Getting Signed Or Getting Smart

Over the last three years, there are two artists that I worked with. Each artist had very different music marketing paths. Both bands were well funded internally, but didn’t have much of a local draw. They were both great bands, and had the potential to create equally successful careers from a music standpoint.

One band scraped and fought for a record deal. It was a small deal, with a label that no one had ever heard of, but they “had a deal”.

The other band hired a publicist and released their record pretty much on their own.

The result?

I never hear about the first band. The second band I see in national papers, blogs, and opening for major label acts all of the time. They are selling records and getting noticed.

The first band “got signed”. The second band “got smart”.

Bring To Life Those Digital Pianos

A real piano is a huge asset to any recording studio. Barefoot, where I work, has a beautiful Knabe grand piano that is used often. If you are stuck using digital keys, there is still hope.

1. Try pumping the digital keys back out into a room and recording the sound of the room. Blend this in to the original digital keyboard track. This works very well if it is the same room that other instruments on the track were recorded in. It helps to “glue” all of the elements together with a cohesive ambience.

2. If you are mixing in a studio with a grand piano, and you want to keep your awesome piano performances, you can re-amp the digital piano signal back into the piano enclosure. This will excite and vibrate the wood and strings of the piano, which is often the element lost in a digital representation of a piano.

3. If you are using fender rhodes, wurli, or synth tracks, it can be a fun effect to run those through the piano enclosure also. Think of it as “pianoverb”

If you want further information on how to get your digital piano tracks to hold up to the real thing, send me an email shaneoconnorrecording@gmail.com

Recording Bass With Andrew Dow

On Saturday I recorded bass for 9 songs for the new Kelli Eagan record with session bass player Andrew Dow. Andrew is a great bass player, with subtle 70’s style feel and vibe.

We worked out of The Moontower Recording Studio in Somerville Ma.

For a DI signal we ran the bass through a Neve 33421 mic pre with no compression. The DI sounded very present and accurate, but lacked a beefy and thick low end.

We also ran the bass through a West Filmore tube bass amp. Andrew borrowed this amp from a friend, and I had honestly never heard of this beast before plugging it in. We ran it into an Ampeg 4×10 cabinet with an AKG solid tube mic about 6 inches away from the grill pointed at the center of the speaker cone. The mic was amplified with the No Toasters Nice Pair mic pre.

This amp signal, in combination with the Neve DI sounded stunning. It was the perfect balance between amp tube distortion and clean Neve DI sound. The great part about getting an awesome bass sound from the source is that the player reacts positively to a great sound. Andrew really opened up and started playing in the pocket once we had the sound locked in.

Video is a REQUIRED change.

As I have discussed, for some artists the album is over. For other artists, the album has just changed it’s face into something that has to be devided/ remixed/ reworded/ and newly packaged.

Video, on the other hand, cannot be ignored. It is the new album for some. It is the new radio for others. In our cluttered internet landscape, it is harder to avoid a video than it is to ignore audio or text. Simply put, video is more emotional.

So what does that mean for a musician? It means that the notion of recording your songs in a studio and putting it on your website might not be good enough anymore. There is another step in the process that has to be considered.

I was talking with a good friend of my mine last night, who has just started a really awesome new band. He told me that he had no interested in releasing music recorded in studios. He only wants to make amazing videos of live performances. I was put in my place.

Here are some videos I love.

Telefunken AK47 Review

As a continuation of my “geeking out on extremely expensive recording equipment” series, I find it necessary to do a quick review of the Telefunken AK47 reissue. Cleverly named after a blood thirsty gun (kidding) Barefoot Recording Studio has one of these monster tube microphones.

It is possible to find a plethora of reviews about this microphone, but they are usually in reference to other tube mics, and their response to the human voice. I prefer this microphone as part of a “mid side” pair with a Royer 121 ribbon microphone. I often reach for the AK47 with the Royer ribbon because, especially in omni polar pattern, the AK47 has a very smooth, understated top end, and an unhyped low end. This pairs very well with the dark character of the Royer ribbon microphone.

The result is a mid side pair that can be eqed very well to fit into a track. I have had great success with this on acoustic guitars, as well as mid side stereo room mics on drums.

As a general recording experiment, I often question the “standard” uses of microphones on specific sources. This is a great practice to keep recording chops sharp, and to really understand the equipment in use. A 421 on toms often sounds great, but if great can only be defined by records that have been made in the past, the practice is limiting the possibilities of the recorded format.

The Smoke and Mirrors

Derek Sivers, former owner of CD Baby wrote a great blog post about the smoke and mirrors of how the music industry works. HERE

Is it how good you are, or how GREAT you are perceived to be?

Shane O’Connor Recording Obriens Series

Shane O’Connor Recording Presents:

Showcases @ Obriens
www.obrienspubboston.com
all shows start at 9pm $7

www.shaneoconnorrecording.com
August 5th
Technoir
Tech Noir Myspace
- I recorded a 3 song EP with Technoir with winter at The Moontower Recording Studio in Cambridge. I would describe this band as an updated mixture of Echo and The Bunnymen crossed with New Order or Sonic Youth. Very Noisy and hypnotic, yet occasionally sparse and dancey.

Yes Giantess
Yes Giantess Myspace
-Boston dance rock

Treehorn
A sad singer songwriter moping in his own beer, but in the best possible way. A full band show. Treehorn and I recorded an EP in the spring of 2006.
Treehorn Myspace

Road Apples
The road apples are one of my favorite bands in Boston right now. I would consider their sound a more aggressive and dark version of David Byrne.
Road Apples Myspace

August 12th
Birds In The Woods
I finished a full length album with Birds In The Woods this spring. The record will be released this fall. I would describe Birds In The Woods as incredibly skillful modern soul/ rock.
Birds In The Woods Myspace

Robert Gillies
Berklee singer/ songwriter.

Ian Schwartz and the Sour Candy Orchestra
Crazy acoustic string band thing. super pop melodies.

August 19th
De Osos
Quickly becoming a juggernaut of Boston indie rock dominance. We finished mixing “Collider” their second EP this spring.
De Osos Myspace
Love Connection
its funny, you have to see it.
The Red Royal
Boston 70’s style indie rock

The Purpose Of A Record

Barefoot Recording Studio Back To Analog Recording

At the end of June, Barefoot Recording Studio (the studio that I work out of most often) will be rewiring to accomodate:

A Neve 8816 Summing Mixer

This unit takes the outputs of protools, and sums it together in the analog domain. Why? you ask…
Analog summing creates subtle, yet important harmonic distortions which are often precieved as wider, punchier, more 3D. Better yet, it is a more elegant way to incorporate the already slick collection of outboard gear to a mix.

This upgrade will also allow for use of the Sony/ MCI 2″ Tape Machine. Why would I want to record to tape? The question is complex, but here are some great reasons:

-Tape has a certain sound. It is an analogy of the incoming signal, not a sample of it (digital). There is a smoothness that cannot be had in digital.

- Tape compression sounds unlike any other compression. Tape naturally compresses music in a pleasing and harmonically rich manner

- There is no undo! You have to commit to your performances. It is a limitation that has created some of the best records in history.

- You can brag to your friends “oh I recorded that to tape man….”

These are just some of the reasons that I could come up with quickly. Have more important reasons why tape is still an important medium, let me know. We will be offering rental reels, so buying tape will not be a problem. hit me up with an email, and we can set up a studio tour of Barefoot and the new additions. shaneoconnorrecording@gmail.com

Shadow Hills Mono Gama Mic Pre Review

I tend to shy away from gear reviews with my blog, in that there are so many blogs who do just that. In the past, I have reviewed free plugins, or odd recording devices that I find interesting. Since I started engineering out of Barefoot Recording Studio in Brighton Massachusetts I have been using more high end gear on a regular basis.

This month I will be reviewing a few pieces that I find extremely interesting.

Shadow Hills Mono Gama in API 500 Series Format

The first remarkable thing about the Shadow Hills company is their keen attention to aesthetic design. This mic pre looks like a cross between an Orwellian toaster oven and a crappy NASA experiment. The knobs and switches all feel very solid and have a classy brushed black coat of paint.

The purpose of this pre is certainly not to come anywhere close to clean. In a similar manner to the No Toasters Nice Pair, which I reviewed a couple of months ago, the Gama is a character piece that is meant to be used for instruments that need to stand out in a mix. There are three options of selectable transformers to choose from. The unit that I regularly use is an eight channel version with 4 channels modded for a descrete, transformerless pre. The options are described as Nickel, Iron, Steel, and descrete. Although I have read other reviews that claim on transformer is clean and one is dirty I find this to be a bit of a misnomer.

Depending upon how hard the pre is driven, and what the source microphone is, I find that any of the options can sound “clean”. This is the magical aspect of the Gama. It is very colored, but changes with microphones. I still find new colors and textures coming out of this box every time I plug it in. A U87 in Nickel may sound very smooth and classic with acoustic guitar, but with a growling electric guitar, the same signal chain can appear totally clean.

If this is a preamp you are interested in, I would be happy to bring you into the studio and show it to you. just send me an email: shaneoconnorrecording@gmail.com