BASS­ ew Space for' E Qllee Musicia s Bay Area engineer Stephen Hart cording Academy's P&E Wing, had

(www.hartmixer.com) has found left Fan tasy Studios (Berkeley. Calif.)

a new home for his gear and proJ­ after seven years as ch ieFengineer. Al

ects: Bay Area Sound Studios (www. BASS, he found spaces that he says

bayareasoundstudios.com), a new are "even and punchy. The larger

rehearsal/st.udio facility in San Ra­ rooms aren't cavernous soundl'1g.

fael, Calif. The 11 ,ooo-square-foot but. they have ef­

business was conceived by Michael fective bass trap­

LeValley's Live Oak Design Group. ping and quiet air.

"When we were designing t.he Walls, fioors and

building, the intent was rehearsal ceilings were al­

space only," LeValley says. The space ready nonparallel.

was divided into 15 rooms ofvarying Room tuning is a

sizes, from the loo-square-foot prac­ lengthy and costly

tice rooms geared toward indi,vid­ procedure, and It

ual musicians all the way up to the was a massive benefit to me to have artist Lady Bianca. jazz star Terrence mus and Van MOrrison, as well as

2,ooo-square-foot Studio 1, which the bulk of it done." Brewer, Indie rock band Built for the working bands and music students.

is large enough for professional Hart installed his full-blown Pro Sea and country guitarist Jackie King, "I believe in this as a contempo·

bands to rehearse on an arena-sized Tools HD3 system with Cj24 control among others. He also continues rary media facility," Hart. says. "It's

stage. To ensure the best-sounding surface and an arsenal ofplug-ins (he to balance his work at BASS With a got recording. rehearsal, events­

environments, LeValley hired Sam acknowledges endorsement deals freelance career. When projects take we hosted a surround-sound event

Berkow to tu ne the room acoustiCS. with a few companies) in the studio him to other studios, BASS' audiO for the P&E Wing and JBL last

"It then became apparent that now called TheMixRoom, and had projects are handled by in-house en­ month. There's a lot of versatile

the rooms could serve. other func­ it wired to BASS' l,3oo-square-foot gineer Brad Dollar space. I'm fortunate to be in at the

tions," LeValley says. "Right before StudiO 2. Two-way audio and video Meanwhile, LeValley says book­ Inception of BASS where unexpect­

we opened, I was approached by were added for talkback. The studio ing in the rehearsal rooms has been edly, with a modest investment

Stephen." went online in April, and Hart has healthy since day one; those clients In infrastructure, I have access to

Hart, who serves as regional already completed recording, mixing indude high-profile artists such as a large, beautifully tuned room."

pres ident and co-chair of the Re· and/or mastering projects for blues Tommy Castro, Carlene CarleI', PrJ' -Barbara Schultz

ro·eet studio Stampede Origin """,b",s,h"",

DarreliSc<

bing, mak'

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Scott

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ries ofrec

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my studio a

Whether tracking happens in his four-room Stam­

pede Ongin studio or he mixes tracks that were

recorded elsewhere, engineer Ryan Freeland (www.

ryanfreeland.com) is all abolJt live perforrTjance.

"It's almost all I do," he says. "For an engineer,

that's the most fun because you've got five or six

musicians in a room, and day one, take one, every­

body is playing live and it might be a master. You're

under extreme pressure to make sure you record it

properly; it puts me to the test, and I love that."

Freeland tests well, apparently, His first job out

of college was at House of Blues In Memphis. First

gig as a second for this engineer/piano player: a

Jerry Lee Lewis session. Then he moved to L.A. to

become Bob Clearmountain's second engineer.

Freeland learned from the master mixer, and In off.

hours he built up his gear and freelance clients.

"Bob gave me one of his early Pro Tools sys­

26 MIX OCTOBER 2008 I WWW.MIXONLINLCOM

tems when he upgraded," Freeland says. "Once I

went independent, I started spending every dime I

had on gear. I lived in aone-bedroom apartment in

Westwood, and I made a lot ofgreat records in that

apartment. We did Aimee Mann records there."

Later, Freeland m@ved to West LA and set up

shop in his living room. A year ago, he built out

a guest house on his property to accommodate a

large control room and three additional tracking

spaces. "I designed and Installed eVl'rything my­

self" he says. "The drywa'IJ, the electrical, the patch­

bay-some jobs were more fun than others!"

Now, Freeland has a permanent home for hiS

Pro Tools HD Accel-based rig; his racks of vintqge

mic pre's, compressors and effect.s; and his care­

fully chosen mic collection. Projects he's com­

pleted in the new rooms ,nclude mixing Mann's

@#%"'! Srnilers, as well as releases for locals Miss

Willy Brown, Gaby Moreno and Kristy Hanson.

He can also mobilize his gear. He's been working

with acclaimed producer Joe Henry for six years,

and they often track in Henry's home studio. For

example, Rodney Crowell's latest, Sex and Gasoline, was recorded in Hel1ry's Garfield House studiO

and then mixed at Stampede Origin.

"Joe's studiO is the boltom Aoar ofhis home in

South Pasadena," Freeland says. "I roll all my stuff

into his space, but he's got alot ofequipment there,

as well. The combination of what he has and whot

I hove is pretty lethal!" It also helps that both Henry

and Freeland use ProAc Studio 100 monitors.

"I record the way I want things to sound,"

Freeland explains. "So the playback everyone was

hearing on Rodney's record was the vibe everyone

was getting in the studiO, and the vibe we wanted

for the final product. I would do roughs at the end

, as well as

IC students.

aih~·ntempo­

lit :.ays. "It's

lal,l:venls­

·<,ound even t

d IBL last

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I -; in at the

ire unexpect­

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ned room."

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olh Henry

ITlto'S.

<; sound,"

ne was

~~ryone

I? wanted

,- the end

Darrell SCott was scheming and overdub­

bing, making a densely layered album

called The Invisible Man. It turned out to

beaauc~lIss,with asong onitcalled "Hank

Williams' Ghost" winning last year's

Americana Music Association Song of the

Year Prize. But in the midst of that proj­

ect, something was driving Scott crazy.

"1 just hit the wall/' Scott says_ "1 needed

a break from it. So 1 tried something else,

as medicine. I wanted to go in, record and

get out quickly."

Scott called engineer Gary Paczosa.

The two were fans of the Sheffield Lab se­

ries of reccrding3'from the '70s, in which

musicians recorded direct to master.

"Those had the j mediacy and the

live vibe, but also

thick, mediUm-density fiberboard, cut in

unique tlJ"les. The place looks like some

futuristic city art project that taxpayers

gripe about, but its cort!ltruction allows

musicians to stand in the room and hear

each other without headphones. It was

built for mixing, but Scott and Paczosa

wanted to track there.

"There was close-miking, but we

also flew overheads so information was

shared," Scott says. "We did almost ev­

erything live, without headphones, and

we had no click track and did minimal ed­

its. It made for something kind of tight,

yet with a vibe of looseness."

Scott and a crew of musician friends

recorded 12 of his favorite songs, from l.2

favorite songwriters,

and then Scott went

Scott says. "It was

the studio control,"

back and worked, r'e­

gr'eat sound, and fresh ed, on The Invis­

that's what I was ible Man, released that,

after. There was no and now he has also

multitrack hiss to released the Studio C

them, and they were album, Modern Hymns.

audiophile quality." "These are songs

Scott and Paczo­ T love, and this is Mas­

sa went into George senburg's vision of a

Massenburg's Stu­ room and this is Pac­~ dio C at Blackbird ~ zosa working his mag-

Studios (Nashville). ~ ie," Scott says. "With

Massenburg's place 5 all that, we got music

em ploys more than ~ that is immediate and

l.,500 sheets ofJ.-inch- ~ in the moment."

of the session, and the mix part at my place was basi­

cally a touch-up of the rough. The important thing is the

recording has to work at its core. tfit's not working dur­

ing tracking, you've got to fix that du ring tracking. The

real fun is when you capture the vibe. It could go out the

door that day. You could take the rough and It would be

a pretty good representation ofwhat Iwas going for-as

long as Gavin Lurssen masters it!

"I'm one of those guys who was

way records sounded," Freeland con­

tinues. "I had a reel-to-reel in my base­

ment from age 12, and when I went

to Interlochen Arts Academy for high

school, I took the bed out of my dorm

room to ma~e more room for equip­

ment. Now I've got a proper studio.

It's nice not to sleep in the middle of

my studio anymore." III

always into the

-

Track Sheet :: Slipknot spent four months recording their fOllrth album, A1J Hope I, GOlle, at SOlmd Farm Studio and Recordmg Environment (SFSRE) in Jamaica, Iowa. The albllm was largely produced and engineered by Dave ""nman (Evanes­cence, Mudvaplf), but the studio OWller, producer/engineer M.1t Sepanic, was al Ihe helm for a few trades. The band also filmed the video for their fir.;l single off Ihe albnm, "Psycosocial," al Sound farm ...Dubway Shldios (NYC) went mC)­

hile to record a number of perfonllanc­es for iTuues' "From SoHo" series al the small thealer inside the Apple Store ill M.1nhaNan. Artisl' re­corded by Dubway', chief engineer. Ja",n Man:ucQ. include Gnarls Barldey. Gavin DeGraw. Puerto Ri­(.n rockers Blaclr. Guyaba aud Disney's mega-pop ,1m the Jonas Brolher.;... J.nis Ian is r<leasiug a new antobiography to be accolllIJ"llied by a career­spanning double-CD. Mosl of the lo-plus Iraas on the collectiOllwere remastered from original sonrce male­rial; all work waS done by Don Cobb and Eric CODll at Independent Mastering (Nashl'ille) ...SlImmer sessions at The Culting Room Shulios (NYC) included a writing/tracking collaboration between Danger Monse and Jnlian (",asal,lancas of The Strokes. who worked wilh ,s­sistanl engineer Tom Gardner and prodncer Eshy Gazil Jolm !.tgend oIso relnrned 10 The Cntting Room 10 work

on new tracks with engineer Aolhony "Rocky" GoIlo...At CalaiySI Recording (Charlotte, NC), Finol Curse recorded their debul CD for Falleu Brolher Re­cords_ Sh,dio owner/producer/engineer Rob T...glione describes the relea'e as "old-school-inspired lhrd,h metal. Guitarists Mike Plnwm.n and M.dison SIeag1e lead lbe baud through a set of up-tempo. 'laccato rockers plln(tllaled by blazing guitar solos and dreamy, das­

sicaUx inspired quiet sections."...Avatu Sludios (NYC) introduced a Sessions Blog offering practical advice for studio engineers and recording artist'. Topics include tips for choosing an assislanl engineer for YOllr project and where/ why 10 keep 'afetics. dlea ont blo)} avatarsludios.net.

Send "Sess;ons" news to bschullz@m(>:on!ifle.com.

Ryan Freeland mixes Joe

Hellloy's productions and

others in his Stampede

Origin studio.