Rebirth & Reclamation

Once Bright City Studios got off the ground here in Charlotte, NC the first project we had to work on was with a Christian Singer/Songwriter by the name of Sean Feucht. Sean travels around the world playing his music and documenting quite meticulously the different responses to it whether it be by a group of homeless hippies in San Francisco or churches full of seasoned Believers in Europe. He sets up these things where people come twenty-four hours a day seven days a week to sing or play and pray hoping for a change in their community whether local or global.

Sean has been a long time friend of Joel Khouri’s and came to him in order for Khouri to produce his latest album in a vein unlike most people doing what Feucht has done in the past. Khouri took directions with Feucht’s album that would make it more musically palatable to people not necessarily in the “Church World,” people Feucht wants to hear the music but more importantly the juice behind the music.

Since Bright City Studios was still in the early stages of functionality Khouri decided to track Drums and Bass at a friend’s studio, Threshing Floor Audio run by Elijah Mosely (an old friend of mine- incredible Producer/Engineer/Musician who has worked closely with John Mark McMillan on the majority of his projects). Since Elijah was busy with other work Jeremy Snyder engineered the sessions and I was simply there to get a handle on Khouri’s direction for the tracks as I would be engineering the majority of the sessions after Drums and Bass. Lee Worley (again, another great friend of mine band a greater drummer I met in Brasil years ago while assisting on a project) played drums and Jon Duke (childhood friend of mine who is one of the most creative Producer/Musicians I know. Just check out his project All the Bright Lights with his brother James and Jacob Arnold) played Bass. These sessions were a delight to simply sit in on because in one room we had at times up to seven incredibly creative musicians who could all produce a project yet all worked together smooth as butta (well, most of the time but I won’t get into that, ha ha). I was genuinely impressed with the way Joel Khouri reigned in all the creative minds into one cohesive thought for the direction of this album. You see, Feucht’s songs, from my understanding, were mostly written “on the spot” at his Live Events and had a tendency to either sound very similar or nothing alike, either identical or so different stylistically there didn’t seem to be a context to place them in on one album. Khouri’s genius level of production brought the differences closer together and the similarities further apart to create an incredible album.

Once Drums and Bass were done tracking at Threshing Floor Audio we headed back to Bright City Studios to Comp the tracks to their final takes (decide which takes of which parts we liked better than the others) and Edit. At Threshing Floor Audio Elijah prefers Steinberg’s DAW’s but I prefer Apple’s Logic so we took the project files from Cubase (Elijah usually uses Nuendo but we have a version of Cubase here so he used that in order for us to transfer files “easily”) and exported each file individually so we could pull them into Logic and comp there. I’m certain there was an easier way to do it but I didn’t feel like fiddling around looking for it. Anyway, once in Logic comping Drums was the easiest thing I’ve ever done. Seemless . . .

For Electric Guitars Joel brought James Duke (yes, The James Duke, the one that wisheshewasBono) into Bright City Studios who brought his original Matchless Chieftain 2x12 combo (original as in the circa ’94 model made by Mark Sampson, the good ones not the new ones) and his impressive guitar collection, Gretch 6118 Anniversary Semi-Hollow, Fender ’52 Blonde Tele reissue, and Revelator Strat Clone. All beautiful guitars with nearly as much character and personality as Jims himself. I ended up micing his amp with a Shure Sm7 (my fave) right against the grill as close to center as possible (the Chieftain had a small baffle running down the center of each speaker like the old Vox AC30’s of yore), a Cascade Fathead Ribbon w/Lundahl Transformer about three feet away and four feet high looking down to the center of the amp, a Peluso 22 251 further away in the room (maybe ten feet away and six feet high) set in an Omni Pattern. What I love about Joel Khouri’s production style is he believes in the musicians he brings in so much he gives them a general direction to travel and explore so if they get where he wants great, if they go somewhere new and exciting awesome, but if they go the wrong way Joel knows when and where to yank the wheel back on course. Jims new where to go, sometimes exactly to the desired destination but mostly to new places unforeseen and all the better.

There were certain parts Luke Skaggs, Molly Skaggs, Ricky Skaggs, myself, Leonard Jones, and a few others added that simply brought this project together. I remember a few late nights I stayed behind to add some extra guitar parts to fill in a few holes. I love locking the doors, turning the lights off, putting my nose to the grind, and turning my amp up til Josephine is weeping. I usually begin getting a bit misty-eyed too.

NERD ALERT AHEAD ! ! !

Because we were unsure where we would be in the reconstructive process at Bright City Studios, Khouri had booked a Mix Engineer out of Nashville to mix this project. He uses Protools exclusively so we had quite the interesting time getting him the files in a manner he could work with them. I tried exporting the files as an OMF for each song. The file format OMF, from my limited understanding, was originally created so Audio guys working in Protools could easily share files with Video guys working in Avid. Apparently, the makers of Protools, Digidesign, were the ones responsible for creating the format itself. After the Nashville engineer received all my OMF files he called to inform me he couldn’t open them in Protools. He said he needed a six hundred dollar plugin to make it work. I had exported the files using Logic without any additional plugins which is made by Digidesign’s competition and he couldn’t open it! So, I ended up spending a day or two exporting the files one by one so he could use his over priced DAW easier. I have since discovered a much easier and faster way of exporting files out of Logic so it’s not as big of a headache to make the big guys’ jobs easier . . .

All in all Sean Feucht’s album turned out to be one of the most creatively modern sounding “Church Music” albums without alienating his pre-established market of Church Goers. Joel Khouri and I found a cool rhythm to our creative flow between Producer and Engineer and we found a cool group of musicians we could pull together to make incredible albums quickly and efficiently. The entire process was one of experimenting, learning, and discovering. Even though there were headaches to deal with, I know everyone came out of the project with a certain sense of accomplishment one way or another. Check it out on iTunes if you’re interested in hearing the finished product . . .

being offered a dream over the phone . . .

I was living in Jacksonville, Fl. (my hometown, now and forevermore) in Riverside. While driving down I-95 on my way home from work I finally ended a game of phone tag with an old friend of mine, Joel Khouri. We had stayed in contact over the year or two after we had worked on “These Streets Come Alive” and played around with the idea of starting a studio.

At this point in my life I had a job with a great church in town but it was my third church job in my life and I never wanted to work at a church. Don’t get me wrong, I love the people in church and I love God. I had simply grown tired of the politics and drama of church and the people in it. I grew up in a minister’s home and worked at a church for eight years and like all things, if you spend enough time with someone/thing you see the ugly parts. Anyway, I was just over working for churches but they were the only ones paying my bills and the work was “close enough” to the work I wanted to do.

So, I’m on the phone with my ol’ pal Joel Khouri and he’s telling me he knows I’m pretty settled down in Jacksonville with my job and my girlfriend and all but he wondered if I would want to move. He had finally decided to move on his dream of opening a studio which would be the centerpiece for a community artists; Singers, Songwriters, Musicians, Directors, Videographers, Photographers, Artists of all kinds. Joel had gathered four investors willing to put money where Joel’s mouth was and see this thing come together. He had a track record of Producing incredible projects in the past and massive potential, favour, and vision to see the Artistic Community in the Charlotte area swell into something like the Music Community in Omaha which spawned Saddle Creek where Bright Eyes, Cursive, Now It’s Overhead, and other great Indie Bands.

Joel Khouri told me that sunny day while I was on I-95 he wanted to have a resident Engineer at his studio and there were a hand full of guys in the Charlotte area who could hack it but his first thought was me. He offered me the position and told me to think about it. I was overwhelmed. By the time I arrived home, a house on Myra Street I shared with one of my greatest friends and favourite songwriters Jude Kahle (check out Shangrala. Your mind will be blown and renewed), my head was spinning. I loved my friends around me and loved my girlfriend but I had dreamed of working in a studio creating real music with real musicians and now I was being offered my dream. Once my girlfriend Sara called me back while she had a quick break from work I told her about the offer. She told me she would never stand in the way of my dream and if we were supposed to work out we would (we didn’t) but one doesn’t turn their back on an opportunity like this when it just falls in one’s lap. She also reminded me that of all my friends who’s careers involved music and who had promised me opportunities Khouri was the only one who consistently followed through.

I decided to go with it . . .

These Streets Come Alive

The first album I worked on completely was a church music project with a longtime friend of mine Joel Khouri. We met years ago as kids and didn't like each other cause up to that point we each thought we were the only kids in the world with the name Joel. Apparently it took years to get over the shock of learning there was someone trying to steal my name but once we came to grips with it we realized we could make some good music together. Joel Khouri ended up moving to Charlotte, NC and worked on a lot of good projects and decided he needed to do one of his own music. So, he came back to his hometown and mine, Jacksonville, FL. and worked with an incredible group of musicians to record one of the best church music albums in my opinion. It was quite inspiring to work with such good friends I had always played with and we finally had a chance to make it last. Johnny Rumbach played Bass, Josh Baldwin played Drums, one of my best friends to this day Jeremiah Bowser played Keys, Kelanie Gloeckler sang Backup, Joel Khouri sang and played Acoustic Guitar and Keys, and I played Electric Guitar. Joel also had Stephen Roach come down later in the week to add Percussion. Joel and Kelanie also Co-Produced the project while I Engineered and Mixed it.

We recorded the album live one evening at New Life Christian Fellowship in Jacksonville, Florida and while I played Electric Guitar Live Jeff Alford Recorded. We rehearsed three days prior to the event and Joel met with me for an afternoon before that to discuss tones and arrangements. I used Josephine, my Transparent Red 1982 Epiphone Riviera (which I still have); Lorraine, a Cream 80’s Gibson Explorer; and Anne-Marie, a White mid 90’s US Lonestar Strat. The amp setup I used for all parts live and studio was a Fargen Mini-Plex through a Hiwatt 4x12 cab mic’d with a 421 centered on the cone and Sanken Condender off center with both positioned right against the grille.

For the entire album I wanted to keep a very “live” feeling mix, lots of energy so you can close your eyes and feel like you’re in the auditorium with us. This meant adding multiple condensers (AKG 414’s) across the stage and a few more Shotguns (AT’s) hung around the room. I ended up sliding all of these mic’s in the computer and submixing them to a stereo pair on the console so I could simply grab two faders when I wanted more or less ambience. I used verb but tried to keep it to a minimum using the crowd mic’s for space instead of processing. I prefer the natural sound of the room to processed verbs though the studio we were in has some of my favourite verbs out there. Joel brought along a crisp sounding Avalon 737 (I believe that’s the model) that I dropped in his vocal chain. I believe the signal chain was something like an Audix OM7 straight through a Presonus Digimax Pre to tape then dumped to the computer, through the Euphonix, Euphonix compressor (to catch the faster transients), Avalon pre/eq/compressor (to smooth things out and boost a lil presence in his voice) then Euphonix Eq (for slicing specific frequencies with a scapel). Joel also brought along a cute lil LA-3 I used on Johnny’s Bass to slam the hell out of it thickening up his beautiful 50th Anniversary Butterscotch P-Bass we picked up in Orlando on a gig. Johnny also used my Homebrew Electronics U.F.O. fuzz pedal for one track that needed a good amount of meat and hair in the lo-end. We recorded the initial tracks as part of a Sunday Evening service and took eight days out of the next two weeks to Edit, Overdub, Record more tracks, Mix, and Edit some more.

After the initial tracking we started right away the next morning listening through all the tracks and deciding what needed to be done with them; edits, overdubs etc. Once we edited the original tracks we had Stephen Roach add some nice Percussion textures then Johnny brought his beautiful bass back in to replace some tracks. Joel added a lot of edgy synth, a LOT of synth, then I tracked some guitar parts. At one point I was working on a lead line for a track and I remember Joel saying something about how he didn't want the line to sound like a bunch of Guitar licks and tricks but more of a flowing synth line. I responded with something witty about why didn't he just play it with a synth if he wanted it to sound like that. After a bit of going back and forth we finally settled on me playing a line that I absolutely love. It ended up sounding a bit Killers-esque, synthy flowing melody with a strong guitar edge to it. At one point while trying to get the track perfect (for some reason I couldn't get it "just right") Joel and Kelanie left the room to leave me with my own worst critic to wrestle it out. I won. I think.

There was a holiday in the middle of the sessions and we were behind schedule a bit do to a scheduling conflict on someone's part so I talked my boss into letting me come in to edit that day. The next time Joel and Kelanie came in to listen to the "edits" there were suddenly four to six Electric Guitar tracks per song which sounded massive. I have no idea how that happened ;-)

Once we arrived at the mixing stage things got a lil bit crazy. I ended up coming into the studio around eight o'clock every morning and not leaving until two the next morning then waking up and doing the same thing for three or four days in a row. Joel and Kelanie were nice enough to run out to get me lunch, dinner, and coffee but I was so narrow sighted I didn't want to leave for a second. I just wanted to put my nose to the grind and do the damn thing, which I did. On the eighth working day we drove to Wendy's at one thirty in the morning listening to the Last Draft of mixes and sat in the parking lot eating (I was lovin them fries and frosty) and making notes for our Final Revisions. After returning to the studio and making our final changes we walked out of the studio after three in the morning with an incredible album, I think.

All in all this was the most fun I’ve had doing a project and though there are things I hear and want to change I am quite satisfied with how this album turned out. Achtung Baby was made in two weeks and These Streets Come Alive was made in eight days . . .

Introductory Entry

I have always written. Whether in a journal while drinking coffee late at night, in a notebook midday, excessive "tweets", or a napkin at a bar, I always seem to be writing something. I enjoy it. I never wanted to be a "Blogger" though. The thought invokes an image of a thirty-six year old "boy" still living at home ranting about his latest video game while in his whitey tighties and tube socks with a coloured stripe at the top. A good friend of mine told me I should start a blog though. He likes how I write. So, I have started this blog (obviously) to write about the music I am involved with. Whether Engineering, Producing, or playing, I want this to be the place I write about it. Not that I am some big shot that people want to hear about, I just like to write . . .