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Unusual vocal sound/ R studios Edmonton 
Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 08:58 PM
Posted by Administrator
So we were recording some background vocals on the Social Code record and I wanted to get something that sat far away from the lead vocal. Now usually in LA I have a whole arsenal of cool old strange mics and my Seairland carbon mic I picked up a yard sale years ago would have been perfect for what we needed. Only trouble was I was a long plane ride away from that mic, so after spending a few minutes trying to rig up a vintage phone for use as a mic and a couple of mics from what looked like an old cassette recorder that looked promising but sounded too normal, we finally settled on plugging a pair of headphones into a pre-amp and going with that. I worked perfectly and was exactly what the track needed. That perfect distorted but clear tone we were looking for.
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The Answer Updates 
Saturday, January 17, 2009, 01:26 PM
Posted by Administrator

If you want to check out a great record I produced in Los Angeles last summer, click on the link below and you'll be able to listen to a few tracks from the upcoming record by Northern Ireland's mighty 'The Answer'. They just posted "On and On", "Walkin' Mat" and "Demon Eyes". There is also another song from those same sessions posted called "Hell or Highwater". I love this band and the record we made together.

The new album "Everyday Demon's comes out on February 16th and the band are currently out on tour with AC/DC

http://www.myspace.com/theanswerrock





This was taken by my good friend Bam of Rock'n'Roll TV infamy during the tracking sessions for Everyday Demons.
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Beta Sound Recorders, Edmonton Canada 
Sunday, December 21, 2008, 04:08 AM
Posted by Administrator


So we just got finish tracking drums, bass and rhythm guitars for the Social Code record. We tracked everything at Beta except for the one track that we did at Sound Extractor Studios.

Beta has a great sounding live room and really good isolation and we were able to track everyone together with no problems and their amp collection had even me salivating.

If you are ever in Edmonton and want to record in a great studio with a great assistant and unbelievably reasonable prices for what you get, you may want to give them a call. The number is (780) 424-3063 10534 and ask for Bill Kennedy.
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Social Code, Edmonton Canada 
Friday, December 19, 2008, 07:28 PM
Posted by Administrator


Started tracking the new Social Code Album at Beta Recording Studio in Edmonton Canada. It's the middle of winter and we're in the middle of a major snowstorm. There is a certain point when centigrade and Fahrenheit are the same temperature, I think it's somewhere around -32 degrees, well it's that cold even colder with the wind chill. Once the amps and guitars were brought to the studio, they had to be left for a few hours to acclimate or the finish would crack on the guitars.
Beta is a great studio, it has a kind of 70's vibe and a great sounding Ward Beck console. The studio belongs to and is run by a great producer, engineer named Bill Kennedy. Bill engineered and mixed amongst other things the Nine Inch Nails classic "Downward Spiral" album.
Bill's a great guy and his studio is full of cool old amps and all kinds of cool vibey things. Tracking is coming out really great as the band are super tight from pre-production and they are all great players. The songs are really cool and the singers voice is really strong. This is going to be fun, stand by for more updates.



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Sound Extractor Studios, Edmonton, Canada 
Thursday, December 11, 2008, 04:59 AM
Posted by Administrator
So we were driving around today looking at potential studios and Logan (the bass player) tells me about this studio built into an old racquetball court called Sound Extractor. That immediately got my interest piqued so we braved the freezing cold weather and headed over there. The studio is in an industrial building that used to have a sauna next door complete with a pool and it made me think about this one song we had been working on that needed a different sonic treatment.

The studio by far exceeded my expectations, the sauna had been unused for years and had this cool natural reverb, but the room between it and the studio had this huge natural ambience unlike anything I had heard before. Of course the studio was booked, but they agreed to lets us come in late and track some acoustic guitar provided we were okay with coming in late.

We booked it for 10 p.m the next day as the session in that day was stopping early on that particular night. Then we called one of Logan's relatives who lives down the street to borrow this really great sounding acoustic of his. The guitar was tracked in the main studio using a Royer 121 ribbon mic, and the vocals were cut outside the studio in this the big ambient room through an old RCA 77 ribbon mic the studio owned.

Everything came out really great and it took about two takes as Travis' voice sounded really strong, the studio vibe played a big part as you could tell he loved the way his voice sounded in that huge room. Then we pulled out the studios vintage Magnatone m-15, which has a great tremolo built in and added some moody 'texture' guitar ambience. We were in and out of the studio in less than four hours and the track came out sounding great.

Stu the owner of Sound Extractor is a seriously cool guy and his studio is something else I can't wait to get back in there.
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