Nashville Travelogue, continued.

Just back from two trips to Nashville in two weeks. First, a couple of days of producing (and playing acoustic guitar on) song demos for New Yorker Dave Stewart, a superlative song craftsman. Another opportunity to get together with my musician colleagues, Chris Leuzinger on electric guitar, Jamey Whiting on piano, Wayne Killius on drums, the amazing John Vogt on bass, and genius multi-instrumentalist Jim Hoke on steel guitar, accordion and… penny whistle! Also delightful to visit with singers Tim Buppert, Perry Danos and the effervescent Erica Alexander.

The legendary Studio 19 was the scene, and was again this past week when we assembled a smaller team (Chris Leuzinger, Jamey Whiting and John Vogt again,with Chris Brown on drums) for some heavy biker-rock songs for a movie pitch. Then, a great house session of reels, jigs and hornpipes with Nashville’s Irish A-team Bill Verdier, David Coe and Bill Wolfe. Don’t let anyone tell you Nashville is all country.

A beautiful time of year in Tennessee- cherries, redbuds and early dogwoods in bloom, but wonderful to get back to the NH seacoast salt air and a delightful recording session for fiddler Ellen Carlson’s upcoming CD release. We put together a set of jigs, with fiddle and DADGAD guitar, the Black Rogue played in a Martin Hayes-y mellow kind of mood followed by a snappy take on Buttermilk Mary. Spring is here!

Pilgrims from London

The new year got off to a great musical    start when a group of lads from London called ‘Pilgrims’ made their first trip to Portsmouth to record the first half of  their debut CD. The three excellent guitarist/vocalists/songwriters Harry, James and Luca were joined by ‘Mersey Beat’ specialist Dave from Liverpool on drums and yours truly on bass to produce what I called ‘Post-Indie-guitar-based-alt-Pop-Rock’. The lads didn’t buy it.

Our little seacoast town of Portsmouth proved a stellar host to these London sophisticates. Jam sessions at the Press Room, Dolphin Striker and Blue Mermaid welcomed these versatile musicians who finished up their two weeks’ work all aglow and abuzz about…yes, New Hampshire!

MPM Studio’s You Tube Channel

Jim P @ Turtle Lounge Ashland MA 1975Link to MPM Studio’s You Tube channel

In 1976 I was playing with a Boston-based Country/Swing band called the Rockabilly Shufflers, doing venues like The Hillbilly Ranch, Kevin’s, The Blue Star, Jack’s, Inman Sq. Men’s Bar, etc. We eventually landed a house band gig 5 nights a week at the Turtle Lounge in Ashland MA  (that’s me on the gig in the photo). One night a good friend brought a then-rare video camera. I remember driving home very excited, thinking that one day it would be totally possible for viewers everywhere to have a ‘window’ into musical performances of all kinds all over the world. That day is here!

This is just a very small first step, a couple of live performance videos of my Irish music wanderings, one in Nashville, the other in Portland ME. I hope that soon the ‘Live Room’ at MPM will be one of THE hot spots for You Tube music.

Makem and Spain Brothers New Christmas Song/Video

 

A lively night at MPM Studio! Mick and Liam Spain festooned the Live Room with Christmas lights. Rory Makem brought a little portable Christmas tree, and with his banjo intro, accompanied by seasonally appropriate sleigh bells, the lads launched into a great new Christmas sing-along ‘I Heard the Bells on Christmas Morn’. Conor Makem joined in with concertina, Brian Richards with 12-string guitar, John Doherty with upright bass (we got a GREAT bass sound-no easy matter), and the whole thing was captured on video, viewable soon on YouTube.

Dave Hallowell showed up with his video camera (which we synch-ed up to the good audio), and I can see immediately from his ‘roughs’ that the Live Room is a perfect YouTube venue. Think about that, folks…

The Studio Build-Out is Complete!

The Live Room:

It’s an absolute pleasure to make music in the acoustically pristine live room, with the relaxing view of the Mill Pond preserved. The clarity of the sound makes you just want to keep playing and singing.

The Control Room:

High ceilings, long room length and custom designed sound diffusion panels create an accurate listening, mixing and mastering environment, as well as additional high quality recording space.

 

 

 

 

 

The ‘Lobby’:

Enter this light-filled room with its panoramic pond view, and the tone for your music-making experience is set.

Oran Mor: New CD!

It took just a couple of weeks from the first tracking session to a St. Paddy’s Day release date to complete the first Oran Mor CD.

Dave Hallowell (vocals, bouzouki, guitar and fiddle) and Pete Hale (vocals, guitar, bouzouki) are regular performers at Portsmouth’s hopping Irish Pub, Ri-Ra. This disc really captures their distinctive, stringy sound, a powerful string engine roaring through the speakers at Mill Pond Music, easily supporting the muscular vocals.

Thanks for breaking in the newly completed ‘Live Room’ at Mill Pond, guys, and confirming that what we’ve set out to do here has become reality: a great room where attention to acoustic detail  has created a space for instruments to really sing out!

I heard that sales were pretty good on the big Green Beer Day, and may they continue as you attract more and more listeners to your Monday night shows at Ri-Ra. I’ll be coming in regularly to check on you guys! Hey, who was that on banjo on ‘The Ferryman’?

 

 

Mudhook: ‘First Home’ CD

Just in time for the Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival, Dave Hallowell, Peter Hale, Mike Jenneau and Alan Eaton, collectively known as Mudhook, have completed the special ‘collector’s edition’ of their new CD, here at Mill Pond Music.

With charming, mostly traditional material, ringing guitars and bouzoukis, sweet fiddles, haunting low whistle and vocals sometimes rowdy, sometimes plaintive, this project exactly fits into the kind of genre that the studio is built for (using the word ‘built’ loosely- with full soundproofing still a few weeks away from completion, the occasional gull can be heard in the distance).

Great work, lads,and a great way to start the music flowing at Mill Pond!

(A note here to D-28 players: the AKG C460 mics, with audio upgrade by Jim Williams, made magic with Pete’s guitar-proving that D-28s don’t have to be boomy!)

Brendan Taaffe

Brendan’s exquisite, delicate guitar playing, sweet vocals can be heard on the four tracks he recorded here.  Follow this link to his website and click ‘listen’  on his his website.   The two B & K 4011 mics, with ruler-flat response, did a nice job of capturing the brilliant sound of his small-bodied guitar.

The solid workhorse Neumann U87 (with a substantial audio upgrade by Nashville’s legendary Bill Bradley) did its velvety work on Brendan’s subtle vocals. Looking forward to more!

At the Shaskeen in Manchester NH with Roger Burridge

There was a T-shirt seen at a number of Irish music sessions around New England this summer, with “What would Roger Do?” inscribed under a silhouette of Roger Burridge in his trademark sunglasses. He’s a legend, and for good reason: this English fiddle player who moved to the US some years ago has played with absolutely everyone in Irish music (Tommy Peoples, Davy Spillane, Fairport Convention, etc.), yet is always gracious in his encouraging support of Irish music enthusiasts at any level of proficiency.

I’ll never forget my first meeting with Roger Burridge at the Shaskeen Pub in Manchester NH about 4 years ago. It was a very quiet Sunday afternoon, just Roger playing solo. After an enchanting hour listening to his sweet and supple playing, I timidly asked to join him on DADGAD guitar. We’ve been friends ever since, and are exploring musical ideas at Mill Pond Music whenever time allows.

Check out the Trad Irish Session hosted by Roger Burridge, James Prendergast and Chris ‘Junior’ Stevens, every Saturday afternoon (3-6) at the Shaskeen Pub in Manchester NH. Cartoonist Mike Lynch captured us recently in full sail as we tried to keep up with the brilliant young fiddler Jake Stewart.

Mill Pond Music Studio

Mill Pond Music is a recording studio located in Portsmouth NH, a minute’s drive from picturesque and bustling Market Square, and situated on the banks of the North Mill Pond in a vintage factory building.

The studio is equipped with a carefully selected array of microphones of exquisite quality, the finest of microphone pre-amps and compressors, an MCI/Sony 24-track 2″ analog tape machine, up-to-date digital mixing, editing and mastering capability.

The main recording space is an ambient ‘live room’ featuring quadratic residue and polycylindrical diffusers, floating floor and ceiling design – perfect for recording acoustic guitars, fiddles, mandolins and banjos, and ideal for achieving a natural, spacious drum sound. And, that hard-to-get even, round upright bass sound is easy to capture with a nice ribbon mic in this quiet, woody, accurate room.

The control room provides an acoustically correct mixing and mastering environment, with bass traps and quadratic residue diffusers specifically designed for this room’s size and sonic characteristics. Part of this room serves as another warm, lively recording space.

Most important of all, though, is the presence behind the console of a seasoned musician with thirty years experience in the challenging environment of Nashville TN’s  music industry.

Located just 40 mins. or so from Manchester NH and Portland Me, an hour from Concord NH and towns north of Boston,  you’ll find this calm spot conducive to relaxed creativity.

Some notes from my many Nashville clients:

“Thanks so much for your great work! I’m not so much talking about the finished product (terrific!), but the process- respectful, unhurried, caring, artistic- which infuses and is forever captured in the finished product.”  Mary Beth Stone, regional coordinator Nashville Songwriters’ Assoc. Int’l. New York City

“Thank you so very much…Besides your wonderful playing and arranging, I remember you as being so very kind, helpful, patient and encouraging…Your enthusiasm and interest in what I was doing made the day very special…You have helped bring a life-long dream of mine to fruition.” Molly Shannon

“…thank you again for the pleasurable experience of making music at your studio. You made my dreams become reality! Looking forward to working with you again!” Pete Harris

Nashville bids Jim ‘adieu!’…

On my departure, some words from colleagues:

“…you’re such an impeccable player, so insightful and full of spirit; and keeping the big picture in mind. I’ve always been honored that you’ve chosen me to play your sessions on so many occasions. The choices in this town are overwhelming and to have a knowledgeable player/producer as yourself include me is a feather in my cap that I proudly wear (at least in my own house).”        Tim Lorsch, fiddle

“I’ve really enjoyed the recording sessions I’ve done with you the last few years and will miss getting together with the crew over at your place and making music.  I’m sure with all your studio engineering and arranging experience and your fine playing you will be a welcome asset to the music community there.

And remember, with all the new technology, miles don’t really separate us anymore.  If you come up with some stuff in the far north that you feel would benefit from my style, we can always exchange files over the net and I can overdub parts here at the house.”                          Chris Leuzinger, guitar

“Damn…” Bob Mater, drums

“Man you can’t just up and leave without us throwing a party for you !! You’re gonna be missed sir…” Tim Buppert, vocals

“Jimbo, I will miss you buddy. Always a pleasure to come sing for you…”                               Jeff Carson, vocals

Country singers & songwriters: Record in Nashville!

Here are the questions: “I’m a country singer- do I have to have a Nashville band on my CD?” And, “I write songs that I think are good enough to be cut by a big name country artist- do my demos need Nashville musicians and singers?  With few exceptions, the answer to both is an unqualified YES!, if the goal is to make an entry into the ‘big tent’ that is Nashville’s music industry. A daunting prospect for a writer or artist who has yet to pound the pavement of Music Row, or lined up outside the Bluebird Cafe on a Sunday or Monday night.

This can be hard to explain, but the reasons will be immediately apparent just minutes into that first  Nashville recording session, when the five or six musicians on hand will magically transport your song to just the right place. I’ll never forget the first time this happened to me with a little song I had written, back in 1983, maybe 10,000 song demos ago. Guitarist Jerry Shook and his team honed a catchy intro and fell into a spacious groove, while a good ole boy’s southern twang took this city boy’s lyric way down a back road to Merle Haggard-ville. Exciting!

There’s another, extra-musical factor: Nashville A & R people want to know that you’re committed to your craft and are willing to go to certain lengths to have your contributions considered.

It can be expensive, but not necessarily prohibitively so. A wonderful song demo that sounds like a country radio production (in fact, the same A-team players will play just as well on your demo as they will on a record, for a fraction of the cost) can be produced for as little as $600 or so, a 12-song artist CD recorded for much less than $10,000. Additional savings can be realized with some final work (mixing, vocals, overdubs, mastering) done back in New England at Mill Pond Music.

One final consideration: the digital age is here, making it possible for your Nashville session to take place while you sit comfortably at the other end of a Skype feed, not incurring travel expenses. Contact me and we can discuss this exciting option.

Nashville travelogue: Wanya, Petrojvic Blasting Co. and more!

Sometimes the producer’s job is really easy (don’t tell my client!). Producing a vocal session in Nashville last week with Wanya Morris of Boyz To Men was just such a moment. A consummate pro, Wanya’s been recording for a couple of decades now and basically self-produces. He knew what he wanted, knew when he had it and when he didn’t, knocked out two superb versions of the song from which we later comped a gem. It was a 12-blues with a great horn section led by my good friend Jim Hoke, and a rhythm section featuring drummer Chris Brown, John Vogt on bass, Jamey Whiting on piano. If Wanya translated his musical ideas to guitar, he’d be one of the great blues guitar players of our time!

Bayou Recording, the venue for this project, is one of my favorite studios in Nashville, not least because they, like me, still love and use analog 2″ tape. Grabbing the opportunity to put together a second project for songwriter Richard Tinsley, we tracked a Cajun-style thing driven by Joe Spivey‘s fiddle, Jeff Taylor‘s accordion and the great Dusty Drake at the microphone.

As always, it’s a treat to get back to Nashville, and the weekend was capped by a fantastic Irish session with David Coe, Bill Verdier, Bill Wolfe, and Jeff Taylor. And who should show up but the peripatetic globe-hopping former student (if you can call him that-thankfully, he never paid attention to anything I suggested) of mine Josh Kaufmann, accordionist and founder of the fantastic Petrojvic Blasting Company. We had a chance to catch up, and exchanged hopes that the band will record at Mill Pond Music after their upcoming European tour.