Russ Barrnett: Tracking complete!

And now, for some very exciting news; Russ' album is completely tracked! For our final recording session, Russ and I felt it best to fill White Lightning (my minivan) with as much recording and musical equipment as possible, drive two hours to his home in Granby, Connecticut, and finish the album in the company of his dog, Gibson.

Every moment of the 36 hour recording session, from recording vocals, to eating lunch, to sleeping, to picking the most appropriate shaker, was streamed live, online. It was really exciting, and something I plan to do again for future projects. Recording in Russ' home reminded me of how hampering it can be to record in school; by the time a studio is booked, equipment is booked, equipment is delivered (or not), instruments are set up,  microphones are set up, and lunch break is over, no one has the energy to actually be creative or spontaneous. Not to mention, the next student is undoubtedly coming in two or three hours earlier than one would like.

Guess I have some repressed frustration... But back to the favorable side of things: what comes next...

Russ and I just launched a campaign on Kickstarter.com to raise money for the mastering and duplication of the record. I would divulge the compelling and action-packed details, but wouldn't you rather just see the movie...

Spring Break: Day One

According to JetBlue’s LiveMap channel (channel 013), I am currently flying at a speed of 439 miles per hour, and at an altitude of 33,673 feet. And according to prior research, I should be landing at LAX airport in about four hours.
I’m hoping this Spring Break gives me the opportunity to catch up on some blog posts. I’ve really been yearning to write. Let’s start with The Dandy Lions.

This is the second time I’ve written about The Dandy Lions in my blog. The first was documenting what would end up being The Dandy Lions’ 3rd failed attempt at recording an album (which you can find here.) I really can’t imagine why; brother/sister frontmen Dante and Lena Deleo are two of the most genuine people I know, a quality which often seems like a rarity in the music world. 

It’s difficult to write a blog post about music without music, but I suppose this one, (like most of them) will have to suffice with writing and photographs. I’ll give them a talking to, and see if they’ll let me post a sound clip…

***WARNING*** You are now entering “The Gearhead Portion” of this blog post.***

Since the first time I saw The Dandy Lions perform Freshman year, (this was before I had a beard,) there has always been a live, spontaneous quality to their music that I love. I knew from the start that I wanted to be involved; I wanted to capture it in the studio.

The first step in doing so was ensuring we all played live. And so before we set foot in the studio, we rehearsed. A lot. Once we felt the performances were ready, we had to make sure the sound of the actual recording was going to be fitting.

In order to keep this blog post from being a novel (it’s already absurdly long) I’d like to stick to the recording of the drums, as everything else was approached more or less the same as usual. In keeping with the live, spontaneous quality of The Dandy Lions that caught my attention to begin with, I used a variation of the Glyn Johns technique, using only four microphones, and relying on the sound of the drumset as a whole.

The first microphone used was a 1950s RCA 77DX ribbon microphone, placed about six feet in front of the drumset, at roughly the height of the snare drum. Ribbon microphones, by nature, have a dark, gritty sound to them that can be quite fantastic.

However, this microphone alone sounded too unfocused, and so a second room microphone was used for clarity's sake. This microphone was a GrooveTube 66 tube microphone, and was placed behind/to the right of the drummer, equidistant from the snare drum as the ribbon microphone in front of the drumset.

Contrary to the ribbon microphone, this microphone is bright and crystal clear; mixed with the ribbon microphone, the drums sounded glorious. As an insurance policy (in case the balance or tone of the drums needed tweaking) I placed a microphone (Shure SM57) on the snare drum, and another microphone (Sennheiser MD421) about a foot and a half away from the bass drum, facing it.

Success!

Dandy Lions in the Doll House

Playing with Dandy Lions in the Doll House (but more commonly known as The Dandy Lions) has been one of the most fun projects I’ve been a part of since getting to SUNY Purchase College. It all started up on Bear Mountain, when Dante Deleo turned to his sister, Lena Deleo, and said “Lena we should make a band together.”

Lena thought it was a good idea, and so Dante and Lena did the most important thing a band can do: picked outfits. After agreeing on the aesthetic of a pocket watch, a vintage wedding dress, and an old vintage sombrero, Dante and Lena moved on to their next most important decision; their band name. They were soon known by the mountain folk as Dandy Lions in the Doll House.

Clad in 1920s garb, roaming Bear Mountain under the nick name “Dandy Lions,” Dante and Lena took the last step in creating their band. They wrote a song.

This past weekend, we got into my white minivan, drove into Connecticut, walked into Sammy’s basement, and recorded some songs. John Feliciano was the man on bass. Enjoy the pictures!

The Saga of Andrew Fox: Chapter 2

The other day, I ran into a Mr. Andrew Fox in the lobby of the SUNY Purchase Music Conservatory. He urgently summoned me to his side, pointing excitedly at the screen of his Macbook Pro.

This kind of insistent, innocently intrusive behavior is normal for Andrew Fox, so I happily obliged him by putting a pair of headphones over my head, and on to my ears. "Get ready" he said with a grin not unlike the grin pictured above, and then double clicked. My ears were confronted with an onslaught of soaring trumpets and trombones, shimmering strings, and the heartbeat of Spencer Murphy's and my bass and drums. It was Disco Institute: half recorded, unmixed, and without final vocal takes. Considerably incomplete.

but WOW!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Andrew Fox has done it again! Or at least, he's doing it again. Throughout the course of this 5 minute 43 second song, I received enough weird looks to count on both hands, due to my outbursts of laughter and "Oh my God!"s.

I've since begged him to let me upload a 30 second sample of the song. He kindly agreed.

And so, friends, Romans, and countrymen, lend me your ears. This is Disco Institute.

***Editor's Note***
Upon my request for a copy of Disco Institute, Andrew kindly sent me a super compressed, low quality version of the recording. Enjoy!

The Saga of Andrew Fox

My first memory of Andrew Fox takes place in my Freshman year Songwriting I class. It was one of my very first classes in college, and the idea of a college education was still fresh and new to me . The class was an open forum, where students could present their songs-in-progress to the class, and receive feedback. Andrew Fox stood up, walked to the piano, informed us that his song-in-progress was titled Londonistan, and proceeded to play a song that got to the heart of just about every musical genre stereotype there is, including Klezmer, broadway showtunes, Arabic Pop, 1970's Punk, and some good old fashioned Rock and Roll.

One year later, Andrew is in the studio recording his album. Tom Rosato, SUNY Purchase alum, is engineering the record. Spencer Murphy (earlier mentioned for Madeleine McMillan's record) is playing bass, and I am lucky enough to be playing drums.

Andrew's recordings, track by track, are becoming epic, and Andrew is becoming known to regularly run out of available audio tracks in Pro Tools. One of his more popular songs, Disco Institute, will be rooted in drums, bass, electric guitar, and Andrew's voice, but will be augmented by tubular bells, latin hand drums, fourteen cellos, ten violins, trombone, trumpet, tenor saxaphone, distorted guitar, and french horn.

Go Andrew!

In Studio with Madeleine McMillan

My good friend, Madeleine McMillan, is a singer, songwriter, and pianist in the SUNY Purchase Studio Composition program. I met her Freshman year in my required Songwriting I class. I was intimidated by her for a long time. She was from the Upper West Side, had long black hair with bangs, wore Doc Marten boots, and sat alone. However, our conservatory is only so big, and before I knew it, she was helping me order Doc Martens of my own from Zappos

I've been lucky enough to play drums for her since Spring 2008. She's also enlisted the services of two of the best groovesters at Purchase, Spencer Murphy on bass, and Rob Hokamp on guitar. I couldn't ask for more.

The following video is my first ever attempt at making a movie. I'm sure this will be somewhat obvious. The documented session was "drum day" which explains the relentless focus on me. Pictures to come.

By the way, I should mention that the recordings of Madeleine's voice and keyboard in the following video are temporary scratch takes, meant only to give the drummer (me) a road map of the song.