George Inai Session

Justin and I had the amazing opportunity to work with George Inai the other day - one of Denver’s most unique and promising artists.  How can one sum up what embodies the George Inai sound?  Take one part Frank Sinatra, one part Nat King Cole, and throw in a retro tremolo guitar…that’s only the beginning!  It was a pleasure doing this session, as it was a nice deviation from our rock sensibilities for a day.

Our setup was quite simple in theory, but a little tricky to execute.  George really wanted a super-vibey room sound…something that was raw but very present and intimate.  We were doing our best to try and recreate the “Buena Vista” sound, which happens to be one of Justin’s and my favorite records.

A few technical notes: We started by placing a stereo pair of Schoeps Omni’s on the room, ran though the P1 pres and tweaked with the Hammer EQ…and given a little love with the LA-2A.  This was the most important part of the process, since this was going to be the key of the whole recording - getting the room sound JUST right.  We decided to use a Royer 121 through the Germanium to give the guitar amp a thick, warm sound.  We placed the amp about 20 feet away from the Schoeps in the back of the room to give it a more distant and ambient vibe to supplement the Royer sound.  We decided to use the Red mic with the Telefunken 251 capsule about 2 feet away from the source, since it provided the warmth and clarity that we wanted on George’s voice.

Once we set up everything and got it tweaked just right, it was time to roll tape and let George do his thing.  I was blown away with how George really puts the listener in a space.  His lyrical content was very cohesive with the melodic statements he was making - put his crooning on top of it - and you have something truly special.  We can’t wait to work with him again!

Check out George’s myspace page at www.myspace.com/georgeinai

Until next time-

-Dave