In The Studio: The Making Of 3 Sweatshop Union Records
// June 21st, 2010 // No Comments » // Blog Post, In The Studio
Hard work pays off:
Me and Marmalade working with the MPC 2000, the source of all things pigeon hole.
It was a busy spring. Sweatshop Union was working diligently in the studio, recording three new albums that were released on Urbnet records June 15th. It was an interesting marketing plan, brought on by the necessities of factor deadlines. Two of them debuted in the Top 10 of the Canadian iTunes charts. All three were mixed here at Creativ Recording Studios, and while two of the albums were primarily recorded elsewhere, the Pigeon Hole album was recorded here with me.
It’s always a treat to work with such a diverse and talented bunch of people. I had the pleasure of first working with them on their third studio album, “Water Street”, as the mix engineer on the project.
The hiphop collective that is Sweatshop Union is comprised of 7 people, all with creative input and valid contributions. As one would assume, this allows some amazing creativity and melding of ideas. As an engineer, I am extremely appreciative of the freedom they grant me to experiment with sounds and textures. As many engineers can tell you, being stifled creatively during mix can be a problem, when dealing with an artist or a group that for whatever reason do not want to relinquish any form of creative control. I suppose the guys in Sweatshop Union have learned to work this way out of necessity, considering the number of independent minds in their group. Any way you look at it, their open-mindedness sets an example for anyone working in a group environment, and it’s a very positive thing for the music and their end result.
Pigeon Hole “Age Like Astronauts”
Debuted at #8 on the iTunes Hiphop Charts
The Pigeon Hole album was the project I was most hands-on with, seeing it through from recording until the mastering stage. I learned a lot working with Pigeon Hole’s two members, Dusty Melo & Marmalade. In their production, they have mastered the art of “shitty is pretty”, a low-fidelity type of perfection. For example, the drum sounds on the closing song “Bonfire” were all recorded by them on a children’s toy drumset in Dusty’s living room through a pro-sumer mic, then run through the MPC. The result is a crunchy, vintage tone that is completely one of a kind. Working with their great sounds made it fun and easy for me to get the most out of the record.
The songs on this record vary from hiphop bangers to prog-rock/psychedelic. They combine moody vinyl samples with tactful doses of live instrumentation. The live instruments often blend seamlessly with the samples, which is often the achilles heel of producers working with samples who want to add sounds, without taking away from the vintage vibe. We maintained dusty feel across the board with heavy use of ribbon mics, tape saturation and heavily driven 1970′s preamps. (more…)
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