Archive for the ‘Musical Family Tree’ Category

Listen to MFT#004 while you read!!!!

I never know where to start with these things so I’m just going to go with the beginning. My first encounter with Hotfox was a while back when The Bonesetters were recording their album “Savages” at my studio. Oliver and Duncan had come  up from Indianapolis to lend their voices to the group vocal session. Prior to that day, I had no idea who or what Hotfox was which is sad but also good in a way. I think our MFT session benefited from my lack of a prior experience with their material and sound… Now, this isn’t how I would normally approach a recording session. Typically there’s a good amount of pre-production involved with getting to know the ins and outs of songs and figuring out the best way to tell the story/paint the picture or what-have-you. Anyway, my point is this… The majority of the songs that Hotfox had come to record have not been released before. These are new and previously unheard. I was able to listen and mix objectively and unbiased (to the extent one can be). I just had fun with it and tried my best to make it sound just like the performance I was hearing in the studio.

So yeah, enough of the philosophical shit. You guys want to read about Hotfox. Well, what can I say…? They are all stand-up gentlemen and scholars. They really are a swell group of guys. I’m sure by this point they are sick of reading reviews about how good they are for how young they are. I feel that just by mentioning the term in a criticism or review adds prejudice. This band is just good and that transcends age. I had a killer time recording this session. Seriously… Stand up doods. Passionate and ambitious musicians with the talent to take them wherever they want to go. I expect we will be hearing a lot from this band in the coming years and I welcome it. But enough praise… Let’s move on to some of the studio conversation highlight! Oliver explained the science behind his manicure techniques. He carries a piece of sandpaper on him at all times to help sand his thumbnail into a an ideal guitar pick. Upon further investigation I uncovered that he has experimented with a number of different grits to find the perfect thumbnail smoothness. Furthermore, Oliver also enjoys sanding and smoothing out anything and everything. If he’s been to your house… it’s almost certain that he has sanded something.

Although the weather was not ideal (it was actually pretty shitty out), we opted for an outdoor photo shoot that involved the burning of wet cardboard that had been sitting outside for weeks. It was one hell of a challenge to light damp cardboard but we persevered with patience and diligence. This makes MFT#004 the first session with a bonfire. Anyway, you can check out the following images by Lauren Bultman Photography below.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.I took a few moments to set up the camera and give the band an opportunity to address their fans. Check out the interviewish piece below and if you have a youtube account take a few moments to add my channel!

I would like to thank the members of Hotfox for waking up before noon and driving up to Muncie to record and share these songs with the world. I would also like to thank Musical Family Tree for allowing me to store these tunes on their servers. Last but not least, I would like to thank everyone that has been paying attention to these MFT sessions and I hope that you are enjoying them. If you like what you are hearing please take a moment to add the studio on facebook at facebook.com/reberrecording.

 Listen to MFT#003 w/ Chad Serhal while you read!

This week I am bringing you an acoustic performance by Chad Serhal. Chad was rad enough to drive up from Bloomington, Indiana so that I could sit him on a chair and point microphones at him for an extended period of time. Now, for those of you that aren’t familiar with the name Chad Serhal, he plays in the band “She Does Is Magic.” However, this session is not about that… No, this session is about Chad’s solo material.

We kicked things off around 2PM. We were aiming to wrap things up early so that Chad could get back to Bloomington in time to watch the Oscars. He’s into films and seemed to be pretty pumped about watching them. So, once we established our time frame I handed him over to the lovely Lauren Bultman (Lauren Bultman Photography) so that she could capture his soul with a series of photographs. The weather was spectacular. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Since the lighting outside was so exceptional, they opted for a few outdoor pictures in addition to in the studio.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Once the photography portion of the session had concluded, we moved back into the studio to start recording. I had not heard any of these songs prior to the session so I didn’t know what to expect. I had heard his band play a few times in the past but I wasn’t sure how similar his solo work would be. From the moment he opened with the first notes of “Take Good Care” I knew I was in for a treat. The guitar was so soft and pretty. His playing style is full of dynamic subtleties so I refrained from using much compression so that listeners could experience the full dynamic range of his performance. I hope you enjoy what you hear. Oh, and before you go, be sure to check out the video interview w/ Chad!

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Chad’s Musical Influences:

• Bob Dylan
• Jonathan Richman
• Bruce Springsteen
• Paul Simon

Upcoming Shows:

• 03/23/2012 @ Indy CD & Vinyl [Indianapolis, IN]

Find Chad on the Internets:

• http://chadserhal.bandcamp.com
• http://shedoesismagic.bandcamp.com

 

 

[Gavin, Brian, Maggie, Justin]

Listen to MFT#002 w/ The Bears of Blue River while you read!

This week we were fortunate enough to hook up with The Bears of Blue River on the last leg of their Dastardly Tour. Our session took place on a Tuesday morning before they were scheduled to drive up to Michigan for their last two shows. We were scheduled to start at 10AM but The Bears had played a show the night before so I had expected them to be a little late. It was a good thing I did because they didn’t end up arriving until 10:30. The band loaded in around 10:45AM while I made up a big pot of coffee. Early morning sessions are usually pretty rough. It just isn’t natural to make music early in the morning unless you stayed up all night and haven’t gone to bed yet. Nonetheless, we marched on in the hopes that the morning bummers would pass (and they did). We hashed out a few early takes to get everyone warmed up and feeling good as the fatigue fled our bodies. I can hear the early morning hour retreating throughout the session.

The weather was exceptionally warm for February which made the outdoor photo shoot nice and comfortable. The Bears picked a few hats, glasses, and props from around the studio and trudged out into the forest to have their likenesses captured by Lauren of Lauren Bultman Photography. The photo session was pretty fun. The Bears made sure to include my dog Cleo in the shoot… oh, and a grill. Yeah, it was one of those mornings.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

We didn’t have a whole lot of time to spend on the interview process because the band needed to hit the road if they were going to make it to Michigan in time for their load-in. Despite our limited amount of time, we were able to get a quick interview with The Bears of Blue River. Hopefully it will make you crack a smile.

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