As I look out the window this morning, I can’t believe how great things are! We’ve been busy here at HDP, and we’re getting busier. Its nice to love your job!!
Today I start Mastering Rocket’s album – he’s one of the greatest, and most prominent Chicago reggae artists out there, and I get the opportunity to polish his work. Can’t wait to pull up the tracks and start applying some mastering goodness…
Finished mastering on Audreece Dickson’s new album – hot hip hop, great tunes, great for riding in the car, or party atmospheres. There’s a lot of really well put together material on this album. I enjoyed working on it – Good stuff!
Tracked a full choir on Tuesday from Lubavitch High School – Its great to work with talented and driven young people. Every year they do their production with us, and every year I am impressed. This year was well organized, and came out great!
I also recorded the Chicago Horns together in the live room – wow! These guys can play. Nothing like a super fast session when guys are pro players. A few passes later we had a FAT sound. It blended in nicely for front man Ted Alliotta, famous for “Lake Shore Drive.”
Tracked Carlo Tomayo and Yellow Jacket – rock band with a NEW sound. Carlo will be in shortly to finish up his overdubs, get’ er mixed, and drop his new single! Shazam!
I was fortunate enough to record two masters at their craft, vocalist Shanta Falls and pianist Brian Pettis. I recorded multiple channels of audio using several layers of stereo micing techniques. I used (2) AKG 414XLII close above the low and high strings under the lid. I also used an Audio Technica 825 stereo mic to capture the top end of the piano, pointing back at Brian. Note: you have to be very careful to avoid phasing difficulties. Both pairs were recorded using API mic pres, using very little compression with a Crane Song STC-8.
The room mic was a Lawson L47 (a Neuman U47 diaphragm) through a Trident channel strip and a Distressor. Finally, I used a pair of PZM mics (Shure Beta 91) on the hardwood floor. Perfection!! Stay tuned for his album release.
I also used the Lawson for her vocal. I used a Sure sm81 for the viola, which was also supported by the pzm mics. What a voice!
I really enjoyed mastering this album, it has 18 awesome tracks on it, straight from Mill Pond Enterprise. RAW hip hop at its finest, with a wide array of sounds and ideas. I recommend it, you can’t miss out.
I really enjoyed mastering this album, it has 18 awesome tracks on it, straight from Mill Pond Enterprise. RAW hip hop at its finest, with a wide array of sounds and ideas. I recommend it, you can’t miss out.
We finished mixing and then mastering this beautiful record. It contains some very diverse, brilliant material, with the first track produced by Eric Nelson Yoder.
YO.M.G’s new release “No Tears Left” has been pushed back a few weeks, as we decided to release it along with a new video, produced by Fulkinetic. I can’t wait for everyone to check it out. It combines dubstep and pop/funk music, and has been classified as “clubstep”
I’m very excited to say that the Chicago Police Dept. benefit gig ‘Conner’s Grill & Pub in Chicago Ridge went extremely well, and everyone involved seemed happy. The turnout was a packed house, and the band rocked out! Thanks to the Rico Quinn boys for showing me a great time. Can’t wait to sub for them again.
We’ve been recording so many excellent vocalists, that we had to add to this year’s roster for the fourth annual Christmas album. We are very happy to have even more guest artists performing, and some great surprise appearances!
Also excited to note that Eric Yoder has joined the ranks of Fulkinetic, and has started rehearsing for their next show. They even added some cool new flavors to their sound.
Stay tuned for the Jan 1st release of “with tears I’m on my knees” by Horse-Drawn artist YO.M.G.
We have a producer team in today recording on the baby grand piano in our live room – fresh off the key perfectly in tune. Sounds sooo good to my ears. We’re proud to say we signed up some new students this week – we may have a lead on our second piano, for our soon-to-be piano teaching room, in addition to the classes we already offer!
As I gathered up my stuff to go to a friend’s wedding in Ohio, I realize I am about to be put to work on this “vacation.” I will be teaching four classes in their technology / music department. These classes range from a group discussion to beginning and advanced mixing concepts. It will be nice to see all the improvements and the new studio I have been consulting on. They have completed the project, and I am excited to see my new “baby.”
Meanwhile, back on the HDP campus, the crew is hard at work tracking yet another new band in the studio for the weekend. It is a confidential project, but stay tuned for updates when it is released.
Today I mee3t with the teachers of North Berwyn School district to discuss free music technology options found on the internet. We will also be traveling to the HDP facility for a complete tour, and examination of the tools used in a professional recording and educational environment.
In other news, more tracks were recorded yesterday for the 5th anual Horse-Drawn Family Christmas album- keep an eye out!
Jackson will be recording a fresh young recording duo today in our live room and Studio A – He is excited to check out and push the new headphone system recently installed. I’m curious to hear what the talented duo records today…It should be awesome, as they are doing it old school, and recording the initial tracks directly to analog tape, then will overdub in Pro Tools or Logic Pro.
Stay tuned for the new YO.M.G release coming this December!
This time is was newbie engineer Polett at the helm. It was a good session, and their project is nearing conclusion! Knocked out a few more repairs, updated some production changes for Peter Andrianakos – he will be coming in next week to do vocals. Boo-yah~!
I challenge someone to find something that Fil can’t fix!
Today the Yoder family goes to check out a new puppy for the studio…
Glad to know the studio was still hard at work, teaching our ever-growing student population. We even had to add two new teachers to the roster, and we have plans to purchase a second piano for its own teaching studio. Stay tuned for more information on this. I’m personally looking forward to this evening’s mix session – its back to the Fulkinetic project, and then tomorrow we will be tracking our very own Wendy VanSickel on the fiddle…yee-haw! She doesn’t know this yet.
Yesterday was busy, busy, busy. Had several computers to repair – and of course, we had to SUPE them up a bit. Little upgrade here, little magic over there…
Tested and used the new headphone system – everything seems to be rockin!
Finished some country guitar on a few of the Christmas songs for this year’s new album – I can’t WAIT for you guys to check it out. Sean “Dr. Rufus” Bober was there to grace us with a session for the album – he did some amazing guitar and steel gtr parts. Whoop Whoop///
Finishing up some tracks with David Dub and DJ Mani – cool project, some cool stuff to come – release to be announced.
Added a few new music students, and had one of our very OWN violin students to be accepted to the school talent show! Congratulations Stone Yoder! A chip off the old block…
Started the mixing process – One tip, if you are fortunate enough to have been involved with the tracking process, you can monitor mic positions, etc. Then when it comes to mixing, you can spend a lot of time building a template on the first song, then apply it to the following tracks where it applies. Tip #468.
Mattie and I put in a long day on Saturday, installing a new state of the art headphone system, featuring 5 independent stereo mixes for the band – For those of you not tech heads, this means better sounding headphones while you record. This system is now instantly available at any time by clever recall setups stored into the system.
We also built the new “Choir Box” – which is an additional headphone distribution box capable of up to 15 headphone outs from up to 5 different, independent mixes. – Thanks Ziggy, out new member who helped with this project, and will complete the box this week.
Shazam!
Tom Murray’s brand new custom music machine is being delivered to his home today, for the complete install. This is our top of the line machine, featuring Mac OS X, Windows 7, Wireless Internet, 4 hard drives (MAC OS, WIN OS, Audio, Backup) and a web cam, along with all of Tom’s software choices. We are sad to have the machine leave the premises. Very cool box.
For those of you not tech-heads, we are starting to mix the FulKinetic tracks this week…Stay tuned!
Started the production phase on another new project yesterday – I love working with brand new people – Its always a great challenge as a producer to blow someone away for the first time. This first track has some real potential in the house scene.
I just finished the Alicia Keys Dubstep remix this week – last night we uploaded the first 4 tracks to be mixed for the FulKinetic album – I listened to pieces of it – great stuff here! I will be starting these mixes in the next few days. The Horse-Drawn crew has been invited to a local Halloween party – so we will be scary tonight. Check out the A.K. remix if you have time after trick-or-treating!!!
New stuff this week – Worked on 2 new tracks for Peter Andrianakos, finished production on a track for Jim Robertson, and mixing FulKinetic this evening. New YO.M.G. stuff to follow - I’m going to drop some new releases, featuring David Dub, MMDot, and Fil Kinetic. Check back for updates! Keep on making music!
Last night I had the pleasure of sitting in on an interview with a developing young band that I am co-producing called The New Originals. DJ Mani and I came up with some peculiar and interesting questions to accompany their engaging and vintage sound. Click here to play.
I am posting 3 of my new songs in the hopes of finding a group of musicians to back me up for live performances. These are ruff mixes and the songs are open for restructure/rewriting… These are basic sketches…. I have 10 songs ready for rehearsal and performance… Interested parties can email me at jackson@horse-drawnproductions.com
Horse-Drawn now has an official Apple Repair Technician on board – bring over your apple products for information on repairs, upgrades, and custom music machines running multiple operating systems.
Today, I spent a majority of the morning doing housekeeping chores, per usual when I arrive at Horse-Drawn. Later in the afternoon, I started working on transferring audio from a cassette tape to CD. I imported the audio from both sides of the tape, each side being about 52 minutes long. It seemed to be a Dutch radio show because all of the dialogue and banter was in Dutch, but all of the songs were American. After importing the audio into Protools, I separated the tracks into “songs” or what seemed like logical sections, normalized the regions, exported the files as aiff’s and then dropped them into Wave Burner. Jackson showed me how this program is used in as a mastering tool. I threw a limiter on the tracks and burnt them to CD’s for the client. Saturday, I observed Jackson working in Logic Pro 9. He showed me his personal process to programming drums. We investigated the instrument plug-in EZ Drummer, because it was new to him and I naturally had questions about it. Later, one of Jackson’s clients came in for a mastering consultation.
I know this is a late update… but on Monday morning at Horse-Drawn, I came into the studio and did normal house keeping chores. Around noon in Live Room Studio A, Jackson and I mic’ed up the Marshall cab with an SM 57 and the Orange cab with an MD 421 and an SM 57, and we began re-tracking guitars for one of his original tunes. Jack showed me how to use “folders” to comp parts together in Logic Pro 9, along with some handy short cuts for editing, splicing, and cross-fading audio. He programmed all of the drum parts and meticulously worked on making them near perfect. After guitar, we mic’ed up the bass cab with an MD 421 and had a direct line; we then tracked bass onto the same tune. After a few takes, Jackson had what he needed to make a comp for his song. Then we set up the Juno to begin tracking keys.
Although the project in its early stages, its promising to be a bit hit in the clubs. Taking all the newest technology, and fusing it with the team’s production skills, is bringing the project to new levels. Look out, Skrillex – you’ve got some heat on your tail!! Stay tuned for more updates.
Over the weekend at Horse-Drawn, I managed to finish the soldering project assigned to me. This included building eight adapters: two male XLR to 1/4″ mono, two male XLR to 1/4″ stereo, two female XLR to 1/4″ mono, and two female XLR to 1/4″ stereo. I’m waiting for Jackson to take a look at them and make sure there aren’t any last minute tweaks that should be made before we test them and put them to use around the studio. Later in the afternoon on Friday, I helped Jackson track himself playing guitar to one of his tunes into Logic Pro 9 in Studio A. I enjoy working with him and the tunes that he creates, most of the time I cannot tell that his drums are program, and I’m a drummer! That’s how good his tunes are. Anyway, Saturday I came into the studio and did a few house keeping chores and then Eric set me to work on mixing a hip-hop/rap song in Pro Tools 9 in Studio A control room. It needed a vocal comp and some heavy mixing on a number of tracks, mostly because it was recorded with heavy distortion/clipping. I spent pretty much the whole evening working on the song. I did a rough fader and pan mix on the Yamaha DM-2000 board, adding some out-board gear effects where I saw fit (I’m a reverb girl, myself); however, I worked almost exclusively in Pro Tools using EQ and compressor plug-ins, along with a few other time-based effects. The song is ready to cut.
Today I came into Horse-Drawn and did a few house-keeping chores, such as: the dishes, taking out the garbage, and making sure that the rooms were tidy for the mos part. After that, I started going to town on Studio A and cleaning up the “mess” from Jackson and I’s recording session with Deep Space Pilot from the weekend. I finished wrapping cables and put them away, moved the bass rig and guitar cabs back to where they belong, along with hauling a drum kit upstairs and setting that up, after I moved the piano back where it belong for Wendy’s lessons. Later, Jackson had me unzip some files and open up a session for a client that he had been working for and we created a “strings” only bounce in Pro-Tools 9 in The Indigo Room. For a few hours after that in the control room for Studio A, I roughly mixed five songs that were recorded over the weekend, by Jackson and I, on the Yamaha DM-2000 in Logic Pro 9. I’m slowly getting the feel for Logic Pro and how the DM-2000 works.
Today, Jackson and I had worked a session at Horse-Drawn with the hard rock trio Deep Space Pilot (Bill, Tony, and Ron) from Chicago. The session took place mostly in Studio A with one guitar cab in The Indigo Booth. The five piece Ludwig drumkit was positioned with the kick drum facing towards the wall in order to create a darker, low punch sound from the bass drum itself. We used gobo’s to block the sound of Ron’s guitar cab from reaching the microphones on the kit and used a clear plexiglass “wall” to block the sound of Ron’s vocal from reaching those same mics. Jackson wanted to keep all of the members in the same room so that they would be able to maintain eye contact while they were playing and be able to discuss in compositional dilemmas in their songs. Six songs were recorded into Logic Pro 9 using the Yamaha DM-2000 board, with the signal passing through Manley and Avalon pre-amps. Some signals were boosted, cut, and compressed before reaching the board. Jackson created a session template for the band in order to maintain equality between all of their tunes. By the time I left at, all basic tracks had been recorder for all six songs, and Jackson was beginning on organ over-dubs with Ron.
I started out the day at Horse-Drawn by tearing down the drums in live room and rearranging a few of the amps and furniture in order to prepare for a recording session that would take place on Saturday. I did a few miscellaneous errands for Jackson, and then set up a small drum kit in The Indigo Booth. Jackson and I began to set up the live room to be mic’ed for the incoming band rock trio. The bass cab would be mic’ed and go DI from the red booth; the drums and guitar would be mic’ed from the live room (along with another cab in the indigo booth). We had to do some trouble-shooting from hell because we couldn’t get signal from the cab in the indigo booth. After nearly 90 minutes of trying, Jackson, Eric (the other intern), and I finally got it working. Once the band arrived, we put the mics and place, did a quick sound check, and then Jackson headed up the headphone mixes for each band member. Eric ended up helping us with what seemed like a patching problem, but it was a dud headphone splitter box. Long, long day but well worth it; everything sounded amazing by the time I left for the night.
Meg Ryan came in and recorded one of her songs on acoustic guitar and vocals. I carefully watched how Eric Yoder placed the microphones for tracking the guitar. We used the Lawson U47, (such a cool mic) and an sm 81.
Matt and I watched a video tutorial on creating wobble bass with Ableton Live. since Ableton is the program for making dubstep, which is becoming very popular. I’m dying to learn Ableton Live…
Today, I came into the studio at 2p.m. to help Trent, a DJ and resident engineer of Horse-Drawn, set up for his free DJing clinic that took place in the live room from 3p.m. until 5p.m. Before he arrived, Eric was giving me a crash course in some of the repairs to computers and hard-drives that the studio offers to clients. He’ll be continuing that lesson at a later date. I showed up sick and was coughing all over myself, so Vic, the studio manager, was feeding me cough
drops all day while I was helping to prepare for the clinic. Trent didn’t need much help, so I just stayed available for anyone that needed something done. Setting up chairs, grabbing extension chords, what have you. After the 2 hour clinic, Eric asked me to set up aNeumann U-87 A microphone with headphones in the Indigo booth for a session that he has tomorrow with a fairly new client. Vic and Jackson let me take off a few hours early and told me to get lots of rest for the coming week since I’m feeling so lousy. Anyone that didn’t come to the clinic truly missed out.
I came into work today at 11a.m., and I did a few minimal tasks. Doing the dishes, checking the trash, making sure the rooms were tidy. Then I found a job waiting for me from Eric Yoder. The fact that I remembered how to find the jobs tab and how to go about working on it shocked me the most, since it’s technically my fifth day at Horse-Drawn. After working through the task of finding reference music for a client of Eric’s, I moved onto soldering a broken connector in the iso-booth of studio A. Next, Jackson had me building small adapters for the studio. These were supposed to included two XLR male to mono 1/4″ out, two XLR male to stereo 1/4″ out, two female XLR to mono 1/4″ out, and two female XLR to stere 1/4″ out. I haven’t done a lot of soldering in my career/education, but enough to know what I’m doing and to know how to not burn myself. I only managed to accomplish two (one of which was Jackson’s example for me, the other needs to be fixed) within two hours because I kept having to unsolder and re-solder or cut and re-cut the ends of the wires. I’ll be working on the rest tomorrow, after I help set up for the free D.J.ing clinic from 3p.m. to 5p.m. at the studio.
Great bands played, tons of fun going on, I even got up there and jammed on guitar/drums with the guys. I’m sure videos will be posted! Now working at the studio today, may have Eric Yoder record me and as he does I’m going to observe the masta’s technique on the mixing board
To wrap it up, I had an awesome time, and who ever didn’t show really missed out.. sorry guys :S
Had a guitar lesson today! Learned my Major 7ths and dominant 7th chords in first, second, and third position. I’m amazed at how fast that i’m picking up with it.. Maybe because Vic Rochkus is an awesome teacher!?! I think so.
Jackson Bomher helped me out a lot today with understanding how to work the equipment in Studio A. We pulled up a sample session on Logic and he taught me about patching and routing. I learned how the Yamaha DM2000 digital mixer works too, just the basics though. That board is complicated! It’s going to take time to fully understand it, but it’s pretty sick working on professional equipment.
Saturday we have our anniversary party coming up for musicians, our clients, and people who are interested in seeing what we do. It’s going to be a blast
Came in today, watched Matthew Gutierrez track Patty Ramos’s guitar and vocals. She recorded 3 songs including 500 miles, Susanne, and Jamaica Farewell. May record a song myself if there is time!
Vic Rochkus and I swapped notes on guitar technique; I’m learning new improvisational patterns switching positions in different keys. I pulled up some Logic Studio projects today from previous clients and studied how tracks were mixed in the A room. Wendy Van Sickel and I discussed piano skills too.
There were a lot of music lesson clients coming the studio today for guitar, violin and piano.
Today I recorded a couple of new videos of myself playing some old Irish ballads in the control room of the new Horse-Drawn Productions on our 80+ year old S.S. Stewart banjo which I recently had setup by my new favorite guitar luthier in Oak Park, IL, Danche Guitars. I am so excited to be playing some of these tunes live for the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. I will be performing on Thursday the 17th at my favorite Berwyn bar, Cigars & Stripes starting at 7pm. Followed by an encore appearance at Elbo Room in Lincoln Park on Friday the 18th at 9pm. My colleagues Fil Kinetic & Eric Wisnieski did a fantastic job of shooting and editing these 2 videos in an extremely short period of time. I look forward to working on more video projects with them in the near future. Fil shot the footage with a Kodak Z8 and Eric edited it down with Final Cut Pro. The first song, The Waxie’s Dargle is a ballad about working class folks in Ireland, candlestick makers and people who waxed bootlaces. Around the turn of the 20th century, the town of Bray in County Wicklow was fancied by well-to-do folks as a vacation spot along the river Dargle. The waxies held an annual outing but they couldn’t afford to go all the way to the Bray so they used to go to Sandymount Strand, an extensive beach on the south side of Dublin. This beach became known as the Waxie’s Dargle as it was their equivalent of the fashionable seaside resort of Bray. In this ballad, 2 women are contemplating a visit to the Waxie’s Dargle but don’t have the necessary funds. To check out the video for The Waxie’s Dargle click here.
The second ballad, Follow me up to Carlow, reputed to be written by Patrick J. McCall is a bit older and a touch more gory describing the defeat of the English forces by Fiach McHugh O’Byrne at Glenmalure, also in County Wicklow, on August 25th, 1580 where O’Byrne and his boys killed at least 30 English troops and then later burned the southern outskirts of Dublin. O’Byrne was relentlessly pursued by the English who eventually killed him on May 8th 1597. His head was displayed on the battlements of Dublin Castle. “Black Fitzwilliam” refers to Sir William Fitzwilliam, the most experienced Elizabethan administrator in Ireland and reputedly the most corrupt. Click here to watch Follow me up to Carlow.
I hope to see all of my friends and family out for drinking this St. Patrick’s Weekend and don’t forget to download some of my recorded material from my band Conradh Quinn. Slainte and Farewell.
Had a lot of tasks today. First off, I had my guitar lesson which went well, I was assigned to check all of the Logic Plug-ins to make sure they were up and running, and put a computer back together with Wendy’s help. Most importantly, it was Vic’s birthday! HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY VIC!
We rented 3 Seinheiser Passport Series microphones to project Young General’s voice over District Bar’s multi-zone sound system. The result was a crisp delivery and punchy tone that helped to project each vocalist over the jumping crowd. Once again, be sure to check out Young General’s newest video for White Sox Fitted Cap. We hope to have Young General over to perform at our 1 year anniversary of our Grand Opening in our new location. We will be hosting several artists that have worked with us here at Horse-Drawn Productions over the last 12 months and we look forward to seeing YOU there. Until the next time, please stay connected… J.E. Bomher
Mike Pann studio engineer, and me, Kendall Braun, visited Morton College and Roosevelt University. Horse-Drawn Productions wants to become more involved with the Chicago community and participating in helping any schools that offer audio engineering/ theater/ performing arts/multimedia programs, etc.
Mike and I set up a visit for an in class speech on audio production software for the students in multimedia at Morton College. With Eric Yoder who will most likely be leading this lecture, we will be connecting and talking to these students to familiarize them with the basics of our generation’s music software including (Logic Pro 9, Pro Tools 9.)
Morton College has an awesome technology museum! Which, of course I did take pictures of!
Shown are microphones from the 1920′s through the 1940′s.
Western Electric was “The” microphone company back in the day. The microphones looked pretty heavy to me! One was a ribbon and dynamic in the same unit.
It was hard to have pure signal without distortion back then. Luckily now, it has definitely changed. The Eightball Microphone was one of the first dynamic, omnidirectional mics. It was the most popular throughout the 1940′s and most radio’s used these. Pretty cool, eh?
I have been so busy I can hardly find the time to gush about it! This past week has been an avalanche of new material and studio updates. The new custum music machines are running great, and we have 3 new orders to fill for new work stations. Its hard to keep up with the demand of powerhouse music computers running mutiple operating systems, to keep up with today’s pace.
Connor has been hard at work writing, playing and singing to get his new project off the ground. This guy should be an inspiration to younger artists to keep developing and coming up with new material. Not only did he push out a new song in a single afternoon, he also put a cool video together about it, and you’ve GOT to check it out:
Then I had the pleasure to work with Cici again, and I love it when artists challenge me, especially the younger ones! Once again, she came at me with a cool song, but in a whole other direction, establishing herself as a diverse artist and a blossoming songwriter. New music like this inspires me to push the envelope, and sets the bar quite high for new music coming out today.
I also want to mention Young General tonight in Chi-town! Check out his info at http://www.facebook.com/younggeneral – I will be seeing him there tonight at 10:00. Its been a while since we hung out, but I did get a chance to hear his new single, and its hot!
You can give us a call to inquire about building a custom computer for you in 2011, or for a friend, or for your mama… Great deals, new stuff every day!
Also, jsut got off the phone with Avant a few days ago – he’s doing great and is working on a new project. Finally hooked up and did some computer repairs and hard drive mods to his friend and producer Kriss Johnson, otherwise known as Kajun. Looking forward to seeing these guys some more, bring the hits, guys! Avant was the first client I worked with when I originally opened the doors on Sept 13, 1998. Full circle here and now.
Word
Good Day
EriC NeLsOn YoDeR
Keep up the cool new music, and I’m going to listen to some more Cee-lo Green – I love this guy!
Another crazy day here at the recording studio where I recorded 40+ high school girls singing Hebrew backing tracks for their upcoming theater performance. Somehow we slammed through 10 songs in 9 hours, tracking full choirs, solos, harmonies and mixing at the speed of a Japanese bullet train. This time I tracked the young ladies as a group with my 2 favorite large diaphragm condenser microphones in an XY pattern with the capsules set to cardioid. I ran out of headphone mixes because there were so many girls but I ended up settling on 10 of them. For the solo close mic I used our Lawson L47 tube mic through a Trident s100 class C preamp and a DBX160A compressor to achieve a natural yet “in your face” tone, assuring that the girls’ solo parts would cut through during a live performance on a large stage.
I mixed everything down to 2-track in Protools using one of my favorite maximizer plug-ins, the L2, over the master fader as well as on the 2-tracks of their background music to limit the dynamic range and make the sound of the music more suitable for a live performance setting. The music needed to be nice and loud to compete with 40 voices through microphones on a stage, so I further limited the dynamic range of the mixes with Logic’s Waveburner Adaptive limiter.
Although for some applications, this might seem like overkill on the compression and limiting, I believe that the girls got just what they were looking for in a performance CD which is why they continue to come back to us year after year.
We would like to thank Chaya, Mushkie and the rest of the girls from LGHS for continuously coming across town to work with us. Good luck with your performance.
Today at Horse-Drawn Productions….. I sat in on a session, watched Eric Yoder record solo artist Cici Ward in studio A on Logic Pro 9. She recorded guitar and vocals for her track “Fairy tale” and Eric produced the project. (Using sweet ass ESX24 Drum samples for her beats!) I prepared the live room today for a band practice. Used a beta 58, and direct boxes. Every day at Horse-Drawn Productions it’s different; because of all the different types of artists we bring in. I LOVE IT
Got to the studio today at around 11, worked on a track in the indigo room and browsed through some already made mixes in Logic Pro to give me some examples to look at and learn from! Took some guitar lessons with Vic today, and about to go take piano lessons with Wendy!
I sat in on a session today in Studio A. watching Eric Yoder track vocals over instrumentals for a large group of high school girls. The music being Hebrew influenced, I enjoyed it. It was a different type of music that I’ve never sat down and listened to.
I did some tasks for Jackson Bomher today helping him get information on record labels all around the globe to distribute metal albums for his band i Klatus.
Vic Rochkus came in today and taught me some new guitar chords! Horse-Drawn Productions offers music lessons which include, guitar, violin, drums, bass, piano, etc.
The music studio staff had a meeting with a marketing person in spreading the word of what our studio offers. We will continue to grow!
Wrapped up the bio for the new I klatus album this week. We will be sending it out to labels all over the world next; as soon as I can print all the artwork. Hopefully we can find someone willing to help us print and distribute this epic record on vinyl. It figures that someone will support us with our D.I.Y. approach to making albums. One of the new songs, Model Prisoner Interlude addresses the way that people create a prison for their mind. Remember old Willie Hicks? He said that it was only a choice, between fear and love. The new album, Karma and Forgiveness is crushingly epic… I can’t wait for my friends to hear it…Let’s stay together,
This morning as I drive and listen to Eminem’s newest album I realize how excited I am about things to come this month. February - the Grammy’s on Sunday, working with new artists all the time such is new phenom Indian rapper Cherag Ragi Patel, who may be featured on an upcoming film by the same producers of the people that put out Slum Dog Millionaire. Good luck Ragi!
For those of you who have worked on projects in the past, and need to finish up, we’ve got some extra incentive for ya…Free Studio Time! Whoa – Yep, I’m so motivated about using our brand new machines built specifically for our needs at HDP, by yours truly, that I am giving you ountil the end of Feb to get the discounts touching up the old stuff, as the new machines change things – giving us even more options, more operating systems, and more HORSE_POWER.
Get in before March 1, and we will give you 2 hours of free studio time for every 6 hour block you book. The session must be reserved before March 1, but it can be booked into March. We want to play with all our new computer toys – give us a reason, we can fix it even if it ain’t broken.
Each year we have a new and interesting set of girls from Bnos Rabbeinu High School that come all the way out to Berwyn from way across town to record the performance tracks for their annual theater showcase. To shed some light on what their school is all about, I took this quote directly from their website, www. chicagoanash.com/BnosRabbeinu: “Bnos Rabbeinu is a Jewish Girls High School run by Mrs. Tsyrl Turen in Chicago. Mrs. Turen is renowned for her success as principal and administrator of a Lubavitch Chabad girls high school for over fifteen years. As her many graduates (and their parents) will attest to, Mrs. Turen succeeds in bringing the teachings and philosophies of Torah-true, Chassidishe Yiddishkeit as taught by the Lubavitcher Rebbe to a level that becomes an integral part of each girl’s life. Moreover, even though the strict principles expected and required of chassidishe girls are never compromised, the girls absolutely love her school! ”L‘havi Geulah Ha’Shleima”
This year the first group of girls with their producer/fearless leader Mushkie, recorded 4 classic pieces as a choir which featured several of her classmates on vocal leads. The most promising of which was Leah who showed a tremendous proficiency on our 100 year old Sohmer piano as we were setting up 2 neumann U87′s in a spaced Cardioid pattern. Mushkie summoned a particularly creative harmony for Korban Song which was impressive to say the least. Our Lawson L47 through an Avalon 737 mic preamp really helped to enhance her brooding tenor counter melody.
Something about the melodies in this type of music really calls out to my Hungarian lineage. Such cool use of all the variations of the minor scale. The flat 5z and sharp 7z along with the flat 2z and Major 3rdz. Out of the darkness and into the light and then back again… I mixed the 4 songs through a 3 band compressor to limit the dynamic range for a live stage performance and printed them back to Protools for the final stage of dithering and burning them to a Horse-Drawn CD.
We would like to thank Mrs. Turen for continuously supporting our recording studio year after year. Good luck to the rest of the girls coming back to the studio on Sunday and I hope the performance proves to be inpirational and life-changing.
I’ve been working the Horse-Drawn productions grand opening video now for a while. It will feature 15-20 second clips of one song each artist performed in studio that day. Artists who performed include:
Clarence Washington
JT Maguire
The Maybenauts
The Rules and the Whip
Strange Ranger
Young General
Kelroy
and more!
It will be available to see by the 1 year anniversary of the Grand Opening!!
There are just a few final clips that need to be edited and then it will be synced up to the audio mixed in studio.
Yesterday I edited together 15 songs from Barb Kalnes masterwork “At Bethlehem’s Door – A Musical Journey to the Heart of Christmas.” I transferred the decade old DAT tape that was recorded at Airwaves Studios (R.I.P.) to our Protools system and proceeded with the daunting task of fitting 84 minutes of music onto a 79 minute CD. Needless to say, I cut corners where I could, removing applause, gaps between songs and even shortened some of the phrasing spaces between the dialogue. At the end I was down to scraping for milliseconds just to make it fit; but finally I hammered it into submission and the entire performance fit somehow, as if by God’s will.
Barb Kalnes is working on a new full length CD with her band, “Dawn Treader” preparing to release 10+ songs. I am looking forward to working with them.
Big weekend for me over at Fitzgerald’s. I had a chance to mix monitors for heavy hitting, southern heroes… The Radiators… Their classic, down-home jams got the ladies dancing and their dates a’drinkin… But sadly after 33 years and 12 albums these good old boys have decided to split. After talking with their #1 fan Murph, I got the feeling that most of these fellas will be moving on to new and exciting musical prospects.
I had the good fortune of mixing monitors for my old pal Kyle Manahan, owner of Big Audio Inc. I was mixing on an Allen & Heath GL 2200 with Clark Technik DN360 1/3rd octave equalizers inserted on all of my monitor mixes to craft that special quality on the stage which the Radiators require.
Big Audio and I provided Fitzgerald’s and The Radiators with a high quality monitor rig for an affordable price. We bi-amped the EAW M500s with Crest CA9s and CA12s for a beefy, crispy and transparent sound.
Kenney, their FOH sound engineer, likes to use Neuman KMS 105s for the 3 vocalists which are basically equivalent to a Neumann U87 but created to be utilized in a live sound reinforcement setting. Kenney’s summit compressors added a nice punch to the KSM’S crackle, to help the tasty vocal harmonies punch through Camille’s ripping guitar solos.
The sold out crowd had the staff at Fitzgerald’s on their toes but at the end of the weekend Bill, Kate and Terry Fitz were all smiles. I was honored to work with veterans of the music scene. “Lifers” if you will. I intend to be one of those myself.
Thanks to Tom from Big Audio for your lift gate skillz… Phil, Kenney, Pete & Josh the Radiators amazing crew. Bill, Kate & Terry Fitzgerald for continuously bringing fascinating music to Berwyn and last but certainly never least, Ed, Dave, Camille, Frank and Reggie… The Radiators are dead… Long live The Radiators.
Greetings and Happy Holidays from all of us at Horse-Drawn Productions. Thanks for taking the time out of your busy holiday schedule to read our monthly newsletter. We looking forward to seeing some or all of you at one of our upcoming events.
HDP Christmas Sing-A-Long and Listening Party :
Thanks to everyone who participated on this year’s holiday recording. It was a fantastic endeavor and a great success. We really enjoy involving our friends, family and the folks in our community with what we do here. It makes the holiday more fun and less stressful when we get to share it with you, the people we care about most.
This year we have 11 new tracks that are now available on Itunes. Just search Horse-Drawn Christmas Vol. III in the Itunes store if you would like to download one or all of them.
We will be hosting a listening party on Wednesday Dec. 22 at 7pm so come out and get a copy of this year’s cd in person.
HDP/Cigar’s and Stripes Punk rock recording session
(open to the public)
This weekend on Dec. 11th at 6pm Horse-Drawn Productions and Cigar’s and Stripes will be hosting a punk rock recording session featuring local rock groups
Ezkebage, Poor Boy and Hot Lips Messiah
If you ever wondered exactly what it is we do here, this weekend is your chance to come see and also be part of the live recording process. Bring your friends and family to check out this kick-ass music in a top of the line recording facility. We will be tracking 3 songs by each band and we will be recording in stereo so wherever you stand, that is where you will be on the recording.
After party at Cigar’s and Stripes 6715 West Ogden Avenue.
Christmas Savings
We are pleased to announce this year’s holiday special. 6 hour blocks in our Indigo room will be going for $250 and the same block in Studio A will be going for $350.
Also we are offering mastering for the low rate of $45 per song or $400 per album. Make sure you take advantage of these savings before the 1st of the year. Merry Christmas.
Thanks again for your continued support and have a happy and safe holiday.
Sincerely,
Eric, Darlene, Jackson, Vic, Wendy, Phil, Colt and the rest of the
Horse-Drawn Productions Staff
we are wrapping up production on our 3rd annual Christmas Album this week and we are having the sing-a-long party this saturday at the studio… If you want to come hang out, have some drinks and sing some christmas songs and make it on to the cd, the party starts at 7pm…byob and be ready to sing or a least laugh and yell in the background… the address is 6519 w 26th st… Berwyn IL… also last year’s christmas album “South Side Sleigh Ride” is now available on Itunes for download… so go check it out… It is called Horse-Drawn Christmas Vol II
happy holidaze
jax
Mixed Monitors for The Radiators this weekend. Those folks were going crazy for their New Orleans funky jazz style. I’d call it a cross between Dr. John and Phish. I was out there as part of the crew for Big Audio Inc. a local sound company. I brought a beefed up monitor rig with EAW M500s to blow back the hair of their amazing guitarists and keyboard player. These guys have been jamming together for 30+ years and it shows. Their jams and changes were tight as a drum. I am looking forward to working with some more bands at Fitzgerald’s in the future.
Hey yall, my band, Conradh Quinn has just released our first collection of Irish rock songs… if you like this sort of thing search us out on Itunes and download a few of these old traditional jams… Slainte – jax
Today I had one of my favorite production students in the studio working on a new song for his killer metal band, Forbidden Angels… Zak and I tackled a bunch of different production concepts beginning with the arrangement, tuning structure and guitar tones for his new epic untitled jam. We used Logic Pro for programming the drum loops and weird sound FX, a marshall JVM 205H to create a DEVASTATING distortion sound with his Ibanez guitar and close mics on the Marshall 1960A guitar cab. My standards for that “in your face”, punchy sound are the Shure SM57 and the Senheiser 421 dynamic microphones. This system can also be enhanced by including a bi-directional room mic to employ the M/S technique for a swarming, “IT CAME FROM BERWYN!!!” sound. I recorded a heavy and low bass tone with my Earnie Ball Stingray 5 bass through the Trident S100 series console and a DBX 160. Zak’s band, Forbidden Angels will be performing at an all ages show this Halloween with local badass prog-metal group Seppuku Survivor (www.myspace.com/seppukusurvivor) at Cigars and Stripes 6715 W. Ogden Ave. Berwyn, IL 60402 www.cigarsandstripes.com. This crushing, outdoor, all-ages event kicks off at 3pm so bring the kids and PREPARE TO BE TERRIFIED!!!!
Monday at Horse-Drawn I recorded a new vocal artist and rapper named Yoyito with her producer K.B. Lewis, on her new song, “Respect Me!” I recorded her slick rap vocals and cool singing style with the Neumann U87 and used a combination of our Trident S100 series console, a dbx 576 compressor and some subtle auto-tune to create a stellar hip-hop sound. At the end of the session she was so impressed with my hip-hop sound and mixing chops that she asked me if I was part black. I told her, “Only from the waist down!” She got a real kick out of that. Stay tuned for more recordings, releases and songs from K.B. Lewis and Yoyito from Horse-Drawn Productions out of lovely Berwyn, IL.
Capital University is always expanding, and is now ready to take on an even bigger program. The music technology program is becoming their biggest major to date, and Cap wants to keep up with bigger demands. Eric Yoder has a lot of experience designing studios, and is willing to help Cap in the way he just helped horse-drawn. You may see some key elements found in the hdp facilty cropping up in the plans for Cap. Whatever works, just works!
Aloha… Halloween is near and our October clinic arrives none too late… Snehal Patel blew our collective minds here at Horse-Drawn Productions with his seminar discussing tips, techniques and best procedures for musicians to make their own music videos. He had an impressive collection of video works which have been showcasing at film festivals all over the world. Although it felt as if Snehal were a king throwing gold coins at beggars and swine, I tried to absorb as much of his vast wealth of knowledge as my feeble mind possibly could in two plus hours… but thankfully, Snehal was always very forthcoming and clear about the pertinent details for every topic… I will attempt to lay them out as I understand them… So here they are…
#1- Storyline!!! – THE GOLDEN RULE! Tell A Story!
Without a story, your art is trash… or just art for art’s sake which is alright but a good story goes a long way and may be around forever. And one can never discount the fact that a Great Story can change your world… change your mind… change your life… hell… take a look at the “King James” Bible or the Qu’ran … Now there are some music videos just waiting to happen…
#2 – GET HELP! Don’t Be afraid to work with those that are better than you
Find the people who are shooting music videos in your area… some of them very well may be your friends or family… GET THEM INVOLVED!… Find people in the field you know and love and say, hey, “I want to work with you, no matter what it takes!” and get it done! People want to help out, people want to make cool stuff so do your best to bring them together! Go to art schools, music schools, film schools and find students. THEY WILL WORK FOR FREE… They are hungry for projects, probably have access to some decent or even high-quality gear and just want to learn and do great things. Just make sure you check your “help’s” work as you don’t want to be stuck on set with a cinematographer who doesn’t know a lens from a lozenge and then you have to figure out how to work the camera yourself and you both look like runny eggs and burnt toast. You can always find professionals on www.mandy.com or www.entertainmentcareers.com.
#3 Plan Ahead
-MAKE A BUDGET – Food, rentals, labor, etc… Remember that when it comes to rentals, most places count the weekend as one day so you can really squeeze a lot out of a weekend with your rented gear.
If you can shoot for free, guerrilla style, DO IT but we aren’t recommending or condoning any unlawful or degenerate activity. I wouldn’t hesitate to throw a scumbag out of my store for trying to film illegitimately so please… ask permission… or don’t get caught!
Better Planning Yields a Better Product – The more you do in pre-production, the more time and headaches you will save yourself while shooting and editing… so plan your shots and storyboards far ahead of time. Know exactly what your vision is, well in advance, so that when you get to the shot the light is right, the make up is good and the talent is fresh and feeling inspired. At which point, all you have to say is, “Action!” and nail the shot.
Make sure your days get done. Make a plan and do your best to stick to it but don’t rush and definitely don’t sweat the small things. Have plenty of help with you so that you don’t get yourself bogged down with details. Don’t be detracted! Use others to the best of their abilities. Help them to help you to help them. AYUDAME!!!
Make your first shot Quick and Easy. That way, it jump starts your shoot. Your people feel as if they’ve gotten something done and it sets the tone for the rest of the day. If you try to tackle a tough shot first thing in the morning and it turns out to be a real hack and slash job, imagine how damaged and post-traumatic your crew and talent will be by midnight… Throw yourself and everybody else a bone and make the first shot of the day a “ringer.”
#4 Think Big, Start Small!
One Minute of Music = One Day of Shooting – Keep it simple. Be realistic and give yourself time to get it right. Enjoy the journey and all of the lessons that come with it. On your first few videos don’t overdo it. Make framing and focus the goals and let the story tell itself. Don’t try to rely on fancy effects, use cuts to create a smooth storyline.
Sound – All you need is a boom box for playback but there are many options you can use for recording. A hand held Zoom recorder can be very handy but the camera mic can do the trick in a pinch since you will be using the studio quality recording for audio anyways.
Editing – Editing is, by far, the longest process for making any kind of video. Getting through edit, approval, coloring, FX, flow, titles and music can take weeks so give your editor time to get things done. Never rush because good art takes time. Also be available and present to help out. Stay on top of the project but don’t smother your assistance… Be there to help not hinder.
#5 The Final Cut
When you finally finish your video it is important to get it out there to develop a fan base or community of people to watch it. There are 2 primary websites which you can post to so that the World Wide Web can view your art. The first is Vimeo.com, and they are more selective about the videos they post and the second is Youtube.com. Make sure you give credit to EVERYBODY involved and embed the text into your video. The more text you include, the more gratuitous your Search Engine Optimization will be. That means that the more names you drop in the credits, the more easily your video will be found on Google or other search engines. Upload consistently. Keep those fresh works of art coming and people will keep coming back to your work and want to see more.Also, submit your works to music video festivals. That way you can be sure that the people who are watching music videos see your work and know about you.
#6 NEVER STOP CREATING!!!
Always be thinking of new and innovative projects and try to stay a few steps ahead of everybody else. Never lose sight of the most important step either, #1… The storyline.
I would like to personally thank Snehal for sharing some of his oceanic hoard of enlightening and helpful information. He truly is a King among beggars and swine. You can follow up with him and learn more about what he does at www.fearlessproductions.tv.
Next month’s clinic will be a GENERAL MUSIC clinic featuring Robert Coates and Eric Yoder. Afterward we will be hosting an open jam so bring your instruments, bring your friends and byob.
That’s it for me… Time to start working on my own colossal backlog of videos… Among all of the motivating lessons that Snehal left me with, having a DEADLINE is one of the most important ones for me… That and
Today at Horse-Drawn Productions I had the good fortune of working on some Mastering for a new band called Struck. We are wrapping up their first EP which features 6 fantastic acoustic pop numbers. The group was produced by none other than Berwyn’s own Chuck Soumar, trumpet player from the Ides of March. To enhance Eric Yoder’s outstanding mixes, I used a combination of tape saturation with our Ampex ATR-104 1/2” analog tape machine and various compressors and EQs. For example, on the song Forgive Me, I used the Avalon 737tube equalizers to bring out that crispy tone required for acoustic guitars and at the same time increased the breathyness in Kevin Dudey’s vocal. The T.C. Electronic M5000, the Crane Song STC-8 class A compressor and Massey’s L2007 were among some of the other tools that I used to sweeten the deal. Forgive Me
Well where do I begin? And where in the hell did the madness truly end? A weekend of true insanity it was. I recall a band from the western suburbs of Chicago playing loud and fast rock music to a room full of half-drunk hipsters and a 3 year old kid named Phoenix with shotgun headphones on, dancing like Bozo the f*cking clown… My dad stealing the instruments of the percussionist, forgetting momentarily that he was a spectator and not a performer at our yearly freak-show, commemorating the great soldiers, policeman, firefighters, paramedics and other serviceman that have proudly served and died for our great country throughout the past 234 years. I think the band was called DeeDee Bright and the Sex but I suspect that they just made the name up for the party for whatever reason. One can never try to understand hipsters, one can only make fun of their skinny jeans and white sun-glassess… but in all seriousness, Dee-Dee and the Sex rocked our f*cking faces off…
In the early afternoon hours as I was getting covered in budweiser from the crappy tap that I had rented for the keg and shaking hands with Steve, who delivered my portable toilet also known as “The Honeybucket;” I began to day dream about what the glorious memorial day party would have in store for myself and all my old friends who so faithfully have attended the bash 10 years strong.
Would the cops show up?
Would somebody break a window (a la memorial day 2006)?
Would the basement get flooded (a la 2002)?
Would I kiss a pretty girl?
Would my band clear the room?
Would anybody show up at all?
Would someone try to take a leak in the oven?
Questions like these and many more were flying around my head as I drank my first warm Budweiser of the day and ate chips from the Aldi.
Turns out that the bass player from the band, “Evolving Beast” was too busy to make it to the Memorial day show. He spent the whole evening before, engorged with an assortment of different chemicals and was probably asleep on his couch sweating like a bloated sausage. Good riddance, I say. When you play with fire, you most certainly run the risk of getting a couple of blisters if not the chance of burning your damn d*ck off. Just ask Abdul Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab about all that. Albeit, Evolving Beast still played a crushing set and charged the room perfectly fine.
Later on, local beyondcore group, Iklatus performed a strange and terrifying set, packed with psychedelia, feedback, screaming vocals and heavy, down-tuned guitars. Most people stared like dogs that had just been showed a card trick with sort of a “eh?” type of a look but the freaks that were into it were quite engaged with their well thought out projection artwork; a collage of alien and geometric imagery which attempted to broadcast directly to the 3rd eye… At one point this older gentleman sporting a T-shirt with dollar signs printed on it and boxers on the outside of his pants with American flags on them passed out in a chair… It was kind of surreal considering the sheer volume of the heavy metal act… www.myspace.com/iklatus
Later on, as The Ideamen took the stage, I noticed the crowd beginning to die down, to thin out; so I gathered the troops as best I could, promising that the amazing performances in the past that I’ve seen the Ideamen draw forth, would surely be the perfect headlining rock act of the evening… No doubt about that, I said to myself as they broke into an outstanding medley comprised of 3 of my favorite songs: Retrovertigo by Mr. Bungle, Karma Police and Paranoid Android by Radio head. There were members of the hip-hop group YG (who would perform later on) there for the Ideamen set and they were blown to bits by their precision on their instruments, as well as their composition skills. “THOSE M*THAF*CKAS SNAPPED!!!” agreed YG and Darnell “Crack” Buckner of BlaQ Box entertainment. The Ideamen combine a progressive hard rock vehemence with a melodic, I daresay, jazzy element; to blend together as an incredible quintet of badassio!!! http://www.myspace.com/ideamen
It was around this time that the sh*t hit the fan… It began to thunder and lightning, people began to file into the live room for the final performance of the evening by none other than local hip-hop hero, YG… Performing his new hit, “Swag Walk,” he had the room heated up… He and his backup crew, “Saint” and “Crack” killed it…
After that the party began to wind down… We finished the last of the beers, I thanked everybody as they left the new recording studio. Bade them, “Drive Safe, Berwyn wants your money!” and that was it… The rest of the morning I spent listening to an assortment of different genres of music with my best pal and my dad and as usual, I was the first one up and the last one to go to bed… Another successful memorial day party… God Bless America… And now, the grueling cleanup…
I used a combination of dynamic and condenser microphones to multi-track record the entire party into protools…through our Apogee converters… Stay tuned to hear some of the tracks from the party…
This is what many of you have been asking about, and here it is. Snehal is from LA and works with the best equipment and people around. Not only is he an expereinced video producer, he is also a camera beta tester! We can all learn tricks on how to make your music videos spring to life! As always, the clinic is at 7pm and is completely free. See you tonight! 6519 W 26th St, Berwyn, IL 60402
Well, today I was promoted to “Junior Technician” by my boss, Eric Yoder. I’m extremely excited about the progress I have made here at Horse-Drawn Productions, and am eager to be involved with more tasks! I can’t wait to tackle my first real session this Sunday. I will be in charge of tracking drums, bass, and guitar! Just a reminder to all you interns out there, take your time when you are involved with the recording process in any way. Be sure to have an input list with the names of the mic’s to be used if you will be tracking. Note which mic’s will require phantom power, and which ones will not. It may also be a good idea to ensure that all mic-pre’s are not sending any phantom power before beginning.
When I first started here, I was overwhelmed by the amount of gear that is used here, as well as how the patch bay is routed. I felt like I was in the cabin of the Space-Shuttle while in our control room. I wasn’t sure if I would ever make sense of everything, but was determined to keep at it. My advice is simply this: Don’t expect to learn everything there is to learn in a matter of weeks. Everyone learns at a different rate then the next guy. If you are like me, then chances are you are not a genius when it comes to understanding every facet of a recording studio. All I can say is to just keep at it. Sooner or later, things will get easier for you the more times you do it. I personally write things down step by step and have referred to my notes for instruction from time to time. As an intern, it is best to try to take initiative when possible. If you are expected to perform certain tasks on a daily basis, then no one should have to tell you to do them. Having the right attitude about your job will also carry you far. Now I know that most of us who serve as interns are doing so without pay. For some, this may be a reason to become discouraged or to perform your duties begrudgingly. I on the other hand, have looked as this opportunity as a continuation of my education that I don’t have to pay for. Being an intern is kind of like being in boot camp. Some people just don’t have what it takes, and decide to abandon their internship for seemingly trivial reasons (“I don’t get paid, they make me do dishes and take out trash etc…”) I can almost assure you though that the people above you had to do the very same thing and can certainly identify with your plight. They really don’t want to hear any whining as such considering they already know what it is like to serve as an intern. Somehow they persevered and will expect you to do so. All in all, no matter you skill set, fight the good fight and give it your all. I promise you, if you try your hardest, sooner or later, you will succeed!
Jackson Bohmer (head engineer at Horse-Drawn Productions) and myself had the task of building and installing several acoustic panels for a client. This is no easy job in that it entails cutting lumber, nailing frame-work together, wrestling with itchy insulation, as well as stapling hundreds of time (fabric). The largest panels were created in the client’s home on the spot. These panels were as high as the ceiling and stood across from one another (one was angled slightly). They will function as sound absorbing material for an isolation booth. This required us to make precise measurements in the room, as well as cutting the lumber and insulation needed for the installation with the same precision. We also had to load-up a table saw, miter saw, skill saw, air compressor, tools, plywood, insulation, and the panels that were created at the studio workshop before heading out. Between the two of us, we were able to build and install six high-quality acoustic panels that will benefit the recordings made in that particular environment. Had our client tried to to record without the paneling, the results would be amateur at best. (As some of you may know, acoustic paneling helps to eliminate unwanted acoustic phenomena that would otherwise take place in said environment.) Jack and I were certainly tired after all this work, but I was glad to learn something new and actually had fun doing so! Looking forward to more of these!
I’d like to take this time to discuss some of the latest tasks that have been bestowed upon me by my superiors here at Horse-Drawn Productions. To begin, I started down this road by first attending Madison Media Institute where I obtained an Associates degree in Recording Arts and Sciences 2009. (Previous to that I have always had an interest in music and recording since childhood). Following graduation, the usual protocol includes an internship of some kind as related to one’s field of study. In this case, I chose to serve as an intern here at Horse-Drawn Productions in Berwyn, IL because they are indeed a state-of-the-art recording studio. I realized that despite my education, I still had a lot to learn before being able to perform as an experienced engineer. Despite not knowing every facet of the equipment and software that is utilized here, I am still entrusted with certain tasks. For example, I was given an assignment that involved importing audio from previous sessions which were archived on DVD. My task then was to find the audio for either trumpet, sax, or clarinet from the assigned session(s) and then “chop” the audio into phrases or “licks” if you will. This was done with Logic (audio software application) in which the individual performance is seen as a series of waveforms in the edit window provided within the program. By using a virtual “scissors” tool, I find where I want to “cut” the audio as needed to create a loop or phrase. I then import these snippets of audio into a virtual sampler. This audio then serves as the “sample” for the sampler. The sample is then triggered by use of a midi controller (usually a keyboard). The strategy here is that in some cases, certain musicians are hired for their ability to play specific instrument (trumpet, sax, etc…). By using existing recordings, we can successfully utilize these phrases or samples in place of hiring a musician. When I was done with this task, we had almost 200 samples that we could now use! Other tasks have included testing cables, soldering, troubleshooting, answering phones, booking sessions, annotating client info and work orders, as well as dishes and trash detail. Regardless, the longer I am involved, the more I seem to learn. Slowly but surely, I am becoming more familiar with the equipment we use, as well as the software and accompanied applications. It is my sincere hope to begin my own recording session(s) as an intern and hopefully be promoted when ready! Until then, I must continue to immerse myself in the recording process and all that it entails.
We will be discussing music, past present and future, from both a performance and a production perspective. She will probably ask about other cool stuff as well…
This interview is today, July 30th at 1:00 p.m. PST and 4:00 EST. This will be discussing all aspects of the music industry, both as a musician and a producer. Check it out here:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/msbridgettelewis
Remember our next HDP clinic is this Monday, August 2, at 7pm on “Tips and Tricks with Pro Tools” featuring Eric Yoder. Its located at our facility at 6519 W 26th St, Berwyn, IL 60402 – free to all!
Congrats to Young General, Rick Rude, Letter L and the rest of the crew at Let’s Get It records on another batch of hot songs currently being mixed and mastered at Horse-Drawn Productions. Rob and the gang are off to play some showcases in sunny California this weekend. With new singles such as “Work” and “Going Places” featuring amazing singer, Wade Soul this is sure to be another round of killer hits. We tracked Young General’s voice with a Lawson L47, an Avalon 737sp and a Crane Song compressor.
I used a combination of the same Crane Song and Avalon equalizers to master 9 cuts for Young General. We like the songs hot and crispy like our French Fries here at Horse-Drawn so we pulled all the stops and turned it up to 13!!!
You can check out Young General this Saturday, July 24th 2010 at the Cat Club 8911 W. Sunset Blvd Hollywood, CA. Bring Your Self. You can reach him at www.facebook.com/TheYoungGeneral for booking or “general” information.
Eric will be talking about the evolving music industry, and how playing drums has changed over the years. Several excerpts have been taken for the interview from previous works, which will be discussed from a musical and a production stand-point.
Great Job Kendall Braun, Young General, Letter L, Mike Clay, David Dub & Loke! We have all been hard at work on new projects at HDP, and they are going great. Just finished the 5 star mix revisions, and completed over 13 songs this past weekend with the infamous Young General. We are excited to be working on such coool projects. Looking forward to starting with Greg and Nicole Caffey soon!
We’re also excited to have David Dub on board for vocal coaching and production assistance. He’s a tough worker. Check out his own music, too!
Last night was one of our best clinics to date. Thanks to everyone who attended. It was great to have Joe back in Chicago to perform, and he killed on many different tracks, styles and feels, and showcased many talented writers in his performance, including several works produced by Horse-Drawn. Joe has been a wonderful session musician over the years, and we were happy to host his first clinic. He continues on to Germany and other countries through December giving clinics sponsored by his endorsers. Many goodies were given away, including a 3 hour studio package deal by HDP. Great success, and great job to everyone involved. Joe is staying in town for a few days and will be laying down some session parts before he heads back to Atlanta for a little R & R before going back on tour. Stay tuned for the next clinic on Aug 2 – featuring Eric Nelson Yoder: tips and tools with Pro Tools.
A few weeks ago Jackson mixed the new Heavy Manners album, and Eric mastered it. They had a great time, and now Heavy Manners is having their listening party at the Elbo room this Sunday evening. If you remember them from the 80′s you know they are awesome!! They managed to bypass the entire cd de-evolution and go straight from vinyl to digital downloads!! Great stuff Guys!
Also – next HDP clinic is Monday July 5th with Drummer Joe Williams. He’s fresh off tour with Justin Bieber and Monica. We have known Joe for years and are very excited. There will be a ton of product giveaways from his sponsors as well as Horse-Drawn. The party, I mean clinic, starts at 7pm.
There was a recent article published in MIX magazine this week featuring Horse-Drawn and several other studios around the country. The article features studio designs for several functions, and how it works for us. There is a cool pic posted in the article of our live room, classroom, and control room, and how they interact with each other. The interview with Eric Nelson Yoder not only discussed his studio design of the facility, but also the diversification of the modern recording studio, which may post in an article in the near future. Stay tuned for more exciting horse-news!!! See the article here:
This evening Hillel Frankel, of Novo Records, will be discussing tip and trick on how to survive in today’s music industry, and how to make money with your music. He will also talk about the legal aspect of the industry, about copyright, music licensing, and promoting your music. Its a must see for everyone creating, producing, promoting or licensing music today – great for artists, managers, producers, and record labels.
John E Bomher
Today, 5/26/10 at HDP… mastering the self-titled debut “Comfort Food” album with local Wind River Records recording artists Vicki and Rich Ingle, AKA Comfort Food. Today, using Apple’s Waveburner software I began the process of finalizing, equalizing and evening out their collection of songs which was mixed by Eric Yoder here at our magnificent recording facility located in the heart of lovely Berwyn, IL. Home of Rich Koz (AKA Son of Svengoolie), 1980′s prices at local restaurants and some of the worst drivers in the Chicagoland area. Seriously, they have roadside seat-belt and DUI checkpoints on Saturday nights. DON’T MESS WITH BERWYN!!! They want your money!
Anyhow, back to “Comfort Food” an album which was a real treat to work on. It is refreshing to work with artists who know what they want and aren’t afraid to ask for it. Sure, Vicki and Rich will pretend to be lay-persons who don’t know how to describe what it is that they are trying to convey in terms of their sound, but deep down it is obvious that they are dedicated and seasoned professionals who know exactly what they are striving for with their rootsy and folk-oriented style.
COMFORT FOOD is a ripe release, with songs like Resurrection Mary which describes an old folk tale about the the ghost of a woman who was murdered coming home from the Willowbrook Ballroom back in the 30′s that roams through the cemetery among the headstones, down on the south-side of Chicago, a truly haunting ballad. Or Rogers Park, which describes a working class stiff’s daily plight and commute from the neighborhood of the same name. Vicki and Rich are excellent pop/folk songwriters whose material could just as easily be heard in a Wes Anderson film as in the back of an aromatic Oak Park cafe. The whip-crack team here at Horse-Drawn Productions applaud their work ethic and “stick-to-your-guns” attitude. Kudos on a fantastic piece of work.
Vicki and Rich Ingle
In terms of the mastering; I used Logic’s Waveburner software to arrange each mix and create fades between them to generate the ebb and flow of the songs which comprise the complete album. Then, by using EQ’s, such as Logic’s Linear EQ, I was able to mellow or enliven each track in relation to one another so that, instead of sounding like 14 different songs, it comes across as more of a continuous masterwork. Besides EQ and multiband compression plug-ins, I used Crane Songs’s stereo mastering compressor/limiter, the STC-8, to smooth out and balance each song to where the volumes and levels matched. All the while, referencing award-winning recording artists such as Beck, Jakob Dylan and John Prine. There’s a lot of magic that goes into mastering an album. Some might call it Voodoo. What one set of ears may find pleasant another might find harsh and off-putting. With mastering, I believe that it is important to find a keen balance between what’s Tried and True and what is Contemporary and Mainstream. That is all for now. Farewell brothers and sisters. Jax
This time we’re doing it even bigger!! He’s moved his party to the Horse_Drawn complex. Tell your friends – we be rollin’ big like THIS. Also, at the Elbo Room Chicago, The P-1 Move featuring Ron Haynes, Dirty MF, and Yoder on percussion. Then back to the party for all night Jams and adventures.
I felt like the first time my son, Stone , took his first steps. The show was breathtaking. Happy B day Vee!! Great time had by all. The Maybenauts proved to be on their game, top notch, possibly the best I’ve seen them perform! I was quite impressed. Thanks for the Horse-Drawn support, too. Its nice to see a group elevate their level of performance ABOVE that of the cd they were releasing. The energy of the full crowd only contributed towards their high level of prowess!! If you haven’t seen them yet, ugh, you missed out.
Awesome sax player is visiting before his gig with The Trippin Billies in Kansas City opening for the Black Crowes show on Friday, May 21. Steve has worked with HDP for years and can be seen on steveschnall.net
Steve is a premier session player and has gigged with such artists as Aretha Franklin, The OJays, Clay Aiken, Al Jarreau, Diana Ross, and Brian McKnight among many more!
This new project by Colt begun its journey of the recording process, evolving from rehearsal project to recording project. Got several songs done, including overdubs. Colt is so talented, he not only engineered the session, but played as well, and engineered the overdubs. Good job, guys! I had the lucky chance to do nothing but watch the session and hang out with my kids. Word.
Announcing the confirmation of our next clinic series at Horse-Drawn. In June we have Hillel Frankel from Novo records to discuss the legal aspects of the music industry, and how to stay on top of your game. The following month, in July, we have Joe Williams, currently on tour with Justin Bieber, and was just on TV a few times recently. He’s now sponsored by Shine Drums, Meinl, Promark, Aquarian and Groove Juice cymbal cleaner. As always, the clinics are held on the first Monday of each and every month at 7pm.
6/7/10 – Hillel Frankel – music industry, legal, copyright business
7/5/10 – Joe Williams – drum and percussion clinic
8/2/10 – Eric Nelson Yoder – pro tools tips, tricks, tools & the trade!
9/6/10 – Jackson Bomher – live sound overview: set-ups, tricks, timelines
10/4/10 – TBA – please email your requests to info@horse-drawnproductions.com
Ha – mixed a big one here – Rob can’t wait to hear it, ahh but he must. This is the best mix yet – big guitars, loud drums, love this gig!!
5 Star in the house at HDP – young general as you know him with a band whoa!!
We had a very exciting weekend at the complex! It was quite busy, from Friday until late Sunday night. Friday was a production meeting with Loke, discussing his project, and playing him the song ideas we had. 3 of them are a go, and Jack created #4 on Sat, while Eric developed song structures on the first ones approved.
After the meeting, it was off to the Young General Fundraiser, to discuss the next steps in the marketing and promotion agenda. All the key people involved with the project were there – a fantastic event.
After that, it was back to more programming on Sat, and even upgraded our sound library with new sounds for the project with Loke.
Then on Sat night – things got HOT. Blaq Box Entertainment threw a party at horse-Drawn similar to that of the grand opening party, with hundreds of people in attendance, and music going on throughout the night. Jackson and Eric stepped up on the bass and drums, with a compliment of excellent musicians. That is a very talented family – thanks to all the Buckner’s! We had a great time, and concluded that was our favorite session of all time…no lie!
I started writing and programming some great new electronica/drum-n-bass/pop music – and its been really fun. Its great to work on a fresh new sound, pushing the limits. Most of the production/programming work at Horse-Drawn is done in Logic. I have spent years building a massive sound and sample library, and I’ve found it to be essential in staying on top of the industry with a new and diverse palette of sounds, always evolving and always expanding.
Its nice to dig back in to the library and tweek things as I go. I feel production can go much smoother and faster, if preparation is done in advance. Several updates I made last night were on our start-up template. By modifying it slightly, it sheds time off of the initial writing stage.
I had the privilege to go to 3 awesome shows last week. David Mann had his Celebrate Life show, which was off da chain. Great musicians, good singing goos arrangements, nice job. Young General had two shows on Friday, the first was with his band, Fivestar, and the 2nd was a solo performance feat. Jay Gatz – Great job guys!! All the shows were well done, well received, and well put together. Keep up all the good work, people!!
Vote for Young General in the Red Eye Track-off at http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/kyles-files/ until Midnight tonight. The song chosen is “Never Love You”! This race is super close. WE need a WIN!!
chief engineer at horse-drawn productions mastered 8 new outstanding cuts from horse-drawn records recording artist Young General. The new releases include songs featuring amazing vocalist Rashada Dawan. You can hear more from Young General at www.facebook.com/younggeneral… brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrwwwwwwwwwkkkkkkkkkk
Just fixed another mac today. This one was a laptop – the G4 silver model. Feels good to be able to help others get back on track with their music. IF you have questions, hit us up!
Horse-Drawn has now fully implemented a cross-platform data manager that merges all of our social networks from our blog. This means you can stay more connected with who you want, when you want.
Hit David Patrick up on facebook to find out more about this hot show. I’ve seen a preview and its quite impressive – full band and string section! They are totally tight!
Emails are the most valuable tool as artists – when u get the email, you can have their full attention at any time. Any give-away you can do you get emails is worth it. The best suggestion is to give away a free song, in exchange for an email address. There are a few new sites up that do extactly that on twitter. You can give away songs, but to receive them you have to “tweet” the message to all of your followers! Works like the branching tree theory. Since songs aren’t sold like they used to, use them as your business card, and direct people to other projects that are cool, once you have their info. Remember its now all about YOU, its about your fans, and what they would like FROM you.
I just built an ftp storage site on the horse-drawn server for clients to download their important files, or mix preprints, etc. Client will also be able to remotely submit music for mixing or mastering.
We can now accept submissions for the licensing program, too, as the music library is being uploaded to our secure server, and cataloged by genre, etc. our rep, Matt Scutt, will have full access to our full library of hundreds of available music for TV shows, in-stores, commercials, etc. Drop us an email for more details on the new licensing program.
Steve Funkworm Butler is at the reigns tonight – showing us all how to become better equipped to thrive on the internet. Also featuring Hillel Frankel, giving a pre-show warmup for the next clinic happening June 7th. This clinic will discuss how to incorporate legalities into your msuic, and protect yourself, as well as making a few bucks.
This guy never quits! We finished his album project, but he’s baaaaack, looking for another big hit for the project. Yoder is working with him Wed, Fri, and Sat. We just finished mixing 2 more songs for Liz McComb, too. She is so amazing!
Strange Ranger has a show tonight at the Elbo Room on Lincoln in Chicago – Check them out at 10pm – Our newest member will be debuting tonight, and also featuring Tootie from the Facts of Life – don’t wannna miss this one! Also – live band Karaoke @ LUCKY NUMBER GRILL – 1931 N. Milwaukee, Chicago, then more live karaoke at Crosstown Pub in Naperville tomorrow night. Come out and sing your ass off!
Today John E Bomher had the good fortune of being able to record some killer vocals on a new P-1 move song called, “Matters” featuring Chicago’s Ami Saraiya. I used our tried and true vocal technique combining the Lawson L47 microphone with a Crane Song STC-8 class A compressor to get a smooth and expressive tone out of Ami’s superb voice. She has a show coming up this weekend at Reggie’s Rock Club, go check her out or listen to her on myspace at http://www.myspace.com/amisaraiya
This is a great song Joseph Corzine and I wrote together… I hope to sing it to my son or daughter someday… I used a Neumann U87 and our amazing Chandler compressor to record my ridiculous falsetto vocal. HIGHSCHOOL
Over the last week I (John E Bomher) mixed 80′s and 90′s reggae heavy hitters, Heavy Manners in our new production studio, Horse-Drawn out here in Berwyn, IL… I used a combination of awesome Pro-Tools plug-ins to generate a high quality mix on our Yamaha DM2000 desk… We used our Crane-Song compressor to achieve a nice even level during mastering to match up the 2 new current mixes of a couple of great songs, The Good Fight and Get Me Out of Debt with the levels of a song that Heavy Manners produced with Peter Tosh back in the 80′s… I look forward to seeing and hearing the finish product when it get’s cut to vinyl…
Last weekend I also recorded local Berwyn metal band, Seppuku Survivor… Those guys kick-ass… I used a combination of different drum mics to get a huge and heavy sound… Some of my favorites were the beyer M88 for kick drum, some AKG 414 large diaphragm condensers for toms and a Neumann U87 for a room mic. They recorded 4 songs and will be releasing them as a demo some time over the summer. Good luck fellas.
The ongoing recording sessions for my new band, “The rules and the whip” are going great… we have 7 songs done and ready for mix and 4 more to go. Jim Boyle has been doing a stellar job on drums, Joseph Corzine on bass and production is always a “go-to” guy and Joe King on the organ and keys is an amazing talent. I’m looking forward to this first album. We’ve incorporated many different production techniques and styles into this new project, close miking and distant miking many different instruments… Using a mellotron in place of the organ at parts or a mandolin in place of the guitar… Hopefully we will be able to get world-class saxophone and flautist Steve Schnall to play on some of the new songs. Keep your mind open for “The Rules and The Whip”
That is all for now, stay tuned for videos of our grand opening party featuring performances from, “Kelroy, The Maybenauts, Clarence Washington, J.T. Maguire, Giant Rockit, Runnin Rebels, Evolving Beast, The Rules and The Whip, Young General and many more.”
Firstly, at our new recording studio, horse-drawn productions, in Berwyn Illinois, I was fortunate enough to record one of my favorite bands from Detroit… “The Amino Acids”Love that band… I used a combination of many different mics such as the senheiser 421 and the beyer M88 and some voodoo to get a really badass sound that will hopefully be put into print on their next 7-inch on their new and amazing song “Coaxial Flutter”… Let’s all hope they make it to Dobbstown some time soon… Next… I worked on more Irish music, working on vocals by our bag-piping colleague, Bruce Quintos and his wife Dawn on “The Raggle-Taggle Gypsy, The Rocky Road to Dublin, All for me Grog and Fields of Athenrye…” I used a combination of the Lawson L47, an API microphone pre-amp, a chandler compressor and an apogee A/D converter to get a brilliant vocal sound.
Then I went to see local metal artists, I Decline, for their triumphant return to the Chicago music scene at one of my least favorite venues on planet earth, “The Metro,” IF I WANTED TO PAY 7 DOLLARS FOR A BEER, I WOULD GO TO A BEARS GAME!!!
Well in any case, they rocked… They used a combination of Orange and Green amps/cabs… Pearl Drums and a sweet Charvel bass.
Worked with an amazing blues band at The Elbo Room called ROUGH CUT… really cool guitar solos and a great singer.
Til next time from Horse-Drawn Productions bringing you high quality recordings for an affordable price.
Visit us at www.horse-drawnproductions.com or some of our affiliated band’s pages:
www.theaminoacids.com
www.myspace.com/iklatus
www.myspace.com/5trangeranger
Stay tuned for news of the horse-drawn grand opening party.
Geez… When will winter be over? Have you heard that the earthquake in Chile caused the earth’s axis to shift? This is only the beginning people. Today I mixed a few songs by recording artist and acoustic guitarist J.T. Maguire… I used some of my favorite FX units to really beef up the tone and quality of the stellar drums sounds, some of which include the Lexicon PCM 70, the eventide H3000 and the TC-electronics M5000. J.T. has a kind of combination Springsteen/Jacob Dylan sound that a few nice washy reverbs and some trippy delays work really well for… such as you might find with the T.C. Electronic 2290 delay box.
Later on today I will be working some more tracking for the Irish tribute group Conradh Quinn for which I play drums, guitars, basses, mandolins and voices and later in the week I will be recording 2 of the other members of the group Bruce Quintos (conradh) and Vic Rochkus on vocals. Over the weekend I recorded world-class flute player Steve Schnall on a couple of nifty irish numbers… The Rocky Road to Dublin and The Raggle-Taggle Gypsy soon to be available from Horse-Drawn Productions for purchase on Itunes. Til next time, don’t sweat the petty things and don’t pet the sweaty things.
Today at our monthly Horse-Drawn Productions Clinic, computer experts Eric Yoder and Mike Schulman discussed at length the pros and cons of owning macintosh computers vs pc computers. It was a decent turn out and we all learned a lot about troubleshooting hard drives, best practices and things to avoid on the internet (porn sites, security and virus pop-ups, etc.) At next month’s Horse-Drawn Clinic we will be discussing miking techniques for both live sound reinforcement and studio settings with guest speakers and music engineers John E Bomher, Joe King, Vic Rochkus and Joseph Corzine. Go to our website for updates at www.horse-drawnproductions.com and remember, “It’s all relative, give or take a little VOLUME!!!!”
today at Horse-drawn productions Victor Rochkus and I (John E Bomher) recorded some acoustic guitar at our new amazing recording facility for our Irish production project called Conradh Quinn… I used my tried and true method of recording acoustic guitar which is the Lawson L47 through a Neve pre-amp and crane-song compressor in combination with a Blue Bluebird mic through an Avalon 737 mic pre-amp and compressoron an old Irish jam called “raggle-taggle gypsy. I also recorded some stellar drum sounds on another tune called “Black and Tans” with a sonor drum kit, using a Beyer M88 on Kick, 2 Shure SM57s on snare, Senheiser 421s on Toms, Akg 414s for overheads and the blue Bluebird as a room mic. Later on in the day I recorded Tim Duhig for a few of his acoustic songs one of which was “The Drunk Side of Love” featuring Steve Schnall on saxophone. I used a Lawson L47 with a S100 series Trident microphone preamp with a presonus A/D converter for the saxophone.
Today I, mastering engineer John E Bomher, was researching new and exciting levels of mastery with my friend and colleague Michael Weinberg (author of Careers in Crime) on the new hip hop project featuring Young General. His debut album that I was mastering over the last 24 hours has a working title of “A Stimulus Package” and features local hip hop artists J. Gatz, Nevaluze, kilo, Jai Wil, Letter L beats and many others. You can check him out at Younggeneral.com or www.facebook.com/younggeneral for shows and releases.
I used some of my favorite compressor and equalizer combinations on this mastering project to achieve a stellar sound that can compete with any recording or mastering facility, world-wide. I used a Cranesong STC-8 to really make it sound full and loud. Then I loaded the tracks into waveburner, my current favorite mastering software and proceeded to balance this outstanding hip-hop album with various mix references using artists such as Jay-Z, Dr. Dre, Will Smith and 50 Cent.
Later this evening I will be mixing a song from my new irish production project, “Conradh Quinn.” I will be mixing a song with a working title of “Irish Reels,” which features Bruce Quintos on the bagpipes, Vic Rochkus on guitar and myself (John E Bomher) on mandolin. Stay tuned for more updates.
First John E Bomher recorded mandolin, drums and guitar on an new song for the new Irish production team Conradh Quinn on an amazing old irish tune called “Rocky Road to Dublin” and another great song called “All for me Grog”
Also today John E Bomher of the world-class recording studio Horse-Drawn Productions was fortunate enough to work with 4 great recording artists… Bruce Quintos and Vic Rochkus of the new Irish group ConradH Quinn (members of the Rico Quinn band) and Young General, Letter L and Big Ceeza… You can check all these artists at www.5pointstrilogy.com and www.letterlbeats.com and www.facebook.com/younggeneral and www.myspace.com/MACEEZA
With Conradh Quinn I recorded some boron with a Shure SM57 through an Avalon 737 and then an Apogee AD-8000 for protools conversion in combination with a Lawson L47 through a Chandler compressor and an Apogee rosetta 800.
Then I tracked some of young general’s vocals on the Lawson L47 through a trident S100. These are amazing sounding mics that help us to achieve a top-notch sound. Later tonight we will be finishing some mixes for Young General’s new album as well as some tracks for Mac Ceeza.
Check it out here: you can keep up to date on the latest HDP news and music opportunities from all the studio engineers, employees, and interns. You can find out about your favorite artists and watch them perform as they lay down new tracks.
Keep up with music licensing opportunities from our established network.
Get educational information on how to maximize your own studio from the experienced engineers at HDP.
Most importantly, watch for great specials on studio time and special offers on practice rooms.
Really, this is the place to be. HDP–Saving The Universe One Song At A Time…
drops all day while I was helping to prepare for the clinic. Trent didn’t need much help, so I just stayed available for anyone that needed something done. Setting up chairs, grabbing extension chords, what have you. After the 2 hour clinic, Eric asked me to set up aNeumann U-87 A microphone with headphones in the Indigo booth for a session that he has tomorrow with a fairly new client. Vic and Jackson let me take off a few hours early and told me to get lots of rest for the coming week since I’m feeling so lousy. Anyone that didn’t come to the clinic truly missed out.
