They Were Only Satellites

I recently wrapped up some mixes for They Were Only Satellites. 3 songs quickly finished for the myspace page, compilation submissions, etc. Work on the full length continues and we’ll probably add some candy to the tracks we’ve finished. 

They Were Only Satellites is:

Clayton Mars: Vocals, Guitar, Songwriter
Tom Chaffin: Drums
Steve Brecht: Guitar
and myself: Bass, Backing Vocals

Check out a sample track by clicking the player below:

“Baby I Turn to You”  

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This past Saturday (2/21/09) I had the pleasure of hosting Joe Jack Talcum of the Dead Milkmen here in the studio for a ‘living room’ style acoustic show. Thanks to John and Marshall from the Stinging Nettles, we were able to transform the big room here into a performance space and have 30 guests come to this special event.

Joe was joined by Hugh Hamilton on stage who provided dobro, banjo, shakers, tambourine, and vocals. More of Hugh’s music can be found at myspace.com/hughhamilton and iacmusic.com/hughhamilton. Marshall Fischer from Stinging Nettles joined in on Bongos for a few tunes as well.

The entire show was recorded and filmed and we hope that a CD and/or DVD will be released at some point. Here are a few photos of the event. Special thanks to Nina Sabatino for the photos.

Click the player below to hear the song “Methodist Coloring Book”:

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It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted here, but hey, I’ve been busy.

The Stinging Nettles mixes started last Thursday afternoon and today is a little thing I like to call ‘day 8′. We’ve averaged about a day per song and have overshot our time by about double… but that’s OK. The mixes are turning out great and we’re looking forward to finishing up strong.

I’m happy to say that this record was mixed on a console with most processing done with outboard gear. I used a few plugins from Logic for certain special effects, but otherwise we worked “out of the box”. The mixes themselves are very musical and dynamic as John (Huebner) and I were able to ride the faders on every mix and really dial in what we wanted. The mix becomes the final performance in sense.

Anyway, back to work. The mixes should be done by this weekend, then we send it off for mastering. Look for a March 2009 release.

taking a break

The Stinging Nettles have given me carte blanche to record my backing vocals for the record. Which is nice as I can do it when I have the time and also take my time to get them right. So far, so good.

Been spending a lot of time in the studio lately. Splitting my time between working on the Nettles stuff and playing with parts of my new set up. I recently purchased Logic 8 and an Alesis HD24XR for tracking. I’ve used the HD’s before and it’s nice to have one of them back in the rack. I’ve been working in ProTools so long now that I feel really comfortable with it and I’m having a hard time embracing logic. I guess I just need more time.

In other news, They Were Only Satellites are set to start a record in November and I’ve been talking to Jack Dillman about doing a studio release as well. Check back for more updates.

Reason Left Town have released their debut EP. John Huebner and I worked on these songs a few months back. John tracked (with some slight assistance from me) and mixed. I mastered it. You can check out all of the tracks on the band’s myspace page. The EP is 3 songs and sells for $5. Pick one up if you can and support the band. 

Reason Left Town EP

I’ve posted some music from my old band Altercana on the Music page. Just sayin’