Elevation & Toad the Wet Sprocket

As I sat there watching my friends on the big(ish) screen, killin it, sounding so good, bringin the glory; I had the thought, “I’m so glad I didn’t play on this one.  If you go to www.elevationworship.com you can see what I’m talking about.  We just released the latest record- “Only King Forever.”  It is a collection of songs written by the EW family for our church, and it owns.

Mack sent me an email- “You’re kinda like me and tend to read into things so I wanted to explain... I’m just going in a different direction on this one”  I wasn’t going to play on this live record after playing on the first two.  I got it.  It happened with the studio version of “Nothing Is Wasted” the year before so I was used to Mack, in his infinite wisdom as a Producer, knowing exactly what he was going for and who would be best to get it there.  He got James Duke to play which makes all the sense in the world right?  Of course.  Why not have one of the most well-known Guitarists in the Worship World finally play on a live record from the church he has been a part of for years.  Besides, James has been a good friend of mine for years.  We took lessons from the same guitar teachers and played at the same churches.  Funny thing is we quite rarely play together.  Seems like less than a handful of times.

Anyway, it made sense to me, the personnel change, but of course I wanted to be a part.  Unfortunately, I had to miss the night of the live recording.  I had just taken over as Production Manager at two concert venues in town and the night of the recording was my first national show in this role.  Good thing Instagram had just released the new version featuring video.  I was able to watch vids my friends posted of my friends going at it with these songs we had been loving for a few months (Toad the Wet Sprocket brought their own FOH Engineer so I stood outside watching Instagram vids all night, not a bad gig).  

Yea, I hung out with some of the guys during Post Production but I really had no part at all in this record.  Then, while at Mack’s house previewing the videos, I saw something.  I had been so focused on “what did I do wrong to be passed up” I didn’t see what was right in front of me.  One guy on stage I had talked down from the proverbial ledge and encouraged to carry on.  Another fellow I had worked with for a couple years and saw a massive growth in his playing to become one of my favorite musicians.  This other guy I was able to encourage when he felt people hated him and he had no place musically.  There was also the guy who I was able to help brush off the shameful dust of bad decisions in a relationship.  Was I directly responsible for anything musically in this project?  Nope.  I realized though, I didn’t play a lick, didn’t engineer a take, nor write a note, but I am a part of it.  This record has drops of all of our blood on it.  It’s a record from Elevation Worship as a family tied together by our heart strings.  I’m messing up the quote but Pastor Steven Furtick has talked about what we are a part of being bigger than the part we play and this thought rang true in my ears.  If I didn’t encourage and challenge those guys someone else may have but I’m knit into this family so I was able to.

Enough reading. I'm probably not making sense anyway.  Go listen to what I’m talking about and if it’s still Tuesday January 14th go watch it . . .

Jail Mass & Revival . . .

So, my church, Elevation Church, is having a revival here in Charlotte. They are calling it “Code Orange Revival”. Our Pastor loves the color orange and wanted to start off the year with an explosion. “Code Orange” is also a term used in various contexts for the drastic warning which puts everyone on edge to prepare for something crazy. So far, it’s working. Two campuses rollin’ with makeshift overflow rooms, people camping out and tailgating- to go to church. No, not a football game, midnight release of the latest children’s book turned blockbuster series, a Rage Against the Machine reunion tour, or an iPhone 5. A church service. You know, with preaching and worship. Coolest part to me is that is about all that happens in these services. I like all the production elements we do, I friggin love em, but these meetings are simply to worship God and see Him show up. He is. Every night has been amazing. It’s reminding me of the meetings I grew up taking naps through. There’s this energy every night in every room, even on the other side of town where people are cramming together to watch a video screen. God is sittin’ with us and walking among us.

Last night after the meeting I went to a bar to celebrate a friend’s birthday. While I was enjoying a lil cocktail a gentleman I have seen before lit up, ran over to me, and yelled to the whole bar, “I know him!!!”. He then told me he has been to Elevation on a few occasions before. He recognized me from playing and loved how we do “Praise Music” cause we “!@#$-ing rock the ^$%# out of it” (I adore people who don’t know the rules about profanity when referring to anything in the Church). We talked for a few minutes, even though his scantily-clad girlfriend (I’m assuming it was his girlfriend) was trying to pull him away. It seemed he had something pushing him, something he had to say, or just hear himself say. He told me a lil bit of his shadowed history- grew up in a poor Latino family, Catholic Church, rough times, the works, jail time, lots of jail time. “Things I did as a kid yo, you ain’t be talkin’ ta me if you knew”. He quit being a Catholic because his Priest was charged with fourteen counts of molesting boys, some friends of his. I told him (we’ll call him Bob) he should come check out the revival either Wednesday or Thursday cause I’ll be playin. “You guys have Mass every night?” Well, for these two weeks yea, I guess, Mass, sure . . .

Where the conversation turned then has been burning in me ever since. Bob tried to tell me I wouldn’t be inviting him if I knew what he had done and what business he is in. “Try me” I rebutted. He wouldn’t. He had convinced himself he will never be welcome in the House of God. I told him he was lying to himself. He said he loved when he had gotten over it and “snuck in” cause he could FEEL something inside, an energy, a warmth, a peace he has never felt before. That feeling kept pulling him back but he would have to stop at the door. “See dawg, if I went with Him I’d have to quit my business. I can’t quit my business. It’s been handed down to me from my Fams. My Pop’s Pop started this. I gots’ta support the Fam now. I’m the Man.” I asked if he trusted God enough to take care of him and his family if he quit. “Yea, I know it’s a relationship thang, ‘tween me and Hims. I know He’s got my back, I just can’t deal with the temptations ya know? It’s alls I know, It’s alls I eva done”

I got that. How much of what I do is just because it’s all I’ve ever done. Are my decisions to give up more and more control of my life based on whether or not I’ve been taken care of before so I’m cool with it or, I’m not cool with it because I haven’t been taken care of and had to “Be the Man” so I continue thinking I know better.

I told him, “Look, I’m not tryin’ to be a dick, but it sounds like it’s time you actually step up and be a man (don’t hit me). You’ve been taking care of things, doing what you gotta do to provide for you and yours, but maybe it’s time you do what you know you have to do, instead of the only thing you know to do.” His eyes went somewhere far away. He didn’t say anything for the longest few seconds. I could feel the room change, the air felt different, warm and thick.

Then a friend of his grabbed him to go to the next bar. He argued with her for a bit then conceded. We said our goodbyes, reminded each other of our names, and he said he would try to come out Wednesday or Thursday.

I hope he does. More so, I hope he stands up and becomes a man. I hope I do too . . .

Leave Your Bedroom & Get Naked

So, last evening I mixed two of my favorite bands in Charlotte- Matrimony and Public Radio. It was one of the show highlights of my year. I’ve had the tremendous pleasure of working with both groups in the studio. I mixed Matrimony’s Ep “The Storm & the Eye” and engineered a good bit of Public Radio’s upcoming album slated for release early this coming year. Whenever I mix bands they usually provide some quite humorous material for my Twitter Feed but this show was so great I didn’t even think of pulling out my phone. Every few minutes I’d have people stopping by the booth just to say Hello. It was starting to annoy me until I realized what this meant. I was working for two amazing bands who’s members are all close friends of mine and I could look around the packed Visulite Theatre and see everyone from familiar faces to close longtime friends. How often has or will this ever happen again?

On top of this thrill, the “icing on the cake” I guess, I had a lengthy conversation with a member of one of the most influential bands in the past ten years or so of my life. You see, when I was seventeen (or maybe it was eighteen, let’s just go with seventeen) I started a band called “oh, Kay . . .” after my best friend told me she couldn’t talk to me anymore since she was getting married. Anyway, we went to record a couple songs and even though we had practiced a good bit I handed our drummer, Johnny Rumbach, a CD to listen to on the drive. I told him to forget what we had worked out before and just take the fifteen minute drive to study this drummer cause he had the vibe I wanted. Last night after the show I talked with this “vibey” drummer for a while. In ten years when the present day twelve year old Justin Beiber fan meets him I’ll know what it feels like. I didn’t ask him to marry me though, so yea, there’s that.

We ended up at the Browns’ house, the married front couple of Matrimony, after the show. I walked into the kitchen and this drummer with the vibe just walked up to me and asked how I got the drums to sound so good. He had such a thrilled look on his face like a kid who knows generally how a car engine works but wants to know why his buddy’s goes faster! We started geeking out about mixing techniques and studio gear then it turned into a lil music lesson. Not the kind of music lesson where you play scales or learn about theory, it was about the intangibles of music. He told me about playing Madison Square Garden then a month later playing the Mercury Lounge, a far smaller yet super rad club. People would ask him, “Dude! MSG! How was it?!” and all he could say was, “I don’t know, cool I guess but the Mercury Lounge! That was a killer show!” He also told me about a show in the UK he played with his band where only five or ten people showed up. After they got off stage the singer was bummed and the drummer was freakin out about how great of a show it was.

What’s my point? People tend to judge shows on how many people show up. Point is, if you are killin it and playin your heart out, wearing your heart on your sleeve, bleeding on stage, gettin naked (metaphorically speaking) then who cares if there is five people or fifty thousand?! These days there are a ton of bands out there but there are even more musicians who may be sick but still just sit in there bedrooms or basements playing. There’s a ton of people who never get lucky enough to step on stage to do what they love. This Indie Icon of a drummer told me how everyone wants “It” to happen but it won’t happen til you do it. If you sit back waiting for the fabled A&R guy in shining armor to rescue you from your Starbucks job and hand you a record deal on a silver platter then enjoy making coffee. Or, you could go out there and play music cause it’s damn fun. Communicating with another person, or five people, or fifty thousand people is a privilege. They’re looking for someone to communicate with them though. They want to hear from someone who will just share some honest feelings musically, even if they don’t necessarily like the music!

Get out there, leave your bedroom or basement, play some music, take your clothes off (musically speaking of course). Most of all enjoy it. If you get to play on any kind of stage have fun. Don’t take it for granted. Everyone wants to be heard and you have people listenin’ to ya . . .

"For the Honor" Tones and Geek Talk . . .

I have had a few people ask me about Guitars, Pedals, and my general setup in regards to the recently released album from Elevation Worship “For the Honor”. I wanted to sit down and relive the night for myself anyway so I did so with a bunch of coffee at Rush Espresso in Ballantyne and listened through the album. While trying to remember exactly what I used and how I set stuff I suddenly remembered I took notes. I took notes?! What the what?! Guess I wanted to act all professional or something.

First, just a general overview. For this album, since we were tracking everything live and shooting a DVD I borrowed a few extra guitars to deal with different tunings and things. For instance, I generally play in Drop-D now. No, I never played in a hardcore band, I just like the voicings I can play and the option of throwing that lo D into things. So, my guitars “Josephine” and “Mary-Jane”, which I played mostly, were in Drop-D. I just have such a good relationship with them. Josephine is an ’82 Epiphone Riviera made with all solid woods and a translucent Red finish on the bird’s eye maple top so you can see all the wood lookin’ through (sorry for the lame pun). “Mary-Jane” is a 90’s Mexican Black on Black Tele Custom. She’s the one with the big humbucker in the neck position and the pickup switch up top. Both guitars sound quite unique from any guitars I’ve heard or played before and so different from each other. It’s really cool to have them to choose from. I don’t know if most people name their guitars but I do. I have no logical reason for it or why I chose those particular names. I just do, and I just did.

I borrowed a Fender Mustang for “Standard” tuning, a Custom Strat for 1/2 step down Drop-D tuning, and a Gibson ES-125 for bowing since the rosin gets all over the strings and deadens them real quick, which was also in Drop-D. The ES sounded awesome for bowing because of the hollow body. Gave it a big cello type of openness. I actually used the ES on a record for Brandon Gilliam called “A Love Better Than Life” not too long after tracking “For the Honor” and it sounded incredible without the bow too. I’m real lucky to have such good friends with killer gear who are so nice as to let me borrow it from time to time. For instance, I used a 90’s British-made AC-30 for the night of the live recording but my friend Mark Mathis had to get it back for his tour but Kevin Neil Smith (who is featured on the DVD in a “Where’s Waldo” kinda way) has the same exact amp so I used his for overdubs.

Most of the album my parts are panned to the left side . . .

Here’s a track by track breakdown of what I used. Sorry, I know it’s pretty long but whatever . . .

Exalted One

I used “Mary-Jane” for the opener and played mostly big power chords on the turnarounds and the root note 16th note thing on the verses.

As far as the tone went it was quite simple. My Barber LTD set for a mild drive (my version of “mild” is probably dirtier than most). Memory Man was on the whole time (it usually is ;-) just a slight slapback with the mix a lil lo. On the Bridge and Turnarounds I played them big ol’ fat chords and kicked on my Divided by 13 Highball.

The Lord Is My Rock

For this tune my tone was quite simple. “Josephine”-Barber LTD- Memory Man.

I always set my Memory Man so there’s a slight boost once it’s engaged but, as I mentioned it’s pretty much always on. I like the lil preamp in it so if I need less delay I just turn the mix down. I also use the “Vibrato” setting and have the mod knob turned up a lil- nothing crazy (which is a relative term) but for just a lil life in it.

Live I stood for most of the song right against my amp on stage (Big props to the genius Producer @MackBrock for letting us have amps on stage) so as big diamond chords would ring out you’d have the slightest bit of feedback on the tail. It really opened up the resonance of the hollow body too. The guys wrote this song a few years ago after @WadeJoye the Worship Pastor of Elevation, had his beautiful twin daughters delivered prematurely with lots of health issues. In the middle of what seemed hopeless He and the rest of the guys grabbed on to the truth of Christ and wrote this song. I think of Wade’s family and what I have been going through at different times while playing this song and continually see the Lord meet me with hope and strength. Wade’s daughters are growing miracles and doing great by the way . . .

For the Honor

For this tune I used the Gibson 1960 ES-125 I borrowed from my good friend @LanceGatch. It was his first guitar so it was cool playing a guitar so sentimental to him while onstage with him. He’s a swell fella.

I’m just gonna put it out there; I’m a big fan of Sigur Ros. Playing in bands growing up we were always getting comments like, “Sugar Rose called and wants their bow back” but we never took offense because the Scenesters didn’t know how to pronounce the band’s name. Anyway, when Mack showed us this song for some reason I pulled out the bow and it just came to life for me. I mean, what else was I gonna play on a song in Eb? ha ha

I used the LTD- DD20 (analogue model w/long delay time and feedback)- Memory Man- Boss RV-5

God Be Praised

This song needed something different for me. I have no idea why, I just had this feeling something needs to change tonally for me in this one. I borrowed a ’66 Fender Mustang from my ol’ friend @TheJamesDuke which he had just gotten. That was the jelly. For the intro double stop rhythm stuff I used my EHX Lil Big Muff with gain all the way down and volume all the way up. Rest of the song was the LTD-DD20 (analogue/1/4 note/long feedback tail)- Memory Man- RV-5.

When Mack showed us this song before the recording he told me to just play some hi moving part on the Choruses and I ended up finding this cool lil riff which originally had a lot more movement involving palm muted stuff. Mack loved it but wanted it simpler so we took out the Post-Hardcore influence and it got super melodic.

The Church

I absolutely adore this song. Something heavy has happened every time we’ve played it over the past few years. There’s something special about making huge statements in songs about who we are as a church and who we are as The Church.

I grabbed Josephine for this one and played most of the fast single note stuff on the neck pickup cause she just has this really warm throaty tone there. Pedals were LTD-DD20 (modulate/ half-note/ long tail)- Memory Man- RV5.

On the “Whoa” section and following bridge I flip to the bridge pickup (fitting eh?) kicked on the /13 and followed the vocal line then played the moving part up high. Back to original tone then the bridge tone again for the big outro walk-down . . .

Let Your Kingdom Reign

While the down outro of The Church was happening I grabbed my slide and kept the tone very similar to the first half of the The Church, still using Josephine. On the solo I just switched to the bridge pickup and used an Xotic AC Booster with the same tone as before. For the actual slide part and solo I played off the vocal melody.

In this context, I like to stay real close to vocal melodies. I’ve found it strengthens them and makes guitars not so “guitar-ish”. What I mean is in this setting the point isn’t to impress with licks and tricks. We’re supposed to be creating a musical environment for people to have a legitimate experience with God Aurally and Spiritually, so distracting people’s attention with, “Hey! Look what I can do!!!” is just gross. Don’t get me wrong, I in no way mean we should dumb down our skill or technique. God gave us our talents and trusts us to finely tune our craft. Part of the skill is knowing what not to play though. An incredibly wise man, Don Potter, says it something like- Taste is being able to play a thousands notes but knowing which one is the right one in the moment. God doesn’t just want us to have skill but taste too . . .

The Highest

This one I used a custom Strat built by Andy Elliot of Elliot Guitars which I borrowed from my friend Jimmy Brown of @MatrimonyBand. For everything ‘cept the Choruses and Bridge I used the Neck Pickup. I just really love the warmth on the mellower parts. Pedals were like other ambient parts, LTD-DD20 (analogue/half note/long tail)-Memory Man-RV-5. I turned off the DD20 and went to the middle pickup for the chorus hook. Remember, I tuned the Strat a half-step down since I was using the open “B” string in the hook. Then the Bridge lead was the bridge pickup and the /13 to play around the vocal melody.

Only Love

“Mary-Jane” was best for this one. Back to the basic tone of the LTD-Memory Man for all the diamond strums and rhythmic chunky stuff. Added the RV-5 for the Prechorus hi line. On the second Verse I had the DD20 set to “Tape” with the dual head engaged and set to 1/4 note short tails for the choppy stabs. I love me some Minus the Bear and Edison Glass. One of my favorite things to do while playing rhythm is to play right with the drums. It just brings this muscle to the track and gets mean. I’ve been playing regularly with @LeeWorley for a few years now so we have a tendency to go the same places rhythmically which you can hear on the Bridge . . .

We Rejoice

This song is just plain sick, I mean it has a literally fatal disease on it. It’s just nasty. I love it.

I stuck with “Mary-Jane” and actually turned off the Memory Man for the majority of the track. I used the LTD-Lil Big Muff for all the nasty Intro and Turnaround stuff then the LTD-/13 stuff for the Choruses and Solo Section. Although the solo on the record is panned over to the left where most of my stuff is that’s actually the brilliant @LanceGatch playing it. The single note hi stuff on the bridge is LTD-DD20 (Modulate/half-note/long tail) Memory Man-RV5

Victorious

“Mary-Jane” LTD-DD20 (Modulate/quarter note/long tail)- Memory Man- RV5. I swelled in the notes on the first Chorus playing the same idea from the other Choruses just simpler. Oh yea, I have flipped the lil DIP switch on my Ernie Ball VPjr to smooth out the swell rate. I turned off the RV5 and DD20 for the Prechorus riff then back on for everything else. Again with staying close to the vocal melody for the chorus line . . .

Sing Forever

“Mary-Jane” again. She really did get the majority of face time on this record. For the first time on the record I used a dotted 1/8th delay. Went with a lil thumb slap thing (sometimes I wish I played bass; not really though) for the intro. I kept the tone real simple throughout the whole song. I think I turned the RV5 on for the down bridge part (the Explosions In the Sky soundin thing). It was fun playin a lil duet part with @LanceGatch there. Then, just kicked the /13 on for the bending double stops going into the last chorus.

Give Me Faith

More of “Mary-Jane”. Used the Memory Man and DD20 together while have the DD20 on “Tape” with 2-heads and 8th note with short repeat then the MM made a syncopated repeat. It was one of those things which is quite subtle and you can’t even hear on the record but I had fun geeking out making. I played root notes and chords throughout so there wasn’t much in the way of tone changes. I just stayed in the background driving root notes accenting a “horse-trot” kind of rhythm to give the new version an understated pulse.

All Things New

This one was fun. First of all, it’s in C#. C-freakin-#. What’d I do? That’s right, I copped out and grabbed the bow. Bwahaha!!!! No, it really needed it I think. I even looked at the bass player @PrestonHayden and asked if he thought I was overdoing the whole “bow gimmick” and he reprimanded me for the thought.

Mack told us he wanted a note to sustain throughout the entire song so I put the DD20 on “Reverse” at a dotted half-note and 100% feedback then grabbed my Ebow (YES!!! I used a bow and an Ebow!!!! INSANE!!!!) and swelled a G# in then an octave lower then turned on my Whammy w/ Octave up harmony and did the same two notes again. Then I turned off the DD20 but since it was set to 100% FB (feedback not facebook) it sustained throughout the entire song. Once I had created the sustained notes I switch to the ES-125 and bow and kept that tone simple with the LTD-Memory Man-RV5 which also effected the sustained notes coming from the DD20.

You Reign Alone

Went to Jimmy’s Strat tuned down a half-step still. LTD-Memory Man. I played rhythm and went with a Bazan-ish lo double stop with open “D” string (which was actually Db) on the Choruses and Bridge. For the second and third Verse I put the DD20 on dotted 1/8ths and played a lil arp part on the neck pickup so it’d mellow out and be kinda synth-like.

Give My Life to You

This may be my favorite track on the whole record. Usual ambient tone with DD20 on Analogue at half note and long tail. Ebow on verses but dropping an octave for the second Verse. It was fun switching from the Ebow to the moving part on the PreChorus like I’m a real guitar player and stuff who has to do things live, ha! Again with following the vocal melody on the Choruses and Bridge. Mack comes up with some beautifully emotional melodies and the two of us worked a good bit back and forth on this one for the Chorus/Bridge line. I think it really turned out great.

Our King Has Come

Once “Give My Life to You” was done @ChrisdotBrown went to the piano and while the rest of the band walked off the stage I kept the same tone as before and added the Whammy an octave up and did simple swelly swells to pad behind Chris. It was a magical moment being on the stage alone in the dark hearing our church all singing together, “He is alive and we are free, He is alive and we have found our Peace. Our King has come”. I could hear them just fine with my monitors in but pulled them out to hear their true voices. It was by far my favorite moment of the night; more than any cool leads or parts I got to play . . .

treasure hunting . . .

“Letters From a Stranger” -Chad Davis

Produced by – Andy Cherry

Recorded and Mixed at Bright City Studios Ft. Mill, SC by Joel Weldon Willis

Mastered by Glen Tabor at Gat 3 Studios Charlotte, NC

Andy Cherry DM-ed me on twitter back in the latter part of this past Spring asking me to Engineer a project for him. He was producing one of Charlotte’s little secrets in the worship community; Chad Davis. Due to budget restrictions we only had four days to track the six songs and three to edit and mix them. I got a lil excited about the challenge. Cherry brought in some top guns, Lee Worley on Drums and Preston Hayden on Bass, to knock out the rhythm tracks as quick and solid as possible then killed all the guitar tracks himself. After Joel Khouri brought his texturing skills with Keys we had a nice bed for Davis to lay down his silky emotive vocals to. Cherry also brought in some of the best vocalists in the area; Chris Brown (Elevation Worship), Sarah DeShields, Alexia Davis, and her sister Olivia Riggins; to add big muscled Gang Vocals then Elena Martin to broaden the spectrum with Strings.

When I was deciding how I wanted to mic the Drums I chose to change things up a bit. I used a pair of Cascade Fatheads as my Overheads and Audix SCX-Ones for my Room pair. Usually, I’ll use these mics in the opposite configuration (Ribbons as Rooms and Condensers as Ovhds) but I wanted a “Fatter” Close Mic’d drum sound and more detail in the Room if I needed. It worked out great. The rest of the kit was mic’d the same as usual- B-52 in the Kick Drum, Mylab outside the Kick, SM7 on Snare top, B57 on Bottom Snare, B57 on Hat (I know, I know, I like my hats a lil dirtier and crunchy) Audix D4 and D6 on Toms, Audix SCX-One (hyper) on Ride (pointed right at the bell). All the mics on drums (Kick, Snare, Toms) went through our Amek console which I used the board’s EQ before hitting the converters, and the Ovhds, Rooms, Hat and Ride went through the Grace m801 pre’s for more transparency. The only exception was the “Kick Out” mic I put through a Summit Tube Pre and slightly distorted it for more “oomph”.

For more of a “Live” feel we tracked Drums and Bass at the same time in the same room so they could watch each other and tighten things up. These guys are so solid it worked perfectly. I ran Preston’s Marcus Miller Jazz Bass (with J-Retro pre) through a simple DI and reamped it with his old (60-something) Ampeg Flip Top. Big ol’ fat dirty ballsy bass. I mic’d the amp with a Beta 57 and ran it through the Summit Tube pre. For the track “Zealots (In Our Town) we wanted a nasty fuzzy Bass tone so while re-amping I plugged my HBE UFO Fuzzbox in the chain . . .

Cherry brought his massive pedal board setup by Motley Customs in and plugged his Tele and my Riviera (Josephine) in the front of it then into an Oldfield amp which sounded like a nice cross between an AC30 and a JTM-45/Bluesbreaker combo. I mic’d it up with my favourite mic for Electric Guitar, a SM7 which I ran through the Summit Tube Pre. I just love this pre, it’s so warm. With this Mic-Pre setup it sounds like you’re standing right in front of the Amp. His Gibson Hummingbird I mic’d with the Se Tube Mic and Mylab and it instantly sounded amazing. Didn’t have to treat it much if at all, just a naturally great sounding Acoustic.

For all the String parts I used the Mylab through the Grace pre. For Gang Vocals I mic’d them up with a single SE Tube mic through the Grace and tracked multiple stacks and panned them all over the place. Chad’s vocal sounded real nice on the SE through the Summit and came out with a nice present top end and real distinct mid range.

When it came time to mix I had only three days to Comp, Edit, Melodyne, track more BGV’s and Mix. YES!!! I started off using a lot of the squashed room mics for super energetic big epic drums but the cymbals were washing out the other intricacies Cherry had put in so I pulled back the Rooms a bit and whalla, there were all these lil bits and pieces you couldn’t pick out before. One thing I like to do when mixing, especially when working with a Producer who has fifty hooks in one song, is hide things in the mix. I want the listener to hear something new every time they hear these tracks. I want the listening experience to be like a lil Treasure Hunt. Listen and see what you can find with lil Synth lines, Electric Guitar hooks, FX splashes and washes, Sub Bass. Ha . . .

All in all, this lil Ep turned out to be quite rad. I guess that’s what you get when you have a great Artist writing songs from their heart exposing their soul; an incredible Producer who can mold those emotions and ideas then surround them with hooks, melodies, and arrangements that capture the listener; top notch musicians who pour more creativity than snow in an avalanche; and a few long hour days into a recording. Be watching iTunes and Facebook for the initial digital release of Chad’s Ep “Letters From a Stranger” coming out in the next month or so . . .

"Time" Drum Tracking

Scratch Traxx 2

scratch.traxx . . .

i.said.i.would.sing.again.and.never.did . . .

The last time I went home was for a few days before I left to tour the country mixing for John Mark McMillan. I was itching to go back and rearranged my schedule to make it happen. The week before I left a good friend of mine called to inform me another close friend has Colon Cancer. My buddy is my age and has Colon Cancer. Colon Cancer! You’re not supposed to get Colon Cancer ‘til after retirement right?! It knocked the wind of me.

After going home then being out on tour for a few weeks my friend called again to ask a favour. My favourite band of all time, Shangrala (who coincidentally broke up around the same time I last visited home) is getting back together for one last show. They’re putting on a benefit show for my friend with the Colon Cancer and they’re selling an Ep at the show with all the proceeds going to help him with medical bills. Shangrala will be recording a few songs they’ve yet to release and they are asking other artists to cover Shang songs they’ve already released. They want me to Master it. It’s going to be amazing.

After I agreed to Master the project for them my friend asked me to cover one of their songs. I haven’t done my own music in years. I am honoured he would ask me to be a part but I am also pretty damn nervous. Do I still have the goods? Did I even have the goods at one point? egh . . .

I began listening to trax I had done a year or so ago seeing if there is anything I could just put Shang lyrics and melodies over. I found one which would work but it felt a lil cheap to me. I want to do this right. One long day in the van John Mark brought his acoustic inside so he could work on some stuff. I was sitting between his case and him. When he was done and Jims was done playin around he handed the acoustic to me to put back in the case so I took and and began searching for something. I think I found it. I will covering Shangrala’s song “Time.” I turned it minor and it’s real dark. It’s real ‘me’ I guess. The few people I’ve let hear the demo for it tell me it’s awesome so that’s cool. I’m kinda scared to see what happens . . .

Monday I begin tracking my cover at Bright City Studios. I have some of my favourite musicians coming in to lend hands. Lee Worley will be drivin the camper on drums, James Duke will be adding some of his guitar wizardry, and Shae Wooten will be puttin out the vibe the whole two days in here while greasing things up with French Horn, Clarinet, and whatever else . . .

I’ll be posting things here and there (twitter.facebook.wherevers.) throughout the process if you feel like following along as I try to figure this out. The show will be August 20th at Jack Rabbit’s in Jacksonville, Fl. As far as I know the Ep will only be available at the show so you should go. Help my friend beat this Cancer Crap . . .

We Got Reviews on Reviews . . .

Glen Yoder- “While You Were Young”

There is a review on theblueindian.com (http://www.theblueindian.com/2010/06/01/1876/) of an Ep I worked on with Joel Khouri at Bright City Studios. It completely rips it apart. The review refers to Yoder as an Artist for teens and youth groups. I read this review and agreed with the “teens” portion but not the entire review. Glen Yoder is extremely “Pop” oriented in his writing of melodies and hooks which I believe is where Beth, the reviewer, was getting the phrasing for Teen Sensibility from. Glen’s melodies and hooks stick in your head, make you nod, and tap your foot for hours and days.

When I read this review I “Tweeted” something terrible. After drinking a bit on an empty stomach and not much sleep I was not in the correct decision making state of mind. I said I agreed with the review even though I hated it. Bad call Joel Willis. Bad Call. While I agreed with the “Teen” portion of the review I did not agree with the entire review which is the portion I hated. Unfortunately in my “influenced” state I lacked the cognizance to portray how I felt regarding the entire review so I decided to review the review myself . . .

“ Glen Yoder’s music is for the 12 to 16 year old youth groupers at your local church.” -Yes and no. Glen’s music IS for the 12 to 16 year olds as much as most music all of America loves is for 12 to 16 years olds; Poppy, head nodding, foot tappin goodness.

“ His music is showy, pseudo-new wave pop, without any substance or verifiable shimmer.” -Showy? Hells yes. Pseudo-new wave pop? Most definitely. Without any substance? Say what? Glen’s lyrics are so substantial they smack you upside the head and tug at your heart. Verifiable shimmer? How can you be “Showy” without “Verifiable Shimmer”?

“ I mean, if you like a dash of Owl City in your life, then maybe you could play through this EP a couple times and walk away satisfied.” -I will say Owl City is not in my personal iTunes library but he is one of the top Artists out there at the moment. Who wouldn’t want to be compared to someone bigger than themselves? Glen could be just as big and mainstream without the bubble gum. If Beth was simply trying to be mean while cutting him down and comparing him to a mainstream artist she should have used Justin Beiber. Which is obviously not a worthy comparison, for Justin.

“Don’t get me wrong, I understand his message. Songs like “Hollywood” reflect the feeling that Hollywood is far from wholesome, and is there anything really fulfilling on the boulevards? But his thoughts are translated into whiny singing and a low, brooding guitar in the background that’s almost reminiscent of a sad Blink 182 song, but lacking the engaging percussion that could make it a foot-tapper.” -Apparently Beth does not understand Glen’s message. “Hollywood” isn’t about Hollywood, it’s a breakup song. I love Blink 182 and their sad songs so I won’t even jump that train. The percussion on “Hollywood” adds to the depth and dimension of the song. It’s not a Dance Floor song. It’s one for the heart, not the romp.

““Hope” talks about how “Under His blood you see the sons and daughters are dancing free,” and while it starts off with dance-y, contagious, and riveting intro, the vocals feel less like singing and more like fast-talking.” -This is the Dance Floor song. Four on the Floor, Claps, Synth lines, oh yes. Love it!

“In “Greenland,” Yoder tries his hand at an echoing voice, but it winds up competing with the guitars and percussion. Frankly, Death Cab For Cutie wrote a better song about a highway with “405”—Yoder managed to make an entire country sound boring in the span of four minutes and thirty-five seconds.” -”Greenland” isn’t even about a country. Glen writes using metaphors, you know, like every good songwriter in the world.

““Goodnight, Goodnight” is the only interesting song on here, instrumentally. It sounds less processed and competitive, more genuine and engaging. It’s got a standoffish, slightly moody guitar in the background, flowing over the residue of chords left by the other one. His vocals don’t sound like they’re begging for an audience, which is entirely refreshing.” -Finally, Beth tries to compliment Glen. The funny part is it’s the most processed song on the Ep. I won’t go into exactly how the song was produced and all but this comment made me laugh.

Overall, Glen Yoder’s Ep “When You Were Young” is surprisingly good, on it’s own and also once you consider the fact this is his first release. It’s young and vibrant yet solid in character. The genius of a Producer, Joel Khouri, worked with Yoder to take songs which potentially could have been mediocre and made them into hits. Look for Yoder to be around a long time, quite a long time . . .

So, after writing this post and finally finding internet access I found that Beth from theblueindian.com had posted a revised review of Glen Yoder’s Ep. I applaud her for giving Glen another chance. The new review makes it apparent she relistened to the Ep and still didn’t like it. Though she gave it another try she still had not grown to like it, which is fine, but I do not agree with her reasons for not liking it. I am certain there is plenty of music Beth enjoys which I do not. Everyone is entitled to their opinions which is what I love about music. It hits different people in different ways. I for one love Glen Yoder’s music. It grabs you, makes you shake your romp, then rips tears from your veins. We’ll be hearing from Glen’s soul for quite a long time . . .

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 . . .