We Want a TJ Doherty/Wilco article

Tragabigzanda · Post by **Tragabigzanda** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 12:12 am

Larry & Co,

http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopi ... 592#459592

The masses have spoken, and we really want some insight into the recording process of Sky Blue Sky, and, for that matter, TJ Doherty (Rather Ripped, Wilco, Hold Steady). There are a two or three more threads alluding to this...

Any chance?

Keep up the great work...

JohnDavisNYC · Post by **JohnDavisNYC** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:01 am

i am friends with some of the wilco guys, maybe i could arrange to ask mikael jorgensen some questions... i don't know TJ, though... could always get his info, though.

john

Post by **TapeOpLarry** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 11:28 am

I know TJ. he did the new Malkmus CD too. Shit, this would be easy.

send me some questions!

Tragabigzanda · Post by **Tragabigzanda** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 1:08 pm

Well, it seems like this TJ guy sort of came out of nowhere, so any history would be great.

I *heard* he was engineering for Jim O'Rourke for a while, so it'd be neat to hear a bit about that.

I think it's interesting that "Sky Blue Sky" and "Rather Ripped" are (in my opinion), two of the best sounding records in recent memory. Any insight to producing/engineering/mixing in the age of the "tiny computer speakers" and "30 second Amazon clip"?

Sky Blue Sky was done live, so any other insights to that process would be great; ditto Rather Ripped.

Any surprising "cheap gear" choices for these high profile albums?

What about the Sonic Youth process? Did they come in with these 3 1/2 minute pop songs all ready to go, or was that something he helped mold out of their more traditional 7 minute jams?

Both Steve Shelly & Glenn Kotche have a real dry, tight, present drum sound. How'd he get those sounds?

Anyone else?

bedbug · Post by **bedbug** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 6:49 pm

Oh man! Ask him about capturing guitar sounds. Sky Blue Sky, Rather Ripped and Born Again in the USA have insane presence. I know the word "organic" gets overused, but it doesn't even sound like it's coming from the stereo!

fossiltooth · Post by **fossiltooth** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 8:15 pm

toaster3000 wrote:i am friends with some of the wilco guys, maybe i could arrange to ask mikael jorgensen some questions... i don't know TJ, though... could always get his info, though.

Hey John,

Glenn Kotche is playing at the Kitchen this week and I'm doing sound...

...so you should come out and suggest it in person!

JohnDavisNYC · Post by **JohnDavisNYC** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:06 am

shit... i'm off to austin thursday....

say hi to glenn from me.

where is the kitchen?

john

fossiltooth · Post by **fossiltooth** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:39 pm

toaster3000 wrote:shit... i'm off to austin thursday....

say hi to glenn from me.

where is the kitchen?

Will do. It's around Chelsea I guess: http://www.thekitchen.org/ I'm always surprised it's not so well-known. I guess The Kitchen was a really big deal back in the 70s with Laurie Anderson and John Cage and all those folks.

This week's concert is pretty cool. It's a split night between Glenn (of Wilco) and Bryce Dessner from the National. From what I've heard in rehearsal so far, it's some really great music, and anyone interested in those artists should try to check out the show if it's not sold out already. Glenn is doing some of his solo percussion compositions and Bryce is premiering some symphonic music with electric guitars.

Anyway, back on topic: I too would gladly read a Wilco article, even though I'm not super-familiar with their whole discography at this point. I'll have to check out some more of their stuff soon though!

JoshT · Post by **JoshT** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:43 pm

Absolutely love his work with Wilco, anything information on the engineering of Ghost is Born or Sky Blue Sky would be amazing, especially about the drums.

channelcat · Post by **channelcat** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:59 am

I'd like to know more about the guitar and drum tracking on Sky Blue Sky. Nels just sounds incredible, and Tweedy's no slouch either; I was very impressed with his playing at a solo show about a year or two ago.

I picked up the deluxe version of SBS with the DVD. The performances in the loft were great, but I get the feeling that the mic set up for that wasn't necessarily what they used for tracking. I did notice that Tweedy was playing through a Marshall 2061X, which is the big brother to my 1974X.

Anyone know the make and model of the lap steel Nels uses? I know he swiped Tweedy's Fulltone '69 pedal (which has been discontinued) when they first got together, so I bet he used that quite a bit on SBS.

Stu

Tragabigzanda · Post by **Tragabigzanda** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 7:42 am

Hey! So Larry has agreed to let me interview TJ for an upcoming article. This will be my first article for Larry, so any other questions you guys have would be really appreciated! Here's a link with some more of TJ's work:

http://www.discogs.com/artist/T.J.+Doherty

LeedyGuy · Post by **LeedyGuy** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 10:51 am

Tragibigzanda wrote:Hey! So Larry has agreed to let me interview TJ for an upcoming article. This will be my first article for Larry, so any other questions you guys have would be really appreciated! Here's a link with some more of TJ's work:

http://www.discogs.com/artist/T.J.+Doherty

Born Again in the USA is a pretty cool sounding album. I have that on vinyl and it's gotten a bunch of listens around my house. Any insight into being the fly on the wall at those sessions would be neat. It sorta sounds like there's a lot of experimental unorthodox recording techniques in addition to the music being on the non-traditional side. Any Sear Sound experiences that may have been interesting from that session?

-Ken

losthighway · Post by **losthighway** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:09 pm

Jeff Tweedy seems like a big fan of the SM7. Was this mic responsible for the nice vocal sound on the record?

What type of preamp and what compression approach was used to get such dry vocals sounds to sit so nicely in the mix?

To record live without separation did the guitar players have to use smaller combo amps? What amps did they use?

Recording live can put a lot of pressure on every member of the band to nail there parts as often as possible. How many hours did the band record in a day before burn out set in?

The record has such a charmingly 'un-hyped' approach. Was there ever a temptation to throw more aggressive eq or microphones to make anything sound bigger?

Wilkesin · Post by **Wilkesin** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:33 pm

According to the myspace page of the band 1986, TJ recently had to deal with a serious staph infection over the holidays. He may not be up to full speed yet...

bickle · Post by **bickle** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:15 pm

Wow, I'd love to hear about both these Wilco records and Rather Ripped, all of which sound great. And the new Malkmus is my favorite new record - his best solo outing for sure. I read somewhere they recorded all over, but did some of it in Wilco's loft.

Yeah, this TJ seems to have come from nowhere and started making great records. I'm interested in all the things people have brought up, and just generally in what informs his close-miced-with-dynamics aesthetic. I love the sounds, and I suspect it has a lot to do with doing lots of live recording in less than ideal spaces...

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