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Chicago Session News

Lo-fi rockers Fake Limbs tracked their upcoming album in the Studer A-820 MCH-equipped Studio A, with Greg Norman producing and Jon Sao Paolo engineering. Because the band tracked everything at once, lead singer Stephen Sowley’s vocals were sent through a P.A. with old Traynor drivers in Center Field (the live room) with the guitar amps. In his own room (Alcatraz), Sowley’s vocals went through two mics, with one overdriving the Yamaha E1010 delay…

Walking Bicycles’ Jocelyn Summer

Electrical Audio

Lo-fi rockers Fake Limbs tracked their upcoming album in the Studer A-820 MCH-equipped Studio A, with Greg Norman producing and Jon Sao Paolo engineering. Because the band tracked everything at once, lead singer Stephen Sowley’s vocals were sent through a P.A. with old Traynor drivers in Center Field (the live room) with the guitar amps. In his own room (Alcatraz), Sowley’s vocals went through two mics, with one overdriving the Yamaha E1010 delay…Avant doom-pop band Walking Bicycles tracked their new album with San Paolo. Guitar and vocal ambience went through a Coles 4038 ribbon mic placed 10 feet away and an omni-directional large-diaphragm prototype mic placed 20 feet away. Singer Jocelyn Summer’s vocals were tracked through a Shure SM7 and Royer R-122 mics.

Wyclef Jean and Jabari Rayford recording in Studio A

Soundscape Studios

Soundscape Studios recently installed Carl Tatz’s PhantomFocus PFS3 monitoring system in Studio A, and also added a Pro Tools HDX system. Studio owner and chief engineer Michael Kolar has been busy working on a number of projects, including two songs with Platinum-selling artist Wyclef Jean. The first track, “Bang Bang Bang,” is about Chicago’s status as murder capital of the U.S. The second track, “Hope N Pray,” is produced by Young Chop, a Warner Chappell composer/producer who also has produced for Chief Keef & Rick Ross. Both songs appear on Jean’s latest, April Showers. Kolar also engineered a three-song EP with Warner Bros. artist Curren$y, entitled 3 Piece Set; new material from rappers Action Bronson (Warner Bros/VICE Records) and Lil Durk (Island/Def Jam); and a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” with Warner Bros. hip-hop artist Outasight, on the studio’s vintage Wurlitzer.

Pieholden Suite Sound

Pieholden Suite Sound

Pieholden spent the first part of this year renovating the studio, building a large “live” drum room with a smaller, isolated “dead” room next to it. A fully recapped Amek BIG 44 was also installed, along with a new Pro Tools HD 10 rig…Chicago native and R&B artist Willis Earl Beal recorded tracks for Nobody Knows (Hot Charity/XL Recordings) with producers Rodaidh McDonald (The xx, Bobby Womack, Vampire Weekend) and Matt DeWine (who also engineered)…DeWine also engineered projects from folk and blues artist Rachel Ries, with producer David Vandervelde; and alt/indie rockers Quarter Mile Thunder, with producer Ben Clarke (and co-produced by DeWine).

L to R: Gospel artist Donnie McClurkin, Hezekiah Walker and Larry Sturm

Chicago Recording Company

Producer Damon Ranger just finished mixing country/crossover artist Brandi Nicole’s new release…Engineer/producer Larry Sturm did overdubs on Grammy Award-winning gospel artist Hezekiah Walker’s new album for RCA Records, with producer Donald Lawrence…Hard-rockers Romantic Rebel are working on their debut release…Mega pop star Lady Gaga has also been privately working out of the facility for her next release.

Gravity Studios

Gravity Studios

Indie folk trio Me You & Her recorded A Lil More Christmas in Gravity Studios’ Studio A. The album was engineered by Doug McBride and Mike Penny, and mixed and mastered by McBride.

Stonecutter Studios live room

Stonecutter Studios

Since opening in April 2012, veteran producer, engineer, mixer and now studio owner Chris Steinmetz has been busy working with a wide range of clients at Stonecutter Studios, including producing southern Illinois band Down South’s first release, with tracking and mixing wrapping up last fall…Contestants Julian Bell and Janelle Kroll from the CW’s reality show The Next recorded their versions of John Mayer’s “Waiting on the World to Change” and Janet Jackson’s “Together Again” in late August…The Ex Senators also came through and recorded an acoustic version of their single “Angel”…Producer Aaron The Titan brought in Mandy Barry tracks for Steinmetz to mix and master…Rap artist J. Crist put together a new mixtape, with Steinmetz engineering and mixing…A portion of the Columbia College Gospel Repertory Ensemble Choir came to record an original arrangement under the direction of Walter Owens, and returned a few weeks later with the full 60-member choir to record a song in 5.1 surround sound.

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