Now then: a new friend have I made, in Andrea Galli from Firenze. His sessions a couple of weeks ago were a joy! We recorded and mixed his whole album in three days, and now he’s flown back to Italy (in spite of a certain Icelandic volcano) to shop it around to labels. Here’s a pic:

That happens to have been one of the nicest acoustic guitars I’ve had the pleasure to record, a Gibson from the custom shop in Kalamazoo, just like the one Lenin (oops! Lennon) played. The astute among you will notice that there’s a mess of mics on the setup. I allowed myself the indulgence of experimenting a bit. For starters there is a pair of 414s- not my fave mics but very useful, set on figure-of-8 with the blind side pointing a Andrea’s mouth, then the main vocal mic, a Lawson LM47, also figure-of-8, with its blind side pointing to the guitar. It’s a practical way to avoid phasing problems when recording live vocals. In addition, there is a Neumann CMV563 with an M55K capsule right up at the bridge of the guitar. This particular capsule is not good for much else, but it has SO much sparkle that it brings acoustic guitars right forward in a mix; I love it for that. And setting off the vintage 563 vibe is a Gefell MV692 in there somewhere, around the fingerboard. Plus, I’ve got Uncle Joe in there as an alternate vocal mic; he’s an RFT 7151, with a Neumann M7 capsule (and my famous thread adapter made out of an old piece of water pipe). Enough mics already!

Hey, the soul rejoices!

I dissent.

The studio will be closed from 14 March till 21 March, for a well-earned holiday. Phil will be in Portugal, surfing and sleeping in his tent. Who can know, whether there will be some sort of internet access, and whether Phil will avail of it? Not me, baby, and I’m Phil. So if it’s urgent, you can send me an SMS at +49 170 54 44 925, and I’ll get back to you post haste. Otherwise, wish me good waves.

First a quick look back at 2009, and some of the projects that have come through. So much, and so varied! There have been album projects that became important releases for K.C. McKanzie, Ersatz Musika, Lord Mouse, Insuiciety, Das Rosa Rauschen, Einar Stenseng, Purple Dawn, Holger Saarman, Al DeLoner, Ruby Ruby Ruby, Martin Betz, and Sunshine, as well as singles, mastering, demos, and one-offs by Marta Collica, Gestammelorchester, Atinatomi, Ray Omega, The Sex Gods, and Missincat, and lots of works that are still in progress, such as recordings for The Motown Lovers, Sanam, Torbjoern Ericson, and Peter Wiegand. There have also been film sound projects (Flow, Hotel Sahara, DDR DDR), audio book productions, and even an iPhone app production (Nazereth Tango). And about a million other things! I am immensely proud to have taken part in all of these sessions.

Several new projects are in the works for the coming weeks- including audio books, websound, and several band recordings, so don’t touch that dial!

http://vimeo.com/9383847

Wieviel und wann ist noch offen, die Stelle stelle ich mir aber ungefähr so vor: Du kommst regelmässig ins Studio, z.B. ein Tag oder zwei Halbtage in der Woche, kümmerst Dich um Werbung, Buchung, Public Relations, Finanzstruktur, Buchhaltung, Kundendienst, und so weiter. Ich bin auch immer dabei, und du profitierst von meiner mehrjährigen Erfahrung als Studioinhaber. Solltest Du noch Zeit und Lust dafür haben, bist Du immer willkommen bei Studiosessions, um direkt Kontakt mit der Kundschaft zu haben. Alle Deine Ideen sind auch willkommen, Du wirst, wenn es gut läuft, respektiert als ein sehr wichtiger Teil des Betriebs.

Erstmal ist kein Geld aus meiner Tasche drin, da ich laufe schon Jahrelang auf leerem Tank. Das ist der ganze Punkt- du sollst mir dabei helfen, dass das Geld besser fliesst. Wenn Du effektiv in der Stelle bist, findest Du die Möglichkeit, Geld für Dich aus der Sache rauszuholen, zum Beispiel, Du bringst Kundschaft rein und wirst auf Provisionsbasis dafür bezahlt. Da, muss ich gestatten, ist alles ganz nebelig in meinem Kopf, bin dafür offen zu allen Ideen.

Du sollst:

• Freundlich, dynamisch, kreativ, gut organisiert, und flexibel (im Denken sowohl im praktischen Sinne) sein.
• Bestimmt hast Du schon gemerkt, dass diese Website ganz in Englisch ist (das ändert sich dann, mit Deiner Hilfe). Das ist weil ich nativer Englischsprecher bin, und so auch ist ein grosser Teil meiner Kundschaft. In dieser Stelle bevorzüge ich einen nativen Deutschsprecher, aber Du sollst auch gut Englisch können. Andere Sprachen sind auch ein grosser Plus- meine Kunden kommen von überall, und wir haben Spaß dran, Kommunikationsmöglichkeiten zu erfinden.

Bei Interesse, melde Dich per E-Mail!

Und danke!

All of this came to me via my friend and client (and friend of Nick’s) Peter Wiegand, who is set to release 3 (count ‘em!) CDs and a film (in addition to the one out now) next year. He’s also in rehearsal for a couple of major shows in the autumn, so watch out world!

Also watch for Ray Omega, a great new Berlin band whose upcoming 7″ was recently made here. I had the pleasure of mixing it, and it’ll be out early in 2010. They’ve got drive, inspiration, open-mindedness, and humour, and they write catchy booteyshaker tunes. Check ‘em out!

And where would we be without the Gestammelorchester? They’ve just returned from a fact-finding tour of the Ukraine, Poland, and Belarus, and will be putting the finishing touches on a new single featuring a totally bombastic extended band (several drummers, three bassists, 4 guitars, piano…), ALL of whom recently assembled for a TOTALLY LIVE recording session here (video/ photos soon…). I think it was the largest gathering I’ve had here to date. Loud, too!

PJ Harvey will not be recording at FSS this spring. Too bad- OF COURSE I’d have enjoyed it, but let’s not get carried away here… We all gotta do what we gotta do, and find ourselves in all kinds of situations. The trick is to fall into situations that will bring you joy. Sometimes it happens, and sometimes it don’t.

Here’s the story:

My dear friend Marta Collica (whose music you should hear) plays in John Parish’s band. She got wind of the rumour that John and Polly and Mick Harvey were interested in Berlin as a place to record the next PJ Harvey album. It turns out that John and I have quite a few mutual friends, and when we met last May we had a great afternoon gossiping about this and that. So when Polly and John returned to Berlin during the summer to look at studios, they visited this place too.

We spent really maybe just an hour or so together. It was nice and congenial, they put me at ease, and they liked the place. I couldn’t be prouder. But instead they decided to do the album in Dorset, where PJ’s at home and a church has been converted into just the kind of space that they need.

So this time it ain’t gonna happen here. Still, although it sometimes seems that the world is disjointed and dissipated and dissolute, it always seems to be the case that when you have good friends, good things happen to you. So I thank my lucky stars, and above all I thank my good friends.

Thus far it’s been a pretty dark autumn out there- good reason to spend your days in the studio!

This past weekend, Sanam was in, along with her band, to record a new EP. Fantastic sessions: it’s a joy and a privilege to work with musicians of that calibre. We got basic tracks for 7 songs down in two days. I guess that’s about average. What sets these sessions apart, though, was the quality of the playing. Some of these guys had never played together before, but their professionalism was such that out of simple direction, they came up with amazing arrangements, right on the spot. Their rapport with one another  was perfect, the mood stayed great, and their communication with me (the engineer) was exact and to the point. Wow! I’m really looking forward to the next round of sessions- a few overdubs and vocals- coming soon.

Next week was originally supposed to be soul week- Monday and Tuesday the Baltic Soul Orchestra, then Thursday through Sunday  the Motown Lovers. Unfortunately the BSO had to pull out for financial reasons, but they’ll be back for sure. And the Motown Lovers, with my old friend, the incomparable  John Barry on bass, are fantastic and fun to be around, so I’ll definitely get my dose of soul. Ooh, baby!