Telephant
Active member
I recorded a murderous blues rock album at Nightbird Recodring Studios at the Sunset Marquis Hotel with Anton Pukshansky (aka Red Ant on the forums). For those of you who dont know Anton, he's a grammy winning badass (Ozomatli, Santana's Sueprnatural). He never brags, but I will for him. Oh, did I mention he also worked on Nas Illmatic (and has the gold cassette tape to prove it?) He's worked/played/engineered with so many artists its ridiculous. He's also a pro at guitar and keyboards (and there is a ton of B3 w/ leslie on the record).
My band didnt come with me. In fact, they're fired and Black Toe Down doesnt exist anymore. See this thread for backstory:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=33729
Before I left I sent Anton a rough demo album I had recorded with BTD so he could learn the bass parts. I got to LA Thursday the 28th. When Anton I got to his house we put on the album and started jamming out the songs and changing bass parts around. He re-wrote most of the bass lines (they were that bad ) during that time.
The next day we arrived at the studio around noon. The first thing I see when I walk into the control room is a '69 Super Trem and a white '71 Superlead.
The vintage greenback cab was in another live room connected to studio A (we were in studio B). There was a speaker line from the room the amp was in the to the control room in B, but wouldnt get it to work that day. And that sucked, because we were recoridng this album live. Every live track of guitar I layed down is on this album. We overdubbed some guitar on choruses, but everything you hear I actually played live with Anton and the drummer. Including the solos. Id switch to rhythm and lead during the song, and thats why some rhythm parts needed to be overdubbed.
Anyways since we couldnt listen to the amps, the assistants set up a POD for us. We set up the drums and mics. I was also singing while I was playing guitar, so the head studio Engineer Steve, set up a Manley mic that he had modded. Steve is another badass. This guy's dad created Sunn amps, and Steve had modded or made all kinds of amazing gear for this studio. He made some incredible mic pre's, his own cables (that were directional BTW ) and made the monitors and subs we were listening back on. They sounded incredible. I dont know the specifics but Anton can tell you more about them.
The drummer arrives and we set up his kick, and Anton decides what mics he wants to use and where. While we're setting up mics, Eve (the rapper) shows up and says, "Im recording vocals here tonight."
"I think your next door, Darlin'" I reply back.
After everything is set up the drummer listens to the song we're about to lay down. It was brutal. The drummer couldnt play the style. He was a great funk drummer, but I think a combination of being in the studio and playing with someone he'd never played with before threw him off. Meanwhile Im trying to get him to feed off my energy so Im singing really hard. We only got 3 or 4 hours of recording time that day because we spent most of it setting up.
The next day we arrived at would soon to be our normal time: noon.
we spent all day and all night trying to get this drummer to up to speed but it didnt happen. I tired out of my voice, and by end of night I was getting frustrated. And so was Anton. So then nervousness sets it.
The next morning Anton is up early calling everybody he knows. At some point he got in touch with Jack Johnson's engineer and recommended a guy named Greg Ellis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Ellis_(musician)
Not only has this guy played with Billy Idol, Beck, but he did all the percussion for the movie 300 and the upcoming movie The Watchmen.
So we politely asked the drummer to leave, and waited for Greg to arrive. We didnt know if he was going to work, but we knew we couldnt continue with the current drummer. The music just didnt sound right. And I knew when I saw his kit he wasnt going to work. It was the typical funk kit with a tiny, tightly wound snare. In fact we had him using a snare the studio owned so it sounded more "rock."
Before Greg arrives, we finally got the white '71 superlead up and running, and we knew this was the amp. It had the dynamics I love from a JMP but had this extremely aggresive top end. And I liked it. So that was the amp we used for all of the guitar. The cab was mic'd with a single SM57. Thats it.
Finally Greg arrives and already Anton and I are thinking (now this guy looks the part). And when he started setting up his kit I knew we had found our guy. He used a natural finish walnut Mapex kit that brought the Bonham we needed.
The catch is, he could only stay between 3 and 5pm, because he had to attend a screening of documentary he had just done percussion on. We played him My Machine, jammed on the changes, and in two takes had it down. This guy was incredible. He listened to Six Guns once and we nailed it again. In one hour we had the drums and most of the guitar for two songs. We listened back with Greg and all of us were amazed. I turned to him and say, "So you want to record a rock n roll album with us?" He says, "Why not?"
So after he leaves we decide to try and finish everything on these two songs since we still had 5 or 6 hours of studio time. We overdub the guitar on the choruses, and then tell the assistant to set up the B3 and leslie.
Speaking of assistants, nice studios have assistants that do whatever you tell them to do. "Get me some food. I need water. Run to guitar center and buy me some strings." It was weird. Id heard about it, but I never experienced it. It makes being in the studio that much easier and relaxing. It enables you to focus on what you're doing. And it spoils you.
The engineer finishes up setting up the Leslie and Anton records B3 over both songs. That night we finish them up, and listen to them all the way home feeling victorious!!! It starts to set in that we m ay actually pull this off.
The next day we recorded 6 six songs. The day after we finished up the last 4, and the rest of the afternoon/night Anton layed down B3 on them. We recorded 11 tracks of drums in 12 hours. The last day we did percussion overdubs (shaker, tamborine ect) and guitar overdubs.
After every night in the studio, we'd head up to the Hotel bar to hang out and discuss what we'd done and what we needed to do the next day. The bar was expensive, but this hotel was pimpin'. The last night I was there Billy Bob Thorton and Warren Haynes were there. Apparently the night before we had missed Jerry Cantrell.
The Sunset has black and white pictures of tons of artists all through out the hotel of people who have recorded and/or hung out there. From, Lemmy to Billy Gibbons, to Joan Jett, Mars Volta, and Slash. And all of them are signed by the artist. So on the last day Anton I arrive at the hotel to meet his friend Ken who hooked us up with the Studio time (and helped put this whole thing together) and eat lunch.
We walked up to the table (which is outside by the pool ) and sitting on Ken's left is the head of artist relations for guitar center, and on his right is Robert M. Knight, who has photographed many of the pictures on the walls in the hotel. He took a lot of the Hendrix pictures you've seen, as has worked with Clapton and Green Day. In fact that day they were hanging another picture up of a famous jazz trumpet player (cant remember his name). The whole time Im nervous as hell, and then Robert tells me to grab my guitar.
He takes pics of me all over the hotel with my guitar. At first I was shaking like a leaf but he was a cool guy and after talking for a bit I relaxed. After he's done he says, "I have to get out of here, Im headed over to Slash's place to take some shots."
It was an intense week to say the least. But it was an amazing experience. We got everything done besides vocals. Im flying out on the 25th to finish them, and the record sbhould be mixed and mastered by mid October. Even if the record goes nowhere, I still had the time of my life, and made a life long friend. Anton and I just click musically. If I went out there with no material, we could still write an album in a week. If the album does take off, and I get payed to actually do this again, we will be working together. Watching him work is inspiring. From editing wave forms and mixing on the fly to laying down triumphant B3 solo's, dude is a badass. I can honestly say I share a deep non sexual man love for him.
My band didnt come with me. In fact, they're fired and Black Toe Down doesnt exist anymore. See this thread for backstory:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=33729
Before I left I sent Anton a rough demo album I had recorded with BTD so he could learn the bass parts. I got to LA Thursday the 28th. When Anton I got to his house we put on the album and started jamming out the songs and changing bass parts around. He re-wrote most of the bass lines (they were that bad ) during that time.
The next day we arrived at the studio around noon. The first thing I see when I walk into the control room is a '69 Super Trem and a white '71 Superlead.
The vintage greenback cab was in another live room connected to studio A (we were in studio B). There was a speaker line from the room the amp was in the to the control room in B, but wouldnt get it to work that day. And that sucked, because we were recoridng this album live. Every live track of guitar I layed down is on this album. We overdubbed some guitar on choruses, but everything you hear I actually played live with Anton and the drummer. Including the solos. Id switch to rhythm and lead during the song, and thats why some rhythm parts needed to be overdubbed.
Anyways since we couldnt listen to the amps, the assistants set up a POD for us. We set up the drums and mics. I was also singing while I was playing guitar, so the head studio Engineer Steve, set up a Manley mic that he had modded. Steve is another badass. This guy's dad created Sunn amps, and Steve had modded or made all kinds of amazing gear for this studio. He made some incredible mic pre's, his own cables (that were directional BTW ) and made the monitors and subs we were listening back on. They sounded incredible. I dont know the specifics but Anton can tell you more about them.
The drummer arrives and we set up his kick, and Anton decides what mics he wants to use and where. While we're setting up mics, Eve (the rapper) shows up and says, "Im recording vocals here tonight."
"I think your next door, Darlin'" I reply back.
After everything is set up the drummer listens to the song we're about to lay down. It was brutal. The drummer couldnt play the style. He was a great funk drummer, but I think a combination of being in the studio and playing with someone he'd never played with before threw him off. Meanwhile Im trying to get him to feed off my energy so Im singing really hard. We only got 3 or 4 hours of recording time that day because we spent most of it setting up.
The next day we arrived at would soon to be our normal time: noon.
we spent all day and all night trying to get this drummer to up to speed but it didnt happen. I tired out of my voice, and by end of night I was getting frustrated. And so was Anton. So then nervousness sets it.
The next morning Anton is up early calling everybody he knows. At some point he got in touch with Jack Johnson's engineer and recommended a guy named Greg Ellis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Ellis_(musician)
Not only has this guy played with Billy Idol, Beck, but he did all the percussion for the movie 300 and the upcoming movie The Watchmen.
So we politely asked the drummer to leave, and waited for Greg to arrive. We didnt know if he was going to work, but we knew we couldnt continue with the current drummer. The music just didnt sound right. And I knew when I saw his kit he wasnt going to work. It was the typical funk kit with a tiny, tightly wound snare. In fact we had him using a snare the studio owned so it sounded more "rock."
Before Greg arrives, we finally got the white '71 superlead up and running, and we knew this was the amp. It had the dynamics I love from a JMP but had this extremely aggresive top end. And I liked it. So that was the amp we used for all of the guitar. The cab was mic'd with a single SM57. Thats it.
Finally Greg arrives and already Anton and I are thinking (now this guy looks the part). And when he started setting up his kit I knew we had found our guy. He used a natural finish walnut Mapex kit that brought the Bonham we needed.
The catch is, he could only stay between 3 and 5pm, because he had to attend a screening of documentary he had just done percussion on. We played him My Machine, jammed on the changes, and in two takes had it down. This guy was incredible. He listened to Six Guns once and we nailed it again. In one hour we had the drums and most of the guitar for two songs. We listened back with Greg and all of us were amazed. I turned to him and say, "So you want to record a rock n roll album with us?" He says, "Why not?"
So after he leaves we decide to try and finish everything on these two songs since we still had 5 or 6 hours of studio time. We overdub the guitar on the choruses, and then tell the assistant to set up the B3 and leslie.
Speaking of assistants, nice studios have assistants that do whatever you tell them to do. "Get me some food. I need water. Run to guitar center and buy me some strings." It was weird. Id heard about it, but I never experienced it. It makes being in the studio that much easier and relaxing. It enables you to focus on what you're doing. And it spoils you.
The engineer finishes up setting up the Leslie and Anton records B3 over both songs. That night we finish them up, and listen to them all the way home feeling victorious!!! It starts to set in that we m ay actually pull this off.
The next day we recorded 6 six songs. The day after we finished up the last 4, and the rest of the afternoon/night Anton layed down B3 on them. We recorded 11 tracks of drums in 12 hours. The last day we did percussion overdubs (shaker, tamborine ect) and guitar overdubs.
After every night in the studio, we'd head up to the Hotel bar to hang out and discuss what we'd done and what we needed to do the next day. The bar was expensive, but this hotel was pimpin'. The last night I was there Billy Bob Thorton and Warren Haynes were there. Apparently the night before we had missed Jerry Cantrell.
The Sunset has black and white pictures of tons of artists all through out the hotel of people who have recorded and/or hung out there. From, Lemmy to Billy Gibbons, to Joan Jett, Mars Volta, and Slash. And all of them are signed by the artist. So on the last day Anton I arrive at the hotel to meet his friend Ken who hooked us up with the Studio time (and helped put this whole thing together) and eat lunch.
We walked up to the table (which is outside by the pool ) and sitting on Ken's left is the head of artist relations for guitar center, and on his right is Robert M. Knight, who has photographed many of the pictures on the walls in the hotel. He took a lot of the Hendrix pictures you've seen, as has worked with Clapton and Green Day. In fact that day they were hanging another picture up of a famous jazz trumpet player (cant remember his name). The whole time Im nervous as hell, and then Robert tells me to grab my guitar.
He takes pics of me all over the hotel with my guitar. At first I was shaking like a leaf but he was a cool guy and after talking for a bit I relaxed. After he's done he says, "I have to get out of here, Im headed over to Slash's place to take some shots."
It was an intense week to say the least. But it was an amazing experience. We got everything done besides vocals. Im flying out on the 25th to finish them, and the record sbhould be mixed and mastered by mid October. Even if the record goes nowhere, I still had the time of my life, and made a life long friend. Anton and I just click musically. If I went out there with no material, we could still write an album in a week. If the album does take off, and I get payed to actually do this again, we will be working together. Watching him work is inspiring. From editing wave forms and mixing on the fly to laying down triumphant B3 solo's, dude is a badass. I can honestly say I share a deep non sexual man love for him.
