I wanna rock!: 01/01/2006

Brian Baker Session

2 weeks ago I recorded Brian Baker who is a guy I work with. He happens to bear the distinction of being from one of my 10 favorite cities in the US, Austin, TX.

A few weeks prior to the session I recorded I hosted a little mini-jam with Brian, Ed (another co-worker) and myself. We had never played with Brian before and had no way to assess his talents without playing with him, so we invited him over and went for it.

Brian plays a nice G&L guitar and sings, Ed played bass, and I sat in on the kit. I didn't spend any time setting up mics and figured we would just play and see how it goes, but 2 songs into the session I Imediately regretted not setting up or pressing record.

Brian is a talented dude, he is an excellent guitar player in the alternative, punk/pop kind of way, and in addition to having a ton of original material he is creative enough to make stuff up. He is able to just go with a thought and a chord progression and make a song on the fly.

So now to this session that I recorded. I played drums, Brian played guitar and sang. The idea was to record the session freeform (which I am getting better and better at) and see what would come of it. What we got was about 13 songs of Brian playing solid solo guitar with me doing my best to keep time. The songs are all good (interesting and creative) albeit raw. The recording is pretty good too, although I am still struggling with the vocal levels. I clearly am having troubles dealing with the proximity issue still, and without having someone ride the faders I can't imagine that I could do better. I might try some limiting/condensing as a postprocess step, but I really like the natural sound that comes from leaving tracks unprocessed.

So I pulled a handful of track off and burned a cd for Brian, and it occured to me to ask him if it was OK to share the tracks and post them here on my blog. He replied "let me finish going through them to see which ones I won't be embarrased to share". So if Brian isn't too embarrased I will post a track or two here on the blog.

Needless to say it was fun, and educational for me.
Here are some sample tracks:
Brian Baker One
Brian Baker Two
Brian Baker Seven

You can find Brian's Texas TISM project here.

Mt. Tabor Studios

I thought I would post something about my studio, since a lot has changed and I have been actually recording stuff in it lately. Sometime last summer I moved my project studio out of the house where it had shared my office since before I knew that I was creating a project studio. As happens with these things I simply outgrew my office, what with the drum kit, guitars, amps and recording gear.

I had taken to playing guitar in the garage in the spring (when it was still quite cold at night) so that I could practice and record stuff that I was working on in my free time. Free time for me comes after 9:00 pm when my family is asleep, and they don't take kindly to guitar and singing practicing. The second garage in my house was used for parking a car, storage and contained a workbench and some tools. It had no heat and was mostly just a mess, but in a pinch I could sit out there in the cold with my guitar and play and sing without disturbing the family.

I finally decided (with a little suggesting from my wife) to give up the indoor parking, condense the storage and work space and make a studio space for myself. It has evolved from it's modest beginings to a very practical space for myself, the band, and others to come and play and record.

It is decently equipped with instruments, and recording gear, has decent acoustics, and a space heater that keeps it perpetually around 68 degrees.

I have recorded several combinations of folks with decent results and am working on refining the studio, my sound engineer skills, my production skills etc.

MTS SE View - Here you can see my workspace, amps and cable storage. You can also see that while I condensed the workshop and storage the studio still semi-opens to the remaining garage space. That will change this spring hopefully as I plan to wall off the rest of the garage with a "soundproof" wall.

MTS NE View - Here you can see the windows that I have heavy wool blankets hanging over to kill the echoes off the glass and keep that pesky light out.

MTS SW View - The flag, guitar hangers, white board (with the Christ I'm Chuck set list) and the Bass rig. You can also see the "little space heater that could" that makes me comfortable year round.

MTS NW View - My drum kit.

MTS Workspace - This is my workspace, my monitors, multitrack, drum machine, 2 space rack with effects processor, and condensor/compressor. Also note the baby monitor. That is key to the success of the studio.

Barn Rock Prep

Here are some tunes I recorded at our Barn Rock Practice last night:

I'm a Man
JJF - This is NOT the new ending!
Last Dance with Mary Jane
Louie Louie
Long Haired Country Boy

Walter Trout and the Radicals

Saw these guys in Las Vegas last night and they were excellent. His biography uses terms like guitar hero and guitar gladiator. Pretty excellent straight on blues!

Walter Trout and the Radicals

They also had some cool vintage gear, particularly an old vintage rotary speaker box. I took some photos at the show and will try and get them up soon.