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Boys and their toys eh!!!

Well it certainly beats taking copious amounts of narcotics and mugging old ladies… that’s strictly for the weekends… but the rest of the time we spend 24/7 slavering (1. To slobber; drool.)  over audio gear we either have, want to have or are willing to mug old ladies to get!!!

And it doesn’t get any better than the AKG D112 an icon amongst icons… and I’m gonna save myself a good hour of drool time by quoting unashamedly from undoubtedly the internet’s best websites when it comes to microphone matters… recording-microphones.co.uk:

The AKG D112 is really one of those mics that does what it says on the tin. It’s a kick drum microphone that can take big SPLs and is really robust and well made. I invariably end up removing the front skin when I’m miking up the kick drum as even the skins with holes in are always too small or in the wrong position. I always start by putting the mic about 6 inches inside the shell and a little off centre and I’ll work from that. Your perception of the sound will change as the other instruments come into the track and as I hear the song and if I think the kick needs some more definition I might move it closer to the skin or try a harder beater. I always record it through a TL Audio mic pre and what I like about the AKG D112 is that with a bit of EQ you can tailor the bottom end really accurately. You can either roll it off or start bringing stuff up at 50 or 60 cycles to get some weight into the kick and that’s always still there when you come to mix.

One of the odd things about the AKG D112 is that you get a very different but definitely usable sound from the mic if you use it the other way round with the mesh grill pointing away from the drum. Although it’s a lower signal it still sounds like a kick drum mic with a slightly more open character even though it picks up a bit more spillage from the rest of the kit. All kicks get EQ’d, taking out some middle around 5/600hz and adding some top and bottom. I know there are a lot of mics with deliberately tailored curves like the Audix D6 on the market but I’m pretty happy with the AKG D112 as it gives me the options in the mix.

courtesy of Nicky Alsmasy (http://almasy-photography.com)

They call it stormy Monday, but Tuesday’s just as bad
They call it stormy Monday, but Tuesday’s just as bad
Wednesday’s worse, and Thursday’s also sad

Yes the eagle flies on Friday, and Saturday I go out to play
Eagle flies on Friday, and Saturday I go out to play
Sunday I go to church, then I kneel down and pray

Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy on me
Lord have mercy, my heart’s in misery
Crazy about my baby, yes, send her back to me

All good things come to an end or so they say yet when it comes to a person’s life and particularly when that person was very dear to you it’s a pretty bitter-sweet pill to swallow… but it is nonetheless true. Wednesday 14th July 2010 was just one such day and the world truly is a sadder place for the passing of Jacqui Staton aka. Sugar Mama who for nearly a decade now has been the absolute vocal mainstay of Shanghai’s Cotton Club; and whether it was her nightly (a la Ronnie Scott) one “blackinese” joke or her drier than a black olive humour that first hooked you in you can be sure of one thing, it was Mama’s voice that kept you in that chair (or stool in my case) and had you coming back night after night for that fix of Staton sweetness.

Whether  she was tearing holes in a Stevie Wonder cover or working wonders with a Matt Harding original you can be sure of one thing, things will never be quite the same again; her timing was second to none like a young Miles Davis, her punch that of a mature Etta James and her exuberance obviously coming from her days on the road with Ike & Tina Turner.

Sugar Mama was the real deal and for any wannabe musicians she set the bar mighty damn high.

What can we do on days like this… well Mama has to have the last word and I think she might just say “let’s give thanks to our Heavenly Father” and all we might say is amen.

“I’m gonna wait till the midnight hour
That’s when my love comes tumbling down
I’m gonna wait till the midnight hour
When there’s no one else around
I’m gonna take you girl and hold you
And do all the things I told you
In the midnight hour”

Wilson Pickett

The midnight hour is when the stars come out, so Wilson Pickett told us and looking at Nicky Almasy’s (soon to be hosted at dbstudios) “In the Midnight Hour” collection of Shanghai’s musical alumni he was not far wrong; ranging from funk heavyweight Carlton J Smith to the completely funked up Alec Haavik (http://www.alechaavik.com), passing through the dulcet tones of Coco Zhao to the gyspy meanderings of Lulo Reinhardt, with a smattering of saxophone muse Willow Neilson right up to the Hendrix-meister himself Jimy Graham, there is something for every auditory and for that matter visual palate.

The pictures are intimate yet abstract at one and the same time. Startingly personal whilst also resorting to large swathes of primary colours as he tries to capture the evanescent personalities and sounds of the musicians we know and love that provide the nocturnal soundtrack to this ever changing metropolis; most apparently they could only have been taken by someone who has strong musical sensibilities themselves & it is no surprise that Almasy also heads up pop rock outfit Monroe Stahr alongside working as a That’s Shanghai journalist.

dbstudios is delighted to host this exhibition which will open on the 24th March – date to be decided… prints framed and unframed will be on sale including a limited edition of signed prints so don’t be shy come on over and feel free to contact Nicky directly on + 86 13162883931 for sales and further details.

Opening Hours:

Monday – Friday: 11:30 – 15:00

Saturday /Sunday: 11:00 – 17:00

Though not quite looking down on creation I (along with ace Jersey bassist Luke Kessel & NYC “drummer-on-drugs” (strictly metaphorically speaking!!!) Joe Mahone) was not far from it, as we provided the musical backdrop for International Soul Brother Carlton J Smith at the world’s highest bar the Park Hyatt’s 92nd floor-no-less Music Room from 21st October 2009 – 23rd February 2010… packing the house with a heady mix of jaw dropping funk classics and always emotionally charged CJS originals… the crowds at times had to be seen to be believed and that would even include (as the band’s keyboardist) folks strutting their stuff on the back of my Yamaha boudoir grand.

And boy we saw it all… broken down elevators… flying bar stools… proposals of marriage… even had a guitarist walk off stage with his knickers in a twist mid-Summertime (now that was a first… and you can be sure he didn’t get to walk back on again) but hell we had fun… learned some new tunes on the way… but perhaps most of all we all took one step forward in that heady journey we think of as life and to quote our ever-the-man band leader:

“get down…”

cos when you’ve been on  top of the world what else is there you can do… unless maybe it’s time to start reaching for those stars… you just never know what might happen!!!

She’s young, beautiful and abundantly talented (and sxsfly – I’m not talking about you!!!) of mixed Han and Mongolian Ancestry, playing gu zheng, matouqin (Mongolian horse head fiddle) whilst singing in four languages (Mandarin, Sanskrit, Tibetan and her own personally invented language) Sa Ding Ding is the future of world music and when in 2008 we heard she was winning the BBC Radio 3 World Music Award for the Asia-Pacific region we knew we couldn’t be far wrong.

So when at dbstudios we get a call asking if we have a spare two hours to record gu zheng for her next single we find ourselves (in spite of a completely overbooked diary) magic-ing an extra two hours into the day; a Sputnik a pair of Pulsars and away we went.

Zhang Yi (who is already an acclaimed pipa player and no stranger to dbstudios) made three flawless takes and before you could say Holy Himalayas the tracks were being Rapid Shared (www.rapidshare.com) to Beijing and from there Universal Studios London.

Learn more at:

http://www.sadingding.co.uk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sa_Ding_Ding

db studios (with all our purist analogue/high brow musical pretensions… who am i kidding!!!) has finally acquiesced and the DJs are rolling in thick and fast to do their mixes… well what does it take?!?

Aside from our standard studio rig… the macs… the project mix i/o… protools 8 (and ozone 4 mastering plug-ins) not much!!! A pair of Pioneer CDJ’s that fit your budget a decent submixer (a DJM 2/400) is just great and then that all important connection a pair of high quality RCA/jack leads.

These were not that easy to come by and i ended up getting my man james (see blogroll: sunnytone) to make me up a set; the net result… (dj danes was the first through the doors – hailing from Barcelona he produced a heady mix of house trance and techno)… blistering.

Then all you need to understand is normalisation the media you are mastering to and hey presto… mix-tastic!!!

http://thirdshift.nu/portfolio

Talk to any band leader and am afraid you’ll hear the same old cliche… things ain’t what they used to be… guys not rehearsed up… not knowing the changes… the hooks… the bridges… whatever it may be… you get the picture; well after yesterday’s dbstudios’ session I’m afraid I experienced very little that would persuade me otherwise.

We were “hohnered” (no prizes for her instrument of choice) to welcome Marion Campbell all the way from Stirling Scotland; now at 81 you might expect there to be a few glitches a few lapses of memory a few forgotten chord changes, but indeed nothing could be further from the truth; she laid down well over two hours of music played pretty well back-to-back ranging from Irish folk to Scottish ballads with even 45 minutes of modern tunes thrown in, with out a single sheet of music or chord prompt in sight… just wonderful!!!

A big thanks to Nick Watson (who many of you from Shanghai will indeed know) for bringing Marion (who is indeed his maternal auntie) to our attention and he’ll be the man to contact for the three album boxed set when all the material is finally mixed and mastered.

All studio buffs wondering how we recorded… well because of time constraints were we obliged to mike externally… a pair of Lunas (essentially one for each hand – the left hand mike (assuming a right handed player must have a good bass response) and a pair of overheard Pulsars to fill things out; more details check out:

http://tinyurl.com/cyjv8a

http://tinyurl.com/cdtw8o

Anyone living in Shanghai and hasn’t heard of Carlton J Smith then we can presume one thing… you don’t get out much!!!

And that would pretty well much apply to anywhere on the international music scene cos this cat’s a brother and a known brother… when you’re getting called “Soul Brother Number New” by none other than Alan Leeds (road manager for James Brown/Prince) then you know the man is packing; and along with his red hot band the “Mighty Magnificents” Joey Mahone (drums), Luke Kessel (bass), Menace (guitar), Joel Lindberg (keys) & the delightful Anne Evenou (lead/BVs) he’s recording his next drop at dbstudios.

We’ll keep you posted… meanwhile check out some of his previous tunes at:

http://www.myspace.com/trubeatproductions

Musicians and studios alike often put off buying or owning ribbon microphones (the ribbon refers to a thin aluminium, duraluminum or nanofilm ribbon placed between the poles of a magnet that may be damaged with careless usage) partly because of their at times heavy price tag, their (perhaps not entirely deserved) reputation for being overly fragile or maybe just a greater familiarity with the available range/s of cardiod and dynamic microphones; but from #dbstudios perspective all of those considerations will fly out the window when you actually listen to these babies, in a word unbelievable.

Originally developed in the 1920′s by Dr Harry F Olson of RCA; they went on to be a staple of radio and television broadcasting for many years to come because of their accuracy and to a certain extent flattering capture of sound, being it vocal or instrumental; only recently being featured extensively in studio and stage scenes from Olivier Dahan’s stunning recreation of Edith Piaf’s life both on and off stage La Mome.

Once again fast becoming a must-own for any serious studio you could do a lot worse than consider the AEA range, beasts such as the R44 or R84 (which even comes in a slightly more robust DJ version) available at outlets such as:

http://atlasproaudio.com

http://mercenary.com

http://wesdooley.com

you can even pre-listen to your purchases at:

http://studioauditions.com

now you have no excuse!!!

As a studio engineer/producer if you don’t know something about click tracks you darn well should.

Nearly every band/musician (apart from those who really know their s###) will fight you tooth and nail… cos they want to record “live” (whatever that really means in a studio setting) and would prefer their drummer’s meandering sense of rhythm (seeing it as glamourously creative and spontaneous rather than is often the case downright meandering) as opposed to the discipline of playing against and recording over a click track; but if your goal is a truly polished end product then I advise you (& then it is for you to advise them) to think again!!!

So for each and every recording you make (with very, very few exceptions) go to Track (assuming you are working within Protools) and select Create Click Track; then you’ll have to think about the song’s tempo and meter (e.g. 92 bpm 2/4) but believe me this will, with some practice, come quicker than you think.

Set up some foldback headphones for your drummer and then in most instances (after laying down a guide/scratch guitar +/- vocal track) get your drums down, switch your session to “grid” (as opposed to “slip”) mode and your songs template will be ready.

From there… bass… guitar… keys… horns… vocals/BVs etc. and so on and very soon you’ll be one step nearer that studio sound you’ve heard a thousand times over yet never been able to achieve.

musicians struggling send ‘em off to: http://www.metronomeonline.com

limited click sounds try adding Xpand: http://tinyurl.com/bbftl5