![]() |
|||
|
|||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Recently in Studio B we had hard-rock band 16 Down
tracking with staff engineer Jason
D'Ottavio. Hailing from Amsterdam, 16 Down
came to record at Prairie Sun for the same reasons
local artists often choose our studios - great
rooms, excellent vintage gear and instruments
(especially important to a band leaving all their
instruments at home in Europe), and of course
on-site lodging
here in rural Sonoma County, CA. Any instruments
they couldn't find in our extensive collection were
graciously provided by Larry
Cragg. 16 Down begins
mixing their album with Jason in Studio A this week.
16 Down also took advantage of our most recent
infrastructure upgrade - an additional iso booth.
Converted from a small free-standing room, this new
space will provide for the micing
of a bass or guitar cabinet in total isolation from
the rest of the instruments being tracked.
Construction was executed with the assistance and
guidance of the knowledgeable Jeff
Fogerty
and Gary "Doc" Shaffer.
|
||||
Recently in Studio A we had The Kehoe
Nation mixing "Devil's Acre Overture"
with Oz
Fritz manning the SSL. The record was inspired
by the Barbary Coast era of San Francisco, and was
tracked entirely on analog tape in our Studios B and
C. Preceding Kehoe in Studio A was rockabilly
guitar-slinger Jinx Jones with
engineer Steve
Counter taking full advantage of our
brand-new Fulltone Tube
Tape Echo, our Ampex 1/4"
machine, and our classic EMT plate reverbs for a
truly authentic mix.
In other session news, we were happy to have bay
area
band Audrye
Sessions tracking in Studio C recently with
emminent producer/engineer
John
Kurzweg for VelvetHammer
management. Also in Studio C in recent weeks were
Yardbird's tribute artists The Rave Ups, tracking to
16-track 2" tape with Allen
Sudduth engineering. Volker
Strifler recently completed his
project with some final mixes in Studio B with staff
engineer Timin Murray. Volker has also
been in for further work on the Linda Ferro project
as it
continues under the guidance of producer/engineer Mark
"Mooka" Rennick. And we've also hosted a
number of metal records this summer, including Reason
One and Pandemic
,
each working with
engineer Jason
D'Ottavio, and
CMYK,
with Jason
engineering and Jeff Fogerty
producing.
|
||
|
Mooka's personal notes: I wanted to take this opportunity to announce some exciting new additions to our arsenal of studio gear. In the analog domain, we have just acquired an API 2500 stereo bus compressor, which will provide yet another color available for mixing in addition to our Neve 2254, Neve 33609, Manley Variable-MU, and Avalon 747 stereo compressor units. In the digital realm, we have purchased Celemony Software's Melodyne pitch shifting and correcting tool, which will provide artists, producers, or engineers who so desire an alternative to the ubiquitous Antares Auto-Tune. While studio gear is my passion, guitars are even more fundamental to my being. I promised a feature on our ever-expanding guitar collection in the last newsletter, and so at this link we have delivered. It's been a little while since we updated the list on our website, so we've included in this showcase quite a few acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and basses. We've been concentrating on vintage player's instruments in our recent acquisitions, looking for tasty pieces that can provide that extra color or inspiration during a recording session. And of course these instruments are available to in-session artists at no extra charge, just like the rest of our studio instruments, which you can find on our usual gear list. Finally, I wanted to whet your appetite for what will be an exciting addition to our studio: the Prairie Sun API 1604 sidecar! All the key ingredients have already been purchased, and are being collected for reconditioning, rebuilding, and reassembly by Old School Audio. When the board makes its debut at Prairie Sun it will be outfitted with eight mic preamps and eight EQ units, with the necessary infrastructure to eventually deck it out a full 16 channels. Check out this picture to see an example of 1604. Stay tuned for more details, and pics of our own board in the near future.
Sincerely,
Mark "Mooka" Rennick
Prairie Sun Recording
email:
mooka@prairiesun.com
phone:
(707) 795-7011
|
|
|||||||||