Ep. 8: Dan Alexander, A Vintage Odyssey

Welcome back to the Truth About Recording And Mixing. Mark Greenberg has been in the Wilco family from back before there was a Wilco. Now he manages and engineers records at Wilco's Chicago recording studio The Loft. From his time in the band the Coctails to his role as the "everything guy" at Lounge Ax to leading the composer collective Mayfair Workshop and to his current role in Eleventh Dream Day, Mark is a part of the musical fabric of the city. This hilarious and heartwarming conversation sheds a little light on why. The Truth About Recording And Mixing is brought to you by the Fretboard Journal from Crackle & Pop! Studio in Ballard Washington and is supported by Izotope. Get 10% off any Izotope product by going to their website and using the code FRET10 on checkout. Topics covered: 0:00:00 Welcome back! Also ... we're going to Chicago! 0:02:25 Welcome Mark Greenberg! Mark's early years learning instruments, starting bands, going to art school, and starting the Coctails. Chicago in the '90s. 0:08:00 Lounge Ax! 0:11:00 The Coctails and how that led to making "music for use". Starting the Marfair Workshop - a multi-composer workshop. 0:19:45 Getting involved with the Loft. Being called in last minute to work on Jeff's first record with Mavis Staples. 0:24:00 The Loft - how's it set up? How does it work? How do they keep all those instruments functioning? Using tape? 0:30:30 Listener question about the Loft and the philosophy of having an open plan studio. 0:32:30 And Zoom froze! ;-) 0:35:00 Pops Staples' final album. Stripping back the layers and rebuilding it from Pops up. 0:40:00 Wilco on the Road & what happens at the studio when Jeff Tweedy is out of town. More about the gear at the Loft & the gear that goes out on the road with the band. 0:45:00 New guitar builders, pedals, amps. Recording gear at the studio. The Neve console that once belonged to Sheryl Crow. 0:55:00 On the value of being ready for a session. 0:57:30 Solid Sound and MASS MoCA! 01:01:40 Eleventh Dream Day and making music now as compared to "then". 01:12:00 The Wilco organization and why it works so well. Mindful leadership from the top down. 01:19:00 Scott McCaughey - Down with Wilco!

Taram EP 17 - Amy Dragon

Welcome back to the Truth About Recording And Mixing. In this episode we talk to Scott Bomar of Electrophonic Recording and now the studio manager at Sam Phillips in Memphis TN. Scott came up in Memphis with the band Impala and has had a long career in both recording and creating music for film. His current band the Bo Keys is a collaboration with many Memphis greats past and present. He has worked at Doug Easley Recording, Ardent, Royal, Sam Phillips and continues to carry on the proud tradition of Memphis music making.

Welcome back to the Truth About Recording and Mixing brought to you from Crackle & Pop! Studio in Ballard, Washington. This episode is features multi-instrumentalist, producer and engineer Steve Dawson. Steve is an accomplished musician and producer (he's won seven Juno awards!) known for his work in Zubat & Dawson, Birds of Chicago, and numerous other bands. He's also the producer and host of the essential Music Makers & Soul Shakers podcast. This conversation tells his story of coming up in the Vancouver music scene in the '90s to his current home in Nashville. We also dig into some of his techniques for capturing a band in a room. 0:00 - Welcome back 01:55 - Listener feedback on overall level of the podcast 03:05 - Listener question on mics for recording singers, traditional and non traditional 07:29 - Welcome Steve Dawson 12:00 - Steve's formative years in Vancouver BC 17:20 - Zubat & Dawson, Great Uncles of the Revolution 21:30 - Bruce Fairbairn 25:25 - the Factory years leading into 35:25 - The Henhouse Studio 44:35 - Touring life with Birds of Chicago & Matt Anderson 49:00 - Pandemic times & remote setups 56:00 - The Henhouse Express - a fully remote recorded song in one week. 60:00 - Steve's upcoming releases - touring in these late pandemic times. 68:36 - The Henhouse Hang, a recording seminar at Steve's in Nashville. 72:00 - Steve's approach to a session with a full band. Mic techniques for upright bass, drums, a singer with a guitar, mandolin & fiddle. 79:00 - upright bass! 86:00 - a brief aside on the Spectra 610 compressor 90:00 - recording a singer with guitar 95:00 - mandolins (and fiddles) 100:08 - Steve's podcast Music Makers & Soul Shakers

Welcome back to the Truth About Recording and Mixing brought to you by the Fretboard Journal from Crackle & Pop! studio in Ballard WA. This episode we speak to Jon Ulrigg of Ulrigg Ribbons & Shiny Box Microphones. Jon has had a long path in both software and old school hardware and has found himself doing expert work in both areas. We are pleased to have cornered him for an hour of so to hear about all of his many passions. 1:10 Listener question about where to find the projects recorded at Crackle & Pop! Warning: shameless self promotion to follow. 3:20: Listener question about Stereo vs. Mono tracks and a question about electronic drums vs acoustic drums. 9:10 Welcome Jon Ulrigg! And welcome to Jon's heavy RCA mics which he brought along to record the interview with. A plug for Latchlake stands. 12:30 Jon's career path. How'd he get here? From software at Microsoft to working networking at Nordstrom to ATT. Finding time to get back to playing into playing music and then - GEAR! 22:50 Beginning to build his own equipment and discovering ribbon mics. From a group buy on the audio forums to starting Shiny Box mics. 34:00 the changing economy and transitioning into Ribbon repair work. 39:50 Working for Brad Avensen's company Silicon Audio and their seismic sensor / laser interferometer development program. 49:00 Installing these sensors on the ocean floor, on the moon and on one of the moons of Jupiter. 55:55 - Let's talk about the different families of microphones - dynamic, condenser and ribbon mics. Let's start with dynamic mics. 01:05:00 Let's talk about condenser mics. 01:11:05 What about multipattern condenser mics? 01:12:30 Listener question about cardioid vs figure of eight and omni patterns and the uses of each. 01:18:00 Uses for the null of a figure of eight mics. 01:20:00 Let's talk about ribbon mics. Design elements. 01:24:25 Variations in design, hypercardioid ribbon mics, acoustical labyrinths and sound damping. 01:27:50 - the actual ribbon element in a ribbon mic. Ribbon lengths, materials, corrugating a ribbon. Traditional corrugation vs pistonic corrugation. 01:38:00 Beyer mics and their ribbons and parts. Jon is currently servicing Beyer mics. Dual ribbons in the Beyer 160 and 130. 01:48:55 Sleeper ribbons, affordable vintage ribbons? Octava ML19s. Rebranded Beyer mics. 01:53:55 Jon's new microphone designs. 01:57:30 Thanks Jon! Gear mentioned: RCA 77, RCA 44, Shiny Box, Beyer Dynamic M260 Beyer Dynamic M160 Beyer Dynamic M130, Shure 57, Sennheiser 421, Sennheiser 441, Dynamic Mics, Condenser Mics, Ribbon Mics, Neumann U47, Neumann U48, Octava mics, Altec 639, B&O mics.