Album of the Week: The Roots – The Tipping Point

Posted on June 14, 2013 by CRAS

The Roots – The Tipping Point

Released in 2004, The Tipping Point is quite a curious hip hop album. One of the main things that The Roots pride themselves on is having live accompaniment. You may recognize them as the house band for Late Night with Jimmy Kimmel, but that is only the latest chapter in the bands decades long existence.

Many artists have rotated in and out of The Roots line-up over the years, including Scott Storch, renowned beatboxer Rahzel, ?uestlove and Martin Luther. The band has also done collaborative work with Talib Kweli, Common, Nas, Dave Chappell, Spike Lee and the Dave Matthews Band.

The Tipping Point takes a more commercial turn, as compared to their six previous albums. The album provides a much more free-from feel to the flows, blending tempos and beats from upbeat to spaced out spoken word. The lyrics on the album are phenomenal, poetry that you would expect to hear at slams in the heart of Brooklyn.

This album is a paramount example of how hip hop can be augmented and improved through the use of real instruments. While hip hop has always been dominated with sampling, drum machines and record scratches, the fullness presented in this album through real drums, actual thumping basslines, real funky guitars, keys and other elements really defies any expectations of how the genre could be and shows how it should be. From the upbeat “I Don’t Care”, which has a funky groove feel to “Don’t Say Nuthin’”, which is a gritty, back-alley snitch anthem, this album covers all sorts of styles.

For me, “Don’t Say Nuthin’” really stood out among the other tracks on the album for one perhaps tongue in cheek reason – the song, while performed by illustrious Black Thought, has some interesting lyrics, but the entire chorus is a series of mumbles. At first that really threw me off, but it gives an interesting street-level perspective to the music.

“Somebody’s Gotta Do It” has one of the most liquidy-smooth freestyle flows that I’ve heard, featuring Jean Grae:

“Mic malevolence defies violence I inherited
Others just rentin’ it like rooms at the Sheraton
I gotta jones like Vanessa in the devil in-
And y’all cold like a show in the Netherlands
Cold shoulders and frozen aortic valves -
So I don’t form pals – conform to norms – morals different
Gifted – use it to shift shit, a mutant shape shifter when I spit it I’m liquid
You could lick a million shots at the character of the body shell
They’ll just richochette n*gga aura’s hard as hell
Before there was ain’t hard to tell
The mic’s cycle coincided right with mine as well
Since a minor I walked with the spine up-straight
I learned to rhyme to feed the dinner plate
I scraped barrel – even dined up on wine and steaks
Cuz in the bone same marrow that apartheid chased
The narrow margin with the haves and the have nots
Will get smaller as I approach – so watch your stash box
Fox logo if your fave is local
Get bruised till you’re the color of the Laker’s logo
This is work”

The Great Gatsby Soundtrack: Special Edition

Posted on June 13, 2013 by CRAS

Based upon the 1925 literary work by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby is an interesting commentary on the lavish lifestyle of the rich and famous. The tale followed Nick Carraway in his travels seeking a true purpose in existence, and his interactions with Jay Gatsby prove that there is more to life than being rich and decadent. Relaunched in 2013, The Great Gatsby was reworked into a modern film, and lived up to its name by grossing over $100M in its first month at the box offices.

The soundtrack, as can any soundtrack to a film, provided an important and interesting perspective on the classic tale. Produced by Jay-Z, of the coincidentally ironic Roc-A-Fella Records (a cheeky tie-in to the Rockefeller dynasty) the album spared no expense, including many famous modern artists from Jack White of the White Stripes, to Florence and the Machine, Lana Del Ray, Gotye and of course, Beyonce.

To add to the ostentatiousness of the entire production, Third Man Records, which is Jack White’s record label, decided to release what can only be considered the most avante garde, flamboyant display of aural production in modern history. They decided to do a small run of 100 gold and platinum metallic discs, which you would of course only want to play on your diamond encrusted turntables. Supposedly this is the first time ever that vinyl records have been given this treatment, and at $250 for the set, I’d hope that they sound as good as they look!

The double disc special edition contains 17 total tracks, and will be housed in a custom laser-cut wooden jacket with riveted aluminum spines. Monday saw the release of the standard, 180 gram version that us peasants can afford, and is only merely gold foil stamped. Looking at the special edition version, you can tell a lot of time was spent in the design and planning of the package – they even decided to include cotton gloves to preserve the luster and quality of the discs while being handled, although a note included in the package states “While these records are absolutely playable on most turntables, if you are concerned about the life of your set, we do not recommend heavy rotation”!

These discs are already burning up eBay, with the first set I found at a current price of $550!

I have also come across information that one of our CRAS Grads, Warren Babson, actually contributed some work to this album too! After graduating from the Conservatory in 2008 with a 4.0 GPA, Warren has done quite a bit of work, getting Assistant Engineer and Engineering credits on albums by Estelle, Justin Bieber, Gucci Mane, and Musiq Soulchild. He was also present in some of the engineering for the soundtrack of Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie. For The Great Gatsby, Warren mixed “Where The Wind Blows”, by Coco O. of Quadron! Congratulations Warren!

Album of the Week: Foo Fighters Wasting Light

Posted on June 7, 2013 by CRAS

Foo Fighters – Wasting Light

Submitted by Jeff Thomas

Wasting Light is the seventh studio album by the Foo Fighters.

As frontman Dave Grohl wanted a record that would capture the essence of the band’s earlier work and lack the artificiality of digital recording, the group recorded in Grohl’s garage with only analog equipment. The garage was equipped with sound baffles on the garage door and behind the drums, and a carpet under the drum kit to make it sound less “loud and bright”. To reduce the cymbal bleed, and the crash cymbal was traded for a “shorter-decay Zildjian cymbal with holes drilled in it”. A room next to the study was turned into an isolation booth to record the vocals. For the recording itself a makeshift control room was built inside a tent on the backyard, and a system of two cameras and a television provided the communication between the garage and the control room.

The sessions were supervised by producer Butch Vig, with whom Grohl had worked on Nirvana’s Nevermind. Since the analog equipment did not allow for many mistakes to be corrected in post-production, the band spent three weeks rehearsing the songs (see Grohls comments on this at the Grammy awards), and Vig had to relearn tape editing techniques. The band went for a heavier and rawer sound to contrast with the musical experiments in the previous albums, and most of the lyrics were written as Grohl reflected upon his life and possible future. Guest musicians include Bob Mould and Krist Novoselic.

The recording sessions were documented for fans on the band’s website and Twitter, and the album’s promotion included the documentary Back and Forth and a worldwide concert tour that included concerts played in fans’ garages. A piece of analog tape from the sessions were included with special edition cd’s.

Wasting Light was preceded by the successful single “Rope”, which became only the second song ever to debut at number one on Billboard’s Rock Songs chart, and follow-up “Walk” also charted highly. The album was a commercial success, debuting at number one in eleven countries, and it received positive reviews from most music critics, who complimented its production and the band’s songwriting.

Wasting Light and its songs were nominated for five Grammy Awards in 2012, including Album of the Year.

The record won the Best Rock Album award, while “White Limo” was chosen as the Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance and “Walk” won both Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song.
The album was chosen as the 4th best album of 2011 by Kerrang!
It was also listed in three rankings of the 50 best albums of the year:
- 20th by Rolling Stone.
- 43rd by NME.
- 46th by Spin.
- It was also listed among The Hollywood Reporter’s ten best albums of 2011.
- Finally, it was chosen as the album of the year by iTunes.

Dave Grohl’s acceptance speech at the Grammy’s received mixed reviews. Many bloggers misinterpreted the speech as an insult to electronic music. Others thought his speech reminded musicians why they do what they do. You can be the judge.

“To me this award means a lot because it shows that the human element of music is what’s important. Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that’s the most important thing for people to do… It’s not about being perfect, it’s not about sounding absolutely correct, it’s not about what goes on in a computer. It’s about what goes on in here [your heart] and what goes on in here [your head].”

Album Of The Week: Talib Kweli – Prisoner of Conscious

Posted on May 24, 2013 by CRAS

CRAS Grad Chris Pummill is riding high on the coattails of a once in a lifetime opportunity. Finishing the CRAS program in 2011 with a 3.79 GPA and perfect attendance, Chris has lucked out with this latest peg in his recording career, coming by way of assistant engineering on Talib Kweli’s latest record.

Released May 7th, the album hit #48 on the Billboard 200 chart and sold over 10,000 copies the first week it was out. This is a stellar follow up album from one half of the Black Star duo, and features guest appearances from a number of artists, including Nelly, Curren$y, Kendrick Lamar, Ryan Leslie and Busta Rhymes. Here is a little breakdown of Chris’ experience working on the record:

“I believe work on this album started in the fall of 2010 and when I got the chance to start working on it, it was my first day at Rough Magic Studios in April 2011. I had just interviewed and was slated to come in the following Monday when I got the call to come intern/assist at the last minute. After that 1st session, I ended up assisting on most of his sessions alongside Alby Cohen (engineer).

Originally, the setup was a Neumann U87 Ai (roll-off engaged) going through an Avalon VT-737sp. On the Avalon, we would do light compression (around 3:1) and very light EQ. Later we switched to the AKG 414B XLS (cardioid, 6dB pad, and 40Hz roll-off). Combined with the Avalon, the 414 did a good job of rounding out the highs that are synonymous with his voice. The U87 was great, but was a bit harsh and brittle at times. Recall of his usual settings and mic placement was very important as he was the type of artist that would just walk in and go! He would give Alby time to check the level and signal quality but more than a minute and you were just taking too much time.

There were a few sessions where I had to fill in for Alby either because he had Jury Duty or because he was sick. Right then I learned the importance of working quick, precise punches, following lyrics without a guide and NEVER RECORD OVER TAKES WITHOUT DUPLICATING THE TRACK FIRST! It was a serious “Baptism by Fire.”

Although there are a lot of great featured artists on the album, we only had 1 or 2 come through the studio. However, we did get to work with a slew of amazing session players. On songs like “Human Mic,” “Hamster Wheel,” and “Before He Walked,” we recorded with string players Chad Hammer and Gene Back. Due to the fact that it was just a cello and violin, we did layer after layer of the same parts and then added more layers of harmonies and little flourishes to make 2 guys sound like an entire string section. We direct mic’d the violin with a Nady RSM-4 ribbon mic (which sounded amazing despite its cheap pricetag), the cello with the EV RE-20 and used a U87 Ai over each of their heads to get a more ambient sound. The 87s ran through the Focusrite Red 8 mic pres and the direct mics ran through a couple of API 3124 pres.

On “High Life,” we ended up replacing the bass and guitar parts in the original beat with live guitar and bass by John Cave and Brady Watt. The bass went direct through the Avalon 737 with 5:1 compression and light EQ, which was a very common setup for bass in most of our overdub sessions. Guitar went through John’s pedal board into an Orange Dual Terror head into a Marshall half-stack. On the cab, we used an SM57 off-axis through the Joe Meek VC6Q for a gritty sound, the 414B XLS (6dB pad) through the API 3124 for a bright tone, and a U87 Ai in Omni as a room mic going through a Vintech 473. We got an incredibly clean and balanced sound with this setup, which I have now adopted (minus the room mic). In most of these OD sessions, Talib was not on hand to direct the players and trusted Alby to essentially produce the parts along with the players.

For most of the songs with features, Alby would have to import session data from outside sessions and marry our sessions with theirs. However, that wasn’t always the case. On “Rocketships,” we only had an mp3 bounce (vocals and instrumental) of the Busta Rhymes verse that we had to fly in, meld, and balance with our instrumental track. Mind you, this was a song produced by RZA and therefore was pretty much impossible to get on the grid. The final version of the song turned out great, but it was a nightmare to manage between studios and producers.

It was an incredible experience to work with someone that I’ve listened to and been a fan of for years. I learned a LOT and get to have my name next to some hip-hop greats.”

Sometimes in the music industry, it takes years to get a chance like this, and it was incredible to see Chris literally get dropped right into the lap of greatness, working on an amazing session right out of school. Congratulations Chris!

Moby: Go

Posted on May 18, 2013 by CRAS

Born in 1965, Moby didn’t really start getting popular in the music scene until the late 90s. His fifth studio album, Play, sold 6000 copies on it’s first week out in 1999. But the song that really broke ground for him was “Go”, which was originally released in 1991, just as the rave scenes were starting up in America.

The song, which took elements from David Lynch’s Twin Peaks and almost got Moby sued, was hit first real breakthrough into the music scene. If you have some time to kill, check out this awesome documentary on his early steps into music production. This is a great video to watch if you are interested in getting into making your own music, or the audio industry altogether.

In The Studio with Dub FX

Posted on May 16, 2013 by CRAS

Street performer and insanely talented vocalist Dub FX hails from Australia. He makes intricate and beautiful music using usually just his mouth, a mic, and some pedals for looping and effects. Making a name for himself, he has used word of mouth and social media alone to become successful over the last 5 years. Between just two of his live music videos, he has over 20 million views on YouTube and is still not signed to a label.

Here is a cool interview with Dub FX, showing you the inner workings of his studio and workflow. He primarily uses a Manley Vox Box, a Rode K2 mic, a Moog Minitaur, an SPL Tube Vitalizer, and his new SPL Neos summing board.

Grad Spotlight: David Davis

Posted on May 14, 2013 by CRAS

After finishing the Conservatory program in 2010, David Davis went off to LA to follow his dreams of recording. And if you want to get into the audio industry, LA is one of the best places you could possibly go. He interned and then has been assisting at EastWest Studios in Hollywood. EastWest has recorded all kinds of people, from Johnny Cash to Bing Crosby, Fiona Apple to Audioslave.

As soon as Western opened, it was producing some of the biggest records of the pop era. The first session recorded here in Studio 1 was Petula Clark’s number one hit “My Love”. Elvis Presley revived his career here with his 1968 Comeback Special. Frank Sinatra recorded such hits as “My Way”, “That’s Life”, “Strangers In The Night” and “The Lady Is a Tramp”, along with “Somethin’ Stupid” – the famed duet with his daughter Nancy.

By the mid-60s, the studios had become the musical epicenter of the pop and hippie movement. In Studio 3, The Mamas and The Papas recorded “California Dreaming” and “Monday, Monday”. Scott McKenzie laid down his classic track “San Francisco”, while The Beach Boys ushered in a new era of sound with their masterpiece album Pet Sounds.

The studios weren’t just known for turning out rock and pop hits. Famous themes for film and television were recorded here including the themes from M*A*S*H, Mission Impossible, The Monkees, Hawaii Five-O, The Partridge Family, The Beverly Hillbillies, and The Godfather.

One of the perks of working at a recording studio is that you can get killer deals on working on your own projects. Here is what he has been working on in conjunction with a few other CRAS grads. It was released on iTunes today.

The I Know Rights – “Sometimes”

Red Hot Chili Peppers: The Lost Tracks

Posted on May 14, 2013 by CRAS

OK, maybe they aren’t the lost tracks. However, the album Stadium Arcadium, which was the Pepper’s 9th studio album, originally recorded more than what you may have heard. Released in May 2006, the album was critically acclaimed as being the Pepper’s best album, hitting the #1 spot in countless countries across the globe. Selling in excess of 5 million albums worldwide, this is certainly an amazing record. However, not all of their recorded material landed on the album itself. In fact, there are nine tunes that didn’t make the cut.

Want to hear them?

Million Miles of Water

I’ll Be Your Domino

Joe

Save This Lady

Whatever We Want

Lately

A Certain Someone

Mercy Mercy

Funny Face

In The Studio with The Ocean: Pelagial

Posted on May 5, 2013 by CRAS

Also known as The Ocean Collective, this is a very experimental metal band based out of Germany, though many of its members hail from various regions around Europe. Founded in 2000, over 40 musicians have been part of this band at one time or another, contributing to the creation of six full length albums.

Don’t let the term “metal band” turn you off of this project. Each of their albums has a depth and a persona unheard of in nearly any other band that I’ve heard. On some of their later CDs, from Precambrian and on, they began including all kinds of instruments, from strings to classical instruments, as well as keyboards and electric sounds.

I highly recommend watching at least this first video. It gives an amazing perspective into their recording process, from getting drum tones using three different sets of spaced pair mics, allowing them to get close up, tight sounds as well as washed out, dreamy tones. They also look into how a band spread all over Europe can cheaply and efficiently make an incredible record, especially focusing on home recording and re-amping.

This sixth album, Pelagial, refers to the different depths of the ocean, which is a fitting name to the depths you travel through while listening to this new release. This album, as well as their last two, actually work as dual albums – there is one full album with vocals, and one full album as just instrumental. The music itself is not different, but the absence of the vocals allows you to focus on the true musicianship found within.

Recorded in a few places in the cold depths of Sweden, as well as contributions from a few other locations, this album is an incredible masterpiece that should be listened to in the very least, if not owned, by any music enthusiast.

You can also read an in-depth article about this release at MetalSucks.net.

Star Wars Production and Behind the Scenes

Posted on May 4, 2013 by CRAS

May the Fourth be with you! Today is the quietly (or perhaps not so quietly) celebrated nerd holiday of May 4th. I decided to share a few things that you all might find interesting in that light!

Here is a behind the scenes look at the scoring of Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. Recorded in Abbey Road Studios, John Williams spent a week with George Lucas, hashing out exactly how he wanted the soundtrack to score. This video has some great insight into what goes on while we are trying to record large bands, and the decisions that are made on the producer’s couch.

They continued the scoring at Abbey Road studios in 2005, working on Episode Three: Revenge of the Sith.

While we all known that Darth Vader was voiced by James Earl Jones, the actor who portrayed the figure was actually David Prowse. We can see the curtain pulled back from the movie magic in this next clip, and hear what sounds more like Rick Moranis in Spaceballs, rather than James Earl Jones and the “real” Darth Vader.

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