Freeborn Sound

Dear Tom,

Hey, do you happen to have seen Lu Edmonds lately? If you see him, would you tell him to get in touch? I don’t think I’ve got his number any more, and I was thinking about him today, ‘cuz I happened to look into a shop in Kreuzberg where they’ve got a Sasz for sale that’s, I think,  just like the one he had along on the Babar Luck tour a couple of years ago. Hey, anyone seen Babar lately?

This Sasz- if I were rich I’d buy it right now- a gorgeous instrument- and either keep it for myself or send it to Lu as a second axe; you never can have too many. If I remember correctly Lu got his for something ridiculous like 50 DM, and those days are gone. Still, this one seems like a decent deal, and there’s nothing in the world like a nice electric sasz. Back when I was recording Babar Luck, there were a couple of songs that just cried out for it; I think they didn’t make it onto the album for lack of a Lu at the time. 

Actually it’s a bit odd that this studio is in a Turkish neighborhood and I very much enjoy good relations with many of my Turkish neighbors, but although there are many excellent sasz players around, I STILL haven’t recorded any. What’s wrong with me? I’ll have to see about that.

Always a pleasure writing to you,

Phil

dear Tom,

just a quick rant here before I go out to meet a friend. In spite of my previous post, where I explained (perhaps a bit too delicately) that there are no employment opportunities open for sound engineers at this studio, I continue to receive CVs, e-mail, phone calls, etc., almost on a daily basis, from hungry young men and women who have all graduated from some school of audio engineering (note that those words are not capitalized and so not specific to one school which might like to sue me for blowing their cover), university program, or other “educational” institution. 

I will now reveal the truth: those people who fell for the magazine ads: if I WERE to find myself in need of the help of an audio engineer on a steady basis, I would NOT choose from the insanely vast pool of hopefuls that is churned out year for year from these institutions, because a. I do not trust the abilities of those schooled at factories, b. I know plenty of qualified people already, and c. I would not be doing anyone a favor by contributing to their delusions that audio engineering, as a career, holds promise. 

billiously,

Phil

Dear Tom,

Just imagine! Two posts in two (count ‘em) days!

It seems I’ve got a few minutes in between computer operations, where I’d otherwise be twiddling my thumbs, and so I thought I’d jot a note or two on the subject of just who’s been hanging around here lately.

Since the beginning of 2011, it’s been one production after another. There have been rehearsals for concert tours by Gentleman, Patrice, and Cassandra Steen, and CD projects for Katja Werker, Sunshine, Peter Wiegand, Mary Ocher, Ersatzmusika, the ever titillating Gestammelorchester, Modern Earl, Lasse Matthiessen, Piarango, and K.C. McKanzie, as well as a series of radio spots for “The Beat Goes On, a Calendarium of Dead Musicians,” and mixing for the film “Masks,” which I mentioned yesterday. Let’s see… Who’ve I forgotten?

Some of those folks have sent me links to photos and/ or videos of their work at FSS; if I get a few minutes’ break tomorrow, I will post links, as well as linking to all those great people I’ve mentioned in this post.

Right! Time’s up! Gotta go!

Tschüüüsss,

Phil