Five years ago or so, Ocean Way opened a facility in Nashville. They bought an old stone church at 1200 17th Avenue South. They converted it into a recording studio, and took what I assume was the rectory next door, and turned it into offices.

The main room is where the pews would have been, and the stained glass windows are still in place. This lends a very nice light in the space, though everyone who looks out the windows might not approve of the religious images that they see. The woodwork is a light and airy raw sienna color, and is quite attractive.

The space that would have housed the altar and back have been converted into a control room holding a large Neve console with GML automation, a machine room, a booth holding a grand piano, and various smaller rooms.

Today, just in front of the control booth glass is a temporary stage made from risers, a center stage podium, and a table and chairs to each side. Flankin ... Read More »

Showtime!

The first thing that we should say is that the attendance was huge, breaking last years numbers. So anyone who chose not to show at the Summer NAMM definitely lost out. In fact, even Sunday was jamming. Yet Sunday is a day that is traditionally slow in the trade show market because it is the last day and a lot of attendees leave early.

The poor economy has caused an impact in almost every part of the country, and the musical instrument business is no exception. This impact has manifested itself as a move to conservatism in product and product releases as businesses try to support and expand on successful products. Though there was no shortage of new products, there were fewer wild and crazy products, and more practical and well thought-out products.

Garry and I are a particularly good fit for a show like this. I tend to run around, get an overview of the whole show, and select what I want to check out from wh ... Read More »

ATI - The guys from ATI show up with their high end products and just make me drool every show. I bought an ATI mic pre last year, but I've been hot for an API for a long time. Though the models haven't changed, they still warrant your attention. The 512 module is a classic mic preamp and daddy of the 500 series of signal processing and racking choices. The 200 series is a more affordable and smaller solution, with it's own racking options. The 7600 Input Module channel strip and the 7800 Master Control Module are single rack space pieces that can be chained to suit your needs. Of course, you can opt for the Legacy or Legacy Plus full-blown studio consoles. http://www.apiaudio.com.

Garry:Moog - Moog introduced the Piano Bar, a MIDI controller for aco ... Read More »

Chick singers are a dime a dozen, expensive at that price, and mostly downright forgettable. There are a handful of female artists who can rock my world, but most are from the past or distant past. Yes, I still play the occasional Joni Mitchell CD, and even Judy Collins seminal "Who Knows Where The Time Goes" gets a spin now and then. Janice and Grace get played some, too. But Melissa Ethridge and Mary Chapin Carpenter are about the only contemporary female artists that I listen to with any regularity.

Enter Mary Fahl, definitely NOT a ‘Chick Singer". Most certainly an Artist of the finest caliber.

Live….

I've been upgrading my studio for a couple of years now. Each improvement and change has brought other weaknesses to light. Each improvement has been a double-edged sword, bringing both the joy of better audio and the curse of finding yet another area that could be addressed.

All along the way, various friends have remarked upon my lack of a world-class large diaphragm tube vocal microphone. I have an eclectic and interesting mic collection, and there is little to complain about. But when it comes to large diaphragm condensers, my choices are middling at best. I have a Neumann U-89. I have a pair of AKG 414s, one with the C-12 capsule, one with the newer capsule. These are my main choices. I have an Oktava 219 and a pair of Cascade M-20s, none of which I have ever used. It is easy to see that my options are not horrible, but not up to par with the rest of my system, and there is nary a tube to be found in the bunch.

I look at mics the same way that I look at guitars, amplifiers, ... Read More »

So, I've been tied up a while, and not as available or hanging around as much as usual. I've been both on the road sporadically, and swamped with work. Now this has never stopped me from participating on line before, so what has been the problem for the last few months? After all, all the hotels and venues are wired…

I've had a nice little Sony 505HS for a few years now. Great little machine, with a 500 mHz Pentium III processor, 128 megs of RAM, large hard drive, nice screen, and every type of interconnection I could imagine. Less than an inch thick, and under 4 pounds, it has been my constant companion. I even have done some minor recording projects on this machine. Anywhere that I might be, I could write, work on any of the corporate jobs I might be involved with, or hook up to the internet and keep in touch with all of my friends.

Sure, the floppy and CD drives were loose and connected to the computer in a variety of ways, and there was a docking bar needed to get to the ... Read More »

Okay, so you know that I have just got the new studio to the point where I can start to put gear into it. I'm chomping at the bit (heh heh, bit…. What, you aren't going to byte on that one?) to get some recording done. But I have other issues. First I need to put in the speakers, run some tests, take some measurements, and properly treat the room.

I have done much of this work myself, and with the help of my friends and particularly with the help of my brother Bob. I'm just not up to tackling another DIY project for the studio right now. In the past I have either built all of the studio furniture myself, or contracted out to have it custom built. The new layout requires new racks and a new desk. I did have one custom rack shopped out. Built from all birch, it is a dual 12-space rack with a birch tabletop, on 4-inch wheels. Still, I need a new main desk, and a couple of more rack spaces wouldn't hurt.

So I look at the pre-fab offerings. I'm not too excited about any of th ... Read More »

When we speak of art, and in particular the art of music, we are always relating to how the music has affected each of us on a personal level. Few musical artists have so broadly affected not just the music, but also the culture of the western world as the Beatles. That's an undeniable fact. Their impact on the recording world was equally strong. Love them or hate them, the face of pop music, how it is written and recorded, and how artists are treated, changed radically because of the Beatles and George Martin.

Many of you are too young to have been affected by Beatlemania. I happen to be just barely old enough to have experienced it. But this was not where the Beatles came to the forefront and made the changes that I spoke of above. That came later. At first, the Beatles were just a pop group. Another, of many others, they were disposable entertainment for the masses like any other here-today-gone-tomorrow pop group of the time.

But this is where fans are born and where young li ... Read More »

Am I in Heaven, or what!

The Gibson Les Paul. Quite a guitar. From Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton through the Allman Brothers and Joe Walsh, to Slash and... er... Les Paul... some of the most famous guitar players in the world have used the Les Paul to obtain their signature sounds.

The most famous and desirable of all the Les Pauls is the Les Paul Standard. Produced from 1958 to 1960, this was a cherry sunburst instrument with 'Patent Applied For' Humbucking pickups. The "Burst" is the Holy Grail of Les Paul instruments, fetching stunning amounts of money on the international collectors market. A fellow that I know brokered a deal to sell one for $125,000. Unbelievable. But my favorite Les Paul has always been the original, simple, elegant gold top Les Paul Model guitar.

The year is 1952. Gibson has partnered with an innovative inventor/guitarist to create a new and different kind of guitar. After several prototypes and modifications, the original Les Paul Mod ... Read More »

In the Field

Outside of the I. C. Light Amphitheater, a multipurpose venue on the banks of the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh, a small group of stagehands is walking in little circles.

Right now.

I just came from there, where I was walking in little circles in support of these stagehands. Carrying a sign. Shouting slogans. Giving the ‘Power To The People” fist in appreciation to all the passersby who demonstrated their support.

I believe in and support organized labor. The only chance that the average worker has of getting a fair shake from management and owners is ensconced in the power that a united work force brings to the table. This situation is one that hopefully will resolve itself to be a “Case-In-Point”.

The Tattoo Crew

We call the I. C. Light stagehands “The Tattoo Crew”. They are the same guys and gals who work many of th ... Read More »

How did this project come together?

In early September I was brainstorming ways to raise awareness for the studio in the community here. I was also trying to think of a way to raise some funds - and also create a small record label to release some local talent. I have a healthy obsession with soul music, especially the Muscle Shoals sound. I thought it would be interesting to do a tribute to the sound and get some bands in here to record various songs.

I walked around the city putting up flyers and even had a small write-up in one of the weekly papers here.

You not only got the project rolling, but you managed to make some connections that would not have occurred to many of us.

I decided that I'd like to contact Jimmy Johnson to make sure he was okay with the idea, and also to see if he would like to write liner notes. I still planned on the release to be a small 500 run local a ... Read More »

I don't really know Chris Mickle. I think that this is odd, since we are in the same business and have worked many of the same venues and worked with some of the same artists. Sort of a small word/big world situation. We've recently began bumping into each other on line, and find that we have a lot in common. Chris's live recording trucks turn up at places like South By Southwest and Red Rocks, and the client list includes such artists as Puff Daddy, Melissa Etheridge, The Brian Setzer Orchestra, Ani DeFranco, Dave Mathews, and other high visibility artists. Read More »

So Wither the Old?

Last month I detailed the fun that I had in acquiring a pair of vintage AKG C-28 microphones. This month I have done a lot more research into this model, replaced one of the capsules, corrected some errors in some of my earlier information, and spent a lot of time bending Tracy Korby's ear about my new acquisitions. I had hoped to have the mics and power supplies in hand by now, but unfortunately they are not ready yet. Still, I have discovered a lot about these microphones. Let me share some of what I have learned with you.

AKG: A Little History

So, waddaya wanna talk about?

Procrastination is my enemy. By screwing around, I have been scooped by other writers, beaten by changes in technology, or have just run out of enthusiasm for certain topics.

I was going to write about the big deal issue that was a major concern to the professionals. Watermarking of digital audio has their ranks in an uproar and has got as much discussion on their forums as Napster has gotten on other, less professional forums. But that has now been done by one of the print mags.

I was going to write about DVD-A, explaining it and talking about why we may or may not want it. That, alas, has also been done.

I had a great article all assembled in my head about DVD-A packaging. At one point this was the major obstacle to getting DVD-A on the shelves. (Yawn.) Who cares?

DVD-A should have been a major product release for this Christmas season, and the post from which would pivot major changes in our software, hardware, ... Read More »

Drowning in the River...

Is That A Saftey Pin Through Your Nose, Or Are You Just Glad To See Me?

Keep On Growing

Last week I had occasion to attend one of the NARAS "Ask A Pro" Series events. This one was Called "Radio Today" and the panel contained radio execs, program directors, DJs, and label representatives.

It was an interesting, if somewhat disheartening event.

The Spirit of Radio

Since the late 1920s, it has been all about radio. In the 40's the first rock and roll records were played on the radio and a synergy was created that exists to this day. Rock and roll radio rules the airwaves, and impacts the lives of most Americans at one point or another as they follow their daily routine.

The really cool thing about radio was that it seemed to be a place for rebels. Small owners ran stations the way that they wanted to, playing the music that they wanted to, supporting the causes that they believed in, and catering to their own particular if not peculiar audiences. The parallels ... Read More »

Show day. The grind begins.

Roger Norman

Greg Reierson

Now, I'm about to tell you guys some lies, and I'm gonna tell you some truths.

The lies will all be relative lies, pertinent to given situations and changeable as life or the mind of your last squeeze. The truths will always be true no matter what you or I might try to do to change them.

Instead of thinking of them as ‘lies' and ‘truths', I like to think of them as ‘Rules' and ‘Laws'. Man makes up ‘Rules', and these rules really don't stand for much. They are basically pointers to good behavior. Sometimes he even tries to call some of these rules ‘Laws'. But they are just fancy rules, and all rules are made to be bent, circumvented, broken, twisted, spray painted, shat upon, and otherwise abused. On the other hand, God and Nature have concocted the ‘Laws'. "Laws' are inviolate. There is no way around, over, under, or through a Law. It applies, and there just isn't anything that we can do about it, other than to learn to live within the ... Read More »

I can't remember the first John Hardy M-1 advertisement that I saw. It seems as if that smallish ‘The John Hardy Company' ad has always graced the back pages of the trade magazines that I read. I remember thinking that this simple little draftsman-like line art drawing could not possibly induce anyone to purchase the product, and the paucity of accompanying information did not help.

Little has changed over the years. The ad has gotten a little larger and contains a little more information, like the fact that they take credit cards now. But it is still a simple black line drawing of the front panel of an M-1, with one knob, one meter, and three switches. I remember thinking, "Doesn't look like much to get excited about." Then I started to read the posts and recommendations about it.

There used to be an active community of recording engineers, technical engineers, producers, mastering engineers, the occasional artist, and a lot of coders at a particular spot on line. I became a membe ... Read More »

When I think of the M-1, I think of high-quality audio, and a product that eschews the bells and whistles and flashing lights that are so prevalent on products today.