I've been lucky to work on a few "old time" records and I totally enjoy it. With acoustic instruments in this context it's all about mic'ing skill and capturing the right feel and great performances. Tape Op's own Publisher, John Baccigaluppi, proves that he's no slouch in the recording seat, tracking FTRA live (2 discs/one with audience and one without) at his studio The Hangar in Sacramento, CA. The project was tracked to fat 2" 16 and mixed to 1/2". Mixing took place on The Distillery's Flickinger board in Costa Mesa, CA with the infamous Craig Schumacher mixing 23 songs in a 16 hour day, with mastering done by Eric Broyhill at Monster Lab Audio. The project came out great, and I think I prefer the live with audience disk - even though it has more warts the players seem to be going for it more. (www.ftraband.com)
Music Reviews | No. 32
Songs in the Key of Z, Vol. 1 and 2
by Larry Crane
Despite all my warnings in the end of this issue about recording crazy people, I'm really glad someone made these recordings. Irwin Chusid is the author of a book of the same name, and he compiled...