Forgotten Genre Productions

A little while back I came upon some talk about Heil Sound and there new line of Microphones. Bob Heil is a legend in the pro audio community. He was one of the first guys back in the day to focus on High Fidelity in Live Concert sound. He designed and provided the Sound System for the Grateful Dead, The Who, Humble Pie, Joe Walsh, and many others. Bob designed the System for The Who’s Quadrophenia Tour which in itself was way ahead of it’s time. It predated Suround Sound by many years. Bob has been into everything from live sound, to home theater, to designing satelite dishes, to ham radio, to recording and many other fields. He designed the Heil Talk Box made popular by Peter Frampton and Joe Walsh. His latest foray is in Microphone design. This came about as a result of interaction with Joe Walsh, (The Eagles, James Gang, Himself,) Joe is also an avid Ham Radio operator and he asked Bob why he didn’t take some of the mics that he designed for Ham Radio and Release them in the Pro Audio Market. There has been little to no innovation in microphone design for many years and Bob’s Mics were voiced better and more articulate. Bob took him up on the idea and now we have the best dynamic mics on the market. The thing that hooked me was the claim of Condensor like sound from a dynamic. That stood out to me because the situations I get into with recording are often challenging from an isolation stand point and Condensors are just too sensitive. But I love the clarity and articulation of the condensor mic. I decided to give Heil a chance and man did they deliver. I bought 2 PR-20 mics and 2 PR-30’s. The PR-20 is the best snare mic I have ever used. I put this mic up on Snare Top and Snare Bottom and never touched EQ all through tracking and mix down. No need for EQ. The 30 was amazing on vocals and Guitar amps. I have a session coming up where I will be tracking everything Live off a stage and need to control bleed so where do I go first? My Heils of course. The problem is I am coming up a little short so I decide to give Heil Sound a call and see what they recommend. Heil has a mini mic that works well with horns and toms and I was wondering how it would do on snare. Possibly I could move my PR-20’s to Vocals and run a pair of the Handi Mic Pros on the snare (T&B). I spoke with Steve on the phone and asked him a few questions. He was kind and answered my questions as best as he could; and then, heres where it goes over the top. Steve says “Let me put you through to Bob and see what he says.” Next thing I knew a man answers the phone and says “Hello, this is Bob Heil” You got to be kidding me. I’m talking to the man himself, the designer. This man has hung out with Pete Townsand, Joe Walsh, Slash, Sheryl Crow, and a host of others and he was at work AND he took my call. I thanked him for my mics and told him I was blown away by not using EQ on the PR-20’s for snare. He agreed and reminded me that it was because everyones been using mics that where using technology and desigh from 50 years ago. Them he told me a story about when he and Slash were in the studio with Velvet Revolver and over 20 people picked the Heil Mics in a blind A-B test against the studio standards. I thanked him for answering my questions and vowed to tell everyone I meet what an amazing company Heil Sound is. I’m sure Heil Mics will somehow find there way on every album I record from here out. Do yourself a favor and check them out.

Oh yea, there is a fascinating forum at Pro Sound Web Bob is hosting, “Ask Bob Heil” Month during June so check that out for info and Rock & Roll history.

My Friend Josh Cranmer bought me the new Coldplay album and I must say so Far I love it. I was prepared to be indifferent about this release but I was wrong. This is definitely the album I would have wanted Coldplay to make. As a result I thing some of their fair weather pop fans will be confused and not understand what is going on. There is not any shining hit singles on this album but it is sonically deep. Eno brings his mastery of aurel landscapes to the table and he paints some lush textures. I listened to the CD 2 times in a row all the way through on my Sennheiser HD280 headphones and it was transporting. I think Eno pulled out something fresh and gently moved Coldplay from the 4 on the floor simple rhythms of the past albums and gave them a different rythmic backdrop to play with. It is refreshing to see a band with this kind of mileage on them to still be stretching themselves as apposed to being content with the same old same old.

It was another fun night in the city on First Friday this June. Fuax Minx was playing Building Character and people were out in droves. There was a lot happening. We started at Building Character for part of the Faux Minx set and then walked a couple blocks to the Elks Club on Duke Street for the Music for Everyone Cd release party. It was a fun night and we took in sets by Slimfit and another band that escapes me. Cliff b Lewis, Brock Lawley , and Katie Becker were there. Of Course Hiram was in Norway so he wasn’t able to attend but it was still a fun night.

Back in the Studio Again. I’ve been working in one of my Sattellite rooms in the last couple weeks on Mulberry Street, and I must say I am growing to enjoy it. It is a raw big room and I am starting to learn the acoustics and character of it. I am slowly bringing stuff in and moving things to change/ attempt to control the room. It feels like an old school sound stage. The ceilings are high and the room is long. We track primary live without headphones and try to control the bleed. It is exciting and challenging to get sounds; find issues; find our way out of issues  and as always hone our craft. I am anxious to hear how the finals turn out for this session.

I came across this cool show with Daryl Hall from Hall & Oates. The format is him at his house jamming with new artists and bringing some of his old songs into the game. This show is so cool on so many levels. I love the interaction and energy from artists from different backgrounds collaborating on new arrangements and then playing them on the spot on the same day. Daryl Hall is such a pro and he adds that cool Philly soul element to all the songs with those lush harmonies. I love it that almost all the band is singing too. Daryl is also making the shows available in there entireity on his website. www.livefromdarylshouse.com Past shows have featured KT Tunstall, Mutlu and Chuck Profet, and Travis McCoy of Gym Class Hereos. Check out this clip of the guys doing there thing.

I love this song how it brings the philly soul and combines it with Travis’ delivery and then as they transition out of it and kick it old school. What a great musical moment. Of course I can’t relate too much to the crazy drunk girlfriend theme but outside of that the song is great.

Wow, what a busy season. We have been to the wire here at FGP and it looks like it will get busier. We are moving ahead with the East Liberty Street Studios. We are finalizing some design issues and getting a floor plan that we like and looking at our equipment lists to see what we have and what we “need”; then we need to build it. We have also been talking to some people in Lancaster city about an intimate live venue/wine bar that we might be involved in. We will keep you updated with this one. We have also been talking to WXPN about some cool ideas and opportunities coming up here that will benefit you and some of our artists. We encourage everyone to support XPN they are doing a good work here in Central PA let’s show them we care by supporting them and letting them know it. On top of that we have been in the studio on Mulberry Street working with Josh Cranmer, Cliff b Lewis, and a host of others. our summer is filling up for recording projects so if you have been on the fence with setting time aside don’t wait too much longer contact us at bookings@forgottengenre.com and we will get you on the schedule.

Oh yeah don’t forget the CD release party for music for everyone. It is Friday June 7th at the Elks Club on Duke Street. $10 tickets. They have been very supporting of us lets share the love.

The Jazz quintet I have been recording has just settled on a name and it is Faux Minx. I love this name and it was fun to be with them as they chose it. Look for some great jazz from these guys and some great live jazz in Lancaster and beyond from Faux Minx. If you are a promoter and want to book a phenomenal jazz band contact us at bookings@forgottengenre.com.

They just announced the results of the Music for Everyone local artists compilation and it is good news. Out of over 70 submissions they chose 14 songs 4 of those artists are connected with Forgotten Genre Productions. and 2 of those selections were songs that I mixed. Cliff b Lewis and Hiram Ring both had songs selected that were recorded and produced by FGP. Katie Becker and Brock Lawley had songs that were selected and although FGP did not record or produce they are still friends that we have worked with and will certainly work with in the future. Katie Beckers song was recorded by Hiram Ring and John Haughery had some playing time on it. We are naturally very proud of all our artists and it says a lot about our standards and the Artists we work with. We also had a song by Emily Long that just missed the selection process but was a close runner up. There will be a concert to kick the project off and more details will follow. Please support Music for Everyone and the local artists involved.

Website is www.musicforeveryone.net

I spent this past weekend mixing Front of House at the Great Green Festival at the Pennsylvania Rennaissance Faire. It was a fun event unfortunately there was not a great turn out. Sunday was a beautiful day, perfect temperature, and a little breeze. I was at the Boarshead Inn Stage and got to mix Zydeco-A-Go-Go and Elatfa. Zydeco-A-Go-Go was a cajun rock & roll and rhythm & blues band fronted by Pete Gumbo. These guys hail from the Philly area but were a great band a few of the members play together in a blues band and a couple others moonlight with other bands. They kind of reminded me of  Los Lobos with a cajun feel they also played some 60’s soul songs too. They were pros. At these festival gigs there is always a limited amount of time to get things going. These guys showed up, had there gear ready, and flew through a sound check. There was little to no drama and when they played they just had fun. I got some great tones from the guitar player with a sennheiser e609 mic. Truthfully I think anything I put in front of the guy would have worked. He was playing through a Boogie combo with a 3 Humbuckered Les Paul Custom and his tone was great.

Eletfa was a Hungarian Folk and Dance troupe. They were all direct descendants of Hungarian immigrants and had a passion for keeping there culture alive. The vocals were challenging to mix because in Hungarian Folk Music there is not a lot of harmony (until you get into some northern Hungarian areas) So the frequencies of the ladies were in the same zone and I had to carve a little with the EQ to  get it to work.They also had dancers with them and the contra, (viola) player did some dancing and he tore it up. I appreciated the education. I ended up using the Sennheiser e604’s for the Violin and Viola’s and they worked pretty good. They were small and easy to position and with the exception of the Violin mic which doubled as the second female vocalist I used very little EQ on them.

All in all it was a great 2 days and it looks like they may have me back for the Celtic Fling. We will see.

 Lately I have been using and helping others use Ableton’s new Live 7 and had great results with it. Live’s ability to handle loop based recording and do it consistently with stability has caused it to be a force to be reckoned with. The Jazz Quintet that I have been working with David Green has been adding elements of live into there live set. On the surface they are a traditional jazz quintet playing songs from Miles Davis, Coltrane, Corea, and others; then they also play original tunes that they wrote and arranged for this format. The cool thing about these guys are the fact that they are bringing in ableton to do some live looping and sampling to there live set. So you have a couple of different guys that are sampling, triggering, and looping as they add live instruments over the top. Very Cool. Ableton has given them the ability to do it. I have also been in the process of getting a few churches set up to use Live as a part of there Sunday worship. It is amazing how easy Ableton Live is to work with. With the full version you can multi-track and add instruments and sounds that are not included in the lite versions that come with many interfaces available on the market. The sounds and effects are great. One evening we were in the studio using Live and it was so seamless that we ended tracking guitars and bass into Live instead of moving back to Protools. We were amazed. 

Check out the Ableton website at www.ableton.comfor more info they also have some amazing video tutorials that show the possibilities and artists that work with Ableton Live. I will include videos by STS9 and Kid Beyond Enjoy.