Studiophile: February 2012
Dot Dot Dot returned to the studio, this time with producer/mixer Tadpole (Plain White T’s, 3 Doors Down, Finger Eleven, Disturbed). Working out of Parka Studios in Berwyn, they say they’ve continued the direction of III, which itself was a marked departure from their early poppier sounds.
“Everyone has an opinion on what you should sound like” says lead singer Adam Blair, “They’re all trying to help, but at some point though we realized we wanted to just make music regardless of trends and or what sells – just trying to make music that represents what we sound like live. To me, it’s all about writing a great song.” The last recordings have found the band on a national commercial campaigns (Party City/Factory Card Outlet) as well as cable-TV standards like “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” while continuing a grueling tour of 150-plus shows per year. Drummer Marty Kane says, “Having worked with Tadpole on our last EP, it seemed when we got back into the studio for these latest sessions, we had a general understanding of how each of us worked, how we communicated, and what was expected in the performances. Tadpole knows what he wants and he’s not afraid to re-take until he captures precisely what he’s going for.”
The Damn Bats, consisting of locals/ former Rabid Bats, Reaganomics, and Bill Ura Dik members plus veteran British drummer Rat Scabies (The Damned), tracked two songs of which one was finished by Scabies at ALASKA STUDIOS in London, England. The demo for “Doomed” was then returned to Chicago so guitars, bass, vocals, and final mixing could be finished.
A year in the making, Richie Rich (a.k.a. Rich Ryan) and the Chi-Town Blues Band recorded From The Streets at Studio Chicago in Chicago with Wes Blaha engineering. Editing was done at Image Pictures in Tomah, Wisconsin with Ryan and owner Peter Malinger at the controls. Mixing and mastering was done at CRC Chicago by Grammy-nominated producer/engineer Chris Steinmetz and his assistant, Yuki Tasaka. To adequately capture modern blues witha traditional edge, Ryan brought some heavy hitters to the sessions: Grammy-winning guitarist Billy Flynn, Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith, plus Grammy-nominated pianist Barrelhouse Chuck, Mark DeVos on bass, and a horn section from the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. Ryan wrote and co-arranged all 12 songs on the CD, sharing three writing credits with Steinmetz.
At BobDog Studios in Oak Park, producer Dave Owsald brought singer/songwriter Arden Baldinger and guitarist extraordinaire Andon Davis in to remix one of Arden’s songs (from the recent Pony CD) for release as a single . . . Oak Park teen singer/songwriter Lena Fjortoft recorded a four-song demo . . . Arie Sorin recorded fiddle tracks to help finish the upcoming posthumous release of Dennis Dermer‘s Psychic Change with Bill Kavanagh providing bass . . . Dave Ero brought in drummer Mike Panico, singer Sandy Lee, and keyboardist Dave Mathis to continue work on his upcoming release . . . South-African/American singer/songwriter Rozanne Gewaar recorded additional songs for her newest album . . . Scott Lehman treated home-recorded new songs with added, studio-quality plug-ins . . . Scott Fortman’s The New Normal continued tracking for their debut CD, with owner Kavanagh on bass.
Hey Studiophiler: To get your studio or band listed in “Studiophile,” just e-mail info on who you’re recording or who’s recording you to ed[at]illinoisentertainer.com, subject Studiophile, or fax (773) 751-5051. We reserve the right to edit submissions for space. Deadline for March 2012 is February 15th. We need your news, you need us to print it!
Category: Columns, Monthly, Studiophile
