Cameron Rafati-week 2, The Madison Arm

hello again

the cameron rafati album marches in to week 2. while this has not been the easiest project, things are going well and i'm happy to report that things are sounding great. cameron pushes for certain sounds more than other clients, and while that can be somewhat overwhelming at times, it has added up to more unique and interesting sounds overall.

todd sorensen stopped by to play on a few songs.
he played massive snare drums and tiny bass drums.

then one of my favorite guys ever - scott johnson - stopped in for day one of his keyboard attack. grand and upright piano and hammond b3 were the instruments for this day. next week we get into an ample amount of wurli, rhodes, field organ and synth stuff

one note of interest to no one but me - cameron was looking for a specific piano sound which we eventually found by laying felt over the strings and closing the lid entirely with the mics - neumann 87s - on the outside.

intern pat has been enlisted by cameron as session videographer, which has not interfered with his intern duties, which consist of watching while eating candy, whatsoever

cameron on the ukulele
picture not available:
craig poole stopped in to play bass on two tracks, while rob honey came in to play upright bass on two tracks and electric bass on still another.

in other non-studio news paul jacobsen and the madison arm (myself included) played over at velour on the friday night. yes, i know, you were busy. the show went well and thanks to good friend jed wells, we even have some documentation. here are some of my favorites.


pat campbell - less than 2 weeks after dislocating his shoulder

me - less than 2 hours since eating a taco

ryan tanner

and finally, here i am proving my theory that i am the
shortest person in my entire circle of friends.

ps if you were interested in hearing any of the sarah sample ep documented here, i put a few tracks up on my audio samples site. just click on the "my work" link you will find over there on the right side of this page.
pps dont steal those tracks and sell them
ppps dont tell sarah i put them up here

finally a new album

wednesday saw the start of an album project for cameron rafati. finally a project to really dig into again. thursday and friday aaron anderson from fictionist lent his drum talents.
thanks to a ton of compression and distortion the sounds were amazing, and we had enough drums available for 4 drummers.
monday we will begin to build the songs with the help of craig poole, scott johnson and who knows who else.
wow, this is quite a blog entry.
in related news-on friday march 6th you have the oppurtunity to hear paul jacobsen and the madison arm as well as the aforementioned fictionist. just come to velour in provo.


in unrelated news - tonight i watched nick and norah's infinite playlist. this is not a good movie. if you liked this movie you are a) 14 years old and b) not my friend anymore.

sick, slow, busy, sick

i'm afraid there isnt a whole lot to report as of late. things were rather slow after christmas and for the first few weeks of 09, prompting me to once again believe that i would never work again.

the efy album continues to move along slow as can be. we should be wrapping it all up in time for efy 2020, all the songs are about robots and time travel though, so at least we are prepared.

code hero stopped in the studio for a few days.

atherton stopped in for a 3 day session, but i got so sick that we had to cancel - here i am a week later still sick as can be.

neon trees also came by to knock out some demos of new songs.

lots of things on the horizon, now if only i can get my head to stop feeling like its going to explode.

nate pyfer

ryan tanner

the orange ad15 reminds me once again why i shouldnt sell it

the paul jacobsen and the madison arm show you should have attended

other notes -

lately i've been reminded just how great the glyn johns mic technique can be.
the wunder cm7 continues to amaze.
after nearly moving out to find another studio space, it seems i may stick around for a while.
a new pro tools rig is in the works
i am currently working on an interior redesign of my small space, i'm getting bored of it's current look.
apx alarm continues in its role as home to the highest concentration of super-bros in the world, the amount of trucks with two wheels up on something (snow, curbs, dirt, grass) as of late has been astounding.
good luck finding a 15' dvi extension cable to hook up your new 30" display anywhere in utah.
i'm really starting to think i might have outgrown my ns-10s.

get out of the house

ok, i dont usually do this, but cmon, you need to get out. what's that? you dont know what to do or where to go?


saturday night, the 17th. come to velour in provo at 8pm. mr tanner, mr campbell, mr jacobsen and i will be playing. it will be a great show. and we will even have a very special guest - all the way from spokane washington, mr george brunt. really, can you resist? see you there.

bored

today i was so bored that i made miis of paul jacobsen and the madison arm.

sarah sample returns

it's nearly 4am christmas eve, i guess technically it's christmas day now, and i'm currently lying on the floor in the room of my two sons, making sure they dont walk downstairs and catch santa doing his work. don't ask how it got this late, lets just say these boys are having a hard time sleeping, so it's been a long night.

anyway, seems like as good a time as any to go ahead and give you the rundown of last weeks amazing sessions.

sarah sample, whom ive been lucky enough to make one album with, called a few months back to find out about recording an ep. problem was, the budget was pretty small. so how could we make it work. obviously, things had to be done fast, with as few musicians as possible.

but before we settled on a super stripped-down, acoustic guitar/vocal ep, we figured we may as well ask around to see who might be willing to lend a hand as cheap as possible.

i gave sarah my musician wish list -

dustin christensen - piano, guitar, vocals

paul jacobsen - guitar, mandolin, vocals

ryan tanner - guitar, keyboards, vocals

pat campbell - drums, percussion

brian hardy - keyboards

ryan tilby - bass, anything else with strings, vocals

dylan schorer - guitar, dobro, lap and pedal steel

then, in addition, i could fill in on bass, keyboards, guitar or whatever might need to be done and we would have sarah on guitar and vocals.

we hoped we might get one or two guys to come down. the amazing part - they all said yes, and they all said they would come for free!

what a tremendous group this was. we set everyone up in the studio a at june audio. all in one room, and for the most part, no headphones. there was gear everywhere, mics everywhere, and in the end, bleed everywhere. and it turned out amazing.

the setup took most of the morning, 7:30 am until 11:30am or so. but once we got rolling, it was one of those experiences with music that makes you realize just why you do it, and how great it can be. everyone working together to make sarah's songs the best they could be. no ego, people playing whatever instrument was needed, or sitting out if need be. on one song, pat, paul, brian and I all just stomped and clapped while we sang background vocals. everything was live, no overdubs, no punch-ins.

ryan tanner, dylan schorer, ryan tilby and dustin christensen

paul jacobsen, ryan tanner and ryan tilby

pat campbell's view

ryan tilby and pat campbell

ryan tanner, sarah sample and dylan schorer

me - filling in on bass

mr patrick campbell

ryan tilby on the upright bass

dustin christensen

sarah and last minute bonus musician nate pyfer of code hero

nate on the accordian

given that the studio was set up, and available the following day, we decided to see who wanted to return for a second day and record some songs of dustin christensen and paul jacobsen. we were lucky to have everyone return except for pat campbell, who apparantly values work and providing for his family more than hanging out, recording for free and eating diegos.

paul jacobsen

brian hardy, paul jacobsen and ryan tanner

nate pyfer at the piano

ryan tilby on the j-45

another bonus musician-darin lesueur stopped by to help out with some percussion, and vocals on the amazing christmas song (you can listen to that below)

Merry Christmas from junioraudio

a very merry Christmas to you and yours from all these guys -

ring ding a dong

and in case you missed last year's song -
christmas vacation

(this is what happens when you have some free time at the end of a long day of recording)