Recording Inner Lights

We're down to mixing on the new Inner Lights EP. Everything went pretty well with the new set up, except the loo going on the fritz!
These guys have a great sound combining elements of late '60's early 70's era Stones and Who with the atmosphere and energy of more recent UK artists like the Verve and plenty of southern jam for good measure. A very satisfying sound indeed.
We recorded to a digital setup at 24/88.2Khz and stemmed everything down to 1/2 inch tape and sent it back through the tubes to final mix. I had a chance to use some cool new plugs in the mix including the Waves API stuff which really brought some character to the drum bus, as well as the amazing freeware Dominion transient designer-style compressor to get the drums to cut through even more.
For drum mics we used the usual 57's and 58's as well as a pair of SE1's for overheads. We tracked 7 channels of Ron's drums and one channel of Chris bass DI'd through a TL Audio Fat Man 2 Pre/Compressor.
We set up Trey in the hall and mic'd his AC30 with a 58 on the grill and another about ten feet away and ten feet up, flipped the phase and got some great tone. We put my Space Echo in his effects chain for a more retro sound and some of that tape grit. Worked well.
For Kevin's guitar, I wanted to distinguish it a bit from Trey's so we used a 60's Silvertone tube amp and it plays nicely against the Vox amp. On the lead vocal we used a Rode NT1 FET micthrough a Presonus tube pre and that seemed to do the trick.

Overall I was pleased with the results we got in just a couple of 4 hour sessions. Next up to finish the mix. Check back for that.......

Studio Up and Running

We finally have our studio set up and underway at Musicwise. I think we'll be offering a unique situation; a music store with vintage and used gear and a studio around back. The cool part is that any of our inventory can be used for sessions when you book with us. So if don't own a cool tube amp,a Rhodes or a Space Echo you can have access to one when you track here. And our inventory changes all the time so take advantage, the rates are really good.
Our first full band project is with Inner Lights. We tracked these guys over the past couple of weeks and they sound fantastic. We tracked some of it to 8 channel tape and the rest to digital. I'm mixing that now so look for that soon.

83/84 Tele in Sherwood Green Metallic

Just in: A nice 83/84 Tele in rare Sherwood Green Metallic with Fender OHSC. A ding or two but nothing major. Asking $1399.

RIAA Wants to Cut Artist royalties

Via gizmodo.com




The RIAA always claims that its looking out for the livelihood of artists when it sues the hell out of alleged pirates, but in reality it's really fighting to keep record industry executives rich by defending an outdated and unsustainable business model. While before the PR team at least made an attempt to make it seem like artists were priority #1, they seem to have given up: the RIAA is now trying to cut down artist's royalties on digital downloads.

Yes, the RIAA doesn't think the record companies are making enough and that musicians are clearly making too much. I mean, they get 13% now. Like they deserve 13% for writing and creating the music that people are paying for. Hogwash! Someone had to, you know, encode it. That's worth at least 40%. And hey, these shoes don't shine themselves! So they're pushing to get that rate cut down to a shameful 9%, giving artists even less of a slice of the pie than before.

Of course, Apple, Napster and other large online retailers make the RIAA look like a charity in comparison, with Apple pushing to cut the royalty rate down to an insulting 4%. Yes, Apple wants artists to get a 4% of wholesale royalty rate. Really looking out for those artists, aren't you Steve?

If there was ever a time for a band to try going completely independent, this is it. Why give over 90% of your income away to greedy sleazebags when you can sell your music online without the middleman? This industry needs to be burned to the ground and built back up again; it's broken and it seems less and less likely that it'll be able to be fixed. [Hollywood Reporter via Slashdot]

New Arrivals!

Hammond A100-Sounds great, almost the same as a B3-$725.

Fender Rhodes Stage 73-2 in stock! $699. and $1099.

Yamaha CP70B in great shape! Asking $1400.

Wurlitzer 206 2 in stock! with speaker cabinet- $599. and $699.

Moog Source-Killer Bass sounds $1099.

Moog Minimoog-early model D $1999.

Oberheim OBXa-w/ MIDI retrofit-8 voices-$2199.

Clavia Nord Electro 2 In great shape, very convincing sound. $1099.

These aren't going to last. Stop by and we'll talk price!

Musicwise
2131 Richmond
Between Shepherd and Greenbriar
713-529-4992
www.myspace.com/musicwisehouston
www.musicwisehouston.blogspot.com

Moog Source

Just arrived a vintage Moog Source circa 1981. Two oscillators and a 24dB filter makes it FAT! 16 preset slots to save patches (a revelation for Moog in'81) 37 keys, the dread 'membrane' buttons and the weirdest 'Logan's Run' look; sure it's an oddball but one listen to the incredibly dense bass sounds coming out of it and all is forgiven. We're asking $1099. Drop in and check it out.

Roland TR-808

A beautiful Roland TR-808, you know the one. This one is in great shape. All of the knobs are intact, everything works fine, it's just shy of 100% due to a chip on the front left foot. (see last pic) You'd almost not notice it and of course it in no way affects the operation of the unit. We are including the original programming overlay that helps you learn what's what. I've programmed and recorded this 808 for several of my tracks and it sounds awesome.

Check it out here.