The Ultrasuede BLOG

Incline District in CityBeat

Tue, 25 May 2010 16:24:33 -0400

CityBeat has a short feature story on Incline District in the May 19-25 issue. Incline District are currently working on their first full-length CD at Ultrasuede.

http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/article-20712-incline-district-(profile).html

http://www.myspace.com/inclinedistrict

So you want to build a home studio?

Thu, 20 May 2010 00:59:20 -0400

So you want to build a home studio? Here is some free advice:

Make sure your mix position is as neutral as possible. If you are hearing reflections, standing waves and frequency combing where you sit, you'll always be working from a deficit. Spend as much time as you can listening to all kinds of music in your mix position so you can learn how it sounds relative to the outside word.

Don’t buy junk (including cables). You really do need quality gear to make recordings that sound professional. You don’t have to buy the most expensive gear but quality gear will always sound good and maintain its value over time. Cheap gear is just a waste of money. Save a bit longer and buy the good stuff. The recommendations below are my personal opinions, based upon my own experience.

If you're going to go digital, get a Mac and a decent interface. If you’re using ProTools, you’re going to have to use their hardware. At least get a Digi002 or Digi003 I/O and pair it with an outboard preamp. Logic, DigitalPerformer, Nuendo, Ableton Live and Cubase let you use the I/O hardware of your choice. Personally, I use Logic. It’s a good balance between an engineer-oriented DAW and an artist-oriented creative suite. The stock plug-ins, instruments and loops are plentiful, useful and sound great.

Plug-Ins:

$ Metric Halo Channel Strip is an affordable, feature-rich, all-in-one EQ, compressor and gate. The EQ is outstanding - one of the best I’ve heard - and the compressor is intuitive and sweet. MH make great stuff and they support it well, too. (They even make a version for GarageBand!)

$ PSP VintageWarmer 2 is a multi-band compressor plug-in that sounds great on mixes, vocals, drums, guitars; almost anything. As a compressor, it’s easy to use and pleasing to the ear but the distortion emulation is what sets it apart. You can dial up anything from a gentle tape-y sound to full on F5 destruction. You will probably want to use it on everything.

$$$ Universal Audio UAD-2 Powered Plug-Ins are hardware-based plug-ins. That means you have to install a UAD-2 DSP card in your computer to use them, which makes them a bit more expensive. On the plus side, they consume very little of your computer’s resources while delivering spectacular performance. UAD’s emulations of classic audio hardware are so good, it’s often impossible to tell the difference between the plug-in and the real thing. Seriously. UAD-2 cards come bundled with a few plug-ins. To get the most out of a UAD card, you’ll probably want to purchase additional plug-ins from their online store. The UAD-2 card is an investment that grows as you add to it over time.

Digital I/O (interface) Hardware:

$$ Apogee Duet - The Duet is an elegant 2-channel digital I/O. It's more expensive than many units with similar feature sets but it’s well worth the price. You can wait on the external mic pre if you get one of these, as the built-in mic preamps sound very good.

$$$ If you can afford it, the Metric Halo ULN-8 is easily the best interface on the market, in my opinion. It is a truly revolutionary piece of hardware with 8 excellent, built-in mic preamps.

Mic Preamps: You’re probably going to spend at least ~$200 per channel for a professional-quality mic pre.

$ StudioProjects VTB-1 - single channel mic pre/DI with tube gain circuit that you can dial in for variable warmth.

$ Sytek MPX-4A - 4 channels; quiet with lost of gain. Suitable for ribbon mics, too. You can buy a version with different op-amps on channels 3 & 4 for a slightly different tone.

$$ Seventh Circle Audio Modular Mic Preamp - This is essentially a case with a power supply. You fill it with SCA modules (sold separately). The company offers several different models, each of which is based on a classic mic pre design. They sound great and cost less per channel because you can rack up to 8 modules in one box. You can buy the modules pre-assembled. If you’re up to it, you can save a bit of money by ordering the models in kit form and assembling them yourself. Plus, you can buy them over time as your budget allows.

$$$ Manley Dual Mono Mic Pre - This 2-channel mic pre has a wonderful silky smooth tube sound; warm and clean at the same time. One of my favorite preamps. Manley gear is never cheap but always worth the price.

A few general mic recommendations:

$ Shure SM57 - affordable, all-purpose mic that no studio should be without. Sounds good on everything. Also worth a listen: Oktava MK-012, Studio Projects C1 and C3

$ Cascade Fat Heat Ribbon mic - a very affordable ribbon mic that sounds great.

$$ AKG414 - all purpose, professional, large-diaphagm, multi-pattern condenser mic found in may studios. A good place to start a serious mic collection.

$$ Royer R121 - This ribbon is my favorite mic for guitar amps, bar none. Also great on horns, strings, acoustic guitar and drum kits.

Speakers - Self-powered monitors are a good value. Tannoy, Dynaudio, Event, Alesis and Mackie all make affordable monitors. You can get a decent pair of powered speakers for under $500. Read up, listen to different speakers at the store. Stereo speakers generally do not make for good studio monitors but they can be great as a second reference.

Headphones are a necessary evil in the studio. Spend too much and you’ll be extra bummed out when they inevitably break from carelessness or general wear and tear. Spend too little and they will be useless, perhaps even detrimental. You’re more likely to get a great performance when the mix sounds awesome in the headphones. The reverse is also true.

$$ For monitoring and mixing: Grado Labs SR-80 are open ear design which makes them comfortable and accurate, but unsuitable for most recording applications, due to bleed.

$ For recording: Extreme Isolation -25db. These aren’t the greatest sounding cans but they are affordable and provide excellent isolation, keeping click tracks and playback out of your recording mics.

Talkback & Monitor control:

$ PreSonus CS-1

A solid book about the basics of studio construction is Building A Recording Studio by Jeff Cooper. http://www.amazon.com/Building-Recording-Studio-Jeff-Cooper/dp/0916899004

Tape Op magazine is free and it's an endless resource for info and creative inspiration.

The Tape Op Message Board website is a great place to learn, share ideas and ask questions. The people are knowledgeable and helpful. http://messageboard.tapeop.com/

If you’ve read this far, please allow me to suggest that recording your band’s basic tracks (drums, bass, etc.) in a purpose-built studio like Ultrasuede is another way to make your home recordings sound better. Our collection of high-end and vintage mics and analog gear will give your tracks a solid sonic foundation as your project moves forward. Our professionally-designed control room is the perfect place to finish your mixes with the confidence that the results will sound great everywhere.

-J

Ultrasuede News - May 2010

Sun, 16 May 2010 16:04:23 -0400

Day Late, Dollar Short...

I have accepted that fact that I suck at blogging. It’s not that I don’t like to write - I do. It doesn’t even take that long to dash off a blog entry. But for some reason, I can’t seem to keep up with it on any kind of regular basis. Maybe it feels too much like a homework assignment?

Here is the latest news out of Ultrasuede, starting with yesterday, which was one of those good days where you start with nothing but an idea and end up with something pretty cool. I’m part of a committee working to help build a King Records Museum in Evanston. To help raise awareness of the King Legacy, a song writing contest was held among several area schools. The number of entries was low but the winner, Danielle from Withrow HS, did a great job incorporating the passion, history and future of King Records and the Evanston neighborhood. Over the last few weeks, Xavier Univ. Music Dept. students, led by Steve Boller, have worked to turn Danielle’s lyrics into a song, which we recorded yesterday. XU is a major backer of the King Museum project. The vocalist, Branden, was nothing short of amazing. A Withrow grad, himself, Brandon delivered a superb performance and blew us all away with his talent for layering harmonies. The finished song will be duplicated on CD and given away at the Evanston Memorial Day Parade.

Wussy continues to record and finish tracks for their next record. This is the band’s fourth full-length (all recorded at Ultrasuede!) but it will be their first w/ new drummer Joe Klug. The approach so far has been to record a batch of songs and then work on each one individually until it’s done, which has worked out well in a number of ways. It’s rewarding to begin the day with a skeleton - sometimes only drums and a guitar - and end the day with a finished song. Most of the time, the songs turn out differently than anyone imagined because the luxury of spending all day on one song leads you to creative places that you don’t often reach when you’re trying to finish several songs in an evening. Musically, creatively, lyrically Wussy is at the top of their game these days. This album is going to be their Physical Graffiti.

Wussy have (has?) also recorded an “unplugged” version of their first record, Funeral Dress. After a slightly rocky start, the session came together with some guidance from thew guy, Joe. The end result surpassed all of our expectations. Look for this on Shake-It in the near future.

A couple weekends ago I engineered a recording session for a 35-piece English-style brass band, The Cincinnati Brass Band. It was, without a doubt, the largest session I have ever engineered. The second largest would be a 12-person choir. Most of my sessions are bands comprised of 3 - 6 people. It’s easy to fall into a comfortable routine and get bored so I welcome a different and challenging project from time to time. (A challenging project, BTW, as opposed to a challenging individual.) I could only mic the group AFTER they were seated in place which was a bit unnerving. I have to give it up to the musicians, tho. They are volunteers who do it for fun and they played through an evening session followed by an all day session. That’s a lot of puckering! I learned a few new things about history and music. The tracks will be mixed by the band’s producer for a CD release in the near future.

Cash Flagg are getting close to finishing their debut LP. It’s been fun working with them because I’ve known most of the band members for a long time but this is the first time any of us have worked together.

UltraSession 001 featuring Guitars was a success. The guitars play Stax-y soul with a healthy influence of garage rock. They were great. Go see them if you have the opportunity. There are pictures here and here. UltraSessions are in-studio concerts where a band performs for about 20 or so fans. The performance is recorded and at some point down the road, The All Night Party will release the recordings.

It’s sad to see that WOXY.com is gone but I am looking forward to the return of B. Niesz. The studio hasn’t been the same without him.

The Magnolia Mountain vinyl fund drive was a success. So much so that they raised enough to make a double LP with a gatefold cover! Seeds and stems, you have been put on notice.

I did a session with a new (to me) band call Incline District.

The Hiders are working through some line up changes these days but work continues on their next record. A true collaborative production, the tracks have been recorded at Ultrasuede, The Bat Cave (Bill’s home studio/rehearsal space) and Wayne Manor, a vacant apartment in Bill’s house where he set up a temporary studio with an envy-inducing assortment of high-end rental gear. Keyboardist Kevin Carlisle has been working on tracks at his place, too. Despite the various recording locations and personnel dynamics, the new LP is a solid collection of great songs that sound awesome. Hiders fans will not be disappointed.

Oxford Cotton’s debut LP will likely get released on Alive this fall. Oxford Cotton is Craig Fox (Greenhornes), Andy Jody (Pearlene) and Mike Lamping (ex-Heartless Bastards). We have 10 - 12 songs recorded with plans to finish up this summer. These guys are talented musicians and long-time friends. Their music is reminiscent of early Black Sabbath; solid, heavy and riff-laden.

Speaking of The Greenhornes, they will be playing their first gig in years this summer/fall in upstate NY. More info as it becomes available.

We got a cool, new Argosy desk at the center of the control room which is perfectly suited to the way we’re working these days. All the preamps and compressors are close at hand and you can see everything - meters, settings, routing - at a glance. The speakers sit right on top at the perfect height and the angled racks actually make the room sound better. There is a bit more clarity and depth to the sound. It’s probably not something anyone would notice unless you spent many, many hours listening but for those of us who have, we can hear a difference. Yes, the Orion console and tape machine are gone. Despair not, for the new system with its high-end analog front end (mics, pre’s, comps, etc.) and custom digital I/O sounds better, is more reliable, easier to use and faster. That means more time for creativity and less time for set up and maintenance.

-J

Magnolia Mountain Vinyl

Tue, 6 Apr 2010 19:27:14 -0400

The new Magnolia Mountain LP, Redbird Green, is finished. It sounds great, of course. Fans of the bands’ first LP, Nothing As It Was, will not be disappointed with this latest recording. Magnolia Mountain is true Americana. Their songs cover country, folk, blues, bluegrass and rock ‘n’ roll. Redbird Green features plenty of guest performances - something that’s become a staple on Magnolia Mountain recordings. Ed Cunningham (Comet Bluegrass All Stars), Jessie Berne (Lagniappe), Adam Pleiman (Kentucky Struts), Michael Oberst (The Tillers), Rashon Murph and Annette Christianson and others lent their talents to the effort. Some of the aforementioned musicians will be onstage with Magnolia Mountain for the LP release party in The Southgate House Ballroom on the evening of Saturday, June 19th. Last but not least, the band is committed to doing both a CD and vinyl double(!) LP. They are raising money for the vinyl with pre-orders and donations. Details below:

Hi friends,

Our band, Magnolia Mountain, is releasing our second album, "Redbird Green", on CD at the Southgate House Ballroom on Saturday, June 19th. In addition, we are trying to raise additional funds so that we can release it as a vinyl double album in addition to the CD. With this goal in mind, we have set up a page on kickstarter dot com, and are asking for pre-orders for the double LP ($25.00) or donations at one of several pledge levels to help us get there.

We've got 30 days to raise the money, so please help out if you can, and please help us spread the word. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

Here's the link:

http://www.kickstarter.com/e/4H1Ke/projects/magnoliamountain/magnolia-mountain-redbird-green-vinyl-project

Peace,
Mark

Mic Upgrades by Ben Sneesby

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:34:18 -0500

So, I get a call one morning - completely out of the blue - from a guy called Ben Sneesby. He’s an Australian, in the states for a few months, offering his mic repair expertise. I’d never heard of the guy but he sounds legit on the phone so I decide to take a chance and have him re-ribbon my RCA44. Ben offered to come to the studio and fix it on site for less than the shipping would cost, were I to send it away for repair. It was in pretty bad shape. The ribbon, which is supposed to be corrugated, was completely flat. I figured I had little to lose by letting him have a go at it. Ben is an imposing fellow. He could easily play offensive line on any NFL team. Thankfully, his passion is microphones. Had I bothered to look him up on Google, I would have learned that he is one of the world’s premier builders of high-end microphones. He maintains strict control over every aspect of the design and building process: from machining the bodies out of solid steel to the diaphragm-ing of the every capsule, which he does by hand. When Ben pulled out his custom ribbon corrugating roller - built to RCA’s own specs - I knew I was in good hands. All in all, Ben re-ribboned the RCA77 and RCA44, put a new capsule, diaphragm and tube in the U67 and rebuilt the MA2’s with new electronics, capsules and diaphragms. It’s like having a drawer of new mics! They sound great. He’s still working on a pair of M500’s, which I’m looking forward to hearing.

Chocolate Horse Session Pics

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:56:59 -0500

Jason Snell from The Chocolate Horse just sent me a link to page of pictures he made during the sessions for their new LP, “We Don’t Stand on Ceremony.”

http://www.thechocolatehorse.com/photographyog/recording-at-ultrasuede-studios-2009/

New Chocolate Horse LP Is Out

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:51:37 -0400

The Chocolate Horse will be celebrating the release of their second LP, We Don't Stand on Ceremony, Friday, Oct. 16 at The Northside Tavern in Cincinnati. We Don't Stand on Ceremony is available on limited-edition vinyl (with digital download). The basic tracks for We Don't Stand on Ceremony were recorded at Ultrasuede by John Curley. C-Horse bass player/producer/engineer Paul Brumm did the overdubs and mixing at his home studio, then returned to Ultrasuede for a final summing and pre-mastering session.

Sharing the bill with Chocolate Horse will be Ultrasuede friends Me or the Moon and DJ Bryan Dilsizian (of The Long Gones).

Buffalo Killers - New Tracks Released

Sun, 4 Oct 2009 22:26:17 -0400

The Buffalo Killers have released two new tracks through their website. The Gabbard brothers split the vocal duties with Andrew singing the lead on “Huma Bird” and Zachary singing lead on “Spend My Last Breath.” The tunes have been on Myspace since September 8. (FYI, the tracks sound A LOT better on the band’s website than they do on Myspace.) A limited-release 45 on Smoke Signals is set to follow. Both songs were recorded at Ultrasuede Studio by John Curley between February and April of 2009.

In other BK news, their Ultrasuede-produced Jimmy Campbell/Rockin’ Horse cover of “Don’t You Ever Think I Cried” is also available. The Killers turned me on to Rockin’ Horse and for that, I will be forever grateful. Looks like they have some new tour dates and an updated merch page with CD’s, downloads and T-Shirts.

Latest News - September 2009

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:02:29 -0400

Wow. It’s been almost 5 months since I posted something on the ol’ Ultrasuede Blog. I guess I’m not much of a blogger. I don’t even really like the word “blog” that much. The studio has been pretty busy, tho. Here’s a rundown of everything that’s been going on...

WOXY.com moved from Cincinnati to Austin, TX taking longtime Ultrasuede freelance engineer Brian Niesz with them. It’s bittersweet. The city lost a valued musical resource and Utrasuede lost a talented and productive engineer (and musician). On the bright side, WOXY is surviving despite difficult times for radio and media in general. Brian gets to move to one of the country’s best-known music cities with a full-time job in his chosen field. Brian will be mixing the Lounge Acts live sessions for WOXY. During his time at Ultrasuede, he engineered/produced records for The Sundresses, Heartless Bastards, Paper Airplane, The Dragline Brothers, Lions Rampant and many others. So we’re very happy for everyone but we’ll miss them, too.

Speaking of transitions, Ultrasuede Studio intern Chad Wahlbrink is off to Nashville for his freshman year at Belmont for their recording/music program. Chad excelled as an intern and I’m sure he’ll be successful in college and beyond. His internship was part of a HS senior study program and he fulfilled the required hours in his first couple weeks. By the end of the year, Chad was running sessions on his own and working on releases for Enlou, The Firs and Pomegranates, as well as his solo stuff.

Wussy continues to receive stellar reviews latest self-titled disc, including one from Uncut Magazine. Wussy was just in to record a couple songs as part of an upcoming series of Shake-It singles featuring different artists covering Eddie Hinton. Other artists include Greg Dulli.

Cincinnati’s Midpoint Music Festival just wrapped another successful year. The All Night Party had our debut on Friday at The Blue Wisp. It was a fantastic way to start our new endeavor. The bar was crowded for the entire evening. Mallory, Scotty Lust And The Two Timers (Louisville), The Magic Shop (Detroit) and The Sundresses all turned in tight, energetic sets. Party goers unable to penetrate the crowded floor could browse The Scene Store which featured a wide range of regional music merchandise for sale. Dozens of artists sold CD’s, T-Shirts, Drop Cards and more. On a sad note, one of the scheduled MPMF bands, The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, had a serious accident en route from Chicago to Cincinnati. The accident left several members of the band in the hospital and destroyed most of their gear. If you’re reading this, take a second to visit their website. Maybe leave them a nice message or help them out with a donation.

Songwriter Robert Cherry dropped in to record a couple new songs with the same musicians that backed him on his 2007 disc, Paint No Devils. This includes Toronto-based guitarist Calvin Brown and drummer Andrew McMullen as well as yours truly, John Curley, on bass. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday. Unless you had Bengals tickets. And they were beating the reviled Steelers. Which they did. Who Dey.

The Hiders were in to work on a few songs for a new album. It looks like this one will be recorded partly at Billy Alletzhauser’s Bat Cave Studio and partly at Ultrasuede, or Wayne Manor, if you will. Even if you won’t.

Silver Bridge Disaster was back in to record a couple new songs. It’s good to see those guys again. Their last visit was in 2005 when they were working on their Death of a Song” CD.

Sohio’s new CD is done and it sounds great. It’s been almost three years in the making, with a few long breaks. They have expanded their songwriting and musical chops since 2006’s “Money and Love” CD. I’m not sure what the new one will be called but it’ll be worth getting. These guys can write hooks and they manage to weave them into pop songs, ballads and rockers with ease. Some of the songs were recorded on location at their band compound, in the rural farmland outside of Hamilton, OH.

Me or The Moon’s CD is done. This is a really cool band comprised of drums, upright bass, Wurlitzer electric piano and m’bira, an African “thumb piano” also known as a kalimba and played by songwriter Matthew Shelton, who also sings. It was a bit of a challenge to get all the different tones and rhythms to gel in the mixes but we did. The result is a catchy and interesting listen that is new, exciting and familiar at the same time.

Sparrow Bellows (formerly The Emeralds) blew in and cranked out an energetic, catchy and thoroughly rocking LP in the time it takes to get your oil changed. The self-titled debut release was mastered by Dave Davis, who did an outstanding job. If you like hooky rock music in the vein of Cheap Trick, you will probably like these guys.

Seth Bender’s new three-piece, Purple No. 7, is working on a record. Basic tracks and overdubs are done. Seth was the singer and guitar player in The Pernicious Knifs, who recorded their CD, Almond Extract at Ultrasuede in 2005.

The Kentucky Struts released a teaser EP for Midpoint highlighting three songs from their next CD. In other KYS news, look for a guest appearance from multi-instrumentalist Paul Patterson. Paul’s day gig is a violinist the Cincinnati Pops but he and his wife, Sylvia Mitchell, who also plays with The Pops, record and perform with many of Cincinnati’s “underground” artists, as well.

Ultrasuede was the site of a recent “trans-Atlantic” recording session. My old bandmate from Staggering Statistics, Austin Brown, now lives in Berlin, Germany. He’s a prolific writer so it’s no surprise that he’s managed to write two albums worth of songs while touring with Why. When the time came to replace the drum loops with real drums, Austin enlisted another ex-bandmate, Keynote Speaker’s Dave Cahill, along with Why drummer Josiah Wolf and friend Michael Horrigan (ex-Afghan Whigs, current Hiders’ bass player) to supply the beats. During the drum overdub sessions, Austin was in the control room via iChat video while monitoring via custom mix straight off the board in near real time. We all thought it was pretty cool.

Future projects include Magnolia Mountain, The Fairmount Girls, The Seedy Seeds, You, You’re Awesome, The Wolverton Brothers and a new Wussy full-length

Ultrasuede Studio is now on Twitter.

That’s it for now...

- John

Wussy Reviews - Links

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:14:30 -0400

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REVIEWS
----------------

SPIN (John Young, 8 out of 10)
http://www.spin.com/reviews/wussy-wussy-shake-it

Washington Post (Bill Friskics-Warren)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/20/AR2009042003506_2.html

Pop Matters
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/92770-wussy-wussy/

MSN Consumer Guide (Robert Christgau, Grade A)
http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=14518

Crawdaddy
http://crawdaddy.wolfgangsvault.com/Review/Wussy-Wussy.html

Rolling Stone online (Christian Hoard)
http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/05/20/new-music-report-wussy-plus-of-montreal/

All Music Guide
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/discography/index.jsp?pid=698663&aid=1249403

Amplifier
http://www.amplifiermagazine.com/reviews/cds/wussy_cd_1.php

KEXP
http://www.kexp.org/reviews/review_artist.asp?artist=Wussy&action=artist&type=0

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FEATURES
------------------

Magnet Mix Tape
http://www.magnetmagazine.com/2009/05/13/wussy-makes-magnet-a-mix-tape/

CityBeat Interview
http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/article-17769-the-music-should-speak-for-itself.html

-------------
BLOGS
-------------

Caught In the Carousel
http://www.caughtinthecarousel.com/top10s/wussy.php

Songs Illinois
http://www.songsillinois.net/2009/04/wussy-not-so-much-shake-it-records-april-9/

The Fire Note
http://thefirenote.blogspot.com/2009/05/wussy-wussy.html

Outsight Radio
http://www.podcastdirectory.com/podshows/4626675

BlogCritics
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/stations/bc/bcradio/2009/04/22/BC-Radio-Live

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REGIONAL
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Chicago Reader
http://events.chicagoreader.com/chicago/Event?oid=1103275

The Other Paper (Columbus)
http://www.theotherpaper.com/articles/2009/05/28/music/doc4a1e94e958e92360248376.txt

CityBeat
http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/blog-524-wussys-latest-is-their-greatest.html

Cincinnati Examiner
http://www.examiner.com/x-10131-Cincinnati-Indie-Music-Examiner~y2009m5d11-Local-band-alert-Wussy