Finding the right Meric tone= 9 sources, 9 mics. What are they? Well at least you should know that there is a 57. Always a 57.

We stacked up the goods at Type Foundry for the next 3 weeks of recording. Dodos are here through October to make this album with me and so far its just like home. So many familiar things and smells here at Type Foundry. Even the sounds of saws buzzing and large trucks and trains passing by. Might as well just keep the door wide open for this one. Technical details?  yes. Tape.

“The Story Of Hurt”, A feature film by E.P.Davee, is in Post Production and i’ve been working on the score with Joe Haege. He and I have been sending files back and forth, recording sounds and weirdness, creating Sound Design and linking this all together with the help of my good friend LOGIC. Also, Jason Edwards, of Newkrackle Audible FX, has begun to ambience, ADR and Sound Design , which is now integrated heavily into the score.  Type Foundry Recording is a big open space that has ended up creating a ton of the sounds here in the score. When I started to work on this project, it occurred to me to actually create an entire “palatte” of organic sound that I would then use as the main source material for the score. I ended up using the 24 track 2 inch tape machine pitched up at high speed to record the pump organ, piano and a bowed banjo, violin and guitar to create drones. Once they were tracked at high speed I pitched them down to low speed to stretch the tones. These became the basis for what is now the “palatte” for the Story of Hurt.

Its late for a Thursday night.  It is 245am and I am home after faking my way through a mastering favor,  (I am NOT a mastering engineer!!), then mixing the 2nd to last song for Sabrina Velazquez (I really love this album we’ve been making), and then sorting through some amazing gear from Wayne Sabback that is going to make its way into the Scenic Burrows wonderworld for a little vacation (an La2a, Telefunken U47, U47FET, 1073’s and so even another piano).  But to get to the point, I started poking around HUH magazine and found this photograph by Daniel Freytag.  The goodness that comes from not knowing where you are going. And… there is a succulent on the table. Ah the good fortune of finding a cacti in the Alps.

This Sunday at Revival Drum show. Come one come all.

WHAT? My studio now has its very own website! Scenic Burrows Recording is now the official name for the STUDIO that was once started in my basement. Since it has grown into something much bigger than I had ever imagined, it has garnered its very own website Scenic Burrows Recording.  Check it out.

This is exciting news! This amazing short, animated film will have its World Premier this Sunday, July 25 at the Living Room Theater. It will be playing all day in loop so come by to watch and have a beer or whatnot. I was really lucky to be involved with this film doing the Original Score which includes some nice and creepy pipes, clanks, pump organs, celeste, and even strings!! Come check it!

Michael Andrew’s space.

Tucker is getting gnarly here in the barn to record Decemberists.

Stalker- a film by Tarkovsky. This an amazing example of how the sound design turns into Score. Score by Eduard Artemiev. 

We built a campfire. Everyone sang around it. We recorded it.

A recent commercial I worked on which is Uke and Celeste. Ice Cream sounds?  Is the Celeste the most overused sound in commercial score?

After 2 days of wiring and guess work,  the Neotek is finally up and running. Where did the Toft go? Well, it went to Victor Nash’s amazing Portland- studio farm in SE. Keep an eye out for his place… A home a way from home.

The Rainer Independent Film Fest had Calvin Marshall as the Festival Opening Night Film. Director Gary Lundgren and I were asked to participate in the Q and A so we spent the weekend at the foot of Mt. Rainier going to movies.
Probably the most Taxidermist shops (usually in the backyard or trailer next a house) in one place. “Deer. Fish. Antlers. Heads.”

Recorded by Cory Gray in the late hours while most of us slept, we are in the midst of a three day mixing frenzy! 

This is amazing and totally dark.

If you have a meeting and start looking up at the ugly drop ceiling… whatever you do DO NOT start taking it down. OR actually, start ripping it down and see what’s underneath!
New home for Neotek Elite.  Hopefully it will be soaring in 2 weeks.

Jojo Kuo talks about playing with Fela Kuti

Found this and ... wow.

Rob Jones of Jealous Butcher labeldom stopped over to dip his toes into the Burrows and record Kaia Williams for an evening. It gave me a rare opportunity to sit back and snap the ol’ iphone camera.

Its been a dream, yes, for a long time… and now it is happening. The newest addition to hit the underground wonderworld of the Burrows is this Neotek Elite. I’ve mixed a ton of albums on this exact one (as it normally lives in the basement of Tucker Martine’s studio FLORA), and now it will park here next the green plants of the subterranean fish tank room that will become the mix zone. Coming from the fine movers of fine things, the console arrives next week.

A little snip from Brutal Beauty: Tales of the Rose City Rollers.  This scene is one of my favorites (now I understand the sport) and uses music from the ALTO session I did with Zogus and Winter, and uses the un-released, full length version of “Bodyhead” which was recorded at the first Type Foundry back in the day.

To quote directory Chip Mabry:  “Brutal Beauty wins Festival Director’s Choice Award (Best of Show) at Indie Spirit Film Festival today. Congrats to RCR, crew, cast and sponsors… This was a biggie.”
In January I scored and did the music editing for this documentary about the Rose City Rollers.  So happy it did so well at the fest.

Just spent the last week tracking the Sabrina Velasquez album. Haven’t had this much fun in a long while. I suppose a huge part of it is that drummer Brian Wright gave a lot of time with us and ended up being a large part of the writing process.  It felt very much like a band.  We managed to get fantastic drum sounds (first time with his Rogers kit) and had super good songs to work with.  A totally blast!  We get to track and mix for another two weeks.  (Discovered an amazingly cool app called Hipstamatic that takes these cool photos.) 

Roller Sound main man Todd Corbett (also Stiff Wiff master mind and all around bass shredder) took my 67’ Ampeg Reverberocket and converted the cab to a more versatile, studio amp. Still holds all the really good stuff of the old cab, but now it has a optional open/close back side for low end alterations plus the room surrounding the main speaker is designed spec perfect for the cab.
Nice!  Not to mention it looks super cool.

Looking up from the studio floor! I want to record here!

Had a nice spring visit to Victor and Amanda’s studio in progress. Woah. A huge, beautiful room in their backyard, farmhouse garage turned recording paradise.  Cedar wood walls, huge angled ceilings, fire pit and and vegetable garden in the yard… Can’t wait to hear !

Hosannas is in the can.

I dream of LA-4’s. Still affordable, and so clean. This one just arrived back home from Guillotone Audio (Clifford Hayes of Carcrashlander likes wires) and it sounds great.

The most recent addition to the hovel:  the Moog Little Phatty.

Otherwise known as “Jonah in the Whale”, this is a photo of Brent Knopf giving birth to my son Jonah and into the hands of doctors Danny Seim and Justin Harris. We used this photo, way back in the day, for the promo shoot for Menomena’s first publicity push for FILMguerrero (yes. I did own and operate said record label out of my basement for years).
Now, FILMguerrero lives up in Seattle at its new(ish) home Barsuk Records and I was recently handed an advance copy of Menomena’s 4th album due out sometime this summer.
I can say, as I have done each time I received a new album from Menomena, that i’m totally stoked and think it is really great. I’m just glad to hear their music again, especially knowing it means a new batch of shows and always amusing interviews. I just hope they ask me again to take their band photo.

Had a good time working with Steve Rauner (NORTH) and Matt Pence (Centro-matic, EchoLab) dialing in these spots for Umpqua Bank.  The design comes all the way from Denmark from a motion graphics group called Thank You.  There was a rotating cast of racket maker’s coming through both Scenic Burrows and Rauner’s Jalopy Studios (sBrent Knopf, Chris Funk, Joe Haege, Cory Gray, Laura Gibson) to track and create ideas for the spots.  In addition to getting to engineer these sessions, I also was lucky to get to take a stab at the spots. These two came from my “round” and landed in the ads.. Good times indeed. 

My pals Tu Fawning are coming to YOUR hotel in Palm Springs, to your Pool Party and playing music for YOU. April 17 at the Ace Hotel : A Coachella Poolside Party.
Also, check them out Guerro Gallery in SF April 15.  Joe and i are making some disturbing, yet oh satisfying little creepies for the Score to The Story of Hurt.

The Official Calvin Marshall Trailer is now screening around and about. The film will screen this Saturday evening as a part of the Ashland International Film Festival . Be there.

LA Weekly Film Editor Karina Longworth shares her thoughts on The Big Lebowski.  Really good.  Nice look on Los Angeles .

EMI TG 1 Limiter vs Abbey Road Brilliance Pak plug-in bundle. Place your bets.

Christo and Jean Claude.

When I was growing up I got to know Christo’s artwork by default. My Dad, a printmaker, was obsessed with Christo and soon, Christo was everywhere:  The coffe table, the VCR, the fridge.  Christo was a household name.

Big room + feedback from the Sunn = Hosannas at Type Foundry.

The best drummer on the planet happens to live in my city here. Brian Wright came over to help Rosie Thomas and I get this Rhett Miller song to finally sound like a real song.
(Sorry Rhett… but I can’t take it ... we think you should have done it this way).  The ultimate goal at hand: to get Rauner’s studio some wear and tear. Goal achieved.

In a random, but wondrous, chance occurrence, RT and Jeff Shoop spend the day in Portland recording a song that will be on the soundtrack for the film Calvin Marshall. We get to use the Rauner “wide-world of guitar amps” studio down the road. 

I am lucky to be working on the score for the short animation piece from Misha Klein (working title Fred). Misha and I have gone in a few directions trying to determine what the best way to “score” Fred will be. First it was full of musical cues and now its… er… So it is coming together now… but I question once again, Score or Sound Design. This time I am wondering what is Score?
After spending a few days down in the “lab” tweaking and morphing organic found sounds and created weirdness (a toy tube spinning in circles, a harmonica drone to tape that is pitched down, scratches from a large bass bow on an old time banjo… again to tape at high speed then pitching way down), I started to drop in these little characters to Fred and now, its feeling like a life might come from it. Funny thing, it is “Score” from a technical perspective… but then again when the wallpaper starts to peel off the wall in Barton Fink, is that Sound Design? 

Hosannas is keeping guard. Scenic Burrows is now host to the fine tweakers of sound Hosannas. After 4 days doing basic tracking at Type Foundry, we’ve moved into the Burrows to track, mix, overdub what will become the next Hosannas full length.

The basics are done for the next Buellton Album. Stoked.

In the studio now working So Cal’s Buellton. A dream of mine really. One of my all time favorites for sure. Director Gary Lundgren directed this video for Keeping it Real from the debut “Avenue of the flags.

Beginning the score collaboration with Joe Haege. Visit the film’s site here.

Rey Villalobos and I have been working on an album over the last 8 months or so. The album is now available here . Hand printed by Stumptown Printers in Portland, the album is a beautiful, limited release. I am really grateful to have been involved with this album all the way through. Rey is a true talent.

Peggy Sue have announced the album is available for pre-order through their label Witchita. Official release date is April 10 2010.

Whats new here in the burrows is a Pianola. A clunky piano player that has Cory Gray mod for tweaky lurks of piano. Yeah!

Over the summer, I received a note from a very kind Mike McCarthy wanting to mix his new album with me while he passed through Portland.  Mike was visiting the States from Australia, on his way down to California for touring and had recently finished an instrumental album called Colours.  We mixed the record in just two short days.  His music is so good. Check it out here:  Mike McCarthy.

Scenic Burrows main drummer-man Brian Wright has assembled a studio kit for us.

The Final master has been dutifully dialed by Chicago’s Carl Saff and now the album is officially in the can. Pleased as punch.

The brave the bold the mighty: The newest from my favorites of PDX shredders. I got to play some demon baritone guitar on it too!  Listen

This is the single from the full length “Fossils and Other Phantoms” that will be released on Witchita / Yep Rock.  Listen here

IOA. 
Amanda Spring from Point Juncture, WA.

“Head To Head” from Cellular South Television has used 4 songs for this weeks Episode 10.  Thanks to Eric Johnson.

Brutal Beauty: Tales of the Rose City Rollers.  Ben Meader (The Ultimate Ride) and Chip Mabry (Rip City) head this up.
Super stoked to be involved in this film.

Sunday mixing in the Burrows. Mixing now what will become the first full length album from Tu Fawning. Joe Haege produced and recorded the album at his home (most of it done in a really nice big open kitchen). More as it comes to life.  As for the new Burrows, it is coming along just fine. Working out bass trap issues and whatnot. This place is definitely making me happy.  s
Come check it out.

Peggy Sue from UK is doing a set tomorrow on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic.  The band and I recorded 7 or so songs in NYC at Atlantic Sound and then in Brighton, UK at Brighton Electric. The album will be released sometime… not sure when… and it will come out on Yep Rock. Regardless, they are amazing and everyone should tune in. Stream it.  Note: The photo was taken very late at night coming back to Manhattan from Dumbo.

Really cool. Director Gary Lundgren is doing a series of Behind the Scenes for the feature.