Posts Tagged ‘Recording’
DVD Teaser
If you’re going to play in Shanghai for three months, you’ve gotta have something to show for it, right?!
While in China, I happened to meet a great guy named Ludwig Fella of Fella Film Studios. He filmed a typical Saturday night show and turned into a DVD! We’re still working out some kinks, but know that it will be available for purchase and download soon!
In the meantime, here’s a teaser clip:
Find this clip and a handful of other vids at my YouTube Channel.
For those of you in China with no access to YouTube (aka victims of the Great Firewall of China), please let me know of a good video hosting site to which I can upload the videos so you can see them!
We also got some great audio recordings of the shows and are in the process of editing and mixing a live album!
So what else? After taking a much needed break for the holidays, I am now beginning to book and play shows in and around the greater Boston area. You can find an up-to-the-minute list of places I’ll be playing on my calendar.
Lots goin’ on. Stay tuned!
Jamie in the Studio
Good news, Jamie has decided to jump back into the studio and make a new EP!
We’ve solicited the talents of local pianist, engineer and producer Ben Zecker. Ben and I will be co-producing this project together.
Ben Zecker has gained a reputation as one of the more exciting and in demand young musicians in New England. He has been heard with funk masters such as John Blackwell and the Matrix, various side projects of the Soulive crew, The Boston Horns, or playing in one of his own straight-ahead jazz or funk projects featuring some of the finest musicians in the Boston scene. You may also have heard him freelancing with a neo-soul, pop, rock, jazz, hip-hop, or an “all of the above” showcase band. No matter what the situation may be, one thing is for sure; Ben always brings serious musicianship, versatility, great technique, energy, taste, and creativity to the gig.
Yesterday, we went into the studio and tracked drums and bass with some of the best musicians I’ve ever had the honor of working with. Wally’s legend Charles Haynes (Kanye West, MIA, Meshell Ndegeocello) absolutely killed it on drums, perfectly complimented by local funk master Baron Browne (Steve Smith, Mike Stern). These guys really brought our compositions to life and laid down a great foundation.
Onward!!
PS – Pics to come! When I get them I’ll post ‘em.
Recording with Joya
I landed another recording session!
This time I’ll be going in to record with Joya Abbott-Graves. She’s a local singer/songwriter who has been penned “Boston’s Soulful Songbird.” I’ll be recording on 3 of her tunes.
Tracking with Jay Broyer
Jay Broyer
I recently went in to 6Media and laid down some electric guitar tracks for Jay Broyer‘s new album. Check out what he wrote on his MySpace blog:
Yesterday we had Mike Null in to do his “Mike Null” thing on a few tracks and he really tore it up! Mike played a few shows with me last year and also played lead guitar on a little tune called “So Cliché.” The early studio favorite “casual” is one of the songs he played on and the soulful bluesy lick s he laid down on that tune just hit you right in the gut! Or as Dennis would say and I quote “Dude your solo made me want to eat beef stew.” I have no idea what that means but it was probably one of the highlights of my day yesterday lol.
Beef stew? Hilarious.
Thanks, Jay.. can’t wait to hear the finished product!
In other news, the track on which I played from his EP (The Sound of U), “So Cliche” just got added to the regular rotation on Boston area radio station 92.5, The River!
Boston Herald Review
Check it out! Not only did they give the latest Chicken Slacks album an A-, they mentioned me by name!!
We’re assuming the title is a rhetorical question. And, hell yeah we can dig it. We don’t care if you’ve got a terrible band name, we love your set list: Stax classics, blues treasures and “Too Much Time,” an extra-obscure Captain Beefheart tune. Everybody does r & b covers, almost nobody does them well. Boston-based Chicken Slacks – thanks to Diamond D’s real soul shouting, righteous, punchy horns, and guitarist Mike Null’s authentic tone and restraint – deserve much love for just getting it right. Download: the Eddie Bo-penned slice of New Orleans funk, “Hook and Sling.” (Appearing every Thursday at the Cantab Lounge, Cambridge.)
-Jed Gottlieb, Boston Herald
Not too shabby! Go to ChickenSlacks.com to check out the new disc!
Have you heard it yet? What do you think?
More Recording with Jay Broyer
Looks like I’ll be doing some more recording with Jay Broyer!
For those of you who don’t know the connection, I played electric guitar on his EP “The Sound of U” back in 2007 (as listed on my discography page). My friend Dennis Carroll of 6Media Group produced it and called me for the session.
I believe he still has the song posted on his myspace page. Listen for my strummy texture and lead work in “So Cliche“!
We did some gigging for a while. I hooked him up with Dwight Ritcher’s bassist, Greg Paraskos and we played a few places in Northern Massachusetts (mostly at the Chit Chat in Haverhill).
I’m looking forward to the chance to record with him again!
"James in Flames" rides again
James Houlahan and I go way back. Well, we actually met in late 2001, but it feels like we’ve been friends and musical confidantes for much longer.
To make a long story short, we met at Guitar Center. I had just moved to Boston and had been working on the guitar floor for about a month. “James in flames” was a new hire who had just returned home after getting his Masters at the University of Chicago. Having a similar love for the blues and lead guitar, we clicked right away and formed a band.
We quickly realized that two lead guitarists were not enough to put on a proper show, so we began scouring the local blues jams for a rhythm section, and we networked our way into a few gigs.
Having different yet complimentary styles, James and I quickly developed a reputation among our fans (all 3 of them, including our moms and the fat guy at the Blue Plate) for having a great musical chemistry. Among other things, we were often compared to salt and pepper, yin and yang, ketchup and mustard.. you get the idea.
The band began heading in a different musical direction, and I began taking on other projects, so my role in the band became short lived. We parted on good terms, and though we ran into each other occasionally, we didn’t really talk much after that, until last year.
At the time were both going through breakups, and we began to hang out again. James had come a long way in his songwriting, and I was in the middle of cutting my teeth as a producer. We agreed that upon the completion of Kelsey’s album, we would give it another go.
After playing out together for a show or two, we decided to take it into the studio. To view the rest of this show, click here.
After weeks of preproduction meetings, we started the initial tracking today with Tom Eaton, (Tom really knows how to get great sounds coming into the board, and it is an absolute pleasure to work with him again!) who is going to engineer and co-produce! So far (and I say that because ya never really know what you’re going to end up with), the album is a collection of melancholy introspective solo tracks.
The tunes are stripped down, acoustic, organic and breathing. I love James’ writing because it’s so bare bones. I am going have a ton of fun arranging these tunes! I see mandolin, accordian, cello, organ, piano, backup singers and a lot of late nights in my future!
We’re going in again next week. Stay tuned!
My First Experience as Producer
I first met Kelsey Quigley in 2004 through a musical associate of mine, Jeff Ginsburg.
Jeff informed me that one of his coworkers at United Way is a band manager, and she needed a band for an upcoming gig. So, I made a few calls and threw a band together for her.
The artists she was managing turned out to be Kelsey Quigley. She was still in high school, I believe, probably 18 or 19 years old. We learned a few sets worth of material and performed at The Governor’s Academy in Byfield, MA.
Kelsey had (and still has) a voice beyond her years! Though somewhat green and a little tentative at times, she had a wonderfully warm tone to her voice and a maturity about her stage performance that was evidence of her vast potential.
At the end of the day, a gig was a gig, and we thanked each other and went our separate ways.
Fall of 2006, Kelsey gave me a call and said she was ready to make an album. She had a vision: An album of old soul and blues tunes. Her goal was to capture that old soulful sound, but give it a modern spin. She wanted to know if I wanted to be involved.
I figured she just wanted me to play guitar, but in fact she wanted me to produce! At first I hesitated due to my lack of experience, but then I realized that I’ve been involved in a few recording sessions from my years playing with Sarah Brindell, and with my Toni Lynn Washington connections, I should have no problem finding great players.
Oh, AND I would be compensated! So, I agreed.
I knew enough to know that if you’re going to pay to go into the studio, you need to have a game plan. We probably spent 6 months in pre-production! Not because the album was a gigantic creative endeavor, but because I was just wanted to make sure every detail was covered and that the time and money spent in the studio was worth every penny. We narrowed 40 or so cover songs down to 9, and went shopping for an engineer.
Kelsey had previously worked with Tom Eaton, and recommended him highly. I only had a few engineers in mind, but upon doing my homework, it appeared Tom’s credentials far outweighed any of my recommendations. After meeting him and taking a tour of his beautiful studio, I knew we were in good hands.
I gathered the players together. We eventually came up with:
- Bruce Bears on piano/organ (Toni Lynn Washington, Duke Robillard)
- Randy Bramwell on electric bass (The Love Dogs)
- Sven Larson on upright bass (Bangalore, Liquid Life, Toni Lynn Washington)
- Justin Berthiaume on drums/percussion (The Chicken Slacks Soul Revue, The Howl)
- John Aruda on saxophone (Superhoney, The Soul Band, Toni Lynn Washington)
- Scott Aruda on trumpet
- Didi Stewart on backup vocal
- Yours truly on electric and acoustic guitar
One hell of a band, if you ask me.
These guys were so professional, they made my job easy. They handled arrangements on the fly, long session hours, and moments of indecision with true professional grace.
I was insecure going into my first session as producer. I was afraid that my inexperience would lead to hangups, bad sounding tracks and a slew of other “rookie” mistakes. But, one thing I took away from those sessions is that if you want to have a professional sounding album, surround yourself with professionals. It was all about the music.. they listened well. They respected my role as producer enough to give me the confidence to follow my instincts even though they all knew it was my first time in that position.
Once the initial tracking was complete, we focused on Kelsey’s vocals and laying down instrumental overdubs. Sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn’t work. All in all, everything went pretty smoothly.
Tom took over the mastering duties, while Kelsey and her manager, Leslie Cargill handled the design and admin side of the album.
Finally, a finished product! I have to say that I am pretty proud of how it turned out, though I believe it wouldn’t have been such a success without combined effort of many talented people. So, without further ado, I would like to present to you..
Click the link above to listen to or buy the album!
What do you think? Please leave a comment!