This summer brought a few changes to the studio routine.  1st off, the entire studio was rewired.  16 channels of mic preamps were sold off, along with about 10 channels of compression and various other pieces of gear.  In it's place are 2 DW Fearn VT-24s and a VT-7 compressor.  Trimming things down!  So we're maxing things out at 11 channels of all tube front end (8 channels of Fearn, 2 Hazelrigg VLC-1s and a custom tube DI built by Geoff Hazelrigg).  Couldn't be more excited about this change.  Less inputs means less mics, which means a slightly more old school approach.  Less "option paralysis" and most importantly, really, really good sounding recordings.  The new business model is something along the lines of "if you want the hi hat mic'd, here's the number of a studio down the street".  Not exactly a recipe for "commercial studio success", but a shift in ideology.  Build a strong sound and vision and the rest will fall into place.  It's time to actually start steering the ship.  

Here's a clip from an upcoming release.  

It was cut to DSD https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_Stream_Digital using 3 ribbon microphones, then transferred to Pro Tools for the mix.  I think it sounds fantastic (despite the video looking pretty meh).  More on my DSD adventures in the near future; I'm still on the fence with whether the sonic benefits are worth the extra steps (and whether they're even noticeable by the time you get to mastering).    

Later this month, I'll have the honor of opening up for Free Form Funky Freqs- long time friends and longer time heros.  It will be somewhat of a sound-design type of affair interspersed with some original compositions and possibly a cover or two.  A couple of guitars, a pile of effects, a sampling device, feeding a stereo pair of amplifiers.  

Nice little surprise-  This album was recorded in one short day and mixed in just two half-day sessions.  Awesome to be a part of.  Not only was Ian writing out charts (for a gig later that night) on the session, but the band was unrehearsed for the most part and sight-read pretty much everything.

...And the material was not easy.  Guitar and Keyboard chord voicings were identical.  

Check this one out!