Anatomy of a session in Bogota, Colombia

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Sat Nov 15, 2008 7:09 pm

That is an awesome and inspiring story, It's good to se you post a story like this where you weren't in your ivory tower, but, in the street with disparate elements and still made it rock out.
Showz that the talent of the engineer and the talent makes a record no matter where you are or what you have.
Great story!

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Sat Nov 15, 2008 8:02 pm

Brian wrote:That is an awesome and inspiring story, It's good to se you post a story like this where you weren't in your ivory tower, but, in the street with disparate elements and still made it rock out.
Showz that the talent of the engineer and the talent makes a record no matter where you are or what you have.
Great story!

That "ivory tower" was built by me using what I had to make the money to buy better gear to make the money to buy better gear to use what I had to make the money to buy better gear.... over and over and over... I just want to be clear about that.
I was mixing records on a 4 track, then an 8 track casette, then a TAC scorpion, then on someone elses MCI or someone elses stuff in general,then mixing on a ghost ghost to buy an auditronics console. Then I was working on the auditronics to buy a neve.... same with the mocrophones. I wasnt born with a U47 in my mouth...

I hear you though. That is why it is so easy for me to go "back" and squeeze every ounce of goodness out of anything that comes my way: I been there before, my brother.

richierichie · Post by **richierichie** » Sat Nov 15, 2008 8:28 pm

Joel, i can only echo those around me - thanks for sharing this. I'm inspired by the idea of being able to utilise disparate and imperfect materials where it really matters, and when time and money is pressing. I also enjoy the fact that an experienced professional can still be thrown in at the deep end, and make it work!

It's too much to hope for that there would be someone from the Columbian recording community here, right?!

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 5:51 am

richierichie wrote:Joel, i can only echo those around me - thanks for sharing this. I'm inspired by the idea of being able to utilise disparate and imperfect materials where it really matters, and when time and money is pressing. I also enjoy the fact that an experienced professional can still be thrown in at the deep end, and make it work!

It's too much to hope for that there would be someone from the Columbian recording community here, right?!

I wish.
I was hoping someone from Bogota would chime in after seeing this, but I guess not.

rwc · Post by **rwc** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 7:05 am

I've heard a control room called bunker, womb, powder station(guess which studio that one belongs to and you get a cookie)

but ivory tower is a new one!

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 7:59 am

rwc wrote:I've heard a control room called bunker, womb, powder station(guess which studio that one belongs to and you get a cookie) but ivory tower is a new one!

guess where the "powder"came from at the powder station....

@?,*???&? · Post by **@?,*???&?** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 8:18 am

At least what you had to mix was decently recorded. I just had a friend tell me his woes of mixing some project for a band from Mexico City and the tracks suffered the usualy 'tracked by some kid in his basement' problem.

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 8:44 am

@?,*???&? wrote:At least what you had to mix was decently recorded. I just had a friend tell me his woes of mixing some project for a band from Mexico City and the tracks suffered the usualy 'tracked by some kid in his basement' problem.

Yeah,
I was there to produce and to track the band. Thats why i brought the "drum mic" pelican case that i can carry on the plane.
I fully hear you on that. Most of the stuff I heard there was actually programmed drums, because most of the recordings I heard were bands that were DIY and wanted to get the sounds of their heroes, whether it was metallica or Sepultura, or maybe even the roots or the doobie brothers or the talking heads... regardless, they were using samples to get those sounds almost exclusively.
The bands I saw live use sequences on stage, and lots of cool electronic sounds even in the heavy rock stuff, which makes all of it have a NIN vibe in a way, but sometimes more like a cross between meshugga, NIN, and coldplay.... which would make NO sense here, but was fun to rock out to in el Parque there.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 8:50 am

Bolivian Marching Powder?
I like that name, "Ivory Tower Studios".
Too bad I'm changing mine to "Amoeba".

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 5:32 pm

Here is some video from the sessions!

Someone just sent me this link:

http://recdg.wordpress.com/2008/11/16/r ... #comment-2

Check it out!

JohnDavisNYC · Post by **JohnDavisNYC** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 5:57 pm

dude, that's totally the way you sound when you talk....

cool to see, but the wierd camera lisp is a bit distracting!

john

tactics · Post by **tactics** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 6:06 pm

toaster3000 wrote:dude, that's totally the way you sound when you talk....

cool to see, but the wierd camera lisp is a bit distracting!

john

Didnt even notice it.
Nice work Joel.

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 5:28 am

toaster3000 wrote:dude, that's totally the way you sound when you talk....

cool to see, but the wierd camera lisp is a bit distracting!

john

Rachel and I were cracking up about that.
Also, the explanation of the Bova Ball Spherical omni is hilarious: its like your head, if it was small and gray and mono..." lol. So funny.
Not so funny part that I wish was videotaped: Me explaining that same bova ball to the Colombian military during a narcotics search on my way out of the country. Wow. that was not fun times.

rwc · Post by **rwc** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 6:04 am

sorry for being dense.

but in all those videos, is there one guy doing all the translating back and forth for the band and you, or was it just the guy on your right had a more clear view in the live room and as such could see what the guy was signaling for?

those events look like a pair i fixed a week before my shopspace went kaput for a downstairs studio. they use the same stuff for hip hop in manhattan as they do for rock in bogata. interesting.

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 4:35 pm

rwc wrote:sorry for being dense.

but in all those videos, is there one guy doing all the translating back and forth for the band and you, or was it just the guy on your right had a more clear view in the live room and as such could see what the guy was signaling for?

those events look like a pair i fixed a week before my shopspace went kaput for a downstairs studio. they use the same stuff for hip hop in manhattan as they do for rock in bogata. interesting.

I borrowed those monitors from a hip hop guy in town because the little yamaha monitors that came with the studio were simply no fun. at all. They were some tiny powered thingies that sounded cheap, and quiet, and clipped when we tried to have fun immediately.
Traslation wise, i know a tiny bit of spanish, but for higher level concepts I needed my assistant on this session to translate. He is a pal that grew up there, and so I hired him as my assistant on this one. He was SUPER helpful. He is an awesome drum tech as well.

Message Board

Anatomy of a session in Bogota, Colombia

Who is online