John Agnello (left) and Jay Farrar in front of the Otari MX-80
Jay Farrar has returned to his St. Louis studio to record the first Son Volt album since the 1998 release, Wide Swing Tremolo. For his fourth project, Farrar installed Web cameras in the main tracking room and iso booth, which will allow fans to watch sessions live via his Website, www.jayfarrar.net/webcam, until October 25, 2004.
“The cameras shoot stills every five seconds,” Farrar explains. “I thought it was too voyeuristic to go for real time.” John Agnello is engineering the album, working on the studio’s 24-channel Mackie and 12-channel Amek TAC Scorpion. The studio also features API and Daking mic pre’s, a Universal Audio 1176 and an Otari MX-80 2-inch tape machine.
Farrar’s new album features a new studio lineup of Brad Rice (guitar), Andrew Duplantis (bass), Eric Heywood (pedal steel) and Dave Bryson (drums). “This album is more uptempo and melodic than some of the other stuff,” says Farrar. “Definitely more so than [my 2001 solo album] Sebastapol.”
