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October 2010

There’s been almost too much going on around the recording and live music traps. Here’s a small taste;

Marshall Cullen of Damien Gerrards has been in the pit producing Tassie band, The Stoics, so he’s been giving the gear arsenal at DG’s a good run. Called into play were Coles 4038 mics on overheads through a pair of 500-series Mercenary Audio 5 pre’s straight to tape. The kick mic was an AKG D112, while snare was voiced via a Shure Beta 57 through Brent Averill preamps and JLM Audio EQs. Bass was captured with an EV RE20 through a Neve 33115, and another 33115 with an SM7 captured the stairwell room sound. All tracking was recorded at 30 IPS on the MCI. Marshall reckons it’s awfully nice to hear tape again.

Brett Moses of Pleasant Valley is trying to squeeze in sessions alongside building his new space – so far he’s succeeding, though lack of sleep is bound to catch him up at some point. Further sessions have been booked by Andrew Kluchareff and are now underway. Brett’s done some pre-production work with Will and The Indians and is also wildly enthused about a couple of sessions with Suzy Connolly! He’s also elbows-deep in a shared project with Martin Martini utilising both Pleasant Valley and Martin’s own Shangri-La Studios in Arncliffe, Sydney. Brett’s keen to put out a nod to Glenn Santry for the advantageous amendments to the Pleasant Valley monitor positioning. Cheers Glenn!

Spacejunk III and Tim Powles recently completed a one-off TVC soundtrack for Volvo Australia, with the possibility of global release. Tim composed, recorded and produced the track with iota and James Harland. Sydney youngsters, The Khanz, were amongst the Junk, with drums recorded in the “white goods room” (a.k.a. laundry) using triggers and pads – add liberal distortion and filters via a Fender amp, then mixed with the live kit. Spacejunk saw three days of big clean drums for Simon Starling with Steve Kilbey producing. Jorden Brebach dropped in to assist with preamp selection and mic orientation, and isolated the tom channels by placing chunks of sonic sponge around each mic (frill-neck lizard style) preventing spill. Tim’s been using the Mojave M200 condenser mic all over guitars – a winner apparently!

Glenn Santry’s HeartBeat Studio has a brand spanking eight-core Mac and ProTools HD3 system to complement the existing HD3 system. Nice for some! He’s also been moonlighting at A-Sharp Studios, tracking an album for alt-country/Americana band, Mother Mountain, with overdubs to be recorded at producer Michael Roberts’ Musycks Studio. Glenn’s currently in the thick of tracking The Shed’s third album of music for kids, which will be a relief to parents complaining about knowing every single song from the previous two albums by heart. Lately he’s been trying out a Bees Neez Producer Series Jade microphone. Glenn’s mightily impressed thus far.

The jet-setting and debonaire Blair Joscelyne of Nylon Studios has been busy composing the new worldwide theme for Smirnoff Vodka, working closely with Sound Designer and Nylon Studios CEO, Simon Lister. Blair’s wife, Jessika Steiner-Joscelyne, recently stepped into the booth to provide vocals for the current NRMA ‘Effortless’ theme. Blair has also just finished a filmic/metal track for Toyota – used on a commercial for the Aurion motorcar.

The inimitable Bob Scott has recently returned from Australian Chamber Orchestra concerts in Slovenia and New York, and performances of the Opera Bliss in Edinburgh with the BBC orchestra. Bob declares the BBC is, “bloody amazing!” Telling us the BBC broadcast crew know what they’re doing, and that the Brit broadcast institution definitely has a few tricks up its sleeve! Rule number one being: Keep it simple!

Nick Franklin of NF Audio in Sydney is mixing an EP for Sydney’s Motel Hotel, mastering an album for The May Strikes from Brisbane, and putting the final touches on an EP he’s been concocting for The Shakin Howls. The studio has enjoyed the addition of a passive EQ with tube make-up stage (Pultec inspired of course), and an eight-channel summing box with transformer outputs – both built by Nick himself.

Will Bowden, officer and commander of the King Willie Sound bridge, has been keeping his head below deck mastering albums for Batrider, Mayan Fox, Sister Jane, Karifi Ensemble, Holly Throsby, Dale Nougher, Gary Shearston, Bryan Estepa, Gail Priest, Andy Collis, Geoff Wislon, and Steven Marquis. EPs awarded the commander’s touch include releases from The Emperors, Artillery Rd, The Bullet Holes, Numbers Radio, Rockets, Howl, along with singles for Urthboy, Belles Will Ring, Hancock Basement, Paper Scissors, Arpline, and Boom Crash Opera. Just the other day, Master Bowden lashed out and scored himself a Fairman Tube Master Compressor! Very, very, very nice.

Megaphon Studios has just launched its new website. The site is chock-o-block with useful information and is regularly being updated with all types of studio news. A forthcoming interactive studio map will help potential studio users pre-plan their recording session by dragging instruments and amps around the virtual studio to get an idea of positioning and isolation for different instruments. Combine this with a good pair of ears, an engineer, and the Megaphon mic collection, and half the work’s already done!

Studios 301 witnessed a blast from the past, with both INXS and Cold Chisel rocking in, and rocking out. Then John Farnham and Marcia Hines (King and Queen of Pop!) put the finishing touches on new releases at the mastering facility. A few other famed patrons popped in, such as Sparkadia, filming for The X Factor, along with Deep Sea Arcade and Philadelphia Grand Jury mastering new tunes. 301 recently improved the recording capabilities in Studio 2 and made the rate more affordable! Studio 2 has also had an injection of gear, including preamps from Telefunken, Neve, API, and Peach: already used this year by Arcade Fire, Lady Gaga, Thirsty Merc, John Butler Trio, Mark Vincent and Ernest Ellis. Steve Smart’s also got a new Sontec EQ in for giggles.

At Shanghai Twang in Fremantle, producer Pete Grandison completed the recording of a new album for the Godfather of Perth roots music, Jim Fisher (Paul Kelly et al). Overdubs included Lucky Oceans of ABC Radio National, Zydecats and Asleep at The Wheel fame on pedal steel, and Mark McEntee of Divinyls fame on guitar. Jim played bass, mandolin, acoustic and electric guitar, and dobro, while Howie Johnstone played drums. Pete also recorded Lucky playing pedal steel on several tracks for an upcoming Shane Nicholson album. Lucky also sat in with his 1937 duolian resonator on a recording for a Big Joe Williams song on a Stobie and Co concept album.

Heading back to Adelaide, the infamous Mick Wordley of Mixmasters is lolling about mixing Amanda Palmer’s last stand in OZ, then Jonathan Burnside arrives back from the U.S. of A. with Slow Chas and The Wildes, but Mick will be squeezing in a record of brilliant covers with Charlie Owen and the Large Number 12s. Mick’s happy to oblige whoever else happens to turn down his street, he says.

In Melbournia, Deluxe Mastering has launched themselves a new website, which includes an online mastering service, and a blog! Head to the new website for a peek. Adam Dempsey’s recent projects include work from New York composer, Doug Gibson, a Georgia Fields single, Silo String Quartet, Yeo Choong, The Death Rattles, Melbourne Guitar Quartet, a series of seven-inch vinyl singles for Oliver Mann, and a seven-inch for The Dukes of Deliciousness.

Tony ‘Jack the Bear’ Mantz has been working on releases for Groove Armada, Dead Letter Circus, Itch-E & Scratch-E, Charles Jenkins and The Zhivagos, Dead City Ruins, Tommy Trash & Tom Piper, The Greatest Nothing, Kid Kenobi, Ashton Shuffle, US producer Burufunk, President Roots, She’s The Driver, the debut for Fuzz Phantoms (new side project Kiss Chasey’s frontman Darren Cordeux), US artist Donis, and a tyDi remix for US producer, BT.

This month at Crystal Mastering saw James Cecil keeping the couch warm. James, also from Architecture in Helsinki, has put the final touches on his album, Super Melody, which was recently RRR’s album of the week. Bands, availing themselves of the comfy couch include Cherrywood, Truce and the Colonel, Apollo Pathway, Hunting Foxes, Eagle and Worm, Tin Pan Orange, and The Wolves. Hip-hop heroes of the month included Dialetrix, ILLY, G-Love, and Mind over Matter.

The Tijuana Productions team (a.k.a. Ben Ackerman and Courtney McWatt), have been busy as bees with a number of varied musical projects on the hop. Up and coming singer/songwriter, Hayley Green, has been working closely with the duo to produce a four-track EP due for release in early 2011. Rob Montgomery and Jon Hindmarsh have been finishing their debut album of straight up Aussie rock, while local hard rock band, Ventura, are working with the boys recording another four-track EP. Earlier this year, Ben and Courtney appeared in a segment on Coxy’s Big Break, writing and recording a track on the spot with host, Melissa Hetherington. The results are on YouTube.

The Base in South Melbourne continues its hectic schedule. Sessions have covered tracking and mixing for local rock ‘n’ rollers, The People, vocal tracking for Tyla B, and acoustic folk artist, Kate Iles laying down beds. Phil Turcio and Gerry Pantazis were in tracking piano and drum parts on the next Englebert Humperdinck record, with Paul Wiltshire producing and Ash Riordan engineering, while Phil, Alexis Nicole and producer, Tony Salter, finalised the demos and guide tracks for Alexis’s debut. For the gear heads out there, Phil Trefal has snuck more mics into the cupboard: a Neumann U67, a Schoeps M221b body and M934b capsule, a pair of Royer 121s, a pair of old EV RE20s and an AKG D12. Lush!

Finally, and also in the south, projects at Studi01-oz include mastering an EP for US rock band, Wolfhaven, and tracking drums for a prog-rock Opus by US multi-instrumentalist, Rich Prewett. Herc is also reviewing Zildjian’s Gen16 Digital Vault cymbal sample package for the Q1 2011 edition of Digital Drummer magazine, and the Studi01-oz mastering workstation has just been upgraded to 192k.

Let us know what you’ve been up to!

Send Brad a sticky-note via brad@audiotechnology.com.au

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