Forgotten Genre Productions

Wow what a busy time. I’m sorry I’m a little behind in posting. It has been a full schedule. I have been between 3 projects and have just completed mixing 1 of those for the Buskers, That leaves a jazz project for Chuck Ottel and a 3 day session out at the Gerdy Farm. On top of that I just started tracking a Christmas Album for Matt, Monticchio, David Green, and Hiram Ring. They will also have some other special guests like Katy Becker, Cliff b Lewis and Chauncy Stillman and maybe a few others. It is a good challenge for me All these musicians are reaching for something outside the normal Christmas Album box and are going for some transcendent musical moments. It keeps me on my toes and I get to learn a lot from everyone involved. I have also been doing a couple of live sound gigs which are always challenging. I feel like I am learning every day and honing my craft. I will post more specific details as I get a chance. I will also post some photos of the Christmas Album Sessions. On top of all of that I have the privilege of enjoying life with the most beautiful woman in the world, my wife Tracy. On August 11 we celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. I can honestly say that I love my wife 7  times more than the day I married her, maybe even more. God has been so kind to me. That doesn’t mean our marriage has been perfect bliss. It has had it’s share of conflicts and challenges. In the end however I see God’s kindness in placing me with someone who can push the buttons that help me see areas I need to grow in. Only my wife has been able to do that. I love you Tracy. Did I mention that I celebrated our anniversary by being in the studio for the Christmas Project. Don’t be alarmed we are planning on celebrating on another day. Stay tuned for more Recording and Producing fun.

A few days ago Josh Cranmer was asking me why I hadn’t said anything about the Big Blue Ball project on the blog yet.  It reminded me that this was something I wanted to talk about.

The Big Blue Ball project was recorded at Real World Studios with Peter Gabriel over 15 years with musicians  from all over the world. Many of the musicians have shown up on other projects such as passion and a host of other Peter Gabriel albums. One of the things I like about this project is the collaborative nature of it. At Forgotten Genre we have always encouraged musicians that we have worked with to have a collaborative attitude towards music. Something happens when you take different people from different cultures and musical backgrounds and put them together. Even in a local environment you still get micro cultures of musical background. Let’s say your bass player grew up listening to Jazz while your guitar player grew up on 80’s pop Maybe your drummers parents had every Marvin Gaye and James Brown album while the singer grew up singing in the church choir. You will end up with a much richer approach to music then if everyone listened to Nirvana albums alone in their bedroom with the lights off. The cultural element to this album is rich and worth taking in.

Sonically of course this album sounds great, as you would expect from a Peter Gabriel Album recorded at Real World Studios

Real World Studios is the Home of Peter Gabriel and it is a dream to behold. It is an amazing facility that caters to everyone from small bands recording to major productions and Film scoring. It is in the English countryside and is truly beautiful. Their focus and drive on helping people create music that is truly extraordinary is a model that we try to emulate at FGP.

This album is definitely worth picking up. I am looking forward to some time with it with headphones. If you are in the local Lancaster area and desire to make music that is timeless and rich give us a call. We would love to serve you and come alongside you for the endeavor

Today Helen Leicht played Hiram Rings, “Go from Here” song on WXPN at 1:30. Hiram Ring was the pick for Philly Local pick of the day. Hiram was sandwiched in by the likes of Ryan Bigham, Peter Gabriels Big Blue Ball Project, Deep Purple and War on Drugs. That’s not bad for a Lancaster Local. Go from Here was recorded by FGP back in 2007 and has started to gain some momentum and critical acclaim.

Hiram is soon returning from a trip to Norway so look for him locally. He will be playing live with some version of The Natives or The Friends and I’m sure a few solo dates too along with a stop at the Purple Door Festival. For more info on Hiram Ring check out www.hiramring.com or follow his blog. Congratulations Hiram.

This Past Friday, July 4th I was out at Freedom Fest at Marion Court in Downtown Lancaster. What A great night. I spent some time volunteering for XPN who hosted the event. There was many local bands including friends The Mint and Kheris both who played excellent sets, along with Slimfit, Darcie Miner and a few others. The headliner was Jason Isbell from Drive-By-Truckers. Even though it rained it was a great turnout and a fun night. The production was fantastic and the bands sounded great. I have been critical of local bands in the past but that night gave a lot of hope to the Lancaster local music scene. Jason Isbell was excellent. It is hard to explain what happens when you hear an artist that has thousands of gigs under his belt. The band was tight and when Jason dropped that heavy hand on his strat with the amp turned up something Electric just happened. Jason is also a great storyteller although many of the details are a little too vivid for my taste. For all those that were not able to make it, I encourage you to get out and support live music. If you do not show up and let the people working hard to bring  you these shows know you care, it will go away. That certainly is not to intimidate you it is to encourage you. It was great to spend time with XPN and the volunteers. These guys are working hard to keep music alive in central PA and they are a joy to work with  I was able to make a few new friends that I look forward to hanging with in the future.

A little while back I came upon some talk about Heil Sound and there new line of Microphones. Bob Heil is a legend in the pro audio community. He was one of the first guys back in the day to focus on High Fidelity in Live Concert sound. He designed and provided the Sound System for the Grateful Dead, The Who, Humble Pie, Joe Walsh, and many others. Bob designed the System for The Who’s Quadrophenia Tour which in itself was way ahead of it’s time. It predated Suround Sound by many years. Bob has been into everything from live sound, to home theater, to designing satelite dishes, to ham radio, to recording and many other fields. He designed the Heil Talk Box made popular by Peter Frampton and Joe Walsh. His latest foray is in Microphone design. This came about as a result of interaction with Joe Walsh, (The Eagles, James Gang, Himself,) Joe is also an avid Ham Radio operator and he asked Bob why he didn’t take some of the mics that he designed for Ham Radio and Release them in the Pro Audio Market. There has been little to no innovation in microphone design for many years and Bob’s Mics were voiced better and more articulate. Bob took him up on the idea and now we have the best dynamic mics on the market. The thing that hooked me was the claim of Condensor like sound from a dynamic. That stood out to me because the situations I get into with recording are often challenging from an isolation stand point and Condensors are just too sensitive. But I love the clarity and articulation of the condensor mic. I decided to give Heil a chance and man did they deliver. I bought 2 PR-20 mics and 2 PR-30’s. The PR-20 is the best snare mic I have ever used. I put this mic up on Snare Top and Snare Bottom and never touched EQ all through tracking and mix down. No need for EQ. The 30 was amazing on vocals and Guitar amps. I have a session coming up where I will be tracking everything Live off a stage and need to control bleed so where do I go first? My Heils of course. The problem is I am coming up a little short so I decide to give Heil Sound a call and see what they recommend. Heil has a mini mic that works well with horns and toms and I was wondering how it would do on snare. Possibly I could move my PR-20’s to Vocals and run a pair of the Handi Mic Pros on the snare (T&B). I spoke with Steve on the phone and asked him a few questions. He was kind and answered my questions as best as he could; and then, heres where it goes over the top. Steve says “Let me put you through to Bob and see what he says.” Next thing I knew a man answers the phone and says “Hello, this is Bob Heil” You got to be kidding me. I’m talking to the man himself, the designer. This man has hung out with Pete Townsand, Joe Walsh, Slash, Sheryl Crow, and a host of others and he was at work AND he took my call. I thanked him for my mics and told him I was blown away by not using EQ on the PR-20’s for snare. He agreed and reminded me that it was because everyones been using mics that where using technology and desigh from 50 years ago. Them he told me a story about when he and Slash were in the studio with Velvet Revolver and over 20 people picked the Heil Mics in a blind A-B test against the studio standards. I thanked him for answering my questions and vowed to tell everyone I meet what an amazing company Heil Sound is. I’m sure Heil Mics will somehow find there way on every album I record from here out. Do yourself a favor and check them out.

Oh yea, there is a fascinating forum at Pro Sound Web Bob is hosting, “Ask Bob Heil” Month during June so check that out for info and Rock & Roll history.

My Friend Josh Cranmer bought me the new Coldplay album and I must say so Far I love it. I was prepared to be indifferent about this release but I was wrong. This is definitely the album I would have wanted Coldplay to make. As a result I thing some of their fair weather pop fans will be confused and not understand what is going on. There is not any shining hit singles on this album but it is sonically deep. Eno brings his mastery of aurel landscapes to the table and he paints some lush textures. I listened to the CD 2 times in a row all the way through on my Sennheiser HD280 headphones and it was transporting. I think Eno pulled out something fresh and gently moved Coldplay from the 4 on the floor simple rhythms of the past albums and gave them a different rythmic backdrop to play with. It is refreshing to see a band with this kind of mileage on them to still be stretching themselves as apposed to being content with the same old same old.

It was another fun night in the city on First Friday this June. Fuax Minx was playing Building Character and people were out in droves. There was a lot happening. We started at Building Character for part of the Faux Minx set and then walked a couple blocks to the Elks Club on Duke Street for the Music for Everyone Cd release party. It was a fun night and we took in sets by Slimfit and another band that escapes me. Cliff b Lewis, Brock Lawley , and Katie Becker were there. Of Course Hiram was in Norway so he wasn’t able to attend but it was still a fun night.

Back in the Studio Again. I’ve been working in one of my Sattellite rooms in the last couple weeks on Mulberry Street, and I must say I am growing to enjoy it. It is a raw big room and I am starting to learn the acoustics and character of it. I am slowly bringing stuff in and moving things to change/ attempt to control the room. It feels like an old school sound stage. The ceilings are high and the room is long. We track primary live without headphones and try to control the bleed. It is exciting and challenging to get sounds; find issues; find our way out of issues  and as always hone our craft. I am anxious to hear how the finals turn out for this session.