busy busy busy busy busy

hey, all. not much time to update, lately. we've been quite happily swamped.

our very good friend (the man helped us build the place) Tony the Bookie is almost ready to release his new solo LP. it was sent to mastering just last week, in the expert care of our buddy Bob Weston over at Chicago Mastering Service, destined for 12" vinyl and digital download.

recored live to two-track on the day of the incongruous mid-Atlantic coastal earthquake last August, in one impressive session, the Bookie rattled off keeper first takes as fast as I could put tape on the machine! just him & his guitar, a Hank Williams tune, an old American traditional standard, and a batch of sweet originals. for those of you who've seen the Bookie play solo in the last couple years, I think this album does justice to that experience, with the extra spook & heavy air in which the Shop specializes. a big hi-five to the Lawson Microphone company of Nashville, TN - the sound of this record is the sound of their L47MP Tube up close for the voice & guitar, and their L251FET set thirty feet back and ten feet up, for the depth & thickness.

not to fear, for those of you who prefer your Cosmic American Music a bit more ... electrified, Tony the Bookie Orchestra are getting ready to begin tracking a new LP very soon.

Patrick's been putting together some sweet amps lately. you've probably seen his cabinet work on all the Soul Shop custom gear, but his latest amp builds are out of this world - a tweed Vibrolux with bias tremolo, a blackface Princeton Reverb combo with a Weber 12", and the latest, a brown 6G11 Vibrolux head with switchable output impedance and a matching 2x8" cab! this thing screams. photos & audio coming soon. contact us for pricing & info if you'd like a custom Grenham amp made to your specs.

the debut album from Last Builders Of Empire, Without Remorse, is available now on iTunes and from CD Baby. recorded by Elio at the Shop and mixed by our good friend Justin Pizzoferrato, this is a heavy, textural instrumental album from an outstanding young post-rock band. check it out.

not much to tell in other gear news. sent a few pieces out for some work & mods, very interested to get those back up & running. the new blackface UREI LA4 is getting a lot of use (awesome with a ribbon mic on steel guitar, or paired with an Electro-Voice RE10 for that "Lady Madonna" piano sound).

lots of new music on the way. stay tuned!

new single from Ryan Lee Crosby - "Summer's Come (You Are Gone)"

out today, the new single from our good friend Ryan Lee Crosby, entitled "Summer's Come (You Are Gone)." check it out over at his bandcamp page.

if the title seems familiar, that's because the song originally surfaced as an introspective piano ballad on Crosby's 2009 LP Out To Dry, recorded at the Shop and mixed by the great Daniel Nicholas Daskivich. after a couple years of Elio arguing that the song was really a Beach Boys-style summertime hit, RLC wised up and cut this new full-band arrangement, the first of several singles coming from the Cros in the next few months.

an object lesson in how we like to work around here, "Summer's Come" was recorded live by the full band (Crosby on electric guitar, Elio on Fender Rhodes, Kevin Micka on drums, and Nicholas Ward on electric bass), only requiring a few takes before a keeper version was put down. the room was set up with minimal baffling and good sight lines among the players, mic'ed up by Elio and tape-op'ed by Dan Daskivich. Crosby then cut his double-tracked lead vocals, Elio added Hammond organ, shaker, and backing vocals, and Dan & Ryan cranked out some handclaps. after completing further tracking on other songs, Elio, Dan, and Ryan mixed "Summer's Come" the following day. the single was mastered by our buddy Jesse Brayman at Soundmirror in Jamaica Plain.

now available to the public in the same season in which it was recorded, "Summer's Come" is a perfect reminder that it shouldn't take endless labor, heavy post-production, sleepless nights, or any second-guessing whatsoever to produce compelling modern music. it's never been easier as a musician to make a statement and have it heard, with no middleman, no red tape, and - most important - without eighteen months of downtime (or more) between being inspired and being able to get the record to your listeners. put yourself in front of the microphone and get to work!

God Bless The Hunger

we are very, VERY proud to announce the release of God Bless The Hunger, the new album from Boy Without God. myself & Patrick first met Gabriel Birnbaum as a headstrong young (we mean young) saxophonist leading the unstoppable Abraham Lincoln Brigade. his progression from skronk visionary to frighteningly talented singer/songwriter/arranger is a career we've watched enthusiastically, and it was a privilege to work with him on the new album, recorded & mixed at the Soul Shop, arguably the finest record we've yet produced.

I will especially remember ... the rhythm section coming in a few days before Christmas 2009, a little nervous and underrehearsed, absolutely murdering the basic tracks for the entire album in a single day - any musician who's been under pressure in the studio will understand how impressive a feat that is... Gabe's holler, captured by the room mics at the end of the title track, barely audible beneath the din, but still crackling through in the final mix ... Will cutting all his guitar solos (I miss that Telecaster) live in the room, as part of the basic tracks, the band reacting to him like no one ever could to an overdub ... staring down the Lawson microphone during the intro to "City Kids," the red light lit - thinking about being in love, dancing with her in her tiny kitchen - hoping I wasn't about to screw up one of my favorite songs on the record with an inferior harmony vocal ... the horn section: four dudes in a room, two to a mic, sight-reading Gabe's charts on the spot in one swift, efficient morning ... Mickey playing brushes on a metal chair while Gabe shook the sleigh bells on the other side of the room - the concise pleasures of 16-track recording ... a long night of Harvest and Veedon Fleece (and Jack Daniels) after recording the backing vocals, eventually talking Katie into a late-night take of her vocal on "The Snow Speaks," a part we hadn't thought of. she sang the hell out of it, in one unrehearsed take, while Gabe & I listened with our eyes wide open, and I prayed that I'd plugged everything in correctly, through my sour mash fog ... rough-mixing "The Snow Speaks" for the first time while the snow fell in early March, turning the monitors up loud, leaving the front door open, and shoveling the steps while listening back, to make sure it actually did sound like the cold night air (it did) ... the final mix sessions, in the warm weather, the fan on in the control room, Gabe & Will & I listening to "Love Letter" when it was done, finally able to hear it as the audience instead of the worried progenitors ... fast-forward to more than a year later, sitting down to dinner tonight with the same lady from my thoughts during "City Kids" (this fall we're moving into a bigger kitchen), putting the album on for the first time in forever, that kick in the middle of "Cowboys" still gets me.....

congratulations to Gabe and everyone in the Boy Without God universe. 

purchase the album here:

http://boywithoutgod.bandcamp.com/

come see the band in NYC at Union Pool on Wednesday, June 22nd, at 9PM, and in Cambridge at the Central Square YMCA Theater on Thursday, June 23rd at 7PM.

- Elio

staying busy

happy Spring! lots of recent activity here at the Shop, including projects from Infrastructure, the Big East, and the upcoming third full-length from Hallelujah the Hills. we've posted some new tracks for listening on the audio page, plus new updates & photos on the gear page. still finding all sorts of new applications for that UREI 565T filter unit....

jazz and improvising musicians, ask about our reduced day & hourly rates for live-in-the-room two-track recordings. kill it dead the way you're supposed to, playing live in a great-sounding room. it's hard to find affordable studios willing to record jazz live, let alone with the expertise and enthusiasm the Shop offers. and don't forget about the Steinway, the Rhodes, the Slingerland drumset, and over a dozen amps, all at your immediate disposal.

we're extremely proud to announce the upcoming release of Unlimited Circulation, the debut album from Sleepy Very Sleepy. this is without a doubt one of the best records we've ever worked on. available at the end of May from their website, and don't miss them at ZuZu on Monday, May 30th for their listening party & album release.

December

lots of activity recently. recorded & mixed the forthcoming 7" singles from Hallelujah the Hills and the Big East; one day of recording and one day of mixing for each, the way things should be done. more work coming soon from Sleepy Very Sleepy, Last Builders of Empire, and the start of tracking for the third full-length from Hallelujah the Hills.

the Steinway is waiting! come record your Xmas songs of longing & misery. we'll provide the sweet sounds and the mulled rum.

new updates to the gear & audio pages, more of that forthcoming. click on links in the gear list for photos, as well as more info & details than most people could possibly find interesting.

jazz musicians, there were far too few of you in the Shop in 2010, let's resolve to change that in the new year. ask about our discounted live-to-2-track rates.

in the Shop family calendar, don't miss Faces on Film at Great Scott in Allston on December 11th, or the Tony the Bookie Orchestra at PA's Lounge in Somerville for the annual PA's Holiday Party on December 17th.

"O, Sinister Force"

the new LP from Mr. Sister, "O, Sinister Force," recorded & mixed at the Soul Shop, is now available.

from James Reed, in Friday's Boston Globe:

"The Soul Shop puts a premium on analog recording & production, and the warm, weathered sound suits [Amelia] Emmet's aesthetic. You can literally hear the starkness of the studio and how Emmet's voice bounces off the walls."

Amelia Emmet finds her voice as Mr. Sister

the CD release show is Sunday 9/26 at Great Scott in Allston. you can also find it here:

O, Sinister Force by Mr Sister - Download O, Sinister Force on iTunes

the Steinway

she's finally here.

1926 New York-made Steinway, the 5'7" model "M."

the darkest, thickest, most complex midrange of any piano I've ever played. the most beautiful speaking voice in a mid-sized piano that I've ever heard. my father found her in 1991 at a repair shop in Watertown, where she was recovering from what must have been nearly eighty years of sitting through New England summers & winters, with a ruined case and a cracked soundboard.

she was restrung, refinished, and somehow the soundboard held true. even then I could tell this piano was the one.

come make records with her. no extra charge - I'll even throw in the black keys for free.

the latest

too busy to update this ol' web thing. I suppose that's a good sign.

some new gear from dbx, EV, Hammond, and updates to our in-house PA. will soon be expanding the gear page to include photos & more info.

mixing has recently been completed on the new album from Boy Without God, entitled "God Bless the Hunger." look out for this one. fans of Mr. Birnbaum's previous efforts with an acoustic guitar and one microphone are going to be (intrigued? thrilled? engorged? outraged?) by his new masterwork, featuring Will Graefe & Danny Mekonnen (formerly of the excellent, unfortunately neglected Abraham Lincoln Brigade), a full horn section, strings, keyboards, an all-star cast of backup singers, and the best material Gabe's ever written. not to mention a thorough run-through of all the fifteen watt amps the Soul Shop has to offer.

the debut album from Mr. Sister, "O Sinister Force," has been mastered (by our friends at Soundmirror) and will be ready for public consumption soon. catch Amelia and the gentlemen this Thursday, July 8th, at Great Scott in Allston, with Hallelujah the Hills, St. Claire, and Sleepy Very Sleepy.

speaking of the latter, tracking is progressing nicely on the debut Sleepy record. this year we've been privileged to work on a number of great songwriter records, and this is going to be up there with the best of them. the Shop's Fender Rhodes is glad to have been able to contribute so heavily.

catch Hallelujah the Hills in July with Titus Andronicus across the Northeast, heading to the Pitchfork Fest on July 17th.

Shop featured in "The Making of the Monitor" film

our buddies in Titus Andronicus, flush with the success of their new album "The Monitor", are premiering their new behind-the-scenes, making-of-the-magic documentary through Pitchfork TV.

the Making of the Monitor

wait about twenty minutes to see a slightly hungover engineer talk about the Soul Shop's contributions to this sprawling masterpiece.

"The Monitor" is available now on LP, CD, and download, from XL Recordings.

we're still analog ... right?

the Shop is now truly 21st century (aside from the fact that there's
no WiFi in the control room - ON PURPOSE), as we're now updating you
thru Posterous with news and info. stay tuned!