I had the privilege to master the Flat River Band’s new EP. All of the songs were beautifully recoded and mixed by Bryce Roberts at Quad Studios in Nashville. One of the cool things about the EP is that the Flat River Band is three brothers, and they cover one of my favorite three-brothers band songs of all time, I Wish You Were Someone I Love, by the Gatlin Brothers. The Gatlin Brothers joined them in the studio on the recording and Bryce did an incredible job layering the vocals. In the just-released video, the Gatlin Brothers join them on stage.
Kim McLean is an amazing, accomplished singer songwriter with credits on albums by Tim McGraw, Trisha Yearwood, and Lee Ann Womack. But she is an incredible performer in her own right and her new EP is a mesmerizing journey into her own life via her seasoned writing and performing talent. We went for a live feel as we recorded this EP in the studio, and it payed off. I wanted to feature her vocals above (literally floating above) the band – so that her voice and the lyrics are felt and heard. The emotion in her voice is everything on this EP, and it can bring you to tears if you’re not prepared.
A release date hasn’t been announced for the EP, but here’s a sneak preview of one of my favorites on the album on my private SoundCloud account.
After a series of great tracking and mixing sessions, the Flat River Band released its EP and video for their new album titled Every Dog Has Its Day. Here’s a link to the video for the title song.
When you hear the songs, you can tell that they harmonize like only family can! In the studio, I wanted to catch the spontaneity and energy that they get during live performances so we recorded the vocals all at the same time instead of overdubbing. The feel is great! The review on Billboard.com was great. Thanks for the shout-out to the studio!
Here’s a live performance of the song:
Check out the entire album on YouTube (or your favorite streaming service)!
So, living in Nashville is pretty amazing if you have a studio. Great musicians are available all the time, you can rent gear from several outlets for reasonable prices, and the there are many world-class techs available to repair, renovate, or modify your gear when needed. On that last score, I have been self-modifying several of my microphones, soldering better capsules and capacitors into my Rode N2 and into a Studio Projects B3 large diaphragm microphone.
After using my Miktek CV4 for a couple of years, and basically loving it for most things, I found that I kept trying to equalize a little high end “zing” – evidently due to the way the capsule interacts with the tube electronics in the body of the mic. I read a Tape Op magazine article about a microphone tech in Nashville named Shannon Rhoades, a guy who used to actually work at MikTek, who could do a killer modification on the CV4. After listening to some digital files of the results he is able to achieve, I bit the bullet (literally – this was not cheap) and decided to go for it. I emailed him and then packed up my CV4 and drove it over to his house. When I walked in, I shuffled past a dog, and a guy coming out of the back workroom with a microphone modified for Martina McBride (I believe it was her, or maybe it was Shania Twain), and met Shannon in the workroom Here’s a little video from YouTube of an interview with Shannon in that room (scroll to about 5:45).
The room was full of microphones, all being modified and personalized for various country luminaries, and Shannon asked me a few questions about what I was looking for in the mic. He got the drift, I left, and he went to work. Two weeks later I returned, paid him through PayPal, picked up the microphone and put it into action recording the Flat River Band (a post to come about that later).
After nearly a year with the modified microphone, using it on vocals, acoustic guitar, acoustic bass, and as a room mic, I have to say that it was worth every penny. What was a really, really good $1600.00 tube condenser mic, was now close to a world-class microphone – the kind you’d pay 8 to 10 grand to use. It has that huge, larger than life, “suck you in sound”, with a silky high end, tight and controlled midrange, full and flowery low end that is really nice to have on most vocals and featured instruments. It reminds me a lot of a Telefunken C12, and for about 1/3 of the price. Check Shannon out at https://www.facebook.com/Micrehab/
John Wiley Nelson (a.k.a. “The Rev”) is a folk and bluegrass songwriter residing in Provincetown, Massachusetts. He was the manager of WOMR, the local public broadcasting station there form some years, and still acts as DJ for a regular bluegrass show. He has recorded several CDs here at Jonymac Studio. Over the years, he has focused more and more attention on hiring the finest award-winning musicians for his CDs: Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Adam Steffey on mandolin, Randy Kohrs on resonator (dobro), Ron Stewart on banjo, and most recently Kenny Smith on acoustic rhythm and lead guitars. He also brings in Kenny and Amanda Smith to produce and perform his vocals. Due to the busy schedules of all of these musicians, it is impossible to get them all together at one time to record. We have to multi-track, working around their schedules. Here’s the process:
The Rev records a rough vocal and rhythm guitar track to click for all songs (I accompany him on guitar)
The Rev creates an arrangement sheet, identifying clearly who plays rhythm, fills, or leads during each song.
Kenny Smith comes in and records a rhythm track for all songs, replacing my scratch guitar track.
Kenny then records any lead acoustic guitar work needed
I record an acoustic bass track
This improved rough mix is sent to:
Adam Steffey who records his mandolin tracks at his preferred studio (sometimes Ron Stewart’s Sleepy Valley Barn in Paoli, Indiana)
Randy Kohrs who records his resonator tracks at his studio (Slack Key Studios, Nashville, TN)
Ron Stewart records his tracks at his studio: Sleepy Valley Barn in Paoli, Indiana
These artists send their stems to me digitally to put into the mix
The Rev comes back into the studio and records his final vocal tracks
Kenny and Amanda come in to do background harmony vocals
Stuart Duncan comes in to the studio here and records his fiddle tracks which provide the “glue” on the CD.
The Rev and I do a good early mix for each song
I finish the mixing and mastering
Because of the quality of musicianship, this process works wonderfully.
One final thing that really helped this new CD. I’ve been less than happy with the basic sound palette when recording and mixing acoustic music such as bluegrass “in the box” in Logic (Pro Tools is not better), so I added an instantiation of Slate Virtual Mix Channel’s Neve console emulation on each bus, and on the Mixbus, and it made an amazing difference. I strongly recommend this! The sound is warmer, rounder, more listenable. The CD is available on iTunes, Spotify, Napster, and YouTube. To hear the album on YouTube go here!
Credenda is a family band: see more here! Three siblings sing awesome harmonies, and the mother performs on keyboard. They came in and tracked a 6 song EP last summer, and we finished up the mixing in the fall. They released the project a few months ago. Kim Mclean produced the CD and brought in Andy Hull on drums, his son Evan Hull on electric guitar and bass, and Charlie Chamberlain on electric guitar and mandolin. The tracking sessions were very creative and spontaneous, and Mclean gave the artists a lot of room to experiment on each track. The results were beautiful.
We first tracked the drums, percussion, bass and rhythm guitars, along with a scratch vocal track. Because the energy between the siblings was so good on vocals, and I didn’t want to lose that, I recorded the vocals at the same time, after the rhythm and lead tracks were in place. That also gave me an opportunity to try out a couple of microphones I had recently hand-wired and modified, using parts from Micparts.com. I had done their Rode NT-2 modification with one of their RK-47 capsules on my old Rode NT-2 microphone, and their Studio Projects C3 modification on an old C3 I got on Ebay. I had also recently asked Shannon Rhodes do one of his incredible modifications on my MikTek CV-4 (more on that in another post soon!), and used that for the lead vocals. All three modifications took the vocals to a new level, and combined with the live three-part recording, the effect is great! Take a listen here!
A beautiful year in the studio. Thanks to all the great musicians who came though the studio this year. It was amazing to work with all of you. Support the arts! Artists make the world better for us all!
Just finished recording John Nelson (the Rev) with his new bluegrass project. Man does he ever roll with some great artists! Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Adam Steffey on mandolin, Randy Kohrs on resonator and electric slide guitar, and for this CD he brought in Kenny and Amanda Smith. Kenny played acoustic guitar and they both sang backup vocals. Check out this great CD today!
Just finished! Mundo Brew’s amazing new CD Consolation Cafe. Its always great fun tracking Mundo Brew, a Brazilian style Americana group from Louisville, KY. The songs written by band leader Chris Elwood with Latin American jazz chords and changes. Once again, the session was “old school” – completely tracked in a four-day marathon “live-in” experience. Chris (vocals and guitar) and Brad Wigger (percussion) lived at the house. Chris’ daughters, Isabelle and Josephine, drove down and stayed at a nearby hotel, tracking backup vocals. Flutist Doug Yeager drove down to track flute and harmonica, and Burns and Lorraine Stanfield flew in from Massachusetts for a day and a half to track keyboards and trumpet and sing backup vocals. Kim Cabrera drove down for Kentucky and tracked saxophone, and Nashville great Jeff Byrd came by and tracked a few more saxophone parts as well – an amazing addition on the song “Wrong Way.” The CD has a lot of live feel and energy and tons of great spontaneity. I’d say it is the perfect antidote to the crazy political climate today. Check it out and pre-order your copy now!
My friend Roger Conner is a first rate wood-worker and just finished designing and creating an incredible guitar stand for the studio. I have admired his work for some time and so one day I told him I needed a stand for the studio, but that I didn’t like the clunky “Crackerbarrel-looking” stands that are on the market. He said he’d be glad to try to design one to my specs, and so he drew a few pictures of what he heard me asking for – sleek lines, not to much of a “slant” in order to save space, not clunky, curves, easy to disassemble for moving, and quality hardwood (preferably mahogany and/or maple).
I went to his shop to see an early mockup prototype, and he was off and running, working in his incredible, careful, meticulous fashion.
Then, last week, he tells me it’s pretty much done, except for the final coats of polyurethane. When he brought it in, i was stunned. Absolutely perfect!
Hand-laminated mahogany and maple for strength, elegant curves, sleek – perfect! I (almost) hate to put my guitar cases on it, it is so elegant. I decided to find a space in the control room with good light, and with great sight-lines for those entering. Roger credits his mentor Brian Oleksa as the primary inspiration and guide for the design in its final form. Roger has decided to add this to his product-line, so if you want one, contact him at: rogerconnertn@gmail.com. All proceeds go to a great NYC Rock Camp his daughter is part of, an organization that increases access to musical instruction for kids in Brooklyn, New York. Current (early bird) price: $200 solid wood; $250 laminate like mine.
Jonymac Studio 