news
OK Go’s Electronic Art: EP Previews the Elegant Pop Noise of ‘Hungry Ghosts’
Out this month is Upside Out, a four-song OK Go EP that coincides with the use of one song, “The Writing’s on the Wall,”...
Profiles
news
Rebirth Brass Band, ‘Move Your Body’
“The process was basically, ‘Just play,’” says Tracey Freeman, who produced and mixed the Rebirth Brass Band’s latest release, Move Your Body. Freeman and...
news
Chicago Session News 2014
Sertab Erener and Demir Demirkan of jazz/rock/fusion duo Painted on Water recorded their EP Chicago Issue in Studio A with Andy Shoemaker and mixed...
news
Producer/Engineer/Musician Bryan Bell: Making a Laptop/Studio Hybrid Work
If you’ve never heard of Nestler & Hawtin, a pair of soulful young singer-songwriters from Oregon, don’t fret. They’ve barely ventured outside of their...
news
Chicago Producer Brian Deck
Brian Deck has been a leading light of the Chicago music scene for going on three decades now, one of those classic multi-hyphenates: musician-engineer-producer-studio...
news
Columbia College, Chicago
Colleges, especially long-established ones, tend to develop their own cultures. For Columbia College, founded as and Oratory School in 1890 and today a four-year...
news
Chicago News & Notes 2014
Chicago Recording Company recently started a project called CRC Live, which takes a close and personal look at music and the stories behind it....
news
Matisyahu’s ‘Akeda’
“When a performer forgets where they are and really puts it down the wires—that’s what we try to preserve at all costs,” says Joel...
news
Joseph Arthur’s ‘Lou’: Artist’s Tribute to Unforgettable Songs
A couple of months after Lou Reed passed away, A&R rep/music producer Bill Bentley suggested that Joseph Arthur record a tribute to their mutual...
news
Ben and Ellen Harper’s ‘Childhood Home’
“They’re both excellent wordsmiths, and when they harmonize, you can definitely tell there’s that genetic vibration that happens only when people who are related...
news
Kenny Wayne Shepherd, ‘Goin’ Home’
Guitar master Kenny Wayne Shepherd made his aptly named new release in his hometown of Shreveport, La., bringing his band—singer Noah Hunt, drummer Chris...
news
Artifact Audibility
As professional recording engineers, our job is to capture musical performances as clearly and accurately as possible, especially acoustic music. Sure, when mixing pop...
news
Cloud Cult Strips Down for ‘Unplug’
For their tenth album, the eclectic Minneapolis-based indie band Cloud Cult, led by the extraordinary singer and songwriter Craig Minowa, decided to try something...
news
Nathan East: Bass Monster Steps Out With Solo Debut
Bassist Nathan East has played on literally hundreds of albums by musicians of every stripe over the course of an extremely successful career that...
news
Cool Spin: Dolly Parton, ‘Blue Smoke’ (Sony Masterworks)
Dolly Parton has put out a whopping 42 studio albums since her 1967 debut, and to her credit, she’s still giving her all—her voice...
news
Nashville/Memphis News & Notes
Colorado band You Me & Apollo first visited Ardent Studios in Memphis to cut a two-song single with renowned producer/engineer Jeff Powell. However, following...
news
Nashville/Memphis Session News
Country singer-songwriter Martina McBride worked on tracking/overdubbing/mixing in Studio A with producer Don Was, engineer John McBride and assistant engineer Allen Ditto
news
The Old 97’s ‘Most Messed Up’
The Old 97’s new album, Most Messed Up, is a raucous, debauched rock-on-the-road concept album. Yet, the band recorded in a private, light-filled villa...
news
Rodney Crowell: ‘Tarpaper Sky’ Follows Grammy-Winning Duets
I felt like we were making a record that lived someplace between Memphis and New Orleans,” says engineer Justin Niebank about Rodney Crowell’s new...
news
Katie Herzig and Cason Cooley ‘Walk Through Walls’
Katie Herzig’s Walk Through Walls—her third project with producer/engineer Cason Cooley—blends acoustic and electronic sounds that grew from a process the pair have developed...
news
Ozomatli: Bright Days for Eclectic L.A. Groove Band
Famously energetic and fabulously eclectic, the L.A. band Ozomatli shows no signs of slowing down after close to two decades of practically nonstop action....
news
The Story of the Focusrite Studio Console
Audio engineers today primarily associate the name Focusrite with high-quality audio interfaces and mic preamps, a reliable and musical means of getting audio into...
news
Southwest News & Notes
Las Vegas studio The Tone Factory recently acquired a Trident series 80 (32x24), to be installed in Studio A. “It’s an early series 80,...
news
Southwest Session News
Prog-rock band Yes recorded four new songs in Studio A—using a vintage discrete Neve desk with Pro Tools HDX—for their upcoming release, with engineer...
news
Nate Barr: Texture and Color in Television Music
Climbing aboard a used school bus in Queens, N.Y., and driving it 16,000 miles into the heart of South America and back with a...
news
Eric Hutchinson’s ‘Pure Fiction’
Nick Radovanovic mixed Eric Hutchinson’s infectious new pop album in Skies Fall Studios
news
Classic Tracks: “The Letter That Johnny Walker Read,” Asleep at the Wheel
Asleep at the Wheel co-founder and leader Ray Benson estimates that around 100 musicians have cycled in and out of his group over the...
news
Blue Rock Artist Ranch: Deep in the Heart of Texas
As Texas’ music mecca, Austin has developed a healthy recording scene to service the ever-growing number of acts who have grown up there or,...
news
Austin News & Notes
Austin-based band Royal Forest likes to fly in the face of limitations and laugh. Sometimes literally. So far, the band has recorded four songs...
news
Austin Session News
Songwriter Bill Carter worked on new material with studio owner/engineer James Stevens—cut to Pro Tools and mixed on an SSL to ½-inch tape…Punk-rock band...
news
Cool Spin: Lake Street Dive, ‘Bad Self Portraits’ (Signature Sounds)
East Coast quartet Lake Street Dive blends elements of jazz, soul and Americana to create an eclectic pop that’s hook-y yet deep. There are...
news
Lost in the Trees: Everything Changes in ‘Past Life’
Lost in the Trees leader Ari Picker thought he had a well-thought-out map for his band’s latest ethereal prog-folk album, Past Life (Anti). For...
news
The Continental Club: Austin’s Home Base for Performing Musicians
Jamie Wellwarth, production manager at Austin’s Continental Club, has been mixing shows, advancing dates and maintaining gear at the venerable roots-music house for more...
news
Linnea Olssen, ‘Ah!’
Linnea Olssen’s beautiful cello-and-voice album was recorded and mixed in Studio Gix (Halmstad, Sweden). The artist did all of her own recording in Logic,...
news
Eternal Summers, ‘The Drop Beneath’
Distorted guitars and punchy drums create an almost harsh sonic environment for Nicole Yun’s ethereal voice, making Eternal Summers’ new release, The Drop Beneath,...
news
Ladysmith Black Mambazo, ‘Always With Us’
Grammy Award–winning South African a cappella group Ladysmith Black Mambazo recently released Always With Us, a tribute honoring the music of Nellie Shabalala, the...
news
Masters With a Plan: Four Engineers Talk Music, Mentoring and Hi-Res Formats
The job of a mastering engineer today is far different from what it was even 10 years ago. It was once a pretty self-contained...
news
Classic Tracks: “First We Take Manhattan,” Jennifer Warnes
With 20/ 20 hindsight, it makes perfect sense that Jennifer Warnes’ exquisite 1986 album, Famous Blue Raincoat: The Songs of Leonard Cohen, became a...
news
Chris Dugan: From Nu-Tone to JingleTown
It was one of those right place, right time situations. Chris Dugan and his partner, Willie Samuels, had been recording local punk, metal and...
news
A London Taxi in New York City
It was quite visible at the October 2013 AES convention in New York. Right outside the front door, Karen Brinton parked her newest addition...