Prairie Sun Profile: Norton Buffalo - Musician, Producer

I met Norton Buffalo when he came to my first studio in Cotati, out by the railroad tracks. He said, "I live here in Schellville and I have this amazing band called the Schellville South Side Blues Band and I heard you had a cool funky place out by the tracks in Cotati." Well he came in with his partner C.W. Parker and these wonderful, soulful dudes to record a single for the KVRE radio station album compilation. Bill Bowker was DJ-ing on the station, hosting the hit radio show "Blues with Bowker," which he continues to host to this day, Sunday nights on KRSH.

Prairie Sun at its most-humble beginnings was so much fun, and Norton and his partner C.W. Parker literally taught me the ropes. Norton even used my bathroom as an iso booth/echo chamber for the harmonica player (the first, though certainly not the last, time I would see him use this trick). The first thing I realized was this cat Norton knows how to make records - wow!!! He knew how to mix, he could hear tones and separate the frequencies, place reverbs, get a big fat snare, big vocals, etc. He knew how to have fun while paying attention to detail. Norton and I later went on to work on many, many projects together including, but not limited to, Norton's solo records. On one notable project he did harmonica overdubs for a Kenny Loggins track, which featured Paul McCartney as the producer. We just loved him.

His Sonoma County memorial service was held last Sunday in his old home town of Sonoma, and it was an amazing testament that over 500 people showed up. And that doesn't begin to count the 1000s who could not be there but were there in spirit. He will be deeply missed. Thank-you Norton Buffalo for your love. Please visit his web site if you wish to make a donation to his favorite charity and see the schedule for future benefit concerts planned in January.

Mooka's Notes:

I know we went a little crazy with the gear-lust in the GearHeads supplement we sent out in April, but I still wanted to spend a little time talking about the toys. I'll start with the shiniest toy first: thanks to the folks at Vintage King I am now the proud owner of a Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor, and I have to admit it's one pretty piece of kit. But don't be fooled into thinking this box is all looks and no substance, `cause I'll tell you right now, this thing's a hit! I've asked all my pickiest engineer friends to try it out - from ninja mixer Oz Fritz to resident mastering engineer Tim Gennert - and so far everyone likes it. And I've heard some guys named Brauer and Lord-Alge are also big fans...

In other news, we now have a Hammond M100 - this is a fun instrument (think "Whiter Shade of Pale"). Different set of sounds than the B3, and with a non-rotating speaker cab with a very unique reverb circuit. The B3, BTW, is in great shape these days, thanks to the diligence of our tech David Trouse. And we continue to hone in the feel of the new action on the Baldwin grand - if you haven't played it in a year, you need to see/hear/feel what we've done to this piano!

On the subject of upgrades and maintenance, I wanted to note that two of our C12a microphones (we have four of these handy transducers) now sport their original capsules re-skinned by an expert in Germany. Along with thorough maintenance work on the mic bodies, cables, and power supplies by tech Kevin Ink, this capsule change has brought these mics to a new level of sonic purity and reliability. Oh, and speaking of techs, sonic purity, and reliability - have I mentioned recently how much of a badass Sean Green is? In recent months, that man has had his hands on and in our SSL, both Neves, the API, all tape machines, and our Sontec EQ - and everything he's touched just seems to be in stellar operating condition.

I'll tell you what, to have all of these toys, and to have it all working - that's something I'm thankful for, especially to the people who make it happen. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend, and I wish you a happy holiday season.