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Please vote for my entry in the Stanton Moore Video Contest!
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Spent Friday playing drums on the new Buskin & Batteau record at Fox Run Studio in Sudbury, MA. One of the tunes featured one of my all-time favorite singer/songwriters, Jonatha Brooke, on vocals. Definitely a dream to play along with her in my ears.
It’s always great to be a session musician and refreshing to not have to engineer. The always wonderful Neale Eckstein was manning the board for this one.
My office for the day. Engineering the new Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band record at Blue Jay Studios in Carlisle, MA.
The Loudness Wars: Why Music Sounds Worse
Though it’s a few years old, this NPR article is one of the best mainstream examples that is bringing attention to the Loudness Wars. The PDF Infographic on the left is a great visual that outlines how Peak and RMS levels in popular music have been steadily creeping higher and higher over the years.
I had the pleasure recently of attending a mastering session at M-WORKS with the talented Jonathan Wyner. We, along with the artist, decided to retain as much of the original dynamics as possible instead of playing into the loudness battle. The end result is an incredibly punchy record with excellent depth that can be listened to at loud volumes without being fatiguing.
A great example of this is Bob Ludwig’s work on Guns ‘N Roses Chinese Democracy. Ludwig discusses how the band chose a master he printed that contained NO compression that was used for loudness. He also discusses a similar approach when mastering Tool’s 2006 release, 10,000 Days.
Some of my favorite records over the past few years that have had great commercial success, while also maintain a fairly wide dynamic range:
Mastering Matt Nakoa’s debut record at M-Works in Cambridge, MA by the wonderful Jonathan Wyner.
Recording Bach - St. Matthew Passion with Grace Design’s m802 and m902.
Microphone setup as follows:
Decca Tree L, R: DPA 4006
Decca Tree C: Schoeps MK21 Wide Cardioid
Choir: Schoeps Figure 8 - Faulker Array
Choir Wide: Sennheiser MKH20
Recording the Símon Bolívar Big Band.
Eric French - Old City Blues EP #1
Eric French has released the first of several EP’s leading up to the release of his full-length sophomore release, “Old City Blues”. Check out the tunes below:
