Jared Ellison: DFA Records’ Vintage Synth Prodigy

Jared is the in-house tech for the studio at Plantain. Today he was featured on Thirteen.org! I have been wanting to do a write up on Jared for a while, but I think NPR did a much better job than I ever could. Click on the link here:
http://www.thirteen.org/riffcity/jared-ellison-dfa-records-vintage-synth-prodigy/

Jared is available to repair your synth or audio gear. He can be contacted through email at:
jaredellison@gmail.com

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Studio Software Updates

The computer is the least exciting piece of gear, but its also one of the most important. The studio has recently updated all of our software. This was a bit overdue. Here is a list of updates.

Logic updated to 9
OS updated to Snow Leopard
Firmware update for the Apogee Symphony system.

Everything is running much smoother now. Especially the converters.

Pro Tools 9 Native was installed today! Now clients have the option of running Logic or Pro Tools. Thanks to Avid for finally going native! We can now seamlessly switch between Logic and Pro Tools. Pro Tools 9 native also allows us to use all 32 channels of IO.

Rubblebucket Tracking Day 3

Rubblebucket is in the studio for a couple days of tracking. Eric Broucek is producing. We are doing a lot of live tracking. Drums, bass, guitar, keys, percussion and scratch vocals are all being recorded at the same time. Because Rubblebucket has such talented musicians and are so well rehearsed, it makes this possible. This has also required the use of every mic cable, stand and preamp in the studio and made for a complex patchbay.


Today we had a percussionist. He seems to own one of everything.


The keyboardist brought in a Hammond. We have a leslie which has never been hooked up to a hammond at the studio before, oddly enough. We use it for other things. We have so many keyboards already its hard to make room for more.

THE CARPS

The Carps were in the studio recording a 4 song ep. Jahmal Tonge brought in his sexy vintage vistalite drum kit cut his tracks with.

Neil White can be seen here laying down an overdub on an EMS polysynth.

It was also a joy to mix this at Plantain. Look for this coming out on UrbNet Records.

Cold Cave, Chris Coady in the Studio

This past week Cold Cave was in the studio working on their forthcoming album for Matador Records with Chris Coady producing. Chris had booked the band here to take advantage of the studios vast synth collection. We also recorded guitar, bass, and drums.
A few images below:

Chris travels with his own rack of outboard gear which can be patched into our producers panel. This allows his gear to be integrated with the studios patch bay. He has some really interesting gear that he likes to use. However; I think its way more fun to show you the image of all the cabling. We actually ran out of mic cables and had to buy more during the session.


I never talk about the guitar and bass amps at the studio. Guitar happens to be my instrument. We have a wonderful vintage Vox AC 30 that was used for all of the guitars. The guitar of choice was a Fender Jazzmaster. For bass we have a a moded late 60's Ampeg B15 that we can use as a DI, but also works nice with a speaker cab. The bass of choice was a vintage P-Bass.



Chris and I were patching a hi hat sound together. We were using the SH-101, Chris's custom modular synth, and the System 100m. It looks hilariously complicated, but sounded awesome.

Completed Track

On October 5th I posted, "New Track WIP." That day sounclound was down and I wasn't able to upload it. Since then I have finished the track. For more information about the track, check that post here.
Jupiter's Many Moons by Today@Plantain

Modular Fun- New Track WIP

New Track WIP

I'm working on one of my own tracks and incorporating some synths that I haven't used much before. Everything was recorded at the studio. No plug-ins or soft synths were used. Ok. there was one soft synth. Unfortunately, we don't have a mellotron. So I used the Mtron plug-in for the choir sound.
The live drums were played by my good friend Guy Licata. I pushed the drum compression a little harder than I normally would because I just bought a Fatso Jr. I really like the toughness that it added to the drums. There will be vocals on this track soon. For now, I played guitar for the vocal melody.

Drums- Live
Bass- Super Jupiter (gotta love that dual layer mode!)
Arpeggio- Juno 60
5th synth lead- Yamaha CS60 (gotta love that ribbon controller for pitch!)
Freak out synth solo- TOP SECRET
Bridge pads- Sid Station


Super Jupiter


CS60

Well, it appears Soundcloud is down on the one day I try update the blog. Check back in the coming days for the track.

Simmons Fills

We had The Golden Pony in the studio this weekend. Michael Bell from the band Lymbic System was recording live drums. We set up the Simmons pads for him to go nuts on. We'll edit later. We had a lot of fun and it sounded awesome.

REGGIE WATTS in the studio

We recorded Reggie Watts at Plantain yesterday. Today @ Plantain- Yesterday @ Plantain . . . oh well. He was working on some top secret shit that I can't tell you about yet, but its going to be big. Really big! Therefore you must check this blog everyday until its revealed.

NSP New Signal Process breakout iPhone audio interface

Friends of mine have come up with an interesting new product that allows you to integrate all those cool music apps into a more professional and usable interface.


Hello friends and family!

Ali and I have been hard at work the past few months starting up a little project/company called New Signal Process.

We have been inventing/designing/engineering/hand-making these iPhone audio interfaces that allow you to play guitar, keyboards, sing, or record with a mic through an iPhone or iPad. Allowing you to use a myriad of sound effects and recording apps available for the iPhone.

We'd love for you to check out the website, send us any feedback or thoughts and please forward the email on to anyone you think might be interested in knowing about or getting one.

www.newsignalprocess.com

And to those of you who helped us out with a video or song demo, the website, or finding the right resistor or cap, thanks so much!

Thanks!
Best,
Seth and Ali

Real Drum Machines

The Golden Pony EP is coming along. We finished another song called "Rabbit." No drum programming was done for this track. I wanted to record real drums so they sounded programmed. There is a Simmons SDS-5 track performed and layered onto the drum track. The Simmons SDS-5 is pictured below and you can learn more about it by clicking here. Also, pictured below is the Mu-Tron Bi-Phase. This is used on the hi-hats.
"Rabbit" by the Golden Pony by Today@Plantain

THE GOLDEN PONY

We are very happy to have The Golden Pony in the studio. We are working on an EP here at Plantain. So far we have finished 2 songs. Below is a final mix of a song called "Girlfriend." We recorded, drums, bass, percussion and some of the synths. Enjoy! Here is their myspace page so you can be fan. http://www.myspace.com/thegoldenponynyc
Girlfriend by The Golden Pony by Today@Plantain

NEW TIPPY TOES MIX- system 100 synth bass

I know I used the picture before. On top of the clav is a Roland System 100 modular. This was used for the bass in the track below. The System 100 is similar to a SH-101 but a bit classier. Maybe its the wood sides? Obviously you can get a bit crazier with the sounds on the modular, but I was looking for a simple, slightly filtered saw wave for this track.

Onto the mix. Once again no plug-ins were used. Everything except for the vocal was recorded at the studio. The vocal was recorded by the bass player in Tippy Toes, Andrew Raposo, at his Midnight Sun Studios. I love the drum sound on this one and will continue recording drums this way for a while. There drums were preformed by Guy Licata. Also of note is the violin, recorded with an old sure ribbon mic.
Take a listen:
Love Mix 7-7 by Today@Plantain

NAME CHANGE??

I should have called the blog this week at Plantain, instead of today at Plantain. Its hard to update daily. I don't know how you bloggers out there do it

TH PLANTAIN EFFECT

One of the best ways for artists to get the most out of there studio time here at Plantain is already have a song demo. Here we have 2 tracks. The first track was created at my home studio using Logic and was done "in the box" with plug-ins. The second track is what happened when I brought the files into Plantain and replaced most of the synths with real ones and tracked live drums. Once again no plug-ins were used. There are so many synths here at the studio. There is something for just about every sound you can think of.
A particular MVP synth for this song is the Elektron Sidstation.

This is a synth that uses the sound chip from a Commodor 64 computer. It has that wonderful 8-bit digital thing going on. It was used on the bass, one of the pads, and for the outro solo. It has a wonderful grimy and somewhat unpredictable quality to it.
So,

Here is the track from the home studio.
Hologram (Logic) by Today@Plantain

Here is what happens to a track at Plantain.
Hologram Plantain Mix by Today@Plantain

THE MOOG WHITE ELEPHANT

Among the many keyboards and synths here at Plantain, none are more attractive than the Moog White Elephant. When looking at the White Elephant and the disco ball here at the studio, one thing came to mind- time to make a house track. There are no plug ins and software synths in this track. Everything is performed, except for the drums which is an original Roland 909 sequenced through Logic.

Instruments used:
Moog White Elephant (first thing you'll here in the track)
Roland 909
Synare (Through a Roland-201)
Wurly
Electric Bass
Guitar (through a fuzz and Bi-Phase)
Yamham CS60 (String pad in the 2nd half of the track)
Vocal Sample through and Electrix Filter Factory
Enjoy the track!
Baby I Know by Today@Plantain

WIP: EML/WURLY/CLAV

Here we used the EML-101 semi modular synth for the bass. It beats the SH-101 which you can compare with on the previous elevator shaft post. It's older and weirder. You'll here in the track that we also used the Wurly and Clav pictured below. The Wurly and Clav at the studio are some of the best I've played as far as condition and sound. We ran them through a Mu-Tron Bi-Phase to make it super 70's.

Don't mind that Roland System 100 Modular sitting on top of the clav. I think we will use that on the next track.
Take a listen:
Elevator Shaft Instrumental by Today@Plantain

WHAT TO DO WITH ALL THESE TUBES!!!

Elevator Shaft by Today@Plantain
Gunnar and I decided to record some drums. We usually track drums through these Universal Audio 610 tube preamps pictured below. Gunnar played the drums. There happens to be a 5 story elevator shaft the we have access on the other side of the drum room- so we set up a mic there. Then we recorded some SH-101 bass after tooling around on a vintage EML electrocomp modular synth and not getting it to work properly (next time Gunnar). This track is incomplete and is a work in progress. Check back for an update.

TIPPY TOES "IT'S A LIE"

It's a Lie by Today@Plantain
Mixed at Plantain by Abe Seiferth at Plantain Studios. This song features Reggie Watts on Vocal. The image is of the 40 channel Oram board with custom master section done by Purple Audio.

Gunnar Bjerk

Gunnar Bjerk, who was the assistant engineer for "This is Happening" produced/mixed/enginnered this track at Plantain Studios.

Stay by Today@Plantain