Olivia Rudeen EP “Until Now” Release!

I am excited to announce the release of a fantastic EP I recently produced for Denver-based singer-songwriter Olivia Rudeen! The 5-song EP “Until Now” is Olivia’s first solo effort. The songs are fantastic, well crafted acoustic-based tunes, kind of Americana, almost roots-rock in vibe.

Don’t let Olivia fool you: she’s only 19 but blew me away with her work ethic and attention to detail. We had a lot of fun on this project and Olivia did a more than admirable job putting up with my lame jokes.

About the Production

Preproduction began in early March and we started tracking later in the month. Drums were recorded at Monument Sound by engineer Chris Andrews with Colorado Springs-based drummer Kevin Garland at the kit.

Back up at The Hook Factory, we tracked great friend and amazing bassist Jimmy Stofer. Olivia tracked all of the acoustics, some electric guitars, and additional electrics were performed by Dave Hedin, Paul Murin and guest engineer Ted Swan (who spent a week with me in April and was kind enough to lay down some sweet tracks on Austin). Yours truly even made a guest appearance on ukulele!

At the end of April I mixed the EP and sent it off to none other than Brian Gardner for mastering.

The EP is available for order online now, but Olivia’s official release date on iTunes is June 29, 2010.

-Justin

Devotchka String Session

Back in early April I got a call to do a string date at Immersive Studios with Devotchka (yeah yeah, I know I’m behind on the blog). I’m a big fan of this band and was stoked for the opportunity  to do even a little bit of work on their upcoming record.

Producer Craig Schumacher gave me the reins to do my thing sonically with the string sounds so he could focus on producing the session. Knowing the band and the unmistakeable sound of Tom Hagerman’s string arrangements, I didn’t want anything too clean, yet wanted to give Craig some options and flexibility come mix time.

Below are a few pics of the setup. I wanted what I call an “80% stereo pair” where you can throw up the faders on pair and get at least 80% of what you want in the mix. Then you can add spot mics to taste.

First I went for the AKG C24 stereo mic. It’s a classic mic that gave me a very coherent if even somewhat narrow stereo image. On some of the songs where the strings are more supportive, I tend to find coincident stereo pairs to blend most easily without taking up too much room. And it’s very mono-friendly.

To give another option with a bigger, more lush and wider sound, I setup a spaced pair of DPA 4006 omni’s. I didn’t set these up to be outriggers to the C24, but rather to be an either/or pair. The sound of spaced omni’s on any kind of an ensemble–especially strings–is amazing. It’s super lush, wide and 3D. This can work better for songs with thinner arrangements where the strings are more focal. Also, they just have a totally different vibe which may or may not work on some of these songs.

Then, I included four spot mics. There were two of each player/part (two 1st violins, two 2nd violins, two violas and two cellos). To get a warmer, thicker sound than I’d go for on a classical session I chose ribbon mics for all but the cellos. Royer R122′s were used on the violins, a Blue Woodpecker on the violas and then a Soundelux iFet7 on cellos down low.

The great part about using ribbons in this context is that you can aim them such that the null of the polar pattern (figure-8 in this case since they’re ribbons) is aimed at the other sections. It’s hard to see in the picture of the setup, but an example is that the 1st violin mic was pointed down and to the left towards, and the side of the mic is therefore aimed down towards the cellos, maximizing separation. Gotta love those ribbons!

To give Craig the widest palette of sounds, I put the 2 stereo pairs (C24 and 4006′s) through Grace preamps which are totally uncolored and work in any mix. I put all of the spot mics through Vintech x73 preamps (Neve 1073 design) so that the blend could get really clean or really colored depending on how things were balanced.

Check out the record “100 Lovers” when it comes out!