Signaturetone Recording

Oh god I love tracking to tape – no computer, that pleasant hiss of the reels revolving, that scent that only comes from heated iron oxide.   Note the Full Canadian Needles (Full Canadian = everything cranked to the max – ie all buttons in on an 1176, pre’s clipping out, meters slamming the red.  I think I got this from a Devin Townsend interview?) in picture 3.  Mmmmm.  More to come.

myspace.com/lungsmusica

-adam, buried in analog smoke

Ah The New Monarchs.  I’ve played shows with these guys back when my band Nobot was still a functioning live unit and stalked them til they gave in and let me get my grubby little hands on a remix of their track “Electrocaching”.  Then whaddaya know, they decided to drop on in to cut a single with me!  The tease portion of this post’s title refers  to how bad I want people to hear the remix I cut and the totally badass totally new track “Converter”, of which you can hear a snippet in this video:

Let’s just say more than a few compressors didn’t see the right side of the meter on this project (anyone?  eh?).  Baah – I love these guys, expect more material from them to appear soon on my player and more love to pour from my little hands into the interweb for them.

For fans of pedals, analog synth, live electronica, sweaty bro’s, and obviously Japanese Anime re: Gibson guns and Rickenbacker axes (note the guitar sticker, suckas).

-adam, enabling your dorkiness/musical weirdness since 1931 (he’s old)

A few days ago we got to play host to a documentary crew shooting an early interview with local hiphop adventurers Tou SaiKo Lee,  Maria Isa, andM.anifest.  I’ll let director Justin Long summarize:

“The documentary, tentatively titled “Scattered Roots,” will follow three hip-hop artists, Maria Isa, M.anifest, and Tou SaiK Lee, who live in Minnesota but have roots in places far beyond the land of 10,000 lakes. The artists will travel to Ghana, Puerto Rico, and Thailand to explore how their music and their lives bridge generations and geography, and become part of the globally powerful movement of hip-hop.”

This interview was intense enough, I can only imagine dropping these three artists together and filming them ’round the world is going to spark some great cinematic/musical moments  More info on it as the documentary progresses!

-adam, fascinated by fascinating things

Hey kids, just a quickie – pretty much every Wednesday I trundle on over to The Artist’s Quarter in St. Paul to lay down some tunes with friends of mine from 7:00-8:30pm.  We’re doing it tonight, so stop out if you’re feeling it and bring your ax to play if, again, you’re feeling it.  My bandmates are some smoking players and I’m weird, so expect bass-face, upright-slaps, and low-end-domination as we kick out the jamz, spazz style.

-adam, double bass of the non-metal variety

The things I get to play with at work.  Yasseah.  New gear floating through Signaturetone this month:

Chandler TG-1 Abbey Roads Limiter – this baby is a squash machine straight out of the dudes behind The Beatles brains and right into my abusive hands.  Plus ours is the fancy modded version (ooh, for the one or two geekers who care) with the fast attack option.  Take that dynamics, you bastards!

Urei LA-3A w/Teletronix Badge (2) – hey look, it’s the compressor that Pro Tools has  - WAIT, no, this is the real deal 70′s era gooey dynamic love.  Stereo racked and rolling, this is a close cousin of the first compressor I ever used at the ripe old age of 18 (a silverface Urei LA-4), found in a crapped out recording studio I did my first ever album in.  Oh nostalgia.  Tear/sniffles.

Manley Enhanced Stereo Pultec – what can I say.  It looks so nice next to the Massive Passive in that rack, does it even have to do anything?  Answer: no, but it sure does.

Buhhhh gear.  Enough.

I’ve been doing some tracking for a few new tunes with Marty Brueggermann, one of which he’s described as “retro 50′s malt shop music of the future” which I can’t really deny is a good way to put it.  This week I’ll be firing up tracks with one of my favorite local electronic acts The New Monarchs – keep an eye peeled for a remix I did of their tune “Electrocaching” in the near future, I’m super stoked on it.  Today I’ll be finishing up stem mastering on the first release by local hardcore/post rocker Mourner with producer/beard owner Steve Henningsgard (or has my hands just typed, Steve Henninsgsgesesgaaard).  Expect the rock.

More to come soon, I have a few really exciting projects coming this month including a new disc from members of The Skullcranes and the new album from big big big sound purveyors Lungs.  Keep it tuned here for me, saying things, about stuff.  With words.

-adam, hiding from the snow

So, who wants to spend two minutes and change listening to me dork out about how much I like the new disc by The Crinn that’s coming soon?  Well, here you go!

I can’t wait til their Nuclear Blast (!) release Dreaming Saturn drops, woof.  I already have it all stored in m’brain from tracking and producing the sucker, but its gonna be a treat to see what the world thinks of it.  In the meantime, hit up my music player for a featured track off their last disc they cut with me.

Oh man. This is more coherent than I normally am and I’m still a mumbley Pete.   Good thing I managed to sound reasonably competent and didn’t fidget too much. Remember bands, this could be YOU I’m geeking out about…

-adam,  fanboy engineer

Everyone into ze metal bop on over to the With Closed Eyes myspace page and boost some plays for these fine young gents!  We just slammed these out last weekend and they did a fine job.  Keep an eye on these guys in the next year, let’s see where they can take themselves.  They’ve got a few shows coming up, so if you’re in the area of The Vault in Buffalo, MN keep an eye or two peeled.

NOTE TO BANDS:

Our February’s getting pretty booked out, any interested parties should definitely step forward ASAP to claim their spots.  I can always find space but first come, first serve to the choicest days!

OTHER FUN STUFF:

One of my favorite bands in the cities is playing tomorrow night @ The Hexagon for their CD release – it’s the allmighty Guzzlemug! If you’re reading this go see this show, they display one of the most jaw dropping displays of musicality I’ve ever seen in a band, AND they’re fun to boot.  Not to be flexed with.

-adam, mover/shaker and occasional sitter/veg-er

I can finally officially announce that I’ll be overseeing the audio decimation that will be the long awaited Blue Ox full length!  These dudes have been a favorite of mine since I first moved up here, and are that great combo of insanely heavy, oppressively slow/grindingly fast, and fun to boot.  Big ups.  Keep your ears peeled  in late March/early April for the first drippings of new goodness.  While we wait, I cannot recommend enough checking out their Myspace and iTunes pages for their back catalog (all of which I’m lucky enough to have worked on).

A bunch more fresh projects floating through Signaturetone soon featuring members of a bunch of rad local bands, as well as some weekend tracking with a young band of metal men going by With Closed Eyes, more on all that when details are available/after I do the tracking.

-adam, demanding his plate to fill

There’s a fresh track up we just did a little mix and master on here in the sonic basement featuring local Twin Cities hip hop/hardcore phenom P.O.S. After the new Mod Sun ep drops officially and his tour kicks off I’ll see about grabbing a high quality sample for our music player, but right now go bump up the man’s plays to send him off on the road right!

-adam, caffeinated and ready for the day…starting after noon, of course.