Blog
Audrey Assad – Fortunate Fall
On 13, Aug 2013 | No Comments | In Ramblings | By admin
Audrey Assad’s new record Fortunate Fall is out today. I spent 10 days with Audrey making the record at The Smoakstack here in Nashville. We had a great time making the record. Played lots of H-O-R-S-E, ate very well, drank some whiskey.
This record is a bit of a departure from Audrey’s previous records, but I think it’s absolutely beautiful. It’s the record she wanted to make, and it’s a concept fully realized throughout, which is pretty rare.
Evan Hutchings played drums, Nathan Thomas played bass, Jordan Hamlin played guitar and clarinet, Eleonore Denig played violin and Cara Slaybaugh played cello. Audrey played everything else. The record was mixed brilliantly by Sean Moffitt.
Check it out on iTunes: here
Matthew Perryman Jones L.R. Baggs Videos
On 18, Jul 2013 | No Comments | In Ramblings | By admin
I recently had the pleasure of recording and mixing a couple of live acoustic and vocal performances for L.R. Baggs Handcrafted Video series. Lloyd Baggs and his crew are amazing. They make hands down the BEST acoustic guitar pickups and accessories in the world, and they’re truly fantastic people who are passionate about music and what they do. I recorded 2 different artists for this series, brilliant singer-songwriter Matthew Perryman Jones and throwback country artist Sturgill Simpson. All of the recordings feature only a vocal mic and an L.R. Baggs pickup. No mic whatsoever on the acoustic. Pretty cool.
Matthew’s video series is up now at L.R. Baggs website: Here
And be on the lookout for Sturgill’s series coming soon.
Vienna Teng 3 Song Sampler
On 12, Jul 2013 | No Comments | In Ramblings | By admin
Check out this 3 song sampler from Vienna Teng’s upcoming record “Aims” that I had the pleasure of engineering. This stuff will melt your brain…in a good way. Cason Cooley does it again. Genius work guys.
Also check out an interview in USA Today with Vienna about the songs: Here
Recent Happenings
On 05, Jul 2013 | No Comments | In Ramblings | By admin
I haven’t posted much lately, ’cause it has been non-stop. In the past month I’ve: wrapped up the Nico Moon record, tracked Audrey Assad’s new record “Fortunate Fall” due out August 13th, tracked stuff for Phil Wickham, Matthew West and Lacey Sturm (formerly of Flyleaf). This week it’s been 3 days of tracking for Jill Andrews’ new record at my and Will Sayles’ new studio The Trophy Room. Will’s producing Jill’s record, and it is turning out GREAT.
Next week is filled with more tracking for Katie Herzig’s new record and a Brandon Heath Christmas record. Let’s go.
Here’s a shot of the tracking room at my new studio The Trophy Room:
Five For Fighting Piano Tracking
On 22, May 2013 | No Comments | In Ramblings | By admin
I was back over at Quad Studios Nashville today tracking some piano for the acoustic version of the new Five For Fighting single with Jamie Kenney. It’s a great song, and hearing that instantly recognizable voice come through the speakers was excellent. Both versions of the song should be hitting iTunes soon. Check it out!
Nathan Angelo Tracking
On 10, May 2013 | No Comments | In Ramblings | By admin
I was over at Quad Studios Nashville for the past couple days tracking songs for soul artist Nathan Angelo’s new record.
The vibe was straight up Motown, so we tracked everything to Quad’s Studer A800 2″ 16-track machine in the Neve room. Drums, bass, keys, guitar and congas/tambo. Everybody going down live. We did 11 songs in 2 days and only had one reel of tape to work with, so we really had to make each take count, dump to Pro Tools and move on to the next one. It was really fun to go straight for the Motown sound. We only had 16 tracks, so everything was mono, which was actually really freeing. The bulk of the drum sound came from a mono U67 overhead and an RCA44 in front of the kick. Pretty hard to beat that.
The players were ridiculous. The always dapper James Gregory producing and playing bass, Dan Needham playing drums, Akil Thompson on guitar/congas/tambo, DeMarco Johnson on keys and of course Nathan on vocals and keys.
Studer A800 16-track 2″
Niko Moon Pt. 3
On 03, May 2013 | No Comments | In Ramblings | By admin
Jamie Kenney and I just came up for air after 3 weeks of tracking at the incredible Southern Ground Studios to wrap up the Niko Moon record. After 3 weeks of 14 hour days, there were many Pros and only a few Cons:
Pros
Private chef
Beautifully updated historic studio with 30ft ceilings
Yazoo beer on tap
Great songs, great vibe
Excellent assistants
Analog tape
Telefunken V76s
Cons
Analog tape…by way of C.L.A.S.P (or as I like to call it Complete Loss of Any Semblance of Productivity)
Rock band + cramped control room + 3 long weeks = Control room smells like a locker room
Too much coffee (Yes! It is possible!)
All Sons & Daughters Live CD/DVD Release
On 01, May 2013 | No Comments | In Ramblings | By admin
The live CD/DVD that I recorded for All Sons & Daughters at Ocean Way released last Tuesday. I just got a chance to see it, and it looks and sounds amazing. Fantastic job by producer/drummer Paul Mabury and mixer Shane Wilson, as well as the video company Rhetorik. Not to mention David and Leslie and all of the musicians. Incredible job all around.
This was a really special night to be a part of, and I think the DVD absolutely captures that. Definitely check it out on iTunes or watch a preview of one of the songs here.
Niko Moon Pt. 2
On 18, Mar 2013 | No Comments | In Ramblings | By admin
I’m heading back into the studio this week with producer Jamie Kenney and Niko Moon. We’re going in to finish the record. I’ll try and post some info along the way. Should be fun.
See you guys in a month!
Working out arrangements with Niko Moon
Katie Herzig
On 16, Mar 2013 | No Comments | In Ramblings | By admin
I spent the last couple of days in my studio cutting songs for the brilliant Katie Herzig for her new record. Produced of course by Cason Cooley. The rhythm section was sick: Will Sayles on drums and Butterfly Boucher on bass. Can’t beat it.
Katie’s music relies heavily on programming and drum machines, so it was fun challenge to find sounds that blended well with what was already going on. I have a feeling it’s going to be a killer record.
Tech details: Will and I are loving his 20″ Slingerland kick for tighter sounds lately. A U67 placed in the kitchen of my studio (for drums) made an appearance on a few songs, and of course Master Room spring reverb…always.
Butterfly, Cason and Will
