Archive for the ‘News’ 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.

This year I spent my spring break building bass traps for the studio with my good friend, Ian. While most of my friends were tanning on sunny beaches, my week was comprised of whiskey, meat, and power tools; albeit not at the same time. When all is said and done expensive tans that will fade but my new bass traps will last for a long, long time. The project is still not 100% finished. I am still waiting on my fabric to arrive so that I can stretch it over the front of these traps to make them more visually appealing. I purchased 25 yards of barn-red burlap to use as a finishing material so that it would match the current color scheme in the studio. They are going to look AMAZING!

Bass traps can be expensive due to their size and weight… Shipping costs can be pretty extreme. I decided that it was in my best interest to build my own based on my needs. I enjoy working with my hands and saving money so it seemed like a good fit. Also, by building them myself, I can be sure of the quality of my traps and will be able to make future adjustments if need be without having to contact a manufacturer. All in all I am building 9 bass traps for the studio but I was only able to finish 7 of them in a single week.

I’m still rather sore from the 7 continuous days of the physical labor that went into creating these things but it’s a good kind of sore. I mean, it wasn’t like I was working at a balls-to-the-wall pace for the entire week. I made sure to schedule some rest and relaxation as well. Ian and I made it a point to have a cookout every night of the week. We ate exceptionally well… Oh, and I made sure to document the feasting with my iPod so that I could share it with all of my friends that were busy posting pictures of beaches in a future post.

 

Spending the afternoon going through old recordings of local shows and transferring them to the computer whilst enjoying a cup of coffee. I have over 30 sessions collecting dust on this 4-track. I’m hoping to put them up on Musical Family Tree within the next day or so.

Some of the performances I am transferring…
1. The Soil & The Sun
2. Heavy Cream
3. Timbre
4. Chad Serhal
5. Osteoferocious
6. The Bonesetters
7. Wooden Boxes
8. Metavari
9. Two Mini Humans