Manny Nieto: Recording in China

Manny Nieto got bit by the recording bug after working with Steve Albini [ Tape Op #10/87 ] on Nieto's band Distortion Felix and their I'm An Athlete album in 1999. Nieto quickly built a studio in East Los Angeles, Manny's Estudio International, and soon bands like Chokebore, The Breeders, Vaz, Health, Trash Talk, and even Los Lobos were tracking there. But a decade on, something snapped in the head of Manny Nieto. Soon he was off on a recording odyssey that took him to China and Southeast Asia, including the cities of Singapore, Beijing, Hong Kong, Macau, and Chengdu — ventures into New Zealand for sessions also made his list. Along the way he recorded some of the best acts that you may have never heard of like Pairs, Poubelle International, Reign Lee, Boys Climbing Ropes, Snapline, Forget the G, Proximity Butterfly, Hedgehog, Chui Wan, Cheating Sons, and In Each Hand A Cutlass.

I first found out about Manny's journey directly from the explorer himself, receiving an interesting email not long before the quest began. These emails continued unabated as his trip was extended and more records were made. The excerpts below make for fascinating reading. In between trips to Asia, Manny dropped by my studio post-session one night. We enjoyed some delicious burritos and popped some beers. For the full effect I highly recommend reading his complete interview at tapeop.com.

What led a man in his forties to fill several bags full of equipment and hit the road? Especially given that you have a son, own a studio and were enjoying a busy stateside recording career!

Part of it is Los Angeles. After working there for 13 years, I found myself recording bands that were selling out local venues — the darlings of the city. Not that I questioned the art that they made, but after the fact I questioned what they were really making music for. I saw a lot of bands making music for a scene, or a style. There's a certain time period where you start to burn out in this business. These people are in China, and they can't leave the country. Who are you making music for? It's got to be for yourself.

How did China become a focus for you?

I had gone to Steve Albini's wedding in Honolulu, and I found out that there was a hardcore punk scene in Honolulu's Chinatown. Once you're stuck on an island, it's kind of the same thinking. They only made music for one block in Hawaii, on Hotel Street. All these punk and weird bands made music there. I started to record them. One of the band guys told me that he'd gone to China and had seen these crazy bands. I went on the Internet, about seven months before I actually went to China, and I started becoming almost obsessed with finding these bands. Eventually I found a blogger and a booker. As I found a few bands that were worth thinking about recording, I thought more about the logistics of going there. It didn't make any sense. I don't make enough money to disband my own studio. We had this prototype microphone made by sE Electronics, and I knew it was made in China. sE turned out to be this modern company, with Rupert Neve [ Tape Op #26/79 ] even designing microphones for them. I sent them an email and said, "My name's Manny. I wanna go to China. Can you help me out?" The next day, the owner, James Ishmaev-Young, called me from Europe and said, "Hey, if you can land in Shanghai, that's where our factory is. We'll hook you up with microphones if you want to record Chinese artists."

That's pretty sweet.

So right then, before I even got one band to agree, I literally had a choice of two of the best mics, the Voodoo VR2s and the T2 [titanium multi-pattern large diaphragm condensers]. The T2 are like bulletproof [AKG] 414s. That was the point where I went down and got my visa. "I'm going to China!" I had one band in Hong Kong lined up. What I didn't know is that China's pretty big. Hong Kong isn't even technically considered China. When I looked at a map, I was like, "Oh, look! That's close by!" Taipei is technically part of China in some ways, but it's not. I had no idea. I found some more bands, and I found a group in Shanghai to record. I landed in Taipei because I thought there were some sick bands there, but they were all on tour. In the process of leaving Taipei to go into China I lost about a thousand dollars in gear because they wouldn't let me take that gear into China. I'm thinking, "This is going to suck." I didn't speak any Chinese, and I couldn't understand anything. That was my first moment of, "What the hell am I doing?" I realized that it was the discipline. It was like telling myself, "Okay, you're going to eat it. You're going to work a lot of hours. You're going to haul your own gear, and you have no one else to help you put up your mics." I felt like I needed to learn, once again, how to make records and how to enjoy them.

What was the impetus for the bands to work with you?

Out of all the bands I contacted, none had the money to record in a studio. There wasn't one studio I found that was very affordable. It was about $700 to $1,000 [USD] a day in the studios across all of China, and for that you'd get a few pieces of Avalon gear and maybe a Mackie board. I'd also heard from sE Electronics that in Shanghai there are literally 40 or 50 prestigious studios, but they'd only handle commercial business — they're not really open to artists.

What was the important thing for you about recording all these artists?

In China, the window for a majority of bands is during college. A lot of the bands happen during those four years. I wanted to record these bands before they graduated, moved on, and started working for these big companies. That's what happens. In the United States people are like, "I'm gonna work at a coffee shop for seven years and be in a band." You can do that here. You can't do that in China.

Email dated Aug. 4, 2011: I have been recording the hardcore scene in Honolulu's Chinatown for the last two years, and because of being in the Pacific I started to hear rumbles of some of the most amazing new bands on earth, from Taipei [Taiwan] all the way down to Jakarta [Indonesia]. I'm in contact with over 30 amazing bands, and plan to leave the States in October or November. I'm on a mission to record some of the world's newest and most open-minded artists. I'm not a rich man; it's a struggle keeping my studio booked even when I'm here in L.A. How will I adapt to not using studios, but rather rough lofts, houses, warehouses, and rehearsal rooms? Mics and good gear are pretty much not available to some of these poor, amazing artists. A few bands are coming together to help me with flights once there, but the task of saving on my end has begun. There is no glory in the unknown unless you try and take that leap of faith — three months of my life I will dedicate to recording the unrecorded.

Email dated Sep. 24, 2011: James Ishmaev-Young has made sE Electronics my official world-class mic upgrade in China, as well as the surrounding countries. He emailed today offering a great selection of microphones to me when I arrive in Shanghai. I also wrote PreSonus and Brad Zell to ask what gear I would need as far as preamps and headphone boxes. I'm amazed at how these companies still keep their ears to the ground.

Email dated Oct. 10, 2011: I have my rig ready to go. MacBook Pro, Digi 003, PreSonus FireStudio, Behringer 8-channel headphone rack, five pairs of headphones, nine mic stands, [Shure] SM7B, SM58s, SM57s, [AKG] D 112, and soon all the sE mics they will give me in Shanghai.

Email dated Nov. 1, 2011: Never in my life would I have thought my first record in China would be hundreds of feet below Shanghai in bomb shelter bunkers from the Cold War era. We took a taxi to an open parking lot with a stairwell that literally came up through the earth. I was casually told that it's a small rehearsal space. They were slightly embarrassed and worried about my thoughts as a Westerner. The only scary part was that they're built out of asbestos. Every session is a rush to set up from scratch so that the artists can utilize their valuable rehearsal time. The band is amazing.

I met up with sE Electronics, and I have to say I'm very impressed with their design team. I was given a tour of the factory, which is located far out on the outskirts of Shanghai. The co-owner, Siwei Zou, sent his personal car and had me driven there. Siwei was impressed I was taking on such a very unique task. He is classically trained, but understands the new era of artists looking to push the limits of modern music.

When I entered China I had to throw my mic stands and a few preamps away so the airline would let me in. It sucked, but traveling should be less stressful with a smaller load.

Email dated Nov. 5, 2011: I was thrown to the recording wolves. We headed on a one-hour subway and taxi adventure that took us to a huge wall with one opening, into what I can only say is a run-down village. Shanghai is one of China's most modern cities, but the band was very happy to record in a place they had practiced for years. Huge centipedes crawled over my gear and between my feet all throughout the day. As I hit record, after a one hour set up, Pro Tools froze! The hard drive I was using said it needed to be defragged. About four hours later we were recording and cut an eight-song EP. I do have to admit the sound in this room was better than the bomb shelter under Shanghai. The overhead sE ribbon sounded amazing in this small room packed with five people. A crowd of local musicians gathered outside while we recorded. All I know is that 12 hours later I was a walking zombie as we headed on the dark creepy path back to my hotel.

My main concern here in China is my health. I can't afford to get sick one day, considering my schedule. I need to make sure I stay alert and hydrated constantly. I have also started push-ups and sit-ups, considering the 150 lbs gear I carry. A bad back and tired limbs will not make the cut on this three-month mission. Two weeks in and I'm already beat down. Thirteen years as a recording engineering have been put to the test tenfold, and I'm just barely getting started here. We are force fed that better studios and better gear is the only way to record records, but I welcome this change of being stripped down to the essentials: artist, mic, and a format to capture sound. Music is made everywhere on this earth. I'm honored to experience it again and feel those emotions, like the first time I plugged a mic in. What I will bring home to my studio in Los Angeles is the experience of how little it really takes to make a great record and a work of art.

Email dated Nov. 6, 2011: I'm out of my mind being here. Some of the coolest sessions are still ahead in Beijing, as well as Hong Kong sessions. After Hong Kong I'll travel to Singapore and will be living with an artist and his family for three weeks, making his band's full- length at their house! Today I recorded bass guitar in the bomb shelter for five hours. Breathing down there sucks; after two hours you just start coughing like a smoker. It's 11 p.m. now. I have to edit drums on 14 songs and set up a Telecaster that's out of whack!

Email dated Nov. 7, 2011: I'm almost finished with my first two LPs. Vocals tomorrow at a record store that's also in a bomb shelter. Just got word from Beijing and all looks good with both bands. I purchased a one-way flight here, so my sessions pay for every city I go to. It broke me pretty much between my visa, rent, and flights here. I'm here, and I'm committed to helping these bands. In return they have all gone well beyond being great hosts and have covered the cost of my rooms.

Email dated Nov. 20, 2011: I made it through China on my first wave! I'm back in Beijing for Christmas, through New Year's Eve. I have been on the move nonstop — I have blisters on my feet and worn out shoulders that have carried hundreds of pounds of recording gear through three countries. Shanghai has the best balance of new and exciting artists, but Beijing is my type of playground. Fucked up, weird, and experimental artists make up most of the bands. The actual city is dark and very cold. I was down to $75 dollars when I left Shanghai. Gear has failed on almost every session, and mic cables keep going bad. Traveling is banging up everything, including my body. After all those wicked freezing nights in Beijing, I'm actually on the 32nd floor of a luxury apartment in Hong Kong. The artist had a friend selling this place and they got me keys! I'm recording here for a week then I take a boat across the bay for the last session before Singapore.

Email dated Jan. 3, 2012: I landed in Beijing on Dec. 22nd and pretty much walked out of the airport and into some of Beijing's coolest band sessions and live shows. D22, their premier indie club, was closing its doors after seven years and all of the bands I wished I could have seen were playing [the final show]! Art has no borders or time zones!

Singapore turned out so fucking great! I made the band take me to an after hours bar called "Cold Beer." It was the only place in all of the three weeks where no hookers bothered me. Seriously! The band would talk up this bar or club, and as we walked in they would say, "Yeah man, these are all locals." As soon as I stepped up to the bar every girl in there smiled at me. I could not even enjoy a beer without hearing that "she is on vacation, but unemployed and working to make extra cash. Wink, wink." This band in Singapore is called Cheating Sons and is like Roy Orbison meets Jackson Browne, with lap steel and Nashville tunings. I was told I would be living with them and their family and recording in their basement. The most shocking part of all my adventures is rolling into a country or city and blindly being picked up and driven to an unknown place. We rolled up to a four-story condo beach house with a glass elevator in the middle! The swimming pool stretched from the front gate all along the house. And, of course, a bomb shelter basement... Guess where I slept and recorded! I always thought how cool it would be to live and record in a house with the band. TRAPPED LIKE A RAT is a better way to put it. I came out one time per day; if I was lucky maybe I got offered some ice-cold beer at night. Freedom to just walk out and take a stroll was all gone. I went crazy. I had to ask the band to give me a gate key and cut the hours just a bit. I did make the calendar, so only I was to blame. The guys were awesome and I was fed some of the best Indian food and local Singaporean delights. After the first two weeks I decided I would return in order to finish all the vocals and mix, so we just took our time — quality overshadowing quantity.

Email dated Jan. 3, 2012: Doom is my only way to express my lovely day here in Beijing. On my way to the session I stepped in fresh steaming baby poo. They don't believe in diapers, so the parents race them to a trashcan and... you get the picture.

When I arrived in China I assumed most of my gear was compatible with 220 volts, but I could not risk blowing up my BAE 1073 DMP mic pre. I bought a 15 lb convertor (one more heavy fucker to carry) and used it. Today I fucked up and, without thinking, — six countries later — I plugged it into a 220-volt power strip. UP IN SMOKE. I'm shattered, knowing I must carry it the rest of the trip and see if I can get it repaired here, in China, or Hong Kong.

I was contacted by another band deep in the center of China somewhere up in this mountain range. There are four bands there excited to work with me, so I'm debating on delaying my trip home once again. I feel I need to record them. I miss home, but I did dream of this and, for the most part, it's come true.

Email dated Jan. 6, 2012: Chen Xi from the band Snapline helped me find me a great tech that repairs everything. Atom, the sickest drummer in Beijing, drove me to get the DMP fixed. In a few hours I was walking into another full LP session! I could not find out how you could switch this unit between 110 and 220 volts. The tech popped open a small groove where the socket is; there's a board that you flip upside down and then it reads 220. Amazingly a small fuse blew, and with a flip I was back in biz! A dear friend gave me an ART Tube MP preamp — those $99 dollar specials — as a going away gift. It's one of the best floor tom mic pres I have ever used — deep and rich sounding. Today's session was at a great studio. There was a live venue attached; it hands down had the coolest staff of engineers and producers. API preamps and [Neumann M] 149s made my day.

One more band emailed me today asking if I could stay longer. Flights and hotels are almost impossible to book in all the big cities during Chinese New Year. I have a better chance to find a room in Shanghai, but this LP is for a super-cool label and I'm pretty sure it's gonna happen. This will delay my getting home early, but even worse is that it pushes my Hong Kong sessions into February. I miss taco trucks and sushi in Little Tokyo in downtown L.A. right now. The hotel staff here has finally gotten used to me leaving looking like I'm ready to climb a mountain, and they stopped calling me asking if I was checking out! If I stay in Beijing it will be 30-plus days in one hotel. I was paid today, so I have enough funds to survive. It's below zero now — I left a bottle of water in the car and it was frozen after the session. Beijing McDonalds' breakfast is a hot dog and a cup of joe.

I wish I was Chinese, so what I'm doing here could be cooler. One of their own brothers should be championing all these great artists. I have been told I look like a happy Buddha though, so maybe I still have a chance.

Email dated Jan. 7, 2012: I've been away so long; I think all my friends have forgotten about me over here. I have been schooled, over and over, recording bands without the comforts of my own super sweet recording studio. But I'm now a better engineer, and my techniques for mic placement are off the charts. Every day I'm tested, as these artists have the same worries and concerns when starting a record. Bands just want you to record them, even being ill or torn up! They bring me food and water — keeping me looking at that computer screen at all costs! "Just one more vocal and two backups. It's gonna be real quick, I promise..." Never has that been real quick.

Scary thinking that few have dared this, and there're still plenty of unknowns up ahead. China has changed my life for the better in so many ways, personally and spiritually. I did break down a few weeks ago and almost came home. I stuck it out, flying into Beijing, pumped and thrilled to start some of the coolest records in this "quest for microphone knowledge." Most people here will never be permitted to leave the country. Seeing it in their faces is probably the most painful part of this trip. I hope when all these records are mixed and mastered that their songs will reach across those borders and let the world know that China is fucking badass.

Email dated Jan. 7, 2012: I have not really spoken about the communication issues. Some of these bands have foreigners in them, but the Beijing and hardcore Chinese did not. Broken English was welcome, but you know it's much deeper and personal as you record, and that's a very important key to success in completing a LP or EP. Yesterday was one of the toughest I have come across. They wanted a tough sound! Well, they played pretty lightly, if you get my vibe. I did all I could. The guitar player would pound his chest and say, "I'm punk!" But everything that came out of his rig could have been the outtakes of a Ricky Martin concert. He would tell the only one who spoke any kind of English that I was making his band "pop." The drummer — who was one of the best technical metal guys — ripped, but would make tired faces two takes in and complain in Chinese. I sat for over an hour while the band members argued over an ending they did not have tight. Finally the drummer started to complain that the KFC chicken was getting cold. The session actually went pretty amazing, after that first few hours. A foreign producer and studio time would make any band out of balance for a few. The cultural difference is sometimes like a slap in the face when I start to go on about artist's rights... I'm in China and there are no rights! Arrogant Americans and Europeans have done plenty here already, and I must always remember where I am. Some have disappeared just for asking the wrong questions, so I do sit idle sometimes. The police usually do not bother foreigners because of the hours of paperwork needed, even just for stopping me. I'm ignored most of the time, but I can see them all wondering what the fuck am I'm doing here.

The people here are some of the kindest and most giving I have ever met. The value of human life is a struggle China deals with, generation after generation. They wear masks to keep from getting germs, but the same masked lady with a child on the back of an electric scooter travels head on — not looking into oncoming traffic. An invisible force field must keep them all safe. Meanwhile I have been almost killed half a dozen times by busses and large trucks.

Email dated Jan. 8, 2012: Studios and engineers here are clueless about any Western producers or where to find info about learning anything that's not found in Mix Magazine. I turned a guy named J. at my current studio onto your mag, and he bought a subscription for Tape Op last night! He read some articles online and was blown away. He went to a recording school in England for several years and returned to China a recording stud. All the bands look up to him, but he had no clue of the world we love and adore about the art of recording. He's now a believer, and soon to be fanatic.

Email dated Jan. 14, 2012: I had mentioned the Chinese metal band I'm currently working with, and the guitar player, Cg, who out-of-the-gate hated me. The last day he started to yell at the drummer about the last 30 seconds of the last drum take on the LP. I told him to relax and please keep it civil. All three days I thought what I said in the studio was being translated by the bass player properly, and never noticed — as I explained in basic studio lingo — that all my sentences were shortened to a few words or grunts. The guitar player was losing his shit by the last day. He didn't understand; he wanted someone to explain as to what this US producer was saying! He tore into the bass player that night and was like, "What the fuck are you doing? Please say all that's told to us as a band." In hindsight he was correct, and I should have realized the landslide that was building above me. That night I did not feel good knowing it was three or four days of guitar recording with Cg! I opted to ask the band to move the session to a studio that is owned by three almost-blind death metal guys. When playing live they have to be guided to their gear, but they proceed to rip insane speed metal — viciously intense, if a little sloppy! They're all really sweet guys. We planned on 8 a.m. sessions because the studio was always locked out most evenings, and we wanted to get as much done while in there. Cg and I are now like brothers from another mother! I set up two stacks of Orange amps, and a Marshall amp, and doubled up the mics on the speakers, achieving a sound he had never gotten in all his recordings throughout China and Japan. Because he had to work, the bass player was in fear all three days. He could not even fathom that Cg and I would get along and not kill each other. Cg and I both understood 100% all that was needed, and honestly he's pretty pro. Hand movements and childlike motions filled the guitar tracking days. We laughed all day, and I have never had any artist so cool, not only driving me, but helping with my gear every day. I was amazed how this turned around 360 with simple communication. "You are a good man," Cg would say, two or three times every hour as we killed tracks. His only other English line was, "No good. That solo was NO GOOOOD." I would laugh every time.

This was one of the most intense of many bad lessons I've learned when dealing with a band. I have to really pay attention to what the guys are saying that translate for me. If I would have known on the first day, I could have paused more when speaking. I could've pointed to the bass player and said, "Tell Cg." It's even deeper with an idiot manager who was bummed that they'd paid me up front! He told the band out of the blue that he was leaving for Japan to meet the label, and he wanted the record done today! Mixed and mastered, halfway through our schedule that's been set in stone for weeks. He wanted all the files at whatever stage we were at to play for his boss. Cg told him to fuck off. "Manny is a good man; and we need to finish the record on our schedule." What a difference a few days makes. I take back the Ricky Martin line in my last email. He's punk as fuck!

Email dated Jan. 15, 2012: In China there is an overcast sky almost all year and it's due to smog. The cold air is captured so you think it's gonna rain, but it never does. You always cough here, and when you blow your nose there is dirt in it from walking around the city. I cold use a great American breakfast tomorrow: a good cup of joe, and a waitress who's not yelling at me in Chinese.

As I planned for this trip I was humored by some industry folks about how there is no way to make money in China. That it's a lawless country! That basically it's a waste of time until the roads are paved with gold. I will never have a chance in my time to go to a country so modernized, yet so virgin to our upbringing of having art and music so accessible. Up until ten years ago most were forbidden to create music, and it still is looked upon poorly.

I started a dialog with the blind speed metal band. Fingers crossed, I'll make an EP with these fellas. I was supposed to be in Shanghai two weeks ago. One more band can't hurt. I'm already late and it's looking like April will be my return to the US. That's six months, in total, from a month and a half of the initial goal. I thought that was stretching it. I wish I'd brought one more pair of pants, and a shirt.

Email dated Jan. 18, 2012: I just mixed one of the most important LPs for me in Beijing yesterday for Chui Wan. Maybe Mars, one of the biggest indie labels here, is releasing it later in the year. I had to kill this LP, because all their friends are in the coolest bands as well! It sounds like Fugazi's rhythm section with Battles' guitars and Syd Barrett on vocals. I'm flying to Shanghai in a few days to return a lender pair of sE VR2 mics that they're replacing, and I just got an email that I'm cleared to continue with my four-pack of badass microphones from the sE factory in Shanghai. There are two LPs I'm finishing in Shanghai, then off to Hong Kong, Macau in China, and then Singapore. After Singapore I was going to return home, but Chengdu, China, is calling! Four bands in the center of China, who are also signed to Maybe Mars, have agreed to fly me in. The house where I'm recording in is somewhere in the mountains. Also, four Beijing bands are lined up again for my third return in late March. And I have another band in Hong Kong that I've gotta squeeze in.

Today I disappeared on the metal band. I lost it, with no days off and all the pressure. Yesterday was supposed to be a day off, but I ended up mixing until 3 a.m. Today the band grabbed me at 10 a.m., and on my first break after three hours of bashing guitars, I just walked out, in close to zero weather — not even realizing what I was doing. I must have walked two miles nonstop, like a zombie. They tried to call me but my phone was off. I did not know where I was — just the same looking Chinese storefronts. I called the band, once I came to. It took them a few minutes, but they figured out where I was and picked me up. Afterwards they kept saying, "You don't look well." I replied, "I just wanted to sleep in today."

The blind speed metal band is on for recording, but that will be during my third Beijing run before home. No sleep till L.A. I'm planning a few days off the day after tomorrow, and it's light recording days until Shanghai next week. I found a place that makes great margaritas, so you will know where to find me, but the bands won't.

Email dated Jan. 18, 2012: I just lost my apt. back home. I had made arrangements, and my landlord was cool with half-paid rent to keep me locked in, but we just hit the three-month mark. I'm really a roaming nomad now. I have no regrets, except for not moving out when I initially left L.A. How was I to know this would actually work out, with the demand filling up my calendar?

Email dated Jan. 20, 2012: I just got into my four days off here in Beijing, but I have promised to have an LP that needs 808 hits on the kick and tons of edits all finished by then. It's about three days of hard work, but I'm in my hotel, thank god! Stocked up on peanut butter and apricot jelly, so I'm in it to win it.

Email dated Jan. 21, 2012: I'm about to be launched into the Chinese New Year tonight! It already sounds like earthshaking booms all over city. I'm wearing earplugs just to walk down the street, on my way to a band's apartment. They have small ADAM speakers and I'm mixing there. Hedgehog is one of China's coolest rock bands. I'm all finished with them; so success with round two out of three in Beijing.

Email dated Jan. 22, 2012: I really have to force myself to dig out all my gear and get to this editing and comping that I have promised. Four days of work needed on something that's supposed to be ready in two days. I may push it and take a few more. It feels good not to be lugging around hundreds of pounds of gear every day.

Email dated Jan. 24, 2012: I'm trying to live it up on my last few days off. I ordered a pizza from a joint called The Tube for lunch. It was delicious. My hotel room does not have a fridge, but no worries — I saw a guy across the way at another hotel hang a fish outside (it's 5 degrees out) so I put my pizza in a bag and hung it outside too. I'm tightening up the metal band the next two days in my hotel. It's so nice to be off the grind and relaxing.

Email dated Feb. 6, 2012: I'm in Hong Kong in a luxury apartment that I have all to myself. The artist gave up his own crib, and is with his happy girlfriend. It overlooks the Kennedy Town part of Hong Kong. I have eaten well and had coffee three times a day. I leave for Macau, China Saturday, and then fly out to Singapore Monday for three weeks of sessions. Then I return to Hong Kong as a staging point, before flying to Chengdu to truly test the unknown.

You are not going to believe last night. I went to have Chinese cuisine at some secret, hidden location you could only find if invited. A very cute Chinese couple owns the restaurant — the husband is the chef and the wife handles the crowd. Dinner starts at 6:30 p.m. and ends at 8 p.m. At the end of every dinner she sings for all the guests. I had been told she was a very famous opera singer in her youth. She sang some of the prettiest a cappella songs I have ever heard! I was told they had just sold their dinner hideaway to a very rich man, and that soon he would be changing everything and sending them into a comfortable retirement. My friend asked the wife if I could record her this week, before business hours, and she agreed. She was almost in tears that I had even asked. Capturing her singing in the place she and her sweet husband had built and loved so dearly is beyond words. I was told she is preparing her four favorite songs for me. I feel the pressure already. I know I've gotta get it right on the first takes.

Email dated Feb. 9, 2012: The session with the famous opera singer was intense, but so worth it. That was my second of three full sessions yesterday.

Email dated Mar. 25, 2012: It looks like it'll be nine months total away from home. I took on one of Hong Kong's coolest new bands, and that keeps me in here until mid-June. I'm still in Singapore finishing up what I believe is my most insane work of art to date. It's been almost three months now of living in a bomb shelter and sleeping on a fold out in my mixing room.

sE Electronics has been great, with no pressure, and I hope when I return to Shanghai that I'm able to purchase these mics. No failures, and I have been in places from 6 degrees below to insanely hot and humid.

Am I crazy? I feel like I fell off the grid. Everyone back home is making records and kicking ass with all these sick bands, and I'm like a locked up pro audio mule loaded to the gills. I have not seen a familiar face in almost a year. Even when you tour you have bandmates and one crew dude ready to throw down and see the city. I miss tape, bean and cheese burritos, and my son, who is graduating high school in late June. I missed his whole senior year... damn. Was this worth a dream? Yes, in a wild way. I don't think this has ever been done here on this scale and with no real help — only faith, and a commitment to art and how it is made.

Email dated Apr. 3, 2012: Chengdu, China, is the panda bear city, so I'm pretty thrilled to see this firsthand. My laptop is almost toasted; I'm hoping to get a new Mac this week so that I can finish out this trip. I see the finish line, and it's lined with taco trucks and traffic jams.

Email dated Apr. 29, 2012: Two more months — I arrive in Los Angeles on June 20th. I have spent five months, out of nine, working on one LP in Singapore. Cheating Sons' new record will be — at this point in my career — the most important record I've been blessed to work on. Living in a bomb shelter on a fold out has not been the sweetest, but after coffee and some local food, every second of this LP is a reminder of why I left home for this crazy dream. Thinking about burritos and huevos rancheros keeps the dream alive.

Email dated Jun. 14, 2012: This last leg of my third round through China was probably the most gear- hauling, long hour, payback of my life! Nothing short of 16-hour days, almost 30 days straight, while using every ounce of my engineering and production skills. I also mixed the band I cut an LP for in a three story glass tower in Macau. Most of the sessions I did are mixed already, but I'm going to finish some at my studio in L.A. My dream came true of finding a studio out here to track and mix in. BeatingHeart Studios was a "livehouse" when I arrived a month ago. A local band asked the owner if we could track there, and after he got wind of what I had recorded — a list of the region's best bands — he dropped $40,000 on mics, API and Neve preamps, and ADAM speakers. World-class gear, in a week. His studio has a way-cool vibe. I'm still booked for a month in Singapore to finish mixing — now a total of four months tracking the LP in that basement. Then Chengdu has Proximity Butterfly and three other bands interested. Beijing is emailing and Shanghai is off the hook. Look what I started. I have cursed the weight of my Digi 003 and SM 7, but the worst culprit of weight in my luggage is mic cables — 40 pounds of long, colored ones. I have gone through seven headphones, eight mic cables, and lost well over $1500 in gear as I checked into airports.

Email dated Jun. 26, 2012: I have been a dad again all weekend. It's so nice seeing my mom and son.

Email dated Sep. 8, 2012: Off to China once again. Thank you for believing.

Email dated Nov. 18, 2012: Happy Holidays to you and your family. I'm missing them all again this year, I'm sorry to say. My uncompleted work is getting its final touch ups, and new artists are getting my affordable services once again. I spent almost a month in Chengdu; it was an amazing city and experience. I got relieved of a mix session in Hong Kong, so it's not been all peaches here. Yunnan, China is in January, and I hear this will be a cool city to work out of. I have cut my weight load by about five pounds now, from cables I can get artists to supply, but the trek is still miles and miles of walking while loaded down. I'm handling the stress better this time, as the mystery is now more of a reality. I'm fucked here half the time just trying to make it work financially in order to make it to next city. I have no idea how, but it always works out.

Email dated Nov. 19, 2012: We climb higher with the gear we think will make the difference; but honestly it's the human heart and the desire to create that makes the best music. I left L.A. with a goal to find hidden art, like a treasure never seen, and I almost fell into the volcano doing it.

Email dated Nov. 24, 2012: This last trek has been the toughest financially. I purposely cut down on my artist intake because of stress and time, but that makes it a tough journey on a tight budget. I'm flying to Singapore; that's always a winner, with a great family that's adopted this foreigner as their own. In 2013 it's Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, plus Yunnan and Chengdu. I'm planning to be home in June. That will be a two-year cap on my Chinese excursion. I had my 46th birthday here last year, and my 47th will be here as well. Never in my life will I be able to haul 160 lbs of recording gear around one- quarter of the Earth again! I'm trying to really appreciate these last months, and take from them as much as I can to share when I'm back home. Two months has turned into two years! I'm the second engineer to attempt this, and Martyn Atkins' 16 days in Beijing is far eclipsed by my two years. Soon, if not already, there will be cats in the East doing what I am — I wish them all the luck and good fortune. Chinese artists are pretty intense — nothing like the vatos and chicas back home. There have been many lessons in life that I learned here. I hope I have become a better person, with more compassion and understanding for the artists back home. When I left two years ago, I'd had enough of arrogant and self-entitled artists, but now I see them with other eyes and ears, for sure. I appreciate the art of making music for the right reasons, better than ever.

Email dated Dec. 8, 2012: My trip from Hong Kong to Chengdu was the most intense and scary! As I walked across the border I was stopped and taken to the main police office. The Captain said I had too much of the same gear, and did not believe I was traveling just as a tourist. As I started to sweat bullets, the second-in- command asked me if I was a musician, and I replied, "Yes!" He asked where I performed, and I answered, "Los Angeles, California, USA." He gave me the once over and asked me to sing "Hotel California" by The Eagles. Are you kidding me? I did, like a singing bird! He laughed and let me pass through to the Chengdu airport.

"On a dark desert highway..."

Oh yeah, I'm getting married. Jane and I met in Hong Kong. We're getting married in L.A. in April or May. Love is the last thing I thought would come out of this trip. It's wild that I met her in my last months of this audio daredevil stunt. I have three more months, as well as New Zealand sessions, before returning to the states.

Email dated Feb. 20, 2013: Guess who just got married in Singapore? I'm thrilled to join the ranks of the married audio pilots club. I'm home in April, but my wife remains working in Hong Kong until I can get her visas in order, which might take three to nine months. Nothing is easy, I guess. I'm still recording my greatest works to date on a laptop and four sE microphones. I'm going home a bit unsatisfied honestly; it was really tough working with an artist that had no clue what goes into making a great record. I guess it's been a commitment to discipline and "back to school" engineering. Back home I started out never really catering to the artists, but my attitude has taken a 360 here. They're the ones hiring you, and you must bring not only the skills they have you asked for, but, in all fairness, they're just like you — searching for a dream to come true. I work at this everyday; I try to not be a ballbuster and I do sometimes hold back on comments. In the past I would have said something shattering. Now I listen and take it in first before speaking, whether my opinion is asked or not! I'm not sure of the waters as I return home. But I have always been optimistic, and I believe this will all make sense someday. Or, at the very least, it will reflect in my recordings from here on out.

Email dated Apr. 23, 2013: There was a very serious earthquake on Saturday, killing a few hundred in the province of Sichuan, which includes Chengdu, the city I'm mixing in. It's a really bad scene. The apartment I'm working at is a 28th floor penthouse, so it was a mess, with studio monitors taking a dive off stands. One monitor won't light up anymore, and my Digi 003 was thrown off a table and across the room. It won't stay on, and sometimes I can't even get it to power up. Pro Tools 8.3 is my platform, so I can't even mix without the 003. Just my luck, as I'm almost finished here. I wrote Avid and asked if they could help me in this region, but no response. I'm happy nothing happened to the family and children I'm living with. Being on the hunt to get my rig up is the last thing I could have imagined. I'm a month out from L.A. I should have gotten Pro Tools 10 for this trip when I was in the States.

Email dated Apr. 24, 2013: Something came loose in the 003, and now the power stays on. It's banged up, but should get me home okay to finish the last records.

Email dated Sep. 28, 2013: Of all the bands out there, Cheating Sons is probably my greatest work to date. Snapline in Beijing was a highlight too. Happy to be here in L.A., and family life is back to normal. Back in a proper studio; my engineering and producing is better than it's ever been. I learned more about recording in the last two years than during the previous ten. A laptop, a handful of wicked microphones, and a great band — record making at its best. I'm so happy being home. Thanks for giving hope to the traveling audio mule, 160 lbs of gear in tow. I did it.