Category Archives: Music

Production Notes: The Lassie Foundation – California EP

August 30, 2011 – 1:46 pm

The Lassie Foundation - California EPWhile our previous band folded, bassist Eric and drummer Wayne pushed forward as a songwriting team, calling themselves The Lassie Foundation. They were making demos of their songs on a 4-track cassette machine (as you should), and asked for my help in bringing things to fruition. I had the notion of building a mini-studio of my own, based on 8-track analog tape machines, and so we embarked together on a journey that is one of my favorite bits of music I’ve ever been a part of.

I noticed something about their music right away: it had an upbeat feeling, almost a child-like joy, mixed with a nasty sonic fuzziness, and yet a smooth vocal sound that created a great batch of paradoxes. So, there was an attempt to exaggerate everything as much as possible to increase the level of paradox. We started tracking things on the Tascam 8-track, in places like living rooms and rehearsal rooms, and I aquired more gear as we went along. Gradually, we bounced things over, mixing as we went, to the MCI 8-track. This bouncing process was a whole production in and of itself, turning eight tracks from one machine into 2 or 3 on the other. Decisions were made. Planning ahead was necessary, to say the least. We had to make sure we left enough room on the new machine to record the rest of what the song needed, and yet have enough control over the other tracks to make mixing in the end reasonable. We made lots of charts, and they were all in pencil. I was adamant at the time about doing things this way, because it was good enough for all the bands in the 60′s, and through that process they were forced to be selective and inventive.

Wayne was a drummer, who was also a good singer (and guitar player as well). However, he was pretty shy about being a lead singer. In the end, the low-ish vocal level in the mixes is a reflection of that, I think, even though it was also stylistically correct for the genre. His knack for a lush melody and California harmonies outweighed any hesitations, though. Eric was a great bass player who was playing guitar for the first time in a long time, being produced by the guitar player of his former band. So, he was sometimes shy about his playing. But the way he plays, and the parts he writes have a charm that is unique to him, and necessary for the band’s sound, so I insisted on capturing it. Not to mention, his cheap Strat, DOD delay, Big Muff, and Peavey Classic 20 made a sound that was better and more appropriate than any other stuff we tried.

We played most of the instruments ourselves (minus a stellar turn on the drums for “Laid With Cool” by J.Wood), and worked as a team, helping each other, encouraging each other, hurting each other’s feelings, and pushing each other to betterness. We really didn’t know any other way, since that was how we worked in our previous band as well, and had learned from our producer. We all did the final mix together in the hands-on fashion, through the new Eurodesk, down to tape on the old AMPEX (which was only barely functional). Mistakes and surprises (which happen when you tape over another recording, like at the end of the last song), mixed with creative use of outboard effects made eight tracks sound better than I think any of us expected. We were all in our mid-20′s, had lived and died together for the last five years, toured and traveled the world together, made records, and yet, here we were, starting over. Doing it ourselves. However we could.

I still enjoy listening to it.

(The songs on this EP are also the first 5 tracks of the album “Through And Through“, which is available to be heard on both Spotify and MOG.)

By Andy | Also posted in The Lassie Foundation | Comments (2)

Recording: Get Some Perspective

January 25, 2011 – 11:15 am

Stereo recordings sound exciting. It is fundamentally natural for us, because that is how we hear life. And our sense of stereo hearing is geared for survival, so we can know that the predator is coming from over ‘there’. We are very keen to this localization of sounds. And it is amazing how much of this information we can determine from just two speakers.

When they first started making stereo recordings, it was usually just a stereo mic placement out in front of an orchestra, recorded live to a 2-track machine. The way the two mics were placed was the way you created the perspective. When multi-track tape machines became more available to popular music (in the early 60′s), it became possible to isolate certain instruments, and place them someplace specific in the stereo field. Early consoles sometimes only had a pan knob allowing left, right, or center. Nothing in between. So some records in the 60′s have the entire drum kit in the left speaker, and all the vocals in the right, etc. Odd, very non-reality kind of things. Basically, they were messing with perspective (and other drugs).

As the 70′s and 80′s went by, and more and more tracks were available and bigger and bigger consoles, the recordings had the ability to mess with perspective in a huge way. I grew up hearing these, and then was very confused when I would see bands play live, and it wouldn’t match (not to mention that they couldn’t sing or play as well as they “did” on the recording, a shame that has peaked in recent years). Not everyone was doing it, and looking back, favorite records like Appetite For Destruction and Back In Black stand the test of time probably for NOT going this route. But, once I learned how to make recordings, I was drawn in by the fun of messing with it, too. Pushing things up too loud in the mix to “pierce the veil,” as my friend Barrett (who has been mixing the Telegram stuff I’ve been producing) calls it, almost like an exaggerated 3D movie gag. Or ultra-panning the toms on the drums to create the widest, and impossible, drum fill.

But then I started asking questions about perspective, and discovered what I value the most. I like the sound of a band of actual musicians, playing live, and able to create all the dynamics and mystery and spaciousness they want. And you are listening to this band from the position of them facing you, like at a concert. I like to record drums with a stereo mic placement either in front of the kit (like, the M/S configuration I used on Frank Lenz on a Starflyer59 EP), or the XY overhead I’ve been using on everything (like Set To Sea and Young Cities) for a long time now, to capture their total sound (yet still be mono-compatible). I like to pan the other instruments as close to a place they would be in the room if you were standing in front of the band. By nature, it might create less falsely-exciting mixes, but, for me, it’s always more exciting to feel like you’re actually hearing people doing something real.

Barrett and I talked about it recently: it’s like asking yourself what kind of woman you prefer. All-natural? Slightly-enhanced? Totally-surgically-manipulated? I like all-natural girls who might wear a bit of make-up, but the beauty is in her humanity.

mic-technique

By Andy | Also posted in Recording | Comments (0)

Guitar Gear: Are You Listening?

January 21, 2011 – 1:21 pm

Here’s some more general “philosophy”:

I have an older brother. He exposed me to music at an earlier age than I probably would’ve been on my own. When I used to hear “Baba O’Riley” on FM radio here in Southern California as a kid, I couldn’t help but be ignited. Add Led Zepplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Cheap Trick, Boston, KISS, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, and then The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, The Cars, The Pretenders….you get the idea: lots of great guitar music, where the electric guitar was featured as a powerful and melodic beast. This put the “call” inside of me, and I’ve been “responding” ever since.

I can hear a sound in my head, and feel it in my gut. I’ve been chasing it for what seems like my whole life. I heard these records and more when I was young, and have integrated them into a bunch of other things that have moved me (movie soundtracks, other records as I got older, life, etc), and now the computer of my brain has synthesized them into something. I am driven to spit this back out in the form of my own guitar playing, with my “own” sound. It didn’t come out of “nowhere” (although an album by that name definitely helped). It’s a response. Think about how many people this has happened to, and now you have a music equipment business (you’re welcome, Guitar Center).

So, I believe it’s good to know what you’re hearing. Think about it. When I heard those records on the radio as a kid, they were certain instruments (now regarded as ‘vintage’), recorded on tape in an analog studio, pressed to vinyl, and played back over FM airwaves, through a great stereo receiver and big tower speakers in my living room. Take any one of these out of the chain, and it’s different. During my search for a sound, I made it my mission to understand all of those elements, and how they affect what I’m hearing. I recommend researching this to anyone who really cares about truly finding the “response” to their “call”. If you don’t have the patience or drive to do so, adjust your expectations of the results accordingly.

It might be easier than you thought, nowadays. I recently visited Drew Brown. We sat down at his computer and went through some plugins looking for the best sounding stuff. We plugged in a guitar, brought up the Amp Sim in Logic, started adding some other plugins to the chain, and before long had a sound going that Drew proclaimed to be perhaps “the best guitar sound I’ve ever gotten,” or thereabouts. Probably an overstatement, but, with a Les Paul, a Marshall model, some very vintage eq, compression, and tape modelling plugins, we had answered a call. In a computer. Doesn’t matter how we got there, it just matters that we did.

And you can usually tell when you do by the fact that you have to force yourself to stop playing.

baba drew

By Andy | Also posted in Guitar Gear | Comments (1)

Production Notes: OneRepublic – Waking Up

January 19, 2011 – 10:55 pm

OneRepublic Waking UpI may have more notes on specific songs later. But here’s an overview:

I got a call from Ryan Tedder in early January of 2009. We talked for a long time, and he asked me to come out to Denver and work on their new album. I was being hired to do various things, which I think could generally be classified as “help”. After some crazy arrangements and logistics, I was there in early February. It was cold, there was snow on the ground, and the first order of business was to help Dave get the house they had rented set up for being a studio. I had never met Dave before, when the car dropped me off that first night. I found him around back in a truck unloading gear, and after some quick introductions, we were fast friends and working away. It took us over a week to find and fill the house with enough furniture to make it liveable, driving around in the cold and snow, Craigslisting and cram-shopping. After that, Joe Zook arrived, so did all the gear, and I assisted him as he set the place up as an actual studio. He and Ryan had been carefully choosing items for a couple years, and they had chosen well. The gear was great, I was super-happy to be able to use it. Ryan, as well as the others, had also been gathering some examples of the world’s best guitar amps and instruments, which Dave and I would sometimes crank up after everyone left for the night.

Within the first couple of days that I was there, we went to Ryan’s house. We climbed into his car, and he played me the demos they had of some of the songs. First up was “All The Right Moves“, and I was blown away. The second album for a popular band is always a tough one, notoriously being known as the ‘sophomore slump’, meaning: a letdown. But when I heard that tune, I said something along the lines of, “If this is how the album’s gonna be, then this is gonna be great!” I heard a bunch of other ideas they had, and Ryan and I talked for a long time about goals, direction, methods, etc. He had the fire in his eyes of wanting to make something special, and that’s always something I want to be a part of.

The first few weeks had lots of talking and lots of rocking. Band members would show up either individually or together every day from about 10am to 2am, and we’d work on new song ideas or flesh out old ones. We had many band meetings, one of which I remember well that was in the kitchen. I was trying to find ways to get everyone aware of being behind singular, unifying ideas, both musically and conceptually, and that meeting seemed to be the point where things came together. The whole band loves so many different types of music, but they can all agree on one thing for sure: they all fully appreciate the greatness of a truly ‘popular’ song. And for their own personal goal, it was agreed that challenging themselves to bring a sound to the world of popular music that would challenge the status quo was of the highest order. These guys were in a roughed-up state when they showed up. After quite a while of slugging it away in LA clubs trying to get a deal, getting a deal, making a record, getting out of a deal, getting another deal, making more of that record, putting it out, and then touring behind one of the biggest singles of all time for about two years: they were spent. So, lots of talks went on about this as well. Finding everyone’s roles in the band, and rediscovering what unique awesomeness everyone brought to the table, took lots of hours (and a handful of fights). But that’s just it: some bands just give up when they get to this point. They aren’t willing to push through the growing pains, and work towards something together that is bigger than their own smaller, personal, petty issues. These guys were willing to fight, and, well, that’s what it takes. As a fortune cookie said to me recently, “A man never fails, he just gives up trying.”

Within the first month, no less than 60 song ideas went by my ears. So when something came along like “Secrets“, it’s greatness was made even clearer by the huge background of other ideas it stood amongst. One of Ryan’s best production ideas was allowing the songs that sounded ‘popular’ to be very much that (and not try to force them to be more arty or ‘cool’), and vice versa. Everyone wanted to make a real album, a true body of work that had balance. If a song idea was something everyone loved, but it was clear that it needed to be changed (forced) way too much to be radio-friendly, then it was taken to it’s best artistic level. This is the only way to make an album something you can listen to all the way through. If every song sounds like a modern day radio hit, you’ll most likely be worn out before the first half of the album is done. And if every song is an artful indulgence, thumbing it’s nose at convention, you might be likely to fall asleep before it’s over. Balance. Also, he was clear about wanting to only use what was necessary to get the song across. Instead of putting many instruments on just because, we tried to make sure everything had a good reason to be in the song.

Everybody in the band works differently, so I had to be flexible and awake (which got tough as time went on). If you’re not recording when Ryan and Drew are playing, then you’ll miss spontaneous greatness. Eddie has a place he gets to where the part and the feel come together, and if you work any longer or shorter, you’ll miss it. And Zach and Brent are craftsmen, taking the time to look for sounds and parts that are deep, simple, and the best-feeling. This made things exciting, but, admittedly, also made me a tired human. My brain and body were worn out at the end of each week, for sure.

Some other general things: not only are the band members themselves good people, but the band is surrounded by great people. Family and friends are supportive and real. Time is spent together hanging out, having fun, and making memories. This is very important, and a big reason why they made it through some very difficult times. Sweet love and tough love, but, lots of love. It was awesome to witness, and be included in (they treated me very well). And through this they make sure that they experience life in a full way, so they have something to actually want to express artistically.

When it comes to the music itself, one big thing I observed: you have people here who have been practicing what they do for a very long time. Ryan is over ten years in to being a professional song-writer, and has been singing since he was a kid. Not to mention playing piano and guitar for almost as long. Drew has been playing guitar in rock bands forever, way longer than his young age would imply, and is an encyclopedia of great rock music. Zach is fully-trained flamenco guitarist, with an uncanny life-long ability to pick up any instrument and do reasonably well on it (as we all saw when Brent handed him a viola and said, “Hey, maybe you could play this on ‘Secrets’. Two weeks later, he could do it.) Brent has been playing music of all types for his whole life, being fully classically trained. And Eddie has been a recording and live drummer in bands for well over 15 years. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that they can do what they do well. They’ve been doing it for a long time, and have never given up. It’s a lesson for everyone. And I got to witness that first-hand. And it was awesome.

And finally, this album represents a pretty decent balance of doing what they personally want to artistically, and doing something that is good for the people listening to it. Not just indulgent. Not just trying to beat the other acts on the radio at their own game. For better or for worse, they are kind of making their own game. And in that regard, I think this album is a success. That was their goal. Is there another song that sounds like “All The Right Moves” or “Secrets” on the radio these days? Not that I know of. Or maybe there are now, but only because they are influenced by 1R.

Not everything went perfectly, for sure. Some songs took too much time, and might’ve lost their way a bit. Some things weren’t communicated to each other very well, and caused more trouble than they should have. And occasionally the big vision was sacrificed for personal pursuits (by all of us). But, these pains were felt and dealt with instead of just being ignored, and that’s why the album feels like growth for the band when you listen to it.

I loved working on this album. It was hard work, and I learned alot.

(p.s. some of my links are inside jokes from the sessions, in case the band ever reads this. also, while i was there, i was reading/finishing this book. it helped me ask them the right questions that would help keep them on the track they wanted to be on.)

OneRepublic Waking Up snow 1

OneRepublic Waking Up gear comp 2

OneRepublic Waking Up band comp 2

By Andy | Also posted in OneRepublic | Comments (3)

Recording: The First Recording

January 13, 2011 – 7:20 pm

Think about it. If you were an ancient human, and you stumbled into a cave or canyon that had the right conditions, you would’ve been shocked to hear your voice echo back after you made a loud enough sound. Your first thought was probably that it must be someone else yelling back at you. Imagine how much it would freak you out to realize that it was, in fact, just…..you. And you could do it over and over again. The first recording.

When I was was a kid, we had a simple, mono cassette tape recorder that my friends and I would use to replicate this same basic phenomena. We made sounds, and listened back with astonishment and glee. Unrivaled fun. When I joined my first band, we would make recordings of our practices, either with a small mic plugged into a home stereo, or a ghetto blaster that had a built-in mic. They did the trick, and with their automatic compression, made things actually sound kind of awesome.

A while back, I had the honor of recording an album that was tracked and mixed in mono. Very fun and challenging. One of my favorite experiences as an engineer. For the first half of the last century, nobody heard anything other than mono recordings. All the information of a big band or orchestra, captured and transmitted through one, single channel of audio. “Pet Sounds” by the Beach Boys, an album that actually helped challenge The Beatles to do “Sgt. Pepper”? Mono. So this is my challenge and recommendation to anyone (and myself) recording music: does it work in mono? Can you fit all 73 of those tracks in Logic into mono? Give it a test, and it might help you clear some unnecessary things out of that recording. And better yet, if you want to know how good of a song you have on your hands, record a live performance of it straight into your iPhone or laptop mic. Not compelling? Not filled with glee? Maybe the song isn’t worth recording yet, then.

Panasonic tape recorder

By Andy | Also posted in Recording | Comments (0)