-
Me and Jonah, 2015
Playing music in a basement -
Schismatics, 2015
3-piece punk -
dancerockinfinity, 2007
An electronic duo -
Death’s Head Hearth, 2007
Celtic + Metal + Waits -
The Obertones, 2006
12-member a capella ensemble -
Amos Payne, 2006
A 4-piece with some extras -
The Guilty Pleasures, 2006
3-piece pop rock -
I Charge a Mile, 2006
A solo artist, multitracked -
Oberlin Steel, 2005
a 16-member steel drum band -
Cellar Door, 2005
3-piece rock
Oberlin Steel, 2005
Recorded on site in the Oberlin Steel Panyard
Woman is Boss
Guitar Pan
About the recording
Studio: On Site in the Oberlin Steel PanyardEngineer: Michael P. Geraci
Hardware: Digidesign 002 Interface
Software: Pro Tools LE
Recording a 16 person steel band was an interesting challenge. Many of the best recordings of bands from Trinidad are done outside with very simple microphone arrays. I originally planned to emulate this by finding a suitable outside space, but the weather, wind, and noise would not cooperate to that end. I ended up doing the recording in the Oberlin Steel panyard, their practice space, which is a 50' x 30' concrete room with a thin carpet on the floor. I put up some acoustic foam and blankets to help dampen the very loud sound of the room, and put the percussion section in the back in a small fort of blankets and foam to help lower their volume.
I began with a stereo pair of Audio Techina 4041s in an ORTF configuration, about 7' away from the band, raised about 8.5' off the ground, and angled down towards the back of the group. This sounded great for the bass and percussion which are towards the back, but the front line of the group was not present enough. I then added another stereo pair of 4041s in ORTFF, the same distance from the band, but raised only 3.5' and pointed straight forward.
These recordings were mastered by Paul Zinman at SoundByte Productions, Inc.