we were also privileged to track at ben shive’s studio the beehive (thanks ben!). we all worked super hard, in fact we recorded straight through new years eve and didn’t even notice until it was already 12:30am. we’re hardcore like that.

here are more photos and some videos are below. i can’t wait to keep working on these tracks..

i need to get a new pedalboard set up.  the problem is i’m indecisive and want to have every possible sound at my fingertips, so i’ll have to make some hard choices. i’ll post a pic when i’ve got a new one set up!

Ken was a blast to work with and laid down some killer drum tracks, taking these songs to a whole new level.  I can’t wait to dive back into tracking and mixing the rest of the album now.  Bill Whittington engineered and it was great to meet him as well; they’re two super nice guys and I hope I can work with them again down the road.

I’ll post updates soon, in the meantime here are some videos from the sessions:

i hope to be able to post something substantial soon, but for now it will have to be in bullet points:

• God is always faithful and good!
• we moved to franklin, tennessee!
• the first batch of 3 songs from Daniel Renstrom‘s forthcoming Jesus Wants My Heart album are done and on iTunes!  we’re so proud of these songs, please buy them for your kids.  chances are you’ll end up loving this EP just as much if not more than them. we’re starting work on the next 3 songs soon.
• an album i did some assistant engineering work on releases this month – go buy Farewell Milwaukee‘s When It Sinks In album as soon as it’s out.  if you like wilco, ryan adams, lush harmonies, and the midwest, you’ll love these boys. video below..

If you’re interested in the recording/mixing aspects of the album, check out this article.  Here’s a screenshot of the Pro Tools session from the song “Cousins”.

the other day i was talking to patrick about the loudness war with mastering modern music. we were talking about how older records like third eye blind’s self-titled sound so much better than newer ones such as their out of the vein album.  there are many reasons for that, but a big one is that OOTV was mastered to be as loud and aggressive as possible which makes it smashed, lifeless, distorted, and hard to listen to without your ears getting fatigued. with their self-titled i can crank it up loud and listen to it over and over.

you should try it yourself – go listen to some music you have from the 70s, 80s or early 90s and listen to it loud. then listen to something comparable from the last few years and see if you can tell the difference.

anyway, i found out that today is Dynamic Range Day.  it’s a pretty awesome site, you should check it out..

since a lot of the marketing buzz on gear out there isn’t always helpful, i’ll do my best to explain in plain english how i think nicer sounds better:

1) i need MUCH less EQ.  when i print un-EQed/compressed rough mixes they sound 80% of the way there already. they just need subtle sweetening rather than radical sound shaping.  some people have described tracks recorded with nice gear as almost “mixing themselves” and i’m starting to understand what they mean.

2) they’re more focused. by that i mean a few things:  tracks recorded with decent pres have their own unique space in the stereo field, they’re easy to “point” to and don’t sound smeared or indistint.  a nice benefit of this is that you can have a lot more layers going on and hear everything clearly whereas having a bunch of tracks recorded on a cheaper pres like an MBox, it starts to sound really cloudy.  electric layers recorded w/ my API 312 (thanks joel) and Shure SM7B stack really nicely.  this is especially nice when you have lots of layers of ambience going on.

3) they sound more 3D. ok, so this does sound like a marketing term, but the best way to describe it is that tracks just sound more real.  they jump out of the speakers or with headphones on they sound lifelike or larger than life.  even though it’s still new to me, i’ve heard this happening on vocals with the JC1272 pre (based on the neve 1272).  for even more 3D sound, try recording something in stereo (thanks bruce).  i’m loving the API on acoustics using an XY pair of AKG 460s (thanks mike). that same setup works great for anything with strings and also percussion.

the moral of the story is:  if you’re serious about capturing great recordings, save up (no debt!) and invest in some quality microphones and preamps.

anyone have a mic or pre they love?

this is one of those albums that you love at first then write off after a while because everyone’s so obsessed with it. then eventually you realize that it’s not over-rated, everyone loves it because it’s AMAZING. i’m getting into it again. mainly after listening to it really loud with these: