A while back I met with Paul and Chris (or Rog and Snakeskin, as they go by) from the lovely website Metalkast.com and Chuck Wagner, the mastermind of Redsky for a two part interview that just dropped. For those interest in long digressions and chats about metal production and music creation, hit it below.
-adam, new speakers in new house and waaaaarm
Blamo – new tuneage from the depths of the audio bunker @ Signaturetone. Hit up our player for the title track off of Redsky’s “The Circle Of Blood”.
I had the pleasure of mixing (and doing a bit of final vox tracking) on Chuck Wagner’s (ex Brutal Confession) new epic thrash/death/prog/grind/etc etc etc (whatever it’s just good metal) record under the name Redsky. “The Circle Of Blood” loosely fits into the MPLS thrash/prog scene with bands like Cwn Annwn and Cold Colours (unsurprising as Chuck recently joined them) but has lots of elements of all the best kinds of metal floating around to catch everyone’s ears. Yes, older crowd, there are vocal harmonies and soaring leads, and yes, younger crowd there’s brutal riffage and angry vokills. Can’t we all just agree that good music is good?!?!?!?
And oh the goodness – we got to take our time and really drop a nuanced and tasteful (can I say that?) album. I’m excited to see where this young gentleman and his newly assembled band of metal troubadours goes! Firstly they’ll be going to Station 4 in lovely St. Paul this Thursday for a 16+ show with Rumplestiltskin Grinder – doors at 7:00pm, be there early to catch the Redsky goodness. I’ll be there, and as usual come find me for maximum bro-fives.
-adam, here there and everywhere (mostly here)
Blurring the line between sludge, black metal, and the occasional post rock pursuits comes the mighty Thou out of Baton Rouge, LA. I had the good fortune to master their new disc Summit for my good friend Adam at Gilead Media. I love this album. If you’re a fan of bleary heavy genre bending sonic beauty I cannot recommend this enough!
SO – wander over to the NPR website (whaaaaa? awesome! Also, the fact that anyone related to NPR is a fan of Harvey Milk makes me love that network even more). You can listen to the entire album for free right now – what are you waiting for?
I have another streaming link to another killer record I got to be a part of soon, but more on that tomorrow…oooooh suspense.
-adam, being Metal Santa in August (the beard is itchy, yes)
Above: Blue Ox rocks out to the first rough cuts of their basic tracks – note the blurred happyclapping arms and nodding heads of excited school children.
Below: A great word to describe the tones we’ve been getting, as well as a great piece of geardrool. Must not have been using it hard cause that meter’s barely ticking.
Seriously. Stuff’s getting thick and expansive and we are just getting into adding layering guitars. Prepare for a: one of the best drum sounds I’ve ever captured and b: some really stark fastfasfast/sloooooooooooow contrasts.
Must. Work. Faster. To…unleash this beast on the masses. Blamo.
myspace.com/blueoxmn. Get there now before the rush.
In other news, good studio friend and all around beard user Stevennnenen Henningsgard and his uber stellar band Iron Thrones are heading out for tour tomorrow. Good luck boys, make those masses pay attention to the heavy smartness of your riffage. And try not to touch too much in the van, will ya? Come on, it’s only two weeks, deal with it.
-adam, hiding from terminal heat syndrome in the Creation Station ie sexy control room 4000.
Tim Anderson and Signaturetone live recording by Signaturetone Recording
Look who’s ready for your next gig – oh shiiii it’s the Signaturetone Live Rig, aka the Cowboy/Samurai (anyone into William Gibson?)!
Local live sound guru and all around music aficionado Tim Anderson and Signaturetone have teamed up to offer our services for live album recording! From simple stereo bootlegs to fully mixed and mastered 16 channel studio quality discs, we have your sound covered. Use our contact form to tell us your needs and we’ll make the magic happen at your next gig.
-adam, now with added features
In order: Grapes ‘n Tape, the sound of dynamics crying, and one of the reasons I’ve been posting very sparsely recently (80 breweries + my birthday + biking = oh shiiiiiiii).
Whew. Summer got busy all the sudden, eh? Anyone else getting that? Let’s throw a list out there:
Our Judgment, Redsky, Numbers, Northsky, Will Anderson, Apollo Cobra , Tonnage- thanks for letting me break a piece of your music off!
Blue Ox, We Are Legion, Don’t Worry I’m A Doctor – let’s hide from the henious July heat together in my air conditioned Audio Dungeon!
Sweet. All kinds of good stuff coming out of the Signaturetone vault, expect new songs on the player soon. Also, here’s the third installment of a video series on the Our Judgment session put together by the wonderful Rico Roman, you can find one and two back there at those links in blue.
Oh to be young again. Anyways, we’ve got slots open in August and some rapidly dwindling July time, so hit me up on the contact form and let’s make some music, eh?
-adam, busy making you sound like the Champions of Sonics you all are
SO. I’m thinking about adding to Signaturetone’s studio drum collection. Currently we have a really nice Mapex Saturn Pro full kit (10/12/14/16/22), a Gretsch Catalina full kit, a few good snares, and some decent cymbals of various makers and styles. But I have a feeling you’d be ok with more toys…who isn’t?
If anyone reading this has any suggestions about what they’d like to see as a performer and artist walking into our space, hit me up at adam@signaturetonerecording.com. I have a few thoughts, but I’m curious about what would make you the most happy. Tons of kicks to choose from? A wide array of cymbals? Another full matched shell set with different size options? Let me know what you think, drum-divas.
Guitarists need not response – we have you covered (see my geekouts below).
-adam, looking out for the clientelle with the hittin’ sticks
Oh Wisconsin. I miss you. I miss playing horrible basements in Milwaukee, wonderful dive bars in Stevens Point, and my friend’s barn in Wausau. It’s been a long while since I was metaling it up round there, it seems. So I’ll be damned if I didn’t (at my ripe old age of 26) get made to feel like an old man compared to the fresh and energetic young men in Our Judgment from good old Eau Claire WI this weekend. Steve H and I cut the tracks for their upcoming ep “To Be Human” which Steve will be mixing with me on the final mix/master helm. Get ready for some good old fashioned death/thrash/core heaviness soon, I’m stoked on how these guys stepped up to the plate for this one!
Sidenote – guitar players, just buy an Engl Powerball and be done with it. Just like Billy D Williams says “It Works Every Time”.
-adam, always been a big Lando fan
(more pics and our virtual tour avaliable here)
SO:
Soldano SLO 100 w/matching Soldano 4×12 w/Vintage 30s
Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Dual Channel w/matching Boogie 4×12 w/Celestion G12T-75′s
Marshall JMP MK2 ’79 w/matching Marshall 4×12 w/25w Celestion Blackback’s (aka the best Marshall I’ve ever heard)
Engl Powerball w/matching massive wave of heavy metal from any cab it plugs into
Not pictured here: Fender Bassman 200 watt head, Showman 100 watt head, 4×10 Super Reverb Combo, Peavey 5150 2×12 combo, Matchless Lightning 15 head w/matching 2×12 cab.
Holy hell. What. Um. Man.
Our guitar amp collection is getting out of hand. Every one of these amps is completely amazing in it’s own right, but all together? BOOOOOOOM. You are DONE.
Don’t even get me started on our Ampeg B-15 Portaflex bass head.
Come on in for a visit, won’t you?
-adam, going to 11
Oh Phantom Tails. Rising from the ashes of one of my favorite local acts Plastic Chord, their new disc (freshly final mixed and mastered by yours truly) is a killer mashup of thick synths, banging drum machines, clanging chains, and catchy as hell vocals. Right up my alley indeed. I’m really happy to be a part of this one – go get ‘em gents, subsonic synth Minneapolis like there’s no tomorrow!
SO – come out and see them tonight @ The Nomad World Pub near Cedar/Riverside with Eve and the Apple, check out their new tune in my player, and get ready to hear this badboy on The Current soon. Jea.
-adam, 1 chicken chow mein fuller as of right now