The Cut of the Month is GUITAR DEFORMATION LEAGUE. this duo of bass
and drums make some sort of grungy, butt rock in a true northwest
style. I love how stripped down and raw it is. As a bonus, this month
I'm experimenting in the format department. This track is offered as
streaming Real Audio (as usual) and also as a downloadable mp3. Let
me know what you think and which you'd prefer.

The month of June started with a bang with the premiere of my new
music project WIZARD PRISON. This is a new experimental project
between my pal Ben McAllister and myself. We did our first show on
06-06-06 in my studio to a decent sized crowd. Our first two records
are available as free downloads from our web site
http://www.wizardprison.com.

The first record is called "The Early Years 1972 - 2005" and features
raw, lo-fi recordings of projects that we have done in the past.
These projects range from film soundtracks to rehearsals to radio
shows. It's a fairly brutal mix of noise/ drone/ space and madness.
Not for the faint of heart.

The second record is called "II" and is probably a better
introduction to the group. It contains new studio recordings that
range from avant rock, ambience space, electronic beat, and black
metal. Maybe you can hear the humor. Maybe you can feel the darkness.

Both records will be available shortly in hard copy format so if
downloading ain't your bag of bones, baby...hold tight for the real McCoy!

The rest of the month plopped me back in Montreal for a third round
with the ARCADE FIRE. This session, in particular had a few
highlights I'd like to share with you now.

At the end of the previous session Win had stated that he'd like to
do a song in which the drums sounded like the drums from "Come
Together". I thought that maybe I already knew how to do that but I'd
do the research on it anyway. I googled and searched pro audio forums
to see if anyone had discussed this before. I even bought a book
called "The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions" which gave me some
insight but didn't address that specific song. The pictures I was
looking at were cropped in a way as to not really reveal the whole setup.

In a twist of fate, I got an email from an old friend about a
screening of Hard Days Night in LA with an appearance by Kevin Ryan
and Brian Kehew, who wrote a booked called "Recording the Beatles"
(http://www.recordingthebeatles.com) . I bet THAT book has the info I
need. So I looked it up online and noticed that the publishing date
was August 2006 which wouldn't do me any good for June.

I persisted in my search online and found discussion about the
forthcoming book with posts by Kevin Ryan! I wrote him directly and
pleaded my case and he allowed a quick peek into the book for that
specific drum setup.

Out of respect, I can not reveal this technique to you in this
update, but I can tell you that it worked all too well and after we
had it setup, we played "Come Together" through the headphone system
and Jeremy played along and our jaws hit the floor as the sound was
very similar.

And there was much rejoicing.

The second highlight was a cathedral organ recording at the Jean
Baptiste Church in Montreal. In a previous session we needed a pipe
organ for this particular song and we found one in small church in
the outer province. It was cool and all, but not really what I had in
mind for a pipe organ. We recorded anyway and in this new session we
picked a performance from that session that was killer, but also
found this pipe organ in the Jean Baptiste church that was more in
line with what you think of when you think of a PIPE ORGAN.

The process of recording was precarious. The band went into the
church ahead of me and my assistant James Ogilvie. They recorded a
sample of the organ playing a chord in different registers. Win
called me and told me how excited he was about the organ. He said is
was super loud and so overwhelming that it brought a tear to his eye.
I promptly called him a pussy.

The recording came via email the next day. James and I ran that
recording into a tuner to see how off of standard tuning the organ
was. It turned out to be 20 cents sharp. we then connected the tuner
to the tape machine and played the old pipe organ into it and sped up
the tape machine until it was also 20 cents out. Then transferred the
whole tape to the computer. During this process a huge storm hit the
town where the studio is. I'm talking sideways rain and super high
winds. Almost like a hurricane. The breaker blew on the air
conditioning, the lights were flickering and I'm trying to make a
tape transfer! Somehow it all worked out and James and I decompressed
on the hour long drive in to Montreal.

When I first walked into the church and saw the organ, I just stood
dead in my tracks. "Now THAT's a fucking pipe organ!", I thought. We
set up for recording and I couldn't believe how cool this was going
to be. We ended up using a stereo pair that was suspended from the
ceiling. It was a permanent install in the church. I supplemented
that with a stereo pair on the floor of the church but in the same
plane as the suspended mics. We also set up a pair of mics close to
the organ for alignment purposes AND a single omni mic all the way at
the alter. This was a run of 150 feet! The reverb time in this
church was at least 3 seconds.

In order to do the overdub, Regine and I both had headphone on so we
could hear the music, but because of the delay time of room and the
organ itself, she had to play by touch, hitting the right chords but
hearing them a split second later. Very difficult.

During the first take, I became overwhelmed by the grandeur of the
whole thing. I heard that piece in it's finished state and it was
magnificent! Tears rolled out of my eyes. I don't know what came over
me, but it was a complete emotional release. The problem was that
there were mics all around me, so I really couldn't sob. So I'm
trying to hold back any kind of vocal component to this overwhelming
joy I was experiencing.

When the take was over, I took off my headphones and dryed my eyes on
my shirt. James asked if i was OK and I said, "yeah man, that was a
great take!". I looked at Regine with my red eyes and said,
"awesome!" and then I thought..."whose the pussy now?"

What better way to celebrate the Solstice than recording a pipe organ
in a catholic church!

I can not wait for you to hear this song. Every time I listen to the
rough mix and it hits that key change I get choked up. Prepare
yourself world! This record is simply amazing!

Scott Colburn

Audio Wizardry and Related Sciences
For more info: www.scottcolburn.<wbr>com

"Stare with Your Ears!"