Saturday night I ran a showcase. It was an amazing showcase if I do say so myself. Great talent, broad spectrum. I’d have liked it to be broader and I can’t even take FULL credit for how amazing it WAS cause Jen Smith of Naked Blue pointed me in the direction of the charming Femi the Drifish and I doubt Victoria Vox and Kipyn Martin would’ve come except they’d JUST done an amazing show with Heather – and of course Naked Blue and We’re About 9 probably only came cause WE were coming, and we only came cause someone told us THEY were coming. Oh – and then a couple of people were Folk Alliance and Senator Kagan brought Tom Prasado-Rao… so maybe I don’t get THAT much credit, but I put it all together and I made it run. I made programs and set up sound and made it sound better than most folk shows. I made what is traditionally a very monochrome party be a little more black and white, though in hindsight I failed at too much of a broader spectrum. I managed to make sure that even the guy who walked in saying “shit, not another SHOWCASE. If she’d said it was another music showcase I would’ve stayed home. I’ve seen ilyAIMY a dozen times. We’re About 9? I know every song… I thought this was going to be new” walked back out having, well, seen something new.
But there was one moment where I just stood with my mouth open, horrified. Like – I wanted to leap into the air, land on TOP of someone screaming “THIS IS THE PROBLEM!!! YOU ARE THE PROBLEM!!!!!!”
So – it was a more successful night than we’d expected. We needed more chairs. We nabbed more chairs. Much flurry of motion and tons of people are moving chairs. Someone gets done with a great speech about diversity in music and how important it is that folk music isn’t perceived to be the sole purview of old white men… and then nabs the three closest black people (all performers) and says “you, you and you… I think we’re still going to need more chairs and if one of you can run back to the other building I need…. Oh… oh you’re not with the hotel, are you?”
Yep. In the midst of it all, we get someone pick the black people out and assume they’re “with the help”.
Just. Fuck.
Well, what happened after the showcase? I went home. We were wired and we were up, but I was in bed by 4am. Nervous though, tossing and turning. Cause Sunday… specifically, Sunday March 26th, 2017 in Alexandria, VA.
Working with Greg Lukens alone is kind of an adventure. He’s blind and has that stereotypical superhero hearing that allows him to do things like identify what mic you’re using on your vocal within a couple of seconds (Audio Technica AE5100). Add in the wonderfully eclectic, almost painterly approach of his partner in crime Bill Wolf and I had at my disposal one Hell of a team.
I’d stumbled onto Greg Lukens via the recommendations of open mic regular Dave Benham and his friend, percussionist and audio engineer Dan LaPorta. They had intrigued me with tales of his intense attention to sound and his Love of creating sonic spaces. Also with the fact that this was no longer his main gig – the fact that he likes interesting and challenging projects appealed to me. I think, frankly, I’d maybe hoped that he’d say “sorry, not interested”. I honestly don’t think I can express how nervous it makes me to be finally letting any of “cicada” out of my direct control.
I don’t like mastering. I often think of it as an outmoded concept. Something that should just be another layer of my own work as an engineer. When it comes down to it, I don’t fully understand it, a fair amount of it is beyond not only my ken, but beyond my senses. But though one or two friends agreed with me on this, one or two MORE friends really felt I needed to put the album through someone else’s paws, especially because I clearly have some frequencies that I have problems with (I tend towards muddy, bass-heavy mixes… I mean… *I* like them but… I might endanger car stereos).
In any case, I was convinced to contact Greg after a couple of other options came and went, and I went out to meet him a couple of weeks ago. It was a really positive experience – and beyond DOING things to my mixes that turned out great, he also seems impassioned about TEACHING me things about my mixes – which is almost worth the money on its own.
Going into my first meeting I was aware that he’d probably have a “click boy” actually operating the equipment. I’d KIND of imagined some intern or young kid, but it turned out he’s now partnered with Bill Wolf (who turns out to be also mastering my friend Craig Cummings’ new album) who is another veteran engineer.
Now, if I’d had a better grasp of their resumes before contacting them I’d probably, frankly, have been too intimidated to do so. Though their mastering credits are mostly local (Ruthie and the Wranglers, Rachel Cross, Grace Griffith, Tommy Emmanuel, Side FX, The Nighthawks, Mary Pranskter, the Seldom Scene and of course Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer [the latter being responsible for the Grammy wins]) they also have a good number of bigger credits under their belt including Dave Matthews, Nils Lofgren and the Grateful Dead, as well as Live sound credits with legends like Rush and Jethro Tull and Yes…
When I say it all out loud of COURSE it occurs to me that many of these artists are old news, many no longer performing – but it sort of fits the profile. Bill is still actively working on mastering projects, but Greg focuses on audio installs (he just put in the sound system at new MGM Casino at National Harbor) to the tune of millions and MILLIONS of dollars, and his mastering projects are generally specific to labours of Love.
That part’s kind of really FLATTERING when I say it out loud…
It’s fascinating to work with these guys. After an initial burst of very specific instructions from Greg spoken in what is practically a foreign language (yes, I can follow things like “drop the 12 by 2db, Q of 1.5, but in addition all of the plug-ins and various effects all have specific pet names and he talks about them FAST) the majority of our time (a ten hour marathon session) was spent with Greg sitting behind me, giving a couple of recommendations here and there, but mostly assurances – as Bill (Dr Billy) sat up front waving his arms over various devices like a mad scientist, agreeing with himself, disagreeing with himself, muttering and humming (often humming notes to catch cycles per second) and giving the ocassional weird affirmation (a favourite statement, knowing that he’s working on home recordings was “oh YES! Whip me! BEAT ME! Make me SOUND EXPENSIVE!!!” which I was assured was a sign he was happy with the tone he was getting).
It was an exhausting, brutal day – and at this point I can’t even stand listening to it all
anymore. It stresses me out. But Joey’s listened and thinks it’s great (in all fairness, he thinks everything is great – and though this is usually a charming trait it’s somewhat useless in the current context) but Kristen’s ALSO really impressed and feels its the best sound we’ve ever gotten.
Whip me, beat me. Make me sound expensive.
