Tracking
Work
On 25, Oct 2013 | In Ramblings | By admin
Will Sayles and I just had producer Chris Stevens and legendary artist Michael W. Smith over at the Trophy Room tracking drums on a couple songs for Michael’s new record. Great songs, and Will killed it on drums.
Last week I was in the studio with producer Ben Shive and artist JJ Heller tracking a record of love songs and lullabies. Just acoustic guitar, keys and vocal. The songs were beautiful, and I think we got some really great, intimate sounds. JJ is a fantastic artist. Check this one out.
Coming up next for me is one more day with Katie Herzig to finish up drums on her record, a live shoot for L.R. Baggs with Jill Andrews and a few days of tracking with Ruston Kelly and producer Jamie Kenney.
Ingrid Michaelson
On 30, Sep 2013 | In Ramblings | By admin
I don’t usually work on Sunday, but Ingrid Michaelson was over at The Trophy Room today tracking 3 songs for her upcoming record.
The songs we worked on are being produced by Cason Cooley and Katie Herzig. Ingrid’s drummer Elliot Jacobson and bass player Chris Kuffner played and killed it.
Great songs and really great people. I’m really happy I got to be a part of this.
Here’s a shot of Elliot in action.
Release Day
On 24, Sep 2013 | In Ramblings | By admin
I had 3 records that I worked on get released today, and they’re all killer. Check ’em out:
Vienna Teng – Aims
Leagues – Spotlight EP
Phil Wickham – The Ascension
To go a little more in depth: I did all of the basic tracking for Vienna’s record. It sounded great as things were going down, and it’s only gotten better. Love it when that happens. Cason Cooley (producer) and Vienna did such an amazing job.
I tracked both of the new songs on the Leagues EP, “Walking on Water” and “She Kissed Me”. I’m a huge fan of that band, and they’re my good friends. I’m honored that they asked me to work on those songs with them.
As for Phil’s record, I can’t take much credit on that one. Will and I tracked drums for a couple of songs in a whirlwind day with producer Pete Kipley. But I wish I could take credit, because the album is brilliant. Pete and Phil did an amazing job. I’ve been a fan of Phil’s since I first heard his voice, and it great to be able to contribute something to this one.
Enjoy.
Jason Gray
On 01, Sep 2013 | In Ramblings | By admin
I just had artist Jason Gray over at the Trophy Room for 2 days tracking songs for his new record. Jason is an incredible singer, songwriter and artist. Jason’s Christmas record Christmas Stories: Repeat the Sounding Joy was one of my favorite projects that I worked on last year. That record, as well as the songs I worked on for this new record, are produced by the always innovative Cason Cooley. My studio partner Will Sayles played drums and Tony Lucido played bass. I stopped by Cason’s studio a few days later and got to hear a taste of the guitar magic Tyler Burkum was putting on these songs. Jason’s an artist I really believe in, and it was inspiring music to work on. Hope you all enjoy.
Jill Andrews – Seth Avett Duet
On 01, Sep 2013 | In Ramblings | By admin
I had an incredible day on Thursday at my studio The Trophy Room, when I got to record a duet between the fantastic Jill Andrews and Seth Avett (of the Avett Brothers). We captured the whole thing live with Jill and Seth facing each other, both singing and playing acoustic. With that kind of talent on the floor, you don’t need anything else. It’s a single take of a beautiful song, and I can’t wait for everyone to hear it. The song is slated to be the last track on Jill’s upcoming record.
As a bonus we were lucky enough to have Mike Luckett of L.R. Baggs Handcrafted Videos on hand to capture the entire thing live as it happened. Check back for pictures and video soon!
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.
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″
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.
