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The Library Recording Studio
the Library is a large, full service recording facility in Minneapolis with multiple isolation rooms, a large drum room, ProTools HD3, a rack full of class a mic pre's and compressors and a literal library of vintage keyboards and instruments. From the navigation bar at the top of this page you can access the sights, sounds and current ramblings going on at the Library. Thanks for visiting and please come by often to see what is happening at the Library recording studio.
If you would like more information about recording at the Library or having your project mixed by Matt Patrick, send a message by clicking the contact button in the lower left-hand corner of your screen.
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Tweets
- I recorded this song for Matt Jennings (brother of Mason Jennings) for an indie short-film, then brought in the... http://t.co/yWgD3Ae5CS
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- Here is a glimpse into the making of Jourdan Myers "Ruin Me With Love" album we were tracking last week. http://t.co/dSoiEA6Gpe
- RT @jmessersmith: So in case you missed me on @TheCurrent a few minutes ago, I've signed with @Glassnotemusic for my upcoming record.
- John Mark Nelson from the Library/FuseTV session today. http://t.co/doz5HX4G2c
- Excited to have fuse.tv in the studio today to get some behind the scenes footage and interviews with John Mark Nelson.
- There are some new Library songs featured on the Library Recording Studio website... Enjoy. http://t.co/ZV4mbJn5
- There are some new Library songs featured on the Library Recording Studio website... Enjoy. http://t.co/7YuiHxYO
- So much great press lately! The first two videos are from the Library. Enjoy. http://t.co/1G2LCLFT
- John Mark Nelson's song The Moon and the Stars, featuring the Library Recording Studio. Enjoy. http://t.co/z8c90aKb
- The new Greycoats record is finally here! http://t.co/fYhd5WTb
- Watch the video, read the words, listen to the music, get involved. John Mark Nelson at the Library... http://t.co/4wwMpQTE
- Mixing some John Mark Nelson today.
- Not to be missed... http://t.co/FEsTUict
- Starting the new John Mark Nelson album today.
- Greycoats would like to give you a free gift for Christmas this year. Enjoy everybody! Recorded here at the Library. http://t.co/A62516l5
- A look back at 2012... http://t.co/0Bis2OYP
- sweet. http://t.co/WRhp43Ix
- The past couple of weeks we have been working hard on this Christmas release for Brynn Andre. Enjoy and purchase!... http://t.co/oxMmRE4E
- librarystudio on Instagram http://t.co/neirEPr6
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Posts
- Dec 17, 12
2012 was a great year at the Library. It marked the first complete year in operation with zero debt. The build-out loan was paid off and all the gear has been purchased and paid in full ever since. The Library introduced a new, young face in Troy Groenke, who started off as more of an intern and has blossomed into a full fledged assistant/co-engineer. The addition of Troy to the studio has expanded our hours of operation greatly, allowing us to churn out more great sounding records than we were ever capable of before.
Greycoats released an EP titled Helicline, featuring four songs from the upcoming album; World of Tomorrow, which will be released on January 26th, 2013. Both the EP and full album were recorded at the Library and produced by Jeremy Ylvisaker (Andrew Bird, Alpha Consumer, Guitar Party) and myself (Matt Patrick). http://grycts.com
The Brighton, with their followup to their self-titled album, released A Wild Hunger. This time we took some educated risks and allowed Ben's romantic, tenor voice to be accompanied by a slightly more aggressive and artistic backdrop. We enlisted Jake Hanson (Halloween Alaska, All Eyes) to add his signature electric guitar sound to the rest of us; (Zach Miller, Aaron Fabbrini, Matt Patrick, Lyndsay Peterson, Kip Jones) who have been playing with The Brighton since the first release. http://benrosenbush.com
Rachel Kurtz and I have wanted to record together for a very long time and finally made it happen this year with her album; Broken and Lowdown. Steve Goold (Owl City), Aaron Fabbrini (Sara Groves, The Brighton), Tyler Burkum (Mat Kearney, Missy Higgins, Leagues) and I all played on it but also enlisted folks like Tommy Barbarella (Prince) and Chris Koza (Rogue Valley) to bring their offering to this modern-Motown sounding album. http://rachelkurtz.com
Vicky Emerson recorded her much anticipated followup to Long Ride, which she recorded with me in 2009. For this album; Dust & Echoes we enlisted JT Bates (The Pines, Alpha Consumer) to play drums (Steve Goold, who played on Long Ride had just been snapped up by Owl City for an international tour). Long Ride was a rich, acoustic, close sounding album and Dust and Echoes found it's richness in lush verbs and more distant and electric sounds. http://vickyemerson.com
Deb Carlson and I share a deep devotion for the music of Emmylou Harris. After showing her my favorite Emmylou albums (Wrecking Ball, Red Dirt Girl and Stumble into Grace) she agreed that we should head that direction production-wise. Deb has a beautifully classic-folk voice, which is accompanied on her new album Tresses of Green, with acoustic and electronic elements. With the help of Zach Miller, Aaron Fabbrini, Troy Groenke and Tyler Burkum, I believe we made a really beautiful CD for a beautiful songwriter. http://www.debcarlsonmusic.com
Soul Rumination is a band that was formed out of another band called Dizzy. They were what we call in the business a "jobber" band. Mark, the main songwriter for SR called me and asked if I would like to help him transition from playing a couple 2+ hour sets per night (mainly to diners, drinkers and dancers) to being more of an artistic expression where they would play a 45 minute set of all original music at local clubs. Mark and I co-wrote a bunch of these tunes and formed this band into a fusion of gypsy-soul with hints of americana and Motown. http://soulrumination.com
Here are some other fine folks who have been through the studio in 2012...
Jeremy Messersmith (new album forthcoming)
Brynn Andre (2012 Christmas EP)
Black Blondie (new album forthcoming)
Jake Armerding (mixes for a songwriters version of a CSA)
Sara Groves (vocals for a 2012 Christmas compilation)
Matt Dooley (full album)
Julia Douglass (EP)
Sarah Kallies (single)
Put Down the Muffin (new album forthcoming)
Hope Community Church - Hope Hymns volume 1 (full album)
Angi Putney (new album forthcoming)
Jeremy Sanoski (mixing)
Saint Anyway (new album forthcoming)
Staci Frenes (bedtracks for full album)
Alex Masters (tracking)
Jonathan Jerez (tracking)
Ponyboy (EP)
Jason Gray (overdubs for 2012 Christmas release)
Michele Denise Michaels (full album)
Anthony Cox
MN Adult and Teen Challenge (full album)
Elgin Foster - The Pluralistic Society - mixing and various tracking
I was also excited to be playing electric guitar with John Mark Nelson at First Avenue for the Minnesota Beatles Project. John Mark Nelson and I will be producing his next record here at the Library, which will be released in 2013. http://johnmarknelson.bandcamp.com - Jul 15, 11
I really enjoy giving tours of the Library, especially to those who have never stepped foot in a recording studio. One of the most common questions I get from people is; “So, how long have you been recording?” I used to begin by saying that I got my first four-track cassette recorder in high school, but I have since realized that my start was much earlier than that.
My parents inherited a piano when I was 5 or 6 years old and I remember the first time my mom sat down to play some songs she learned when she was a child. I also remember being stunned that my mother was able to keep such a skill hidden from me for my whole life. I thought playing an instrument was only something professionals do, so watching my own mother playing piano for the first time, may very well have been the moment that started me down the path of being a full-time musician. Just about every day I sat at that old piano and played for hours and hours on end, figuring out that; these three notes together sounded “happy” (major triad) and these three notes together sounded “sad” (minor triad). Being too young to take lessons, I certainly didn’t know how to read music, so I just made up my own parts and songs. It was thrilling.
A couple years later I received my first boom-box, a personal stereo system that had built in speakers, a tape deck and built in stereo microphones. I loved recording myself on that thing. I loved hearing the playback of the funny voices I would talk and sing in. I also really loved recording my piano songs and even started playing along with them, often times figuring out a vocal harmony or secondary piano part to what was coming from the speakers. One day I had an astonishing revelation; I borrowed my sister’s boom-box to play back a song that I had just recorded. Simultaneously, I hit record on my own, which allowed me to play and sing along with what I had just recorded. There were several attempts to rewind that tape to play and record a third and fourth part, however the tape degradation was just terrible, causing the first part I had recorded to get lost in a sea of tape hiss and background noise. I had no idea, but at the age of 8 years old I was actually doing multi-track recording!
Never underestimate the power of a young, impressionable mind. I believe this path was laid out for me long before I really knew what it even was. - Mar 14, 11I had a conversation with a client recently where I likened certain aspects of my job as a record producer to a designer on the reality tv show Project Runway. If you haven't seen the show, I actually recommend it. Thousands of clothing designers audition to be on the show but only the best 15 or so make it. They are given several challenges to design an outfit with very little money, very little time and often times ridiculous materials. Oh, and they need to wow a panel of judges who are very well known in the fashion world.
At the end of the show, the designers are whittled down to the top three. Those three are given $8000 and about four months to create a collection, which best showcases what they are able to do and say as a fashion designer, and present it during New York City's fashion week. It is an interesting insight into the creative world and whether you are into fashion or not, the show is fascinating.
I have found that it is in both of these realms; the small budget, time crunch, "Make it work" projects and in the larger budget, extended focus, "Make it great" projects that I relate to. For most of the episodes on project runway, each designer is given a direction, 30 minutes to sketch an idea, a small amount of money, and 24 hours to complete their garment. With each runway show I am amazed how some of these designers were able to actually showcase a design that is beautiful, functional and fashionable, given the time constraints. Of course, the entire time they are creating their works, they are undoubtedly thinking to themselves; "This doesn't fairly represent me! I am able to do so much more, given the opportunity." Which is precisely what they are working towards as they avoid elimination, getting through some of these ridiculous challenges.
There are many, many cases where people come into my studio with very small budgets, very little time and in most cases, have never been through the recording process at all. Hence, the similarity to one of the Project Runway challenges. I think to myself; "What can I do to really send something out of here that is impressive, regardless of the limitations." It is then with a ghastly amount of focus and speed that we make our way towards the short-lived end of these challenges. I find that I am usually satisfied, as this musical "garment" gets sent out. At times it has the right kind of beauty, function and fashion, leaving me with a wowed sense of accomplishment and surprise that; "I actually pulled this one off!" More often than not, I still see the unfinished edges, crooked hems, and internal knowledge that, "given the time constraints, I had to use glue instead of thread." I am often left with the thoughts of wishing I had added that final finishing touch...
On the other side of things, there are the people who come to me with a budget that allows me to really showcase what I am able to do. Oddly enough, those budgets and time constraints aren't that far off from those on the tv show as they prepare for fashion week! In those months, I am able to carefully craft a collection of audio that I am confident in and that definitely has my personal stamp on it.
I find that the biggest difference with regards to what I do, is that the general public is not along for the ride for every step of the way. In my world, each project says; "Produced and mixed by Matt Patrick at the Library recording studio," but (albeit appropriate) doesn't mention anywhere, the budget or total time to completion. Therefore, my work is being critiqued by the masses, regardless of the constraints.
So here we have two different approaches to recording projects; five months of working terribly hard, creating on a more thoughtful and masterful level for my clients, with the ability to really showcase my production aesthetic (not unlike the collections shown at Bryant Park during fashion week), sitting on the proverbial shelf right next to the bands that come in last minute, with little-to-no experience, a "Go, go, go!" and "Make it work!" mentality and a mere two days to track and mix a full EP worth of material.
Either way, in either circumstance, I give it my all so that I may send something down the runway that I can be proud of (or at least pleasantly surprised by!). - Aug 10, 10
I know what it is like, you have a bookmark folder full of blogs that you like to read. But there is this one individual who seems to have slowed... to... a... stop. Well, I am no longer that guy. Honestly, the only reason for such a long hiatus is simply because the Library has never been busier.
Annie Fitzgerald's album, "In Good Time" was mastered in July, I have worked on several mixes for Jonathan Rundman, am just getting going on mixes for a band called "A Thousand Falls," I have been deep into the tracking for a southern rock/country project for Chris Harms and an EP for Erin Kate. Another artist you will soon see me blogging about is Heatherlyn. We are rounding the corner to the last set of tunes for preproduction before heading into tracking.
I also had the distinct privilege of capturing the bed tracks for the forth-coming album by the New Standards. This is what I will focus on for this post.
Directly across the hall from the Library is the rehearsal space of Dave Salmela and John Munson. Dave plays piano for the Twilight Hours and also helps create and perform the music for Electric Arc Radio. John Munson has been a member of a couple of Minneapolis bands with critical acclaim; Trip Shakespeare and Semisonic. These days John is playing upright bass for the band The New Standards with another Minneapolis music icon, Chan Poling of the Suburbs on piano and Steve Roehm a virtuosic vibraphone player (who also plays drums for the Twilight Hours).
We had talked a couple months ago about what it might look like to have them record at the Library. John has a Steinway baby grand piano across the hall in their space and I had mentioned that it wouldn't be terribly difficult to run several long microphone cables and headphone extension all the way across the hall so that Chan could play in there. It worked out great as there was absolutely no cross-instrument bleed into the piano mic's, which is often the case. We tracked the upright bass in my piano/organ room and put the vibraphone out in the big room, that is until another local heavy-hitter, Ken Chastain, arrived to play drums. The vibraphone moved into the vocal booth and the drums took the main room for a small handful of tunes.
Three days later a full album of bedtracks were tracked. They are finishing up the rest on their own but am delighted to have played such a significant role in the making of this album.
Here are some photos from the session...
Steve Roehm on the vibraphone
John Munson on upright bass
Ken Chastain on drums and percussion
cables running from the Library across the hall into the New Standards rehearsal space...
through the corridor...
and connected to the mics picking up the Steinway piano played by Chan Poling - Apr 21, 10I have had a few distractions this month from Annie Fitzgerald's album, which I will be getting back on track with soon. Quick mix projects, one-time tracking dates, etc. Some of them are small but mighty, like these two... Atlantic recording artist, Marc Broussard is in the mixing stage of his upcoming record. There was one song that needed some more guitar work done before going to mix and they asked my good friend Tyler Burkum, who regularly plays with Mat Kearney, to play on it. Tyler and I spent a day working on the guitar tracks for a song called "Our Big Mistake," which has the potential for being a first single for the album. I sincerely hope for more of this kind of work in the future. Centricity recording artist, Jason Gray also came in for a few days to track a couple Christmas songs for a compilation album featuring the artists on Centricity, obviously set to release at the end of the year. We tracked an original Christmas song he wrote called "Love Has a Name" and came up with our own rendition of "Do You Hear What I Hear?" Work involving record labels is interesting because I will have been done with my part of it 6-8 months before it is released as "new" to the public.
Annie Fitzgerald's project will also be in the mixing stage soon. Next up is local Twin Cities artist, Erin Kate. - Mar 23, 10
Last year I produced a record for Vicky Emerson, who is originally from the Twin Cities but now lives in New York City. After Vicky's record was released another Minnesota/Big Apple transplant named Annie Fitzgerald heard it, met Vicky and asked where she recorded it. With only a recommendation under her arm, Annie came to Minneapolis to see the studio and meet with me. It seemed to be a really good fit for both of us and we began scheduling out the album.
What made Annie different than many of my clients was her understanding that it all begins with the song. Songs that are not very well written can be aided by good production, however it is still, at the core a bad song (of course, music is subjective and what is bad to one might be great to another) however, you can take a great song and have bad production and it is still great. Have you ever stopped to wonder why that is? Here is a great example; Iron and Wine released an EP titled The Sea and the Rhythm and a full album called The Creek Drank the Cradle and from a purely sonic viewpoint they sound terrible. However, the songs and performances transcend the production to the point that you would want them no other way. The bad sounds somehow became great. Let me pause and say that there are countless hours of recorded music out there with this quality of recording that haven't had that same reaction. This is due to the levels of song-writing, performance and the overall skill in the musicians. There is a pretty good chance no one said, "Hey, that sounds really rough and cool, like Iron and Wine." They probably just blamed their bad listening experience on the awful production, but in reality it is really just a bad performance of songs that are at the start, really not very good. So again I say, the song and performance of that song is what has the ability to transcend the production. Great production can certainly aid a not-so-great song. A great song with bad production is still pretty cool! What I hope for in my world is the combination of a great song with great production.
Annie came in with a clear understanding of this. You know when you pull up to the car wash and you need to make a decision as to which car wash you want? Just a simple quick soap and rinse? Or a more in depth cleanse. Well, Annie wanted to pull out of the stall with a shiny, clean, freshly waxed automobile. Full service for me means that we sit down and pour ourselves into every single line, melody and chord choice at the start. This way, we can move into recording the bed tracks with a sense of clarity and unequivocal direction. Where I normally spend two or three days on preproduction, we spent nearly two weeks. I wish I had the luxury of doing this with all of my clients. I actually wish there was a button on the way in that helped define what they want. Simple wash or a full cleanse, rinse and wax.
After the songs were set we scheduled the band to come in. We used a couple of the musicians that were on Vicky's record. Steve Goold on drums and Tyler Burkum on electric and acoustic guitars. Annie brought her own bassist from NYC, Pete O'Neill, who is an accomplished player in his own right. It was great to have him on board! Everyone agreed that the sessions seemed fairly effortless for all three days.
Overall, this album has a nice blend of Annie's greatest influences; Patty Griffin, Ray LaMontagne, Shawn Colvin and Damien Rice with just a hint of Ani Difranco thrown in for good measure. She finished all her vocals before heading back to New York. At the moment, I am adding my own pieces to it, Hammond organ, Wurlitzer electric piano and other unique instrumentation. Next up will be my dear friend, Ashley Ewing playing piano and then I will begin arranging some string parts. The album as a whole should be done in May.
Stay tuned for the fall release of Annie Fitzgerald's "A Thousand Tiny Lakes" - Jan 16, 10
I would have posted earlier but December hit like a tidal wave. We began the Danielle Thrush album and I simultaneously mixed the As We Tremble project. It was a busy, busy month, not to mention the hectic nature and schedule of Christmas time.
When Danielle approached me to produce her first full length album I had a certain amount of trepidation due to how incredible her e.p. sounded. It was produced by my dear friends, Aaron Ankrum and Joel Hanson and was mixed by Mark Nash. All heavy hitters in all that they do in their musical careers.
I have recently come to grips with the reality that my style of production is a bit different than that of my peers. What I am about to try and communicate, in no way, devalues the approach of other people in my line of work. It isn't at all a "my way is best way," but rather, it is me finally becoming okay with my approach being "different."
A few words on that...
Though my sound is a very clean one, I tend to gravitate towards music that, although it could still be categorized as "pop music," tends to be more eclectic and to my ear, is more like... painting. Only instead of a canvas the medium is sound. This is music that really gets my blood pumping. Unique instrumentation (not unlike creating mixed-media), the risk-taking in finding non-traditional sounds and effects (using unique and contrasting colors), not to mention my love for hearing authentic instrumentation as opposed to stock sounds from a digital synthesizer or computer program (real brushes and real paint, as opposed to creating a digital image on a computer) hence the investment over the years in my ever-increasing vintage keyboard collection! Of course, I record onto the computer, but for me it is more like a photographer using old equipment and real film and then processing it to its desired final look in photoshop.
I have come to find a substantial degree of value in the approach of trying to create something that has never been heard before. So things like, having the artist sing into a plastic cone, sticking a microphone into a ceramic hand-drum to help shape the sound, beating on large plastic bins instead of drums, using car keys instead of a shaker, etc. really excites me. In general I would say that I prefer risk over safety and have found that it produces something of original value.
In the art world, of course, an original work far exceeds the value of a reproduced print. Recorded music, by nature, is like a print. It is reproduced for the masses and everyone who puts the music into their CD player, or iPod or computer gets the exact same thing. With visual art, there is a distinctly different feeling to experience an artists original work. You see the texture of the paint, you are standing in front of the very canvas the artist stood in front of for hours on end. It is... original. None other in the world like it. Therefore, my approach to recording is to attempt to make each "print" original at the onset. To create art on this sonic canvas that no-one has ever heard before. In doing so, the desired end is to have the listener tap into that same feeling when they stand in front of an original work of art. That wowed feeling of, "This work that I am seeing (hearing) right now has never been created in this way before." To cause them to listen on a deeper level. A level that moves them to the core.
Back to the Danielle album...
I informed her during our first meeting that, if she was looking to record something that was an extension of her e.p., that I probably wasn't the best fit, as my production style is a bit more organic and eclectic. After informing me that she was indeed hoping for this, we began this journey. The players on this album are the guys who have been playing in her band. Alex Young on drums, Zachary Ojeda on bass and Kyle Tennis on electric guitar. All three brought their very best and even allowed me to stretch and challenge them, both in the parts they played and in the tones from their instruments. Honestly, I was a little nervous to work with musicians outside of the realm of who I normally hire, however, they all worked incredibly hard and gave me really wonderful parts to work with. It seemed to be a rewarding experience for all participants.
At this point, we are in the mixing stage and it will be completed no later than mid-February.
I am really proud of this work and I hope to have helped define Danielle as an artist, as a songwriter and also have helped her find a sound that is her own. A sound that has uniqueness and originality. A sound that young songwriters will use as an example of their own influence.
Alex Young on drums
Zach Ojeda on bass
Kyle Tennis on electric guitar
A Library staple: Ben Rosenbush playing cello
Danielle singing into a microphone inside a plastic cone
Alex playing various junk for the looped section of the song "Parade" - Oct 26, 09
It's been a busy couple of months for me. All kinds of recording at the Library, my band Greycoats, going out to play CMJ in NYC, playing Hammond B3 and Yamaha CP70 electric piano for the Joel Hanson CD release party, renting my studio out to other local producer/engineers and in my spare time building a three-tiered mansion for Maddox, our pet tortoise.
I have had numerous sessions over the last two months, but I will focus on just a few here.
I had the distinct privilege of bringing a portable recording setup to St. Andrew's Lutheran Church in Mahtomedi, MN to record a 1.5 million dollar pipe organ, played by renowned pipe organist, Bill Chouinard, for the Norah Long project. We did two traditional hymns and then added chimes and bell sounds to another song. For the portable set up I grabbed the Digi002 and mac G4 tower/flat screen computer monitor from my basement, my API lunchbox (which I used for the close mics) and used the 002 pres for the rooms. The mic setup was; 2 - AKG C214's up close, a pair of AT4033's in the middle of the room and AKG C1000's in the far back corners of this enormous sanctuary (kinda wish I knew the total feet of cable I used for this setup). When Bill pulled out all the stops, that thing really screamed. It was really a treat to capture it.
Similar instrument, completely different set of skills, equally known for these skills, I recorded Billy Steele on the Hammond organ in my studio for the Norah Long project. Billy has played and recorded with the grammy award winning group Sounds of Blackness, working at Flyte Time studios with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. I feel so fortunate to work with such world-class musicians. When Billy plays the Hammond organ he literally becomes part of the instrument. He is able to speak, to sing, to yell, to emote through this instrument. From his soul, through his fingertips, onto the keys and through a spinning speaker. All I had to do was put up a few mic's and capture it.
Earlier in the month I had an 8-piece country band visit the Library for a day, resulting in a full album of classic country covers. They all stood in one room and played as live bands do. I mic'd up a drum kit, upright bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, harmonica/background vocals, a main vocalist, pedal steel and two fiddle players. The next day I mixed the whole thing and an album by Glen Hanson called "Is What It Is" was finished. - Sep 07, 09If you are from the Twin Cities and know anything about the local theater scene, then Norah Long is a name you are familiar with. Take a look at her bio on the Guthrie Theater page and you will see what I mean.
Norah and I are working on a full album of traditional church music but she has given me liberty to do with them what I see fit, making it a non-traditional album of traditional songs. We brought in Zach Miller to play drums, Aaron Fabbrini on upright bass and Michael Pearce-Donley on piano and organ for a small handful of tunes. I am also excited to be bringing a portable recording set-up to a large Lutheran church to record Bill Chouinard on an actual pipe organ for a couple of the songs.
Norah has been spoiling us rotten with the most amazing chocolate candy-bars you could imagine. Chocolate with bacon, white chocolate with dried kalamata olives, chocolate with passion fruit and sea salt. Unreal.
It is a delight to work with her and a really fun challenge to breathe some uniqueness into these old church hymns and spirituals. - Sep 07, 09
- Sep 07, 09My friend Rachel Kurtz-May and I have wanted to work on a project together for years. Unluckily for me, she has several friends who have smaller recording set-ups and are willing to make albums for her at a very affordable price. This is why it just hasn't worked out, until now. Rachel is recording another CD, from many sources with varying sizes of studios, but this time she decided to throw a little audio love my way!
Rachel came in last week and did a bunch of tracking. Solo acoustic and vocal songs, overdubs of electric guitar with our friend Nate Houge (who was also on the Monsters of Folk tour with me and Jonathan Rundman), our rapping friend Agape laid down his rhythmic vocal stylings on a song called "Kurt Cobain," and we ended the session by doing full drums with her husband Michael on electric guitar and local gospel drummer, Chico Cockrell.
The mixes will be finished up soon and I have high hopes that this will be her best record yet. - Sep 07, 09Over the last several years I have had the pleasure of doing a bunch of mix work for my friend Jonathan Rundman. He and I go back several years and even shared a tour together (called the Monsters of Folk tour) with two other friends. Jonathan fully embraces the DIY method of recording with a Digi001, an old computer and only two microphones, all captured in his basement. Jonathan is no wannabe artist though, he has been featured in Paste magazine and frequently tours around the country as a solo artist.
Jonathan brought in a bunch of songs for me to mix and even add some parts to. I love that about him, his trust in me to add whatever I hear to his tunes. One of my favorites in this batch is a song called "Surgical Precision," which has the mood and sonic textures of a fast paced "Get Back" by the Beatles. With no bass on the track I grabbed my Hofner violin-bass, like the one McCartney used, and played a very Paul-inspired bass line, then added a guitar solo. The trick was to play it in a sloppy/cool way like the late George Harrison would play. No vibrato, lots of bends and even a little out of time.
It turned out great and I am grateful for people like Jonathan who keep me busy with mix work. - Sep 07, 09With Vicky Emerson's project finished and another full album project in the works I was asked to work on some mixes and minor tracking for various people.
Jenn Dwyer, whom I shared the camera with for a Sara Groves music video back in 2002, has been working on her own album. It was produced by my friend, Ben Gowell and features many of the same musicians I use for projects at the Library. They kindly asked me to mix the album and it is turning out great. Good producers and good engineers make my job so much easier. - Aug 13, 09
It's been over a month since I last posted. So I am going to make up for it in this one post, a month-in-review, if you will...
Brett Tyler and I finally finished up the last mixes for his album aptly titled "Bittersweet." Brett kind of became a fixture here at the Library. Luckily for me he recently moved to a new place about a mile away so this won't be the last I see of him. Keep an eye out for this album's release this fall.
This past month also had me working on drums for two days on a project called As We Tremble. There are some remarkable photos found here.
In the midst of all this insanity I got married and honeymooned for a week in Chicago with my lovely lady and best friend, Corrie.
I literally buried myself in a pile of instruments and didn't burrow out until Vicky Emerson's "Long Ride" album was complete. I even ran downstairs and asked the good folks at Sonic Edge studio if they had a banjo I could borrow. 45 minutes later I returned it after learning how to play it well enough to track a part for one song.
After returning from the honeymoon I found out that a rental for one of my eq plug-ins expired and the company would no longer rent the eq out short term. I had pony up the dough and then patiently wait for 5 days for it to come in the mail (they were backed up and couldn't overnight it due to a massive warehouse inventory). With my time I decided to add another wall of books to the main tracking room.
This has nothing to do with the studio, however, I do play out professionally quite a bit and was asked to "bring a bunch of toys" to a recent gig. So I showed up with this set-up. A toy piano, Suzuki Omnichord, Casio SK-1, a Hal Leonard monophonic mini synth, MicroKorg, a homemade shaker and a thunder barrel I got on my honeymoon in Chicago. I ran the MicroKorg through my Digitech talker pedal and did some rhythmic vocoding that night.
I've been looking on Craigslist and at local thrift stores for an old console organ that features the best sonic flavors of cheese. I finally found the mack-daddy of them all in this Lowery D550 (aka the Contempo 80). It has everything I ever wanted and more in a console organ. And it looks nice sitting next to the Hammond. I like to think that they play duets together in the middle of the night when no one is around. - Jul 02, 09
Jason Gray again graced the Library studio with his presence yesterday. His new album will be released in September and my hope is that it will catapult him to a whole new level. Aside from helping him out with one of the songs for the new CD (see post from May 21st) he asked me to produce the tracks for the deluxe edition of his new record, which will feature an additional 8 songs. Several of them will be simply acoustic guitar and voice, the rest will have added sweeteners like drums, piano, upright bass, accordion, etc. My good friend Aaron Fabbrini (pictured) regularly assists me at the Library and is an enormous help to me with my work. Aaron and I played in Jason's band in the early part of the decade and even recorded a live album with him and a handful of other talented players. Knowing that he was coming in today, I asked him to bring his upright bass. The first time I ever recorded him on upright was for the Vicky Emerson project and he blew me away with his parts, tone, intonation, everything! Jason wanted to record the Tom Waits tune "You Could Never Hold Back Spring" for this deluxe edition. Last week I had asked my pal, Steve Haines to come in and play piano for it. As he and Jason fine tuned the ins and outs, I set up a snare drum and ride cymbal with a sizzler and just two microphones. We then captured this 2 minute, smoky, jazz number with just piano, voice, and brush kit. As we were listening back, Steve picked up my accordion and began to play along. So we sent him into the iso-room to track some squeeze-box. All it needed now to make it complete was upright bass, which brings us back to today. Aaron glued the whole thing together with his upright playing and did a phenomenal job. Since he was there we had him play upright on yet another tune and electric bass on one more. There are only a handful of bass players who play with such precision in this town and Aaron is one of them. I have just a few things to add to Jason's deluxe edition CD and then I can mix it and turn it in. For those who feel that this singer-songwriters new album leans a little too far into the pop-music camp, perhaps this deluxe edition CD will balance it out.
- Jun 13, 09I just finished a week of tracking Vicky Emerson and band. Vicky is a talented singer/songwriter originally from Minnesota but now makes her home in New York City. I was really excited for this project a couple months ago when we met for preproduction. Finally the week of tracking was upon us. We had a slight cast change, that was beyond our control, but the final lineup ended up being the perfect fit for this record. Tyler Burkum (Mat Kearney, Meiko, Wild Sweet Orange) played electric guitar and lap steel, Aaron Fabbrini (Sara Groves) played upright and electric bass and Steve Goold (Bill Mike Band, Jason Harms Quartet) played drums and percussion. One of my favorite moments from the session was for the song "Into the Woods." Wednesday after lunch we took a walk down by the Mississippi river and I rummaged through the brush collecting various branches, logs, sticks and leaves to create a loop for the guys to play to. We brought them in and Steve and I went to work creating an organic drum loop using these items.After the loop was recorded and assembled the guys went in and made magic happen. It sounded so good we decided to let them keep playing for an additional 3 minutes after the song was done. It turned out so cool we are trying to decide if we should just leave it all in tact and have a 7-1/2 minute song on the record. Why not, right?
The schedule for the week was pretty insane. We were only able to get 2 songs on day one. Vicky had a show at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester and wasn't able to get to the studio until a little after 3pm, so it was a short day. Day two we ran into a few issues related to computer glitches and noisy neighbors. Another two song day, leaving six songs for our final day of tracking the band. (gulp). Day three came and we were able to knock out all six remaining songs! Then Thursday and Friday Vicky and I were able to track ten vocals and three piano takes. (whew! I get exhausted just typing it.)
It was a great week of recording.
(pictured below is Tyler Burkum. Aaron Fabbrini is behind the glass door with his upright bass) - May 21, 09Yesterday we kicked out the bed tracks for an up and coming artist named Beth Roesch. Beth has a sound that is influenced by some of the finer female singer songwriters of our day. Songwriters like Patty Griffin and Sara Groves, of whom she is a huge fan. So she was really excited when I told her that her backup ensemble for the tracking would be none other than Sara's band. Aaron Fabbrini played bass, Zach Miller played drums and I played electric guitar (okay, so I am not in her band but I used to be, so that sort of counts...) These guys are incredible studio musicians, bring tons of ideas, ample gear (Aaron even brings his own Telefunken preamp and Tube-Tech compressor!) and an unbelievable amount of passion and care. We will finish up these three tunes and when Beth is able to schedule more time, we'll hit another three. Ultimately resulting in a full record.
A few days ago, my very good friend Jason Gray called for some help on a song for his new record. He has been working with award winning producer Jason Ingram for this record and the tracks that I have heard sound pretty amazing. I am so excited to hear the rest of it. There was one song that still needed a little tlc and asked me to help. It was a dark but hopeful song that simply says; "could it be that everything sad is coming untrue." They had pushed for it to be a simple acoustic and vocal song to place at the tail end of the record. Jason had really hoped it could grow into something bigger, more emotive. With that kind of direction I added a big marching bass drum, piano, electric guitar and my friend Ben Rosenbush (pictured) who came in to work on mixes for his upcoming album (more on that later) got roped into playing cello on it. All in all I think the additional parts really helped the song and I am once again happy to be involved in another Jason Gray project.
Last week Ebony Jefferson came in to record a song called "Life Alone." Steve Goold made yet another appearance in my studio to play drums and a fantastic job he did. Ebony has a very soulful singing voice and has met up with a co-writer in Ben (pictured to the left) whose songwriting style is (in my humble opinion) a cross between Audioslave and Lenny Kravitz. Her voice blended with his writing style is a pretty cool combination. Ben brought in a Les Paul studio and an old Marshall half stack. I had to think whether I have actually recorded an old Marshall half stack before and came up with a solid no. These aren't as popular as they once were so my chances of tracking them have been limited in recent years. However, I totally understand why they were such a go-to amp in the studio at one time. Such a dark, meaty, trashy tone! That guitar/amp combination worked really well in this track. Eventually I will make links to these artists myspace pages once the songs are mixed and uploaded. - May 20, 09Faith Udeh won a band competition and one of the prizes was 20 hours of recording at Winterland Studios. I have worked there before. They have a beautiful API Legacy plus console in their control room that still has the drool marks from my last visit. Steve and Justin and I were back at it, this time capturing two more bed tracks on day one. Then day two we finished up Faith's vocals and I added a bunch of sweetener keyboard and omnichord parts. The bass I used for this session was borrowed from my friend Aaron Fabbrini. It is a hallow-body Guild Starfire bass and it sounds huge. For one of the songs I ran it through an auto-wah pedal and it gave it the perfect growl for that tune. One of my favorite things about visiting other studios is see how they do things and learn from it. This time I figured out how to wire up a small speaker from a studio monitor to make it a kick drum microphone that only hears the sub-frequencies. I had an old Yorkville monitor in my garage so I built my own and will be trying it out on a project today. In the top photo to the right (the drummer photo) you will see such a speaker mounted to a mic stand. Below is the speaker/mic I made in my studio.
- Apr 22, 09
Faith Udeh has been in the studio this week. She is a hip-hop artist that has several songs that have a pretty aggressive rock edge to them. We are taking this project one song at a time until we get an entire album done.
For this session we brought in Steve Goold to play drums (he was pretty excited about his newly updated toms for his Risen acrylic kit) and Justin Sharbono to play electric guitar. I sat in on bass and quickly remembered that I get a little overwhelmed when I play multiple roles (player, engineer AND producer). It can be difficult to watch all the meters, keep your ear attuned to what everyone is playing and simultaneously remember all your own parts as a player. We got the sounds pretty quickly, which tends to happen when you have players and gear of this caliber. Luckily for me my new friend Dan Deurloo dropped by to see the studio, so he sat in the captains chair and manned the button-pushing while I wore my bass player hat for a little while.
Last week I was explaining to Faith the phenomenon that hiring professional musicians to record on a project winds up being cheaper in the long run. Simply due to the fact that they bring a ton of skill, great musical minds, incredible knowledge of their instrument and a wide range of gear with them to the session. For instance, if Steve comes in to do a full record with me, he will bring up to 9 different snare drums and several cymbal combinations. For this one song with Faith, Justin brought in 2 distinctively different colored amplifiers made by ÷13 (both visually and soncially!). One that is a dead ringer for a Vox AC30 and the other sounds like a beefy Marshall. We ended up running them simultaneously for a pretty monstrous guitar tone. He also had 3 electric guitars with varying tones. All that combined with much experience in the studio means better ideas in less time and better takes, ultimately resulting in less hours of editing.
Faith will come in and nail down her performances, I will finish adding any sweetener parts and we will be ready to mix! In the mean time I have been working on mixes for two albums that I am thrilled with, Brett Mikkelson and Ben Rosenbush. I will update the blog when they are finished. - Mar 28, 09I haven't posted anything in a while. Mainly because the studio work I have been doing is mostly mixing, which doesn't make for cool photos. Last night, however, I played with Elizabeth Hunnicutt and a band of fantastic musicians (all of whom played on her CD) for her release party. The night went really well, there was a crowd that must have numbered about five-hundred and I had a record amount of instruments at one gig. Pictured below is me sitting in my musicubicle. At one point Liz said something about me having 20 instruments back there, so I counted... 10! Here is a list of what I played last night.
1. Hammond B3
2. Fender Rhodes electric piano
3. Yamaha CP70 piano
4. Yamaha S03 synth
5. glockenspiel
6. lap steel
7. dobro
8. accordion
9. mandolin
10. metal shaker
I can't imagine ever breaking this record. It was a really great show and I hope that Elizabeth sells truckloads of CD's. - Feb 22, 09Now that Elizabeth's project is done I am able to put all of my focus on an album I have been working on for far too long of a time. Brett Mikkelson (Brett Tyler is apparently still in the running...) has been more than gracious through all of my transition time into the new studio and finishing up some other projects. We have made some serious headway in recent weeks. This particular week we were honored to have Joe Savage in to play pedal steel on most of Brett's album. Joe is simply one of the best this town has to offer. A regular player on A Prairie Home Companion and also sits in with several of the Twin Cities finest groups. Joe is the kind of player that can give you so many great parts to work with that it is literally difficult to sift through them. Each part is played with precision, great thought and with accuracy, all on one of the worlds most difficult instruments to play. Truly an honor to have him at the Library to add his beautiful skill to an album I will listen to over and over after it is finished.
- Apr 05, 09
The Elizabeth Hunnicutt album is finished! It was mastered yesterday and it turned out great. One of my personal favorite moments while tracking was adding vibraphone to a few of the tunes. I have gotten to know John, Steve and Chan of the New Standards, who rehearse across the hall. Steve let me borrow his beautiful vibraphone one evening and I spent a couple hours coming up with parts. I had hoped to be able to add vibes to the album but wasn't holding my breath. It suddenly worked out and I am so glad. It added a really nice element to this already beautiful batch of songs. I will now be moving onto some mixes for a couple other projects and hitting the long awaited Brett Tyler album. - Jan 24, 09
I haven't posted much lately because after I finally got into my new studio I was (and still am to a certain degree) working my fool head off catching up. Just this week I finished the Tim Lemmens album and began mixing Elizabeth Hunnicutt's album. Of course, since I am also the producer of her record I take some liberties while mixing to add elements that I feel enhance the song. I will share two of those here.
Today while mixing her song, "I Will Raise You Up" I wanted a bigger, boomier kick drum sound. The song starts with a slow drum groove with enough space for a longer decayed bass drum. Since Steve Goold played a tighter bass drum I couldn't achieve it with compression and certainly did not want to attempt a cheesy digital reverb on the bass drum. So, I sent the bass drum signal out into a bass amp which was shooting it's low frequencies into a larger than life bass drum that is on loan to me from my friend Matt Freed. I put a Senheiser 421 against the front head and then compressed a room mic with a long release that was set to the timing of the song. I sent those two tracks back into ProTools. This reamping technique easily accomplished the long bass drum notes I was looking for.
She also has a song "Be My Calm," which she wrote in her car as she was stopped somewhere in Nebraska during a torrential downpour. She nervously tapped out the rhythm on her steering wheel and this melody and simple chorus came to her, so she opened her MacBook and recorded it in Garageband (three cheers for modern technology). During the recording of the basic tracks I plugged in two matching Shure KSM44's but then returned them to their protective metal cases. Placing one on Steve's floor tom and one on his snare drum I told him to keep a steady four on the floor kick drum pulse and then lightly tap on the mic boxes with his finger tips, bringing the element of tapping on her steering wheel, how this song was birthed, to the final production. A week and a half ago I was listening to the Fender Rhodes part we had recorded, which works great in the bulk of the song, but wasn't working for me in the quiet chorus. I wanted something that sounded more like a music box. So one day, I went to my local thrift store and purchased a music box for $3.99. Back at the studio I put a mic in front of it, turned the crank and forced it to only play one note at a time as I recorded it. I then separated each sound and labeled them to their corresponding musical note. I wrote out the chord structure for the chorus of the tune and proceeded to place each note on the grid within ProTools, creating a legitimate sounding music box version of her chorus. I liked it so much I decided to start the song with it.
I will be finished mixing the record by the end of January! - Jan 16, 09
A quiet blog does not equal a quiet studio. The new studio has been bustling since day one of being open. I made some time in my schedule for some jazz instructors to come in and track a Dave Brubeck piece in 9 movements. They all tracked it live and will add piano later. It was a first time event in the new studio to actually have each musician in their own isolated rooms playing together. A dream turned into reality for me as I engineered these guys tearing it up.
- Nov 28, 08
After months of sweat and toil the studio is finally finished! There are a few small things left, hanging the big green curtain, a couple lights and bookshelves, but the studio is ready for recording and mixing. I purchased about 2500 books, which will be featured on several walls and will thus be changing the name of thes studio to "the Library." Pretty excited about the name change. Here are some photos of my new workspace(s)...
Main tracking room
Control Room
This is the large isolation room. (both of my iso's are far too large to call them "booths")
I inherited a turn of the century baby grand piano from a guy across the hall!
Small isolation room
The beautiful view from my control room.
As you can imagine, I am really excited about the new space and look forward to capturing hours upon hours of good music here.
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- The PinesJeremy MessersmithGreycoatsAlpha ConsumerAshley StillGuitar PartyThe New StandardsThe BrightonBrett TylerLuke RedfieldRachel KurtzMark KeatingSoul RuminationDeb CarlsonHeatherlynJonathan RundmanDanielle ThrushSix Pack Heart AttacksAnthony CoxSounds of BlacknessBrynn AndreDan RodriguezJason GraySara GrovesVicky EmersonAnnie FitzgeraldPut Down the MuffinElizabeth HunnicuttMinnesota Teen Challenge ChoirMill City String QuartetNorah LongTim LemmensABC Youth Choir
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- 60 plays / Created Jun 23, 12
