New afrobeat recording from LoHo Studios, NYC

ezrag · Post by **ezrag** » Wed May 27, 2009 9:02 am

Just finished a new Aphrodesia recording mixed at the fantabulous LoHo studios on the lower east side, New York City, would love to get some feedback on the sounds.
www.myspace.com/aphrodesiamusic
The first five tracks are from the new album, "Precious Commodity"

Recorded mostly at Guerrilla Studios in Oakland, CA, with overdubs at House of Cubes, SF, and LoHo Studios, NYC. Mixed at Loho by Matt Werden, mastered by Paul Gold at Salt Mastering, NYC.

LoHo is a gorgeous studio with vintage Neve console, huge plate reverb in the basement, the works. It has recently opened back up for business after being privately held for several years- working there was a treat!

Hope you like it,
Ezra
Producer, bass, etc etc.
Aphrodesia

loganwexler · Post by **loganwexler** » Wed May 27, 2009 9:52 pm

this is extremely good.

that's all.

mwerden · Post by **mwerden** » Sun May 31, 2009 4:16 am

Thanks for the shout Ezra. I'm definitely curious what people think of the mixes, please let me know.

-M

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Sun May 31, 2009 10:27 am

I'm really digging your stuff!

Awesome.

Mixes sound great, even through the MySpace player.

Listened to "Say What", "Merit Badge", "Special Girl", "Nov. 5".

For me, the horns may be just a touch high in the mix at times, (ex., in "Merit Badge"); I have to say the percussion sounds wonderful!

mwerden · Post by **mwerden** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 3:12 pm

Thanks vvv. I think Merit Badge was the first mix and it was actually done in a different studio on an SSL. Not that that's an excuse or anything.

ezrag · Post by **ezrag** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 4:09 pm

Thanks for the compliments. Actually I think Merit Badge was on the Neve, we just blasted the horns. Ran em through a guitar amp and mixed that in with the regular horn sound just to dirty them up....anybody else ever do that?

mwerden · Post by **mwerden** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 11:01 am

ezrag wrote:Actually I think Merit Badge was on the Neve. . .

In that case it's REALLY no excuse.

Peterson Goodwyn · Post by **Peterson Goodwyn** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 9:19 am

Hell yeah! The horns sound meeaannn. Love the kick, too. It's probably just the wonderful myspace player, but the drums sound just a touch dark.

The bass sits wonderfully, too. Do you know what his/her rig was like?

mwerden · Post by **mwerden** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 11:44 am

Thanks for the comments Meathands. We actually reamped the bass for this stuff - Ampeg SVT through a 9x10 cab. I don't know what the guitar was, maybe Ezra can chime in on that because he played it.

The kick was interesting, a lot of the drum came through the snare mic with the low end reinforcement coming from the kick mic.

Anyway, thanks again for the comments/compliments.

-M

Peterson Goodwyn · Post by **Peterson Goodwyn** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 12:19 pm

What do you think about the (perceived) darkness of the drums? Was that something you were going for, or something you noticed in the tracks you got? Or is it just the way Myspace throws away everything over 15k...?

I would like to know more about the bass signal path. Bass is such a difficult thing, I am always eager to know how it was done when it was done well.

mwerden · Post by **mwerden** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 1:43 pm

The kit was recorded to 1" (I think?) tape so that may have something to do with it. There were also some problems with the tape transfer so most tracks I only used 1 overhead, and it didn't sound particularly good so I didn't put it up too high in the mix. Most of the drums were coming through the snare mic, anyway. I think you're probably hearing a combination of all those things.

As for the bass, it was reamped and recorded with a D12 and FET47 through our 1064 mic pres. In the mix it probably had some 1081 or 1064 EQ and a distressor on it, can't remember for sure. The most important factor is the mix room, I find. I do some mixes at our old studio and for the life of me I can't get it right, then I mix at LoHo and it's no problem. All comes down to my lack of experience I guess.

ezrag · Post by **ezrag** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 2:06 pm

Um, a couple months late here but....
I played a Tokai 'Hard Puncher' for the bass....it's a Japanese P-bass copy I got off eBay. WE used the direct channel and re-amped it through an Ampeg SVT and 9x10 cabinet. I can't remember what direct box we used, I think it was the Radial JDI or something like that?

I think maybe we made the drums a little dark on purpose...though it might be the speakers too. you can check out better quality versions now here-
http://aphrodesia.bandcamp.com

thanks!
ezra

Meathands wrote:Hell yeah! The horns sound meeaannn. Love the kick, too. It's probably just the wonderful myspace player, but the drums sound just a touch dark.

The bass sits wonderfully, too. Do you know what his/her rig was like?

douglas baldwin · Post by **douglas baldwin** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 6:04 am

Excellent! Man, I could party on this big time. Great musicians, great songs, well recorded. Nice mix of "together-in-one-room" and some ear candy (the conga/guitar split hard left/right on "Special Girl"). Absolutely no criticisms of anything. Best of luck to you.

newfuturevintage · Post by **newfuturevintage** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 12:32 pm

this rules. IMO, it sounds very good, but that's not really important at all. The energy and material of these performances would shine through cruddy mixes any day.

Rigsby · Post by **Rigsby** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 1:25 pm

Sounds great, I'd like the drums just a little louder, but it still sounds great.

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New afrobeat recording from LoHo Studios, NYC

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