Howlin' Dog Recording (cont.) HDR pg. 1

Mission

What I want my studio to do is simple - I want it to help people in my area (including me) get their music out. In order to do this well, this studio has to be affordable yet put out an excellent product that can hold up in any comparison. I think we consistently achieve this goal. Also, the general vibe and approach needs to serve the music and creativity in general with a relaxed, comfortable and enjoyable atmosphere.

Philosophy

To me, music is a way of communicating "something fine" - something that reminds us all of why it's worth being alive. There is great joy for me in participating in this process, whether it is as a musician putting out the music or as someone helping record other musicians - helping them get the finest representation possible down on disc to help them put it out. There is also great joy for me in the group creative process. There is a magic that moves in as a few people who have set aside time to work toward putting out something fine (as in a studio) toss around their ideas and experiment with them. To me, the magic is built in to the process, almost as if it lives in the space between the people. As ideas and various musical options are tossed around, a greater alternative emerges. I love it. Every day, and with every project, the ultimate challenge is there - "How much magic can we allow in today? How fine can we make it?" The biggest reward for me is what I call getting off - feeling the shiver that tells you "Yes! That is something fine." And that's what I shoot for. All the equipment is a means to that end, and in that sense, all the equipment is secondary. Ideally, the equipment and the process is as transparent as possible - you don't even see it. It's just there to serve the music.

Recent Projects

The music that I hear come through this studio is incredible. So much creativity and talent all around. Here are some artists (and their recordings) that have been working here.

Hired Hands - Stuff That Works, Hands of Time

Bill Hearne - From Santa Fe to Las Cruces

The Rifters

Rick Fowler - A Chase of Smoke

Leigh Ann Phillips - Just Over Those Mountains

Lori Kester - Raining in Annapolis

Mary and Mars - Live at The Old Blinking Light

Michael Hearne - Live at The Old Blinking Light

John Carey - Live at The Old Blinking Light

Bill and Bonnie Hearne - Celebration! Live at La Fonda
Sarah Burnham - Southwest Blue
Justin Cowan - Heroes of Yesterday
Vanessa Briggs - Something I Have Found
Ash Raines - These Haunted Streets
Don Conoscenti - Paradox of Grace (two songs)
Don Richmond - Instrument, No Man's Land
Chipper Thompson - Strange Lullabies, Folk ‘n Roll Live, Penny Dreadfuls
Burning Joan - Love’s Flame, Remember
Jimmy Stadler - New Man
Will Dudley - Heart at Work
Indian Nickel
Michael Hearne, Jimmy Stadler, and Kitty Franzetti - Tales From the St. Bernard
Mary Duwe - Unfinished Business
Glenda Fletcher and John Moulton (Fletcher and John)
Meryl Ennis - Dancing With the Divine
All American Rejects
Spunkeye
Jonathan Blaine - Sonshine
John Spencer - Cowboy Up
Soulopia
Lucky LaRue - In the Mountains; Don't Push, Don't Shove
The Days - Still Running
Sneakers - Photo Not Available
Mason Brown and Chipper Thompson - Am I Born to Die
Tattered Sages
Tom Dessain - Tofu to Go
Michael Hearne - Me and My Guitar, Live at the OBL
Tom Munch - Signature, Profile, Christmas
Critters
La Nueva Imagen
River Wild
L. Nitty - Lifetime
Inspiration - Now and Forever
Art Patience - Spirit of the Woods
Patsi Maestas - In His Presence
John Amos
W. David Barber - United States of Mexico
Sam Bricker
Silver Shoes
Myrna Heersink, Bowen String Band
Skapegoat
Partners in Crime - Eat Our Dust and Unplugged at Milagros
Nickel Trick
Tree
Elliot Rogers

New Developments

As of August 2004 - We got a new Mac dual processor G-5 this year and moved back to the Mac platform  (OSX Panther as of this writing) and I'm enjoying it immensely. Macs are cool - there's no getting around it. The main multi-track software platform is still Emagic Logic, now called "Pro" and at version 6.4.2. At some point I'll probably get a Pro Tools set-up if for no other reason than sharing projects with other studios, but I love Logic. It's incredibly powerful and sounds great, and the G-5 can handle pretty much an unlimited number of 24 bit tracks. We've been using the highly-acclaimed RME audio interface to get the music in and out of the computer. I've done 3 piano-oriented projects this year so I invested in Vintaudio's Yamaha C-7 grand piano sample library, which runs on the EXS-24 Mk II sampler built into Logic. It's an incredibly good sounding piano with over 12 gigabytes of samples. Very cool. I'd still rather have a Steinway sitting in the room, but maybe next year.

As of 2002 - The last few projects I've done  I have started the projects on ADAT and then moved the tracks into the computer and loaded them into Emagic's Logic Audio Platinum (4.8.1 as of January 2002) for overdubs and mixing. This platform gives us incredible power and accuracy in editing and mixing, together with absolutely top-notch 24 bit sound. I'm sure that I will be doing more and more projects in Logic from start to finish as the power is quite addicting. The challenge with technology always seems to be to keep it in service of the music and keep it from getting in the way of the music, whether from glitching and crashing or just putting everyone in a microscopic "look at the computer screen" sort of vibe. It's all about the music - we try to remember that.

In July 2000 we  made the jump to 20-bit ADAT XT-20s. The most obvious difference with the new machines is the much faster transports - they really fly, and the added locate points make getting around easier too. They also have 16 times more resolution than the old 16 bit machines, but the old ones sounded just fine to me. I haven't done any head to head comparisons, which might be interesting.

In the summer of 1999 we added the capability to digitally edit (on the computer) individual tracks from the multi-track recorders in full sync, using the ADAT-Edit card. Pretty cool. Earlier in 1999 we made the jump to digital mixing with the Yamaha O1-V digital board. It's an incredible piece of equipment - 4 band parametric EQ on just about everything, built in dynamics processing on just about everything, 2 excellent multi-effects preocessors inside, scene memory and real-time automation capability, and great sound besides. I've also just got the new Shure Brothers large diaphragm condensor mic, the KSM-32. Incredible detail, presence, and overall "size". Great sound.

In '99 we also added  the new Mackie studio monitors. They sound absolutely unbelievable. I'm going to be going back and listening to all my old projects again just to listen to these speakers.

Back in 1998 we made the move to hard-disk based mixdown (2-track) and computer editing, as well as the capability to run off CDRs for masters and reference mixes. The power and flexibility that this provided was staggering. Besides making the mixdown process much easier, it allowed us to do the post-mix work on levels, compression and EQ that fall in the realm of mastering. It's also been great to be able to run off CDRs for people to take home and listen to - much more fun than cassettes.

Here's a picture of me putting down a mandolin track on the Silver Shoes "Old Friends" CD. They did it half here and half in Texas (closer to their home in Houston) with another half strung out all over the country with some of The Flying Burrito Brothers and all kinds of folks playing on it. That's John Finnegan of Silver Shoes sitting at the board. He had a hernia operation less than a week later. I hope it wasn't anything I played.

That's Justin Cowan on the left, me on the right in the rather messy control room. It actually looks neater than that right now, but the clutter level tends to fluctuate with the number of musicians and projects happening.

FYI

Why "Howlin' Dog"? It's just what Tumbleweed called our record label, and it seems to have stuck. If it doesn't suit your music, we'll just call it Abbey Road, OK? No one will ever know.

DonRichmond@worldnet.att.net