Interviews

The Album Leaf: Recording with Rafter Roberts

Jimmy LaValle is a member of San Diego's Tristeza, an instrumental band, who have several fine albums out. He also puts out solo records under the name The Album Leaf, which he records on the cheap in various places on inexpensive gear — and they sound great. When he came through on tour I wanted to pick his brain and see how he'd done this.

What kind of multi-track did you record with?

I recorded it all on Vegas.

What kind of computer?

I don't know, just a PC. A friend of mine used to run a business called Musicomputer. So I bought it off of him and they built it for me and installed everything. Basically a no-name brand thing — it came with everything, it was like $2000, came with Vegas Pro, Acid Pro, Sound Forge, Fruity Loops, Rebirth. Completely ready to go.

What did you use for an I/O card?

It was a Wave 8/24 outboard by Gadget Labs. But there are a lot of things you can't do because of it. Sound Forge will freeze on you and the MIDI will crackle if you don't set the clocking. But sometimes I like it and I'll use it. I did a remix for Tristeza and at the end it has that crackle.

What mics did you use?

I recorded most of it straight in.

How were the acoustic guitars done?

There was a 57 in front, and some nasty no-name mic behind me in a big open room. That song "Storyboard" was actually recorded through a Layla sound card. Laylas have a tap thing that will give you your maximum volume on the levels so it doesn't peak. It was recorded in a big empty room with concrete floors and high ceilings and the door to the street had a freeway bridge right there.

What were you running the mics into?

Just straight into the mixer then the mixer went out into the box.

What kind of mixer?

That one was the Behringer MX2004A. I got it for $400. It's basically 1-8 mono and then 9-16 stereo. Standard home mixer, I guess.

What did you mix on?

The computer. Click and drag style.

How many tracks for most of it?

I think the second track had the most tracks on the record, like 16.

MORE INTERVIEWS

Hidden Musics
INTERVIEWS · ISSUE #175 · Sep 2026

Hidden Musics

By Ian Brennan

By 2014, I'd already been transitioning for more than five years from working in traditional studios to almost exclusively doing field recordings overseas. As a result, I'd had some success with groups like Tinariwen, Malawi Mouse Boys, and The Good Ones. At that point, the...

Yves Jarvis
INTERVIEWS · ISSUE #175 · Sep 2026

Yves Jarvis

By Geoff Stanfield

Yves Jarvis is the moniker of Canadian musician Jean-Sébastien Yves Jarvis. His latest release, All Cylinders, won Canada’s Polaris Music Prize for best album of 2025, a record on which Jarvis wrote and performed all of the 16 tracks. Made entirely using Audacity and a half-broken...

Joe Boles
INTERVIEWS · ISSUE #175 · Sep 2026

Joe Boles Seattle Recording Pioneer

By Alex Kostelnik

In the mid-1950s, Seattle was host to the little-known music recording legacy of Jay F. "Joe" Boles. A fraction of his discography includes The Ventures, The Wailers, Cab Calloway, Big Jay McNeely, Buck Owens, The Fleetwoods, Robert "Bumps" Blackwell, Ella...

  Rostam Batmanglij
INTERVIEWS · ISSUE #175 · Sep 2026

Rostam Batmanglij Sonic Cinema

By Sam Retzer

Ever since Rostam Batmanglij burst onto the scene as a founding member of Vampire Weekend, he’s been known for his penchant for baroque and leftfield sounds in pop-leaning indie music. Fresh out of college, he handled production for the first three Vampire Weekend albums (Vampire...

Melina Duterte
INTERVIEWS · ISSUE #175 · Sep 2026

Melina Duterte Sharing Curiosity

By Danielle Goldsmith

Melina Duterte began recording her own music armed with little more than a laptop, a budget mic, and a fascination with how records are made. As Jay Som, she crafted a distinctive sound defined by textural, layered guitars, and soft, intimate vocals. Since then, Duterte has expanded...

Oli Jacobs
INTERVIEWS · ISSUE #175 · Sep 2026

Oli Jacobs Friends & Commitment

By Larry Crane

A graduate of the Tonmeister course, a former Head Engineer at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios [Tape Op#63], and now an in-demand mixer, engineer, and collaborator with Jack Antonoff and Laura Sisk [#135], Oli Jacobs has had a heck of a career path. He’s worked on records for artists...