The month started off with a bang and not because of the 4th of July holiday. No, this bang was the WIZARD PRISON CD release party of 777 (july 7th, 2007). The record release prompted a nod from pitchfork, which can be read here
In the uncanny department, this blurb spawned downloads of the song "Tea Dream" from our website that totaled 777 from the day before the party to the day after the party. That's pretty strange and wonderful if you ask me.
The show was well attended with several not even able to get inside the room. The opening group FOREST OF GREY spell bound the audience with their black metal sounds. The Wizard Prison set consisted of new films and an additional piece from the CD which featured the first live appearance of Gogon, the confused Peruvian overlord from the story of II. The night finished up with a Wizard Grand Dance party to the sights and sounds of Earth Wind and Fire.
The strange and wonderful Wizard Prison tour starts Sept 14th with the Animal Collective in Seattle at Neumos. The entire tour schedule is listed at
HYPATIA LAKE started tracking their epic follow up to "And We Shall Call Him Joseph". This was really great session because of the complexity of sound and professional execution of classic 70's riffs. With a dash of math rock, a pinch of electronica and a heavy dose of uber concept, this record will appeal to fans of Flaming Lips, Black Sabbath, David Bowie, Neil Young and Nick Cave. Who wants to know what's going on inside Joseph's head? You do... make preparation NOW!
Audio Geekery alert!!! The Hypatia Lake session included many really cool recording techniques, but the one that was simply too serendipitous was what is now called the Numerological Phi recording technique #7. Lance from Hypatia Lake asked if we could setup a triangle of amplifiers that were laid back in a way so that all of the sound would collect in a point in the stratosphere of the room to form a "sound pyramid" so to speak. Since my control room is designed around the Golden Mean Ratio (phi), we thought that using Phi as a beginning point would be a good idea. So try to follow this: Two Pathfinder amps connected to two 12" speakers where placed 7 feet apart. A third amp which was of the Fender Twin variety was placed at a distance equivalent to Phi from the bisection of the line formed between the first two amps. This sort of looks like a capital T. All three amps where angled back so that the pyramid point was about 7 feet above the middle of the T. A binaural mic was placed in the apex of the pyramid. Two room mics were placed at 7 feet tall as well, but their bases formed an equilateral triangle with the Fender amp. These measurements were all 7 feet, forming a 777 triangle within the T. a sound recording was fed to all three amps simultaneously. The two feeds to the Pathfinder amps were run through a stereo tremlo which Lance adjusted by hand during the recording to make the sound move faster or slower depending on the feel of the piece. Each amp was also close mic'd. If you stood at the apex, it was physically disorienting, but the recording is a stellar audio journey into worlds unknown.
Last month I told you about the KUOW interview, which was supposed to air last month, but did not. It is slated to air next month with a brand new form to the show and my interview is the roll out interview. I'll get a link to it next month. In addition, I went to do another interview with award winning interviewer Amanda Wilde that covered the organ recording for Intervention by Arcade Fire. Amanda felt that this story of the creative process might be of interest to the network. So let's hope they know what's good for them.
In more press news, I was interviewed by the Seattle Weekly. You may read the interview here.
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I need to point out a few error in the story though. I only lived in LA for 2 years. I don't know if that makes me an ex-pat, but I think I hardly qualify as such. The overdub room has a half second decay, the control room has a quarter second decay (actually .24) and the main room has a 1.5 sec decay. Gravel Voice is one word Gravelvoice. My actual route of travel throughout my life was Chicago, Columbus, IN, Bloomington, IN, Chicago, LA, San Francisco, LA, Seattle. I was never an official member of Sun City Girls although I did "play" on a few songs. I've only done 125 broadcasts for KEXP and all of those happened between 2001-2005.
THE QUIT put the finishing touches on 4 of their new songs for upcoming release. There are already plans to record more material in the future
FERAL CHILDREN CD was mastered and went off to the pressing plant. Should be out next month.
I can say that the new studio is done, but I can not say that it's officially done. You know you're done with a 4 year long project when you rent a cargo van and fill it with construction debris and go to the city dump and the weight is nearly 2000 pounds. It was liberating to heave all the little scraps of wood and plaster into the garbage pit. Now I just need to uncrate the art and have a party. Then, and only then, will it be officially done.
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