Month: February 2009

I was walking home this morning, and Venice was very quiet and wet and grey. I turned the corner to my house and saw a rainbow in the distance, which is very rare for Venice. I have been reading ‘Unweaving the Rainbow’ by Richard Dawkins, and I got inside and decided to play ‘In Rainbows’ by Radiohead just to round out the theme.

I’m outside right now watching the clouds being pushed by the winds. That started me thinking about mortality (which I think about fairly regularly) and the impermanence of things and about how little time we have. That started me thinking about the importance of living life and not taking things for granted (except when taking them for granted actually makes life better) . And then I started thinking about how much time I spend on different things, whether it’s playing music, recording, spending time with friends, girls, playing handball, reading, drinking, watching clouds, etc. etc.

And then my train of thoughts landed on considering how to prioritise all of those things. I wasn’t actually prioritising them, but trying to figure out how to prioritise them, what values to use, etc etc.

And then I decided not to answer that question yet and just enjoy the possibilities of a good unanswered question. Now I’m going back to watching the clouds for a bit.

We’ve been recording tracks pretty rapidly for the next record. My method of recording changes from day to day. Sometimes I force myself into the studio to at least push through the menial tasks, and then other days I won’t step in the studio until I’m inspired and focused. It makes it impossible to set a date when the record will be done, but I think it’ll make it sound better. 

Anyway, we’ll have some demo tracks up soon. 

 

Cheers,

SJ

Dear Bands and all my friends who are Recording Artists,

I hope you’ve had a moment to come and listen to my new record ‘Mercy’. If you have, one of the main characteristics about the recording quality that you’ll notice is the warmth of the sound, especially on the vocals. That’s due largely to the microphone I was using for the recording of the whole album. My friend, Steve McCormick, makes these tube microphones by hand from components that he has personally picked for their high quality and assembles them in his own workshop. It’s based on a design that he has modified that is used on some of the best mics in the world.

I was previously using a Neumann TLM 103, which is a really great mic, but once I tried Steve’s handmade large-diaphragm tube mic I had to have one. It accentuated some very subtle characteristics of my voice and my guitar and it added a lot of warmth without becoming muddy at all. In fact, it was clearer than the TLM 103, which is no small task. I recently picked up a small-diaphragm mic from Steve to use on my new record and I’m already very pleased with how it picks up the nuances and tones of my acoustic guitars. 

Anyway, yes this is a promotional bulletin for Steve’s mics, but I’ve had so many comments on how good the record sounds I figured I would share with my fellow recording artists a huge part of what made it sound good. I don’t promote anything I don’t personally believe in. 

Here is Steve’s MySpace profile:

http://myspace.com/stevemccormick

And his website:

http://www.mccormickaudio.com

Feel free to contact him, he’s a very easy-going guy and loves to talk about the gear he makes. He’ll make sure you are taken care of and that you’re getting exactly what you need.

Now back to your regular scheduled program.

 

Cheers,

SJ

Yesterday was a truly weird day. I had a great rehearsal with the band, we’re learning some new songs and getting the old ones sounding much tighter. Then I went to a local pub to watch the Super Bowl, made it through half-time and watched Springsteen perform. After that we were a little bored with all the commercials etc. and decided we would leave. And then the journey down the rabbit hole began.

A few of us left the pub and skateboarded and rode bikes back to my friend’s house at which point some beer, wine, and some funny devices with green smoke in them made their appearance. ‘Tsk tsk tsk’, I said. But then we went down do the basement recording studio (essentially under the beach) and got some instruments out. All the instruments had such a psychedelic tone to them, and we just sat around and played very random songs and in the haze and the darkness it was like we were transported back to 1967. The smell and the sound and the laughter and the randomness of it all will probably be imprinted on my brain for a long time. Too much fun.