded over mutual  appreciation for classic mid 20^th century design, Scandinavian minimalist sensibilities, and the landscape and architecture of Iceland. And as for process?

Chambard, a soft spoken and thoughtful craftsman, could also identify with the analog/digital duality of the recording world: “My process is analog, but I embrace the digital world as well. I like to think of it as “techno-craft.” Borrowing back and forth between the contemporary computer-assisted world of industrial design, and the tradition of craft and handmade goods.”

Farmelo elaborates: “Francois has the challenge bringing industrial steel and wood together, and  I have the challenge of bringing a software arpeggio and a string quartet together. We have to both highlight those differences and blend them together in a way that works.”

He also raves over Chambard’s handling of the small decisions that make a big purchase difficult.

“The console design took 2 minutes to sign off on. I immediately said ‘This is beautiful, let’s do it’!  But then I obsessed over the color, a non-essential, in the same way one of my mix clients might obsess over a reverb tail or a non-essential keyboard part.  When I was obsessing over the color, Francois handled it hopefully the way I handle it with my clients; He was firm about what he thought would work, but he was also very positive and receptive.”

And the result? Farmelo got what he wanted: “A console that combines the size and functionality of an SSL AWS 900, the vibe of a Quad Eight, but loaded with API gear? If someone described that to me, I’d say “perfect!”

When questioned about why he’d build an analog console in a digital age, where plug-in manufacturers are already addressing the missing “sonic gel” like-minded engineers have been complaining about, he has this to say:

“The further we go with digital, the more obsessed we get with analog. Look around! We’re in the second golden age of analog equipment. Look at how many companies are building retro gear.

“The great irony is that that digital was supposed to bury analog, but it’s made consoles and outboard gear come into massive abundance. It’s  even brought vinyl back! I don’t we’ll ever get away from analog completely.”

And if we do?

“If that’s true, and I’m in the last of a dying breed, then okay. If that’s my place in the world, so be it. I’m no Luddite. In the end, I think technology will save us.  If my great-grand-nephews make records on digital-liquid-crystal-gear-from-mars, more power to them.”

More than taking a side on the perpetual analog/digital debate, Farmelo has message of self-direction and encourages other engineers to make their own bold choices:

“People shouldn’t be afraid to build their own thing. It’s scary at first, but if every studio is using the same digital emulations, and the code never changes we run the risk of having all our records sound the same.”

In the end, Farmelo knows “this is something I’m going to spend 10 hours a day behind, almost every day of the week, for the rest of my working life. I’m happy about that.”

For more on producer/engineer Allen Farmelo (The Cinematic Orchestra, The Loom) and to get in touch, visit www.farmelo.com; and learn more about Francois Chambard’s UM Project via www.umproject.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, Blue Note Records, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Visit him at www.justincolletti.com.

Stadium Red Expands: Just Blaze and the Science of NYC Studios

HARLEM, MANHATTAN: As artistic as the purpose of New York City recording studios may be, it’s fair to compare these houses of sound to modern-day warriors. Every one goes into battle with the belief that they’re invincible. Many fall – but some grow stronger.

Uptown, the facility known as Stadium Red became convinced that there was only one sure strategy for thriving in the battle-scarred landscape of NYC: expand, and you’ll be in demand. Marking steady gains since its inception in 2007, when Stadium Red owner Claude Zdanow took over the highly respected but troubled former studio of jazz legend Ornette Coleman at 125th and Park, 2010 sees Stadium Red placing a bold bet that bigger really is better – even when paying NYC prices for your real estate.

The result is a recently completed 2,500 sq. ft. Frank Comentale-designed expansion that sees big names and powerful new capabilities added to the facility. A focused new B-Room is home to hip hop super producer Just Blaze (Jay-Z, Eminem, Saigon, Fabolous, Jamie Foxx, Talib Kweil, Kanye West) and an SSL AWS 900, Augspurger mains, and a digital/analog hybrid production/mix approach. A world-class mastering suite has also been added to house Herb Powers-protégé Ricardo Gutierrez (Justin Timberlake, Usher, John Legend, Jill Scott).

Meanwhile, Stadium Red’s accommodating A-room has gotten its own facelift, swapping in the classic SSL G+ board from Baseline Studios (RIP). Another pair of Augspurger mains with dual 18” subs, a custom Dangerous designed 7.1 surround monitoring system, 24-track tape machine and more are all in there. Mix engineer Tom Lazarus (Ray Charles, Bjork, Yo-Yo Ma, Chicago Symphony), mix engineer Ariel Borujow (T.I., Black Eyed Peas, Puffy, Kanye West), engineer Joseph Pedulla (Thursday, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Mos Def, Kid Cudi) and producer Sid “Omen” Brown (Ludacris, Mya, Drake, Fabolus) also maintain their respective residencies throughout the studio. A host of old skool elite amenities – from upgraded lounge to private chef/spa services – are in the mix for good measure.

While the idea of an all-encompassing studio environment of writing/tracking/mixing/mastering is not new, Zdanow believes that it’s the rare human resources he’s gathered – and what they’re on board to do – that will make the Stadium Red expansion stand out. “The idea is that more heads are better than one,” he says. “In studios it can become a stale environment, where the engineer is just a button pusher. What we take pride in is something the artists and labels don’t offer anymore, which is artist development.

“Artists come in here, and when they walk out our brand is attached to them. It’s about letting them know that all these ears are around, whether it’s Yo-Yo Ma, Eminem, or the emerging people we work with. We want to make records here that matter, and the idea is to bring back that creative community — we’re a growing team of NYC engineers and producers that care about NYC and the music scene.”

Zdanow’s energy – driven equally by his spirit of adventure and copious amounts of caffeine – was enough to convince Just Blaze to relocate to Stadium Red after closing his beloved Baseline. “I had known Ariel from before, and he said, ‘You should come look at this space and have a conversation with Claude,’” Blaze relates. “Claude explained his vision, what he wanted to build, and I said, ‘Maybe we can make something work.’ It made sense: The overall vision of the place and the appeal is that it’s a one-stop, end-to-end solution, from recording to mixing to mastering, even doing surround 5.1-7.1.

“So he physically expanded the space, and we combined our resources. It’s a win/win I get a little bit of the stress off my shoulders from running the day-to-day. That allows me to be more creative, but at the same time I have my own space.”

Whether for intensive writing sessions or serious mixing, the new B-room that Just Blaze inhabits was designed to be distinctively accommodating. “It’s gotta be something special — if it’s going to be this meeting of the minds, then it’s got to be something worthwhile,” he emphasizes. “It can’t just be a Pro Tools setup. The way I work, I need all the resources available all the time – I couldn’t go from a G+ to a writing room. And if we’re talking about partnering up and joining our resources to build a business, there’s no point in building something that’s just a production room. That’s something people can put in their houses these days. So you’ve got to take a step further and make it a destination.

“My room is the best of both worlds. If you want to walk in and get down to business in the box, you can do so: We have every plug-in, plus Augspurgers and other monitors. But if you’re a little more old school, you have the SSL and all the gear to go out of the box. Or you can go the third route, in that the AWS can go in and out of the digital world.

“By keeping it smaller we could keep it more affordable. Clients have the SSL, a full suite of plug-ins, Augspurgers – everything that would usually cost you $2500 or more a day, at the fraction of the cost. I think we really hit that sweet spot in terms of sizing. Sometimes you just need a room for production, with a controller or a laptop, but if you’re in this big huge room that’s a waste of money. Or it’s the other way around, and you’re feeling cramped. This place is small enough to feel like a production room, but big enough to feel like a room you can mix comfortably in.”

Arguably, the Stadium Red formula was working already: The studio and its personnel had a part in ten 2010 GRAMMY-nominated projects including Eminem’s Recovery (Album of the Year, Best Rap Album), Drake’s Thank Me Later, (Best Rap Album, Best New Artist), and Steven Mackey’s Dreamhouse (Best Classical Album, Best Orchestral Performance, and Best Engineered Album, Classical).

A good year, all right, but that’s already in the past. Although he’s young – still just in his early 20’s – Zdanow understands that part of moving forward is understanding what didn’t work before, and making adjustments. In that regard, the difficult decision to swap out the A-room’s ICON for the SSL G+ dovetailed with the concept of adding new faces, spaces and capabilities at Stadium Red.

“We’re in an ever-changing industry,” he observes. “When we started out I had a very strong opinion about being versatile and trying to do it all in one room. People appreciated the ICON, but over time we weren’t doing anything as good as we could have been doing it.

“By adding these two rooms, we’ve come to critical mass. People want a lot of options. The ‘A’ room has a big live room where people can track through the console, and mix with tons of outboard gear. Just Blaze’s ‘B’ room is its own environment for production, with the SSL AWS. If you want a powerful controller-based system, you have that in the ‘C4’ room where Ariel Borujow works. So what we realized was that it wasn’t just about one room. There are certain things that need to be in place to do everything — and do it well.”

– David Weiss

AES Preview: AEA Ribbon Mic, Novation UltraNova, PMC Monitors, D.W. Fearn VT-12 and More!

AES is next week in San Francisco, November 5-7. You going? Here’s a preview of some of the new products we’ll be ogling:

• Audio Engineering Associates (AEA)’s new KU4 unidirectional ribbon microphone, a modern interpretation of the original RCA KU3A (considered one of the best ribbon microphones ever made).


AEA KU4 Unidirectional Ribbon Microphone

• Vintage King Audio will be showcasing gear from Barefoot Sound, Inward Connections, Digital Audio Denmark, Acme Audio, ProAc, Electrodyne, Helios and Endless Analog, in addition to official product launches from Neve Classic Series and Shadow Hills Industries. Wonder what?

• Sonnox is introducing two Oxford plug-in collections geared towards the broadcast and post-production sectors and aptly named Sonnox Broadcast and Sonnox Post Collection. Sonnox Broadcast bundles the Oxford EQ and Dynamics plug-ins along with the Limiter, the Inflator and the Oxford SuprEsser. The Sonnox Post Collection includes the Sonnox Restore suite, which features the DeClicker, DeBuzzer and DeNoiser plug-ins, along with Oxford EQ, Dynamics, Limiter, Reverb and the SuprEsser dynamic EQ.

• PMC has a new AML2 Active Reference Monitor, based on the AML Series design and adding an EQ tilt, an enhanced power supply, and a revised cabinet structure with additional internal damping. Key design features include a PMC 6.5-inch/16.5 cm flat piston woofer constructed from a carbon fiber/Nomex honeycomb that allows for large, controlled linear excursions and which ensures linear response down to 33 Hz. The amplifier’s true analog circuit design is licensed from Bryston.

• Also want to check out Allen & Heath’s new GS-R24 analog console. This is a 24-channel ‘studio recording mixer’ with analog or Firewire/ADAT interface modules, motorized faders for automated mixing, and MIDI controllers for your chosen DAW or recording device.

• 

  Novation UltraNova

  We’re excited to check out Novation’s new analog-modeling synthesizer, UltraNova, the next generation of Novation’s “Nova” synth family, which includes SuperNova and SuperNova II. It is a single-part synth taking the Supernova II synth engine as a starting point and packing it with the latest technology. Brand new features include wavetable synthesis, more powerful filters, a software editor and a revolutionary new touch-sense performance mode.

• Phoenix Audio will be showing its 8-channel solid-state class A discrete mic pre amp, the DRS8. Each channel on the DRS8 has its own dedicated level control, -30db pad, phantom power, phase reverse, high pass filter and mute buttons. The unit has an 8-channel monitoring output facility so all 8-channels can be sent directly to a monitor controller or a patchbay as well as having individual channel outputs.

• Definitely swinging by the Ultrasone Inc. booth to try on the company’s first open back (also limited edition) headphones — Edition 10 — made with Zebrano wood ear cup inlays, Ethiopian sheepskin leather ear cup pads, Titanium plated drivers, Kevlar coated cables. Love the Ultrasones!

• 

  D.W. Fearn's new VT-12 Vacuum Tube Mic Pre

  And on to D.W. Fearn who’ll be debuting the new 70dB VT-12 Vacuum Tube Mic Pre, designed to accommodate the low output level of ribbon and dynamic microphones. To make the VT-12 more versatile, a provision for phantom powering condenser microphones is also included. Since many engineers are concerned about possible damage to ribbon mics if phantom power is accidentally applied, the VT-12 has a rear panel switch that disables all possibility of applying phantom power.

• SSL is presenting its newly updated AWS 900 console. Still in a 24-fader footprint, the new AWS 900 is now available in 24 Input (AWS 924) and 48 Input (AWS 948) variants and has new features including Dual Path Channels with stereo EQ & Insert, 8 fader bay Digital Scribble Strips and ‘A-FADA’ (Analogue Fader Accesses DAW Automation) automation where motorized analog faders follow DAW automation data. For more on the new AWS, visit SSL. As we reported earlier this week, the newly launched Nucleus — SSL’s new DAW Controller and SuperAnalogue audio hub for professional project studios — is also something we’re eager to check out!

What else? We’ll keep you posted as we get additional previews leading up!

Nuthouse Recording: Tom Beaujour’s “Bonhamtastic” Hoboken Studio

HOBOKEN, NJ: Tom Beaujour brought Nuthouse Recording into the world for many of the same reasons anyone builds a studio: 1) to record his own band, 2) to collaborate with other bands and 3) to enhance his abilities to do both. But Beaujour, formerly the Editor of Revolver and now Editor at Guitar Aficionado, is not your typical engineer/studio owner. Nope.

“I’ve seen so many bands and styles come and go in almost 20 years in the music press,” says Beaujour. “And my experience there informs my work in the studio in that I’m able to help advise bands on recording and overall sonic direction as well as track arrangement and best presentation. I’ve been in an office surrounded by piles of CDs and music critics and I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t.”

As an engineer and producer with this unique perspective and a love of recording, Beaujour’s taken Nuthouse from pet project to legitimate full-blown studio. In the three years Nuthouse has been up-and-running out of the old Wonder Bread Factory on 8th Street in Hoboken, it has become a go-to studio for its “Bonhamtastically-big” live room by NJ-based rock producer/engineer Machine (Lamb of God, Cobra Starship, Four Year Strong) and a growing list of band-clients including Nada Surf, Those Mockingbirds, Mutiny Within and Scale the Summit.

Here, we speak with Beaujour about building Nuthouse, balancing music journalism and production careers, and engineering for clients with disparate notions of good sound and fidelity.

So Nuthouse started as your home studio. Tell us about how it grew from there!

Yes, I started recording with my band, True Love, years ago in my basement in Hoboken, and after awhile, other bands started coming down. Matthew [Caws] from Nada Surf came in to do some extra guitar tracking and it came out really well and they were happy with it. That was when I decided I should try and do this for other bands. I figured even if I don’t know what I’m doing, maybe I have good taste, and taste is probably ¾ of the battle, right?

I found a two-room setup in Union City and moved the studio in there. That’s when I really started buying more gear and getting more serious about recording and production. I didn’t want to build in that space though, figuring I was going to have to move soon anyway. So I moved again.

That’s when you moved into your current space?

Yes, I found this space about 4 years ago. And the first year of building and assembling this studio was probably the worst experience of my life!

Whoa, why? What happened?

I guess it’s a common experience that building a studio always ends up being more expensive and more complicated than you think it’s going to be. The floor I moved into in this warehouse building hadn’t been used in maybe 20 years. There was basically no power. There was a pigeon nest in the pipes. It was just totally raw. I ended up working with these shady contractors. I had a terrible experience with my first console purchase. All my stuff was under tarps for 6 months. It was the full nightmare.

Oh man, that’s awful! But you somehow managed to convert this raw space into a proper, isolated control room and live room?

Yeah, I built double walls that don’t touch and built a control room that I floated on those U-boats. But it’s a modern-day studio in that I didn’t bother floating everything. You’re just never, in this day and age, going to make that money back and it just doesn’t seem to matter all that much to my clients. At least so far it hasn’t been a problem.

Did you build the studio with other people in mind? Both artists you’re working with and potentially outside engineer/producers?

Yes, not so much to book it out constantly, but definitely with the goal of getting other people in here. For example, Machine or his engineer, William Putney, book the room to track drums. Drums for the Chiodos record were tracked here.

So it must be a pretty awesome sounding drum room?

It is a really good sounding drum room. I’ve got treatment on the walls, but the ceilings are like 14-foot. There’s one area where I hung some clouds, to create a dead drum area. Machine has been tracking the drums right in the middle of the room.

It’s big enough that you get really good room mic sound — it’s live enough that you can get all that goodness without [it being too boomy.] I really like what I capture in the far stereo mics. It’s just a really good drum room.

…which there’s definitely a shortage of those these days…

Yeah, that’s why when I saw the space, I knew I was doing something crazy, but I really loved the idea of having a great drum room.

And you have a pretty impressive equipment collection — did that just grow organically?

It has been a gradual process of me acquiring gear, but also, when Revolver got sold a few years ago, they threw me a little ‘thank you’ gift, which I immediately invested into the studio! I bought six channels from Brent Averill and then some API gear. I have the now-discontinued-but-totally-awesome Universal Audio 2108. And then, I bought this Neve console which turned out to be such a nightmare — it was in terrible shape and after pulling it apart and having it recapped and worked on, I ultimately had to get rid of it.

When that console left the building, I felt that I really couldn’t get another vintage console. I’m not at the studio all the time but when I am, I want to know that my equipment’s going to work! So I bought a used SSL AWS 900 from Vintage King. It’s the most money I’ve ever spent on anything in my life and I’m totally happy with it.

So there’s a happy ending!?

Yes! I’m sure it’s a common studio story — there’s a happy ending but I ended up spending way more money than I thought I’d have to to get there. Having a console feels like a luxury, but the AWS-900 is a really cool unit and being able to flip the faders from analog console to DAW controller is awesome. And I really like the mic pre’s.

Awesome. And you somehow manage to balance work as a magazine editor with a career in recording and production. Tell us about that — are there benefits to doing both?

What I like about the balance is that I don’t have to do every job that comes through the door at the studio. I’m not recording terrible bands! So it keeps recording a pure pursuit for me. Also the budgets just seem so small for records right now that I don’t know if I’d put myself in the position where the studio was my main career. Right now, it’s a good balance, and my work as a music critic/writer/editor totally informs the work in the studio! I find I can really help bands a lot because of my experience.

Like in what ways?

I sit in an office with piles of CDs so my perspective can be helpful. You don’t have that much time when you’re a young person in a band. You only have so many shots.

I’ll see a band making an obvious mistake and be able to advise them — I can say put the band name on the album cover and don’t worry about being too obvious, make that song the lead track. I’ll also be the first one to tell bands to master their records loud, because I’ve seen people obviously paying less attention to a record because it wasn’t as loud as the thing before it.

So, I can help the band with the recording and arrangements, as well as the ‘after-purchase care,’ where they’re like ‘what should we do?’ I can give them some advice — it doesn’t guarantee success but it’s helpful.

Awesome, geez that’s a great bonus of working with you! Now, let’s talk about a couple recent recording projects you’ve done at Nuthouse — you recently worked on Nada Surf’s new covers record, If I Had a Hi-Fi?

Yeah, I mixed one track and did a ton of engineering on that record, and then I also co-produced, engineered and mixed three Japanese bonus tracks, two of which I just found out are coming out as a 7-inch as well.

I’ve also been doing a bunch of stuff with Spin Magazine — they do these live performances in their offices. I got recommended when Phoenix was coming in to play. I put together a mobile unit — my Digi 003, API pre’s, some good mics and my laptop — and then I mix it back at my studio. I’ve done those sessions with Phoenix and Silversun Pickups.

Oh and my favorite band of all time (ever!) is Guided By Voices and Robert Pollard is currently scoring this documentary on Pete Rose [1492], and we’re going to be doing the string session here at Nuthouse! Bob Pollard is the man. To be able to work on a project he’s involved in is amazing.

And tell me about Trumpeter Swan – you recently worked on that record?

Yes, I mixed that album. Drew Patrizi, who is Trumpeter Swan, had been working on this project for like three years. There were so many layers of sounds so we spent a long time going through everything. It was a heavily involved mixing job and a really good learning experience.

There’s definitely something happening in music right now, which can be challenging to engineers, or at least I find it challenging. It’s the effect of the “blog rock” movement on the notion of what “sounding good” means. If you look at the mixing choices made on a Deerhunter record, for example, vs. a metal record these days — where everything’s triggered and pristine and precise — the aesthetic is so different.

Trumpeter Swan was one of the first times I was confronted with this idea of having to make things that were recorded hi-fi to sound lo-fi. On some level, you’re being asked to make stuff sound a lot smaller and less good. And you almost have to re-train yourself — it’s like you’re doing things the opposite way of how you’d do them if you were making a Steeley Dan record!

It’s hard for one engineer to be able to produce the expected sounds for all the different spectrums right now. Like if you’re recording an emo record and then you’re recording a band from Williamsburg… you have to understand the different sonic directions really well. That’s another thing about being in the music press — I hear all this stuff and understand how a band is going to want their record to sound for one context and audience vs. another.

Yeah, I don’t know if bands and engineers had to have as many of those conversations in the past — maybe it used to be more obvious what needed to be done to make it “sound good” at the mixing stage?

Well, that just means very different things to different people. I think about the different notions of fidelity all the time. Sometimes when I listen to a record, I really can’t tell whether it sounds like it does because it was all done by the band on their own with a shitty mic and an Mbox, or whether it was mixed to sound that way. But definitely a lot of that “blog rock” music has a very definable texture to it. And at the same time, if a different kind of rock band came into the studio and you started mixing it that way, they would murder you. So I think it’s an interesting time to be doing this!

For more on Nuthouse Recording, visit www.nuthouserecording.com.