Prize Beagle Recording - Chicago, Illinois

In the studio with Milk at Midnight

So I really meant to do this in some sort of order, writing about the Mr. Russia session, its importance as a a trial run of the studio, and the two excellent tracks that came out of it, but I'm woefully late in getting an MP3 of the Bowie cover Boys Keep Swinging out of the studio and onto the web, and the story seems really anticlimactic without the audio, so I'll have to follow up with that later.

Currently, I'm in the thick of producing a full length recording for Milk at Midnight, who are among the best Chicago bands not getting the attention they deserve. The easy (and frequently made) comparison is Flaming Lips meets Modest Mouse, but there's a bit more to it. Namely, putting the power back in power trio. This band is loud. Their drummer, Eric, beats the shit out of the kit. Twin 4x10 stacks push high and low frequencies (Rick alternates between 2 cabinets and a Bass and Guitar w/octave pedal privileges, while Danny sports an SG through Marshall sound) at resolutely unsafe SPLs. Enjoyable, most definitely, but it does present certain challenges to the studio.

As of Monday the 16th, we've finished the principle tracks and are about to dive into overdubs. Thanks to some sound wiring advice from my pal Joey Hats, I was able to change the way I monitor the tape machine and run tape tracks and digital tracks in sync. I was able to put up a few effects mics for the drums, capture both sides of the kick drum, and capture a couple different room options, including a wall mounted PZM and a pair of 414s. The toms all got a close mic treatment using Sennheiser e604s, and I went with the Beta 52 and Beyer M88 on the kick and snare, respectively. Rick's bass/guitar rig was sent to the basement (with no supper) for isolation purposes and was recorded with a C3000 and a Sennheiser 421. Rick uses an overdrive pedal on most of the songs, and combines it with an octave pedal when on the guitar. The mic combination gave me one darker, more midrange track and one brighter track to combine to different effect at mixdown.

We're going whole hog with overdubs, stacking up as many ideas as possible. Choirs, strings, organs, synths, pianos, and, of course, more guitars. There's a lot of room in the songs and the arrangements lend themselves very well to adding all the extra touches. We're a bit away from posting any tracks, but there may be a few snippets of overdub material that may surface. More on the guitars and overdubs later.

This was posted by adam on 7/13/2007

Prize Beagle Recording is an affordable indie studio in downtown Chicago, Illinois.

Pairing Digidesign Pro Tools TDM with 8-track, 1-inch tape, Prize Beagle can offer the sonic benefits of tape with the modern digital editing.

The Beagle is flexible enough to complete virtually any type of audio project - full band sessions, overdubs, podcasting, voiceover work, demo reels, bizarre audio art projects and straightforward digital editing work. Artists can work start-to-finish at the Beagle, or use it as one of several stages in a recording project.

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