Forgotten Genre Productions

I came across this video in a typical meandering social media progression. My old acquaintance Charlie Peacock has a blog that I suggest you check out, that he referenced on his facebook page which showed up on my news feed. From there I watched this video and discovered That the female here is Joy Williams who I did a show with years ago when I was touring with Waterdeep. They loved Joy and already had prior knowledge of her work but I heard her for the first time that night. She has a beautiful voice and has teamed up with this gent, John Paul White. This song is hauntingly beautiful and gets me in the way much of the Deadman music gets me. Also to note is the use of the Heil PR20 mic on Joy’s voice. As some of you may know I am a big fan of the Heil mics and have and use quite a few of them in the studio myself. Actually we used the same mic on Jennifer Lewis’ voice for the Trash & Glory project. Of course we used the gold grill and refered to it as the “Diva” mic.I will have to do more research on the Civil Wars but for now enjoy this video and check out Charlie’s post of the background of  it here.

 I realize I have been hung up on a lot of guitar toys lately but this one takes the cake, or at least fills a gap for something I have been waiting for. As all you gear savvy engineers out there know NAMM 2010 just wrapped up in Anaheim CA. For all you unsavvy engineers. NAMM is the trade show for the music products industry. This is the time when all the manufacturers show new gear and get you hyped up about it. Electro Harmonix released the Deluxe Memory Boy and a few other cool pedals but it is the Deluxe Memory Boy that catches my attention. Heres why. Back in the day (the zeros you know, naughts if you will.) I had a line 6 DD4 delay which I liked. It had some great sounds and you had the ability to have 3 different programs on one pedal. It also had the looper feature blah, blah, blah (not something I use or care about) of course one of the handiest features was the tap tempo which allowed you to quickly adjust to fit into different songs and helped me to pretend or at least try to convince others that I was playing the same song that they were. As is the case with much of life eventually the DD4 hit the wall due to over use and abuse by friendly borrowers and my self. I am not a big Line 6 fan as many of you know and this pretty much sealed their fate in regards to my meaningless support of their products. Their was no way I was spending another 250 or 300 bones to replace the delay. Of course the only delays that I used consistently in the DD4 was the analog w/ mod settings which consequentially was modelled after the EHX memory man. So in my travels I discovered the MXR Carbon Copy which I absolutely love. It is a tone machine and has a warmth and realness that I just like from the get go. I decided to replace the DD4 with a carbon copy. There was only one down side to this plan and that was tap tempo or the lack thereof as the case may be. I even considered some day adding another Carbon Copy and having one set to a lead longer delay and the other set to a shorter slap back kind of thing. Since my Egnater Rebel 20 has no reverb the extra option was even more intriguing. Then I discovered the Memory Boy and the Memory Toy from EHX. 2 different updated versions of the old Memory Man pedals. They were affordable and had that great analog tone. I thought that the memory boy was a little hard to control with the modulation being a little over the top for me but the Memory Toy was just right. I was demoing one for a while and liked what I was getting from it but felt some innate sense that I should just wait. I had long since given up on the tap tempo delay. Alas as I was dutifully trolling the NAMM releases to keep informed I came across my dream, The Deluxe Memory Boy WITH tap tempo people!!! It’s too good to be true. So now I have to wait untill they actually release them. Feast your ears on this video clip.

In preparation for this  recording session with Doug Plank and Crossway Church I have been getting my Guitar rig in order. As you see from my previous post I added a guitar. The other recent addition is the Wiggler from Electro Harmonix. Electro Harmonix makes some great pedals and the wiggler is definitely one of the greats. The thing I love about EHX is their pedals have a certain warmth to them. They usually go from subtle to over the top and have a definate analog feel to them. If you are looking for pristine sparkly clean EHX is not the way to go but if you are looking for character they nail it. I have found that when you are mixing in the box and have access to hundreds of plug ins things get a little too clean. I tend to prefer a more organic approach to tone. The only critique I have about the EHX pedals are they tend to be a little noisy. Now there are ways around this. I find as a player I need to be more aware of rolling the volume down when I am not playing. This is becoming somewhat of a lost art with all these processors and pods etc. out on the market. Back in the day as players tried to control the noise issues they discovered that their tone changed a little at different volumes and they used it as one more tone tool in their tool bag. They also discovered the volume swell which is a technique that I would certainly like to perfect. I am still refining the volume roll off.Ok, back to the wiggler. A couple of things that are interesting about the wiggler. There is an output control at the top left. You can use this to drive your amp a little for fatter slightly knarlier sounds. Oh yeah that brings us back to one of the clutch features; Tubes, baby, tubes. The wiggler has 2 12ax7wb tubes in it to give that tone mojo that we like. It is an all tube path and it sounds lush. You also have 4 different character options for vibrato and true amplitude modulation tremolo. Not only am I excited about using the wiggler with my guitar rig but I am anxious to use it on other sounds patched out of my recording rig. Sometimes having knobs to grab onto is more vibe inducing then clicking on a mouse so I am looking for another exciting tone mangler. I will keep you posted on the results.

For Christmas this year I decided I was going to get a guitar. The last couple of years for Christmas I used my Christmas money on studio gear. One year I upgraded my Studio computer, one year it was an ART Pro Channel tube channel strip, another year it was a mic I haven’t made any guitar purchases for a long time. This year however I am about to start on a project where I will be playing a little guitar and a little bass and I wanted to have the tools for tone that were necessary. I actually came close to purchasing a Les Paul Traditional Gold top. I never really saw myself as a Les Paul guy but I picked up a limited edition Les Paul for a customer of mine. There were only 100 of these models available and when it arrived in the shop I thought to my self, “what is the big deal here about a les paul. Aren’t these just over hyped over priced guitars with a name stamped on them?” So I pulled out the guitar and tuned it and played it and loved it. First of all the neck was solid on it. I like a big fat neck on my guitars, which is why I have kept my Washburn grover jackson designed MG410. If I could find another one of those guitars I would buy it in a second. They are worthless on the market but the neck is the fatest neck I have seen and the frets are these huge jumbo frets that are so easy to play. I am not a fast player I am really looking for tone. So much of the tone comes from the neck and thin little heavy metal necks do not cut it for me. Anywho, The Les Paul blew me away. I had this plan that I would put it on law a way and sell some gear and have the guitar some day. After dwelling on it for weeks I came to the conclusion that I could not justify spending that kind of money at this point in my life. I still wanted something so my quest went on. In searching I came across the JA-90 Fender Tele which is the Jim Adkins Signature tele. Jim is from Jimmy Eats World. I loved the idea of the P90’s and the different tonal options there. I started to lean towards this guitar and as I was researching it I discovered that the guitar was modeled after Jim’s TC90 tele that was no longer made when I saw the picture I loved the double cut away and the over all look. The guitar also has a set neck which is  a very nice feature. These guitars were made in Korea and the workmanship was excellent on them. On a whim I decided to do a search to see if Guitar Center had any used ones in the chain and sure enough I found one in Oklahoma City. I ordered it and waited. It arrived last week and I loved it. In the mean time I decided to take my lovely wife’s advice and clear out some of the gear that I was not using because I was waiting for the right project. I traded in a guitar and a couple of pedals that I had not used in a while and ended up paying much less than I would have for the Paul and I have a unique guitar that I love.

I heard a great interview by a friend of mine Kevin Breuner with Howard Massey about his book Behind the Glass. This is volume II which has just been released. I am a sucker for these books that document and interview pros that have recorded projects that I respect and are legendary in there own right. Some quick background on those involved is due so let me fill you in. Kevin Breuner was the guitar player in the Grammy nominated band, Smalltown Poets who I toured with as a road manager back in 1998. Kevin is now working for CD baby. Cd Baby is the largest online distributer of independent music and is a great resource for all of you interested in getting your music out to the masses. Howard Massey is a producer and engineer and author who has written many books on recording and equipment. The interview between Kevin and Howard was extremely interesting and delved into the difference in the business in this day and age compared to the climate when Howard wrote Behind the Glass volume I. They talk about how many of the big name guys are working at home now. Check out the interview here  Also they are offering a 25% of discount on the book so jog over and enlighten yourselves.

Ronan takes some time to talk to Larry Crane and John Baccigaluppi from Tape OP Magazine. Tape OP is hands down my favorite magazine and when it comes I read every single page. This is an interesting interview about how they got started.

It seems Daniel Lanois has a little side project operating under the name of Black Dub. He has teamed up with Brian Blade Daryl Johnson and Chris Whitley’s Daughter Trixie Whitley It is some cool stuff. Trixie is a powerful voice and has some of her dad’s spooky soulful bluesy vocals. As time goes on Daniel seems to get more and more wacky. I’m not sure if it’s the drugs or just his ego drug but even his interactions with Brian are awkward and they have been working together for years. It is also freaky how he ghosts around Trixie while she is cutting her vocals. Enjoy this video of him mixing a track.

“Black Dub” in the studio - MIXING - “Love Lives” from Daniel Lanois on Vimeo.

On December 5th I had the privaledge of hooking up again with my friends in The Waiting. The Waiting was the first band I toured with. They hired me as a monitor engineer and stage manager. I started off making $700 a month and just couldn’t imagine life getting any better.( Of course this was way before I met my wife). Out of all the bands I toured with, which I love very much, (with 1 exception who shall remain nameless) the Waiting was the band that was most like family. We had an incredible time together touring through wins and losses. For much of our time together we traveled in a 24 foot Isuzu box truck that we bunked out. Half of the truck was equipment and the front half was our living space. we built 2 bench seats and 5 bunks and had a dorm fridge and a TV and VCR for entertainment. We laughed a lot and tried to figure out how to survive in the music business. The one thing I loved about the Waiting was that they never played a bad show. They worked the hardest out of any band that I toured with to entertain the fans. I never saw a Waiting show where people were not on their feet dancing or pogo’ing. They were not the most naturally talented band I toured with but that never stopped them from working hard for their fans. They were also the most engaged with their fans. It was great to reunite with them. This was the first show they played in maybe 6 or 7 years and it was a lot of fun.

WJTL was very kind to ask these guys to get together for one more gig for their 20 year anniversary. When we were touring the band always looked forward to playing in Lancaster and had many friends from the Lancaster area. It was fun to see so many of them out that night. Of course The Rainchildren opened up for the Waiting and if you have followed this site you know my love for those guys too. I will try to refrain from fawning over them even though they played another amazing set. Seeing them play is like going to school. I just take notes. Steve Bridgeman was even better than the last time I saw them.  The whole band was so good together. I honestly cannot get enough of them. I hope they can overcome the challenges and bless us with new material some time soon.

Do yourself a favor and look up some of the Waiting’s music and see for yourselves what a gifted band they were.

We are excited to be moving into a new studio space in Lancaster. It has been awhile in the making but we are finally moving forward. We will be teaming up with an organization by the name of Evolve 2 Trust. These guys have been working with Urban Gospel and Inspirational artists in the Lancaster area and had many of the long term goals that FGP aspires to. They were in need of some technical advice and engineering help and we were looking for a home in Lancaster city so we teamed up. Look for a grand opening in January or February. We will be adding a control surface from our friends at Euphonix. The MC Control and MC Mix system will be installed and we will have 16 faders and full control of Pro Tools and Logic. Look for an upcoming review of the system once we get it up and running. Since we are mixing primarily in the box and it is 2009 the Euphonix artist series seems to be the perfect choice for us. The room is an adequate 15 x 20 and will be a control / live room. In it’s formal life it was a walk in freezer for a produce company so it is sealed pretty tight with no bleed from the outside. We are looking forward to upcoming projects for Doug Plank and Crossway Church in January and finishing up mixes for “Big Red” from here in Lancaster and “be lyrebirds” from Canada and points beyond. We will also be having some classes available for recording and mixing in the near future. Contact us at bookings@forgottengenre.com if you are interested in more details or have any other production needs.

Lately I have been on a quest to organize the studio a little, of course my wife’s gentle prodding was a small factor. I have a guitar rig that is on a pedal train pedalboard and is centered around a Tech 21 Liverpool pedal that provides my amp tone direct so I don’t have to lug around an amp. Also included is a TS9 Tube Screamer, a Voodoo Labs Sparkledrive, Boss FDR-1 pedal which is their 65 deluxe reverb pedal. I use it for a bit of verb and a tremolo that I can tap the tempo to. And then a crybaby wah and an MXR Carbon Copy delay pedal which I love. That covers me for now on live gigs that I am using in ear monitors for. I don’t need a loud amp on stage and the liverpool gives me that vox AC30ish tone. When it is dialed in it is workable. The problem was I had a lot of pedals left over that I was not using and instead of letting them clutter up the studio or being shoved in boxes, I decided to build a racked up guitar rig that I could use in the studio for tracking and re-amping. This rig is based around The Egnater Rebel 20 amp head and single 1 x 12″ cabinet. This is a sweet tone machine and boutique amp designed by Bruce Egnater. The cool thing about it is it is just 20 watts and you can variably select between 1-20 watts. This means you can get tone without blowing your ear drums which is important in a small strategic studio layout. The other thing that is flat out genius is the fact that the amp has EL84 tubes (Like an AC30) and 6V6 tubes (Fender etc) and you can also variably select and blend the 2 tube styles together to have the best of both worlds. It is a great amp and I couldn’t be happier with it except the fact that the amp does not have re-verb on board (Egnater now has the rebel 30 head which does add re-verb and 2 channel use. It is also quite tasty) I then have another TS9 tube screamer, a Digitech Hardwire CM-2 pedal that has surprising good tone. and a Frantone Peach fuzz that is a boutique fuzz pedal with some snarl. Then I have an old MXR Stereo Chorus pedal that sounds great, but is a little noisy. I also am picking up a Electro Harmonix Memory Toy which is a killer analogue delay that is reasonably priced. As you can see by the picture I have an opening for another drawer and I will probably put volume based pedals in one drawer and time based and modulation based in another drawer. I have a couple other pedals laying around that need to be added also. At some point I will add a Radial X-Amp re-amp box so I can use the rig for re-amping when I am mixing projects. Also some of you old timers might recognize the ART SGX2000 guitar rack effects unit. This was a terrible sounding guitar effects box from the 90’s that has some really bad distortions and re-verbs delays etc. This I will use when mixing to have another option of effects that I can put my fingers on instead of mousing around in the box, so to speak.

All of this is for a project I am starting in the early spring where I will be producing and playing some guitar and some bass. This is unusual for me since most of the time I just engineer or mix. I am looking forward to the change of pace. Enjoy the pix and if you have some old pedals that are lying around send them my way. I’ll provide a happy home for them.