Recording - December 2011 - 22

only had various forms of ideas to work with. The rest of us had absolutely no idea what it was going to sound like when it was done. Where can we hear the original and your version? The original can be heard in its entirety at http://chrystabell.bandcamp.com/ The Electrons version will be at www.electronsmusic.com What else is Electrons up to? We have several projects we are discussing that are in the film world and underground electronica scene. We all have an interest in electronic music, but really see ourselves doing more soundtrack based work. We just had a track on Burn Notice, actually; here is a snippet: http://soundcloud.com/electrons-l/ ghost-instrumental-snippet

Steve is the ultimate groovemaster. Not even Science can reproduce his technique. He recorded his ideas at his studio by playing along with the original track, a pass with brushes, another with sticks, some straight-ahead passes, sidestick passes, as well as some really frantic and unusual bits. He has this subtle aggressive elegance to his playing style that has been and continues to be the backbone for so many artists. Roger then put down some really cool, minimalist Moog and Elektron bits. He has a way of using space as an instrument in ways I’ve never heard before. He’ll take monophonic synths and have the notes bounce of off space, and vice versa. He did a mix of the track with just his bits that could actually stand on its own. Who knows, maybe we’ll put that out some day. You won’t find a more interesting synth player on the planet. And you? In addition to the groove and unique electronics, I also wanted a cinematic aspect to it that would be pretty obvious when it comes on. My main contribution was the middle section that goes into the orchestral bit. We all like to experiment, so I also added a broken music box, some chanting monks, and a few other instruments. Anthony added the “Tron”like arpeggiator on that part which goes so well with Steve’s groove. We love the part when Steve matches it. How did it come together? After we all made our reference mixes for our ideas, showing the dynamics of what we had played, we handed it all to Anthony, who was given the task of producing and mixing the track at his Bopnique Studios in Boston, with Grammy-nominated engineering genius Karyadi Sutedja. He then created his own synth and guitar parts while constructing a song structure. Anthony moved every vocal note, created a drum composite from the various drum vibes, made sure everyone’s personality could be heard, and over the course of five days, he created the band’s sound. It’s really an amazing feat considering he
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RECORDING DECEMBER 2011

The Studios

Anthony J. Resta’s studio
We then asked the principals the same question: “What is your own “homestudio” situation like—principal gear, what DAW you use, in what mobile or permanent location?” The answers are enlightening: Eric Alexandrakis: I have an iMac with Logic Pro which has loads of synths, Pro Tools 8, Reason and Ableton Live, lots of synths and drum modules and other instruments. On the Chrysta Bell/David Lynch track “Friday Night Fly”, I used the following: Roland VS-1680, various gate and reverb effects from that module. Strings and distorted timpanis and piano played off of the Korg Trinity.

Ambient guitar played through a Line 6 Guitar Pod on a hollow-body Gretsch “Tennessee Rose”. Broken music box run through a Korg KP2 KAOSS Pad. Royalty-free sample of Medieval monks, slowed down, reversed and stretched, and later looped by Anthony. Glockenspiel recorded with a Shure SM57. Warren Cuccurullo: My current homerecording setup is based around my Bob Bradshaw effects-switching rig (24 switch model) into the Two Notes Torpedo speaker/mic simulator. The output of the Torpedo goes into Ableton Live 8 Suite on a HP PC which has just about everything I need onboard. I use the MOTU 8pre or the MAudio Fast Track Pro. I have a few different Korg KAOSS pads for additional sampling and effects, and a Korg M3 synth w/Radius module... this stuff comes up through an Allen & Heath MixWizard console into ADAM Audio A7 nearfield monitors. My guitar rig consists of a Custom Audio Electronics 3+ preamp, Eventide delays and reverb, DigiTech Whammy pedal pitch shift, Boss Slicer, and lots of looping devices like the DigiTech JamMan and BOSS DD-20. I also use a couple of Line 6 M5 stompbox modelers, one mono in front of the amp, and one stereo, post... Two mono Apache custom-built 18W power amps go to the L & R speakers. The guitar rig fits in my small sports car without a problem, and the studio gear is in a moderate-sized bedroom space. Steve Ferrone: These are just some bits from my studio: My board is a Digidesign Control|24 with Focusrite Mic Preamps. My DAW is Pro Tools 7.1, I run it on a Mac G4. Roger O’Donnell: In my studio I use an iMac 27" i7 processors, 8 GB of RAM running Logic Pro Studio. I used only a Moog Voyager which goes into a MOTU 828 Mk2 via a Focusrite stereo preamp. All effects are onboard plug-ins in Logic. I was away from my studio when I worked on this project, so I was using my mobile setup, which is a MOTU UltraLite into a MacBook Pro running Logic Pro Studio. I just ran the Voyager into the UltraLite and into Logic and used the onboard plug-ins. I also used Ableton Live to set up the loops.... I monitor in the studio on Mackie 828s and in London I think I used headphones? One last question: What do you remember contributing to the Friday Night Fly project—when did you come up with what, and how did you do it? Warren Cuccurullo: I got a CD of the “Friday Night Fly” track and listened to it in the car a few times just to get it in my head... Then I could just pick up a guitar that was lying around the house and try and nail some kind of riff to mess up the

http://chrystabell.bandcamp.com/ http://www.electronsmusic.com http://www.soundcloud.com/electrons-l/ghost-instrumental-snippet http://www.soundcloud.com/electrons-l/ghost-instrumental-snippet

Recording - December 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - December 2011