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 . . .