on hold
im sitting here on hold with Sonicwall. They are a company that makes routers/firewalls… I just had a super high speed internet connection installed in my studio so that I can transfer big sessions to other engineers and artists over the internet. I put the sonicwall in place to handle all my port forwarding needs (nerdy shit, but ultimately vital in the modern recording world)… this shit slows my upload speed down to just about modem speed. my download speeds are rocking… super fast fo sho… but upload, i might as well have a cable modem…
anyways, i spent a lot of fucking money on this shit and they’re support has been MIA… im pissed off about it.
i’ve been really enjoying the first Animal COllective record, “spirit they’re gone, spirit they’ve vanished”… its crazy good. i understand all the hype connected to these guys is a little off putting, but their records are just brilliant. at first listen much of their material can come across as chaos, but you’ve got to suspend all your musical conventions. verses, chorus… sure you’ll find them if you listen closely, but its not about that… its really about the journey. the big picture. anyways… do yourself a favor, and at least listen to “Strawberry Jam”… my fave of all their records.
i just finished mixing an EP that i recorded and produced for the singer songwriter Shelly Bhushan. We had worked together on her previous full length, which I engineered and mixed. Im really happy with the way things turned out. Really danceable grooves, and sonic power.
Karen Rockower and myself are in the final stages of recording her solo debut. this record will not be you standard singer songwriter fare. think PJ Harvey meets St Vincent. As we finish each songs, Im diving right into the mixes. ive been approaching them in a different way than much of my previous work. often times i build from the ground up… starting with drums then bass and so on. for these songs im letting the music dictate the mixes much more. bringing all the faders up and finding the most interesting elements and letting the mix revolve around them. its sure to give the record a much different feel than even the rough mixes I made of the tunes as we tracked.
over the last month or so Ive had the pleasure of engineering for the amazing producer Andres Levin on a record by italian artist Chiara Civello. I cannot explain the impact these sessions have had on me. I’ve worked with the best musicians I’ve ever worked with, and had a great time watching Andres work with the artist and the musicians to get what he wanted. I’ve also been luck enough to get my hands on some really amazing gear that has made my recordings sound so amazing.
I can never go back to using gear that is not top notch… please, tax time, be kind enough to give me money for some gear!
mt
