dragonfly recording studio

6.3.10 Charm City Devils + updates

Man oh man, where did the spring go? Lots going on up here on the mountain! Couple of updates on projects:

Cinder Road is finished and wrapped up with a nice little bow on it for your rockin’ pleasure! They recently signed with Sony Japan and the album is getting prepped for release. Produced by Scott Stevens (the Exies), mixed by Anthony Focx (Aerosmith, Buckcherry) and engineered by myself and Scott.

Fools and Horses is in the mix stage with Adam Hawkins (Rilo Kiley, Switchfoot). Look for a release on 9/11/10. I’m really looking forward to this release as I think the band did an exceptional job! Until then, catch them on tour and at the upcoming WHFS Festival!

Under the Flood’s new single “Gravity” from “Alive in the Fire” is being added to stations across the country. Produced by Andy Waldeck (Daughtry) and Kevin Murphy (Josh Gracin, Tonic) drums were tracked here at Dragonfly and engineered by Scott.

Sematic just released “The Law of Three’s”. Alexis George is in the mix stage, as is Woodswork. Madrone has released “Daybreak” to radio and is currently in the studio wrapping up new songs.

In between a date with Bon Jovi and some dates in Virginia, Charm City Devils stopped by to cut drum tracks for a couple of new songs. The new songs sound fantastic!

I think that’s about all right now- more to come later!

Main tracking room at Dragonfly. 24’ ceilings at peak make for a monstrous, yet warm, sound!

3.24.10 Cinder Road

5 weeks ago we started the new Cinder Road record. Now it’s just about done. Final editing is being completed here in VA, additional “glitz and glitter” is being done in Los Angeles and mixing begins this week with Anthony Focx (Aerosmith, Buckcherry). The album sounds great and Mike wrote a great bunch of songs! It was also a pleasure to work with Scott Stevens (producer) on this record, even though I never got him to sing me “My Goddess” from his band the Exies. Next time.

Photos and video will be here soon. (a couple of the amps used below)

Control room at Dragonfly. Neve, API, Daking, Ampex, Universal Audio, Purple, Alan Smart, Digidesign, Gates, Empirical Labs, Urei, and much, much more.

1.27.10 Just about finished tracking the new “Fools and Horses” record. It’s been a great month of tracking with TONS of experimentation!

Speaking of great bands- I’ve been hearing “Best of the Worst” by Charm City Devils on the radio quite a bit lately. I’ve added the song to the player on the right side of the page- drums recorded here at Dragonfly. You may have seen them on tour with Motley Crue last year, or seen their JVC video. Regardless, check it out, call and request it at radio, and go see them live!

1.4.10 Fools and Horses “3 Chords”

Well here we are- back in the saddle again with Fools and Horses! It’s been a year and a half or so since being in the studio with the guys and it feels good to be back to make the follow-up to “I Am the Ghost”. We’re going to do things a little different this time- step back to a different age and really try and make a recording focused on performance and vibe. No beat detective, no vocal tuning, very few over dubs, and no pressure. This is a record for them and their fans. This will be an interesting record to make, both for them and for me. We’re so used to putting everything under the critical eye that it’ll take a little getting used to in what we accept, what we’re indifferent about, and what we’ll fight over. What I’m going to try and do here is write a little for the studio heads. What gear we’re using, process, audio examples and so on. I can’t wait to get started!

12.29.09 New Fools and Horses record starts January 2010

Ah, the start of a new year and the start of a new album with the lovely and talented Fools and Horses from Baltimore. I had a blast on the last record and am looking forward to being holed up with the guys for the month of January! Keep checking their website as I believe they are planning on running a studio cam (and chat?) for much of the session! I will also try to keep up with documenting and updating from the studio for those that are interested! Happy New Year!

Check out the above track “A Beautiful Place” from the “I Am The Ghost” record that we did in 2008. I really love the vibe of this track- the haunting EBO in the background, great combination’s of guitar tones and of course Matt’s vocals!

Shot of the control room at Dragonfly studios. Procontrol desk with Genelec and NS-10 monitoring.

4.03.09 Under the Flood back at Dragonfly

Tracking drums with Under the Flood at Dragonfly. Russell Lee (UTF, Deepfield) cutting drums. Kevin Murphy (Tonic) and Andy Waldeck (Earth to Andy, Chris Daughtry) producing. Scott Spelbring engineering. Monster set of Sonors (26” kick) provided by Kevin. Favorite snare of the session- Keplinger. Here’s another video from the sessions that the band posted »click«.

Digidesign Protools HD3
Apogee Big Ben
API Summing System (8200a + 8200 units)
Digidesign Procontrol 32 Channels
Genelec 1031A
Yamaha NS-10M
Auratones
37” LCD Screen

Preamps/EQ’s
Neve 1066 (x4), Neve 1073 (x2), Wunder Audio PEQ1 (Neve 1073) (x2), API 512c (x8), API 550B EQ (x2), Manley Massive Passive, Daking 52270 (x4), Universal Audio 2610 (x4), Vintech x81, Avalon U5, Ampex 350 circa 1955 with Analog Domain Mods (x3)

Compressors
Universal Audio 1176 (x2), Empirical Labs Distressor w/mods (x2), Gates SA39-B, Alan Smart C2, Tube Tech LCA 2B, DBX 160VU (x2), DBX 160A (x2), Urei LA-4 (x2), CBS Volumax III (STEREO), Purple Audio MC76 (x2)

Outboard + Other
Pultec HLF-3c, Eventide DSP 7000, TC D-Two Delay, Line 6 Mod Pro, Line 6 Filter Pro, Little Labs PCP Distro, Apogee PSX-100, Toneworks DTR-1, Sans Amp Rack, Roland SDE-330, Oxygen 8, Furman HR-16 Monitor System, Echo Plate II Plate Reverb, HHB CD Burner, Tascam DA-45 Dat

Guitars + Other
Budda Superdrive II 45, Vox AC-30, Fender Twin Reverb II, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier (pre-500 serial), Fender Blues JR (NOS Tweed), Badcat Black Cat (Reverb), Marshall TSL-100, Budda 2X12 (Open Back), vintage Marshall 4X12, Mesa 4X12, 1964 Gibson Falcon, Gibson Les Paul Standard, Gibson Les Paul Standard Baritone, Noisy Cricket Amp, Taylor 314 Acoustic, Big Muff, Menatone King of the Britains, Line 6 Filter Modeler, Crybaby Wah, Lil Smoky, Boss Super Chorus, Ibanez Super Metal, Electric Mistress, Ibanez Bass, Roland RE-201 Space Echo, Option 5 Destination Rotation, Banshee Talkbox, Electro Harmonix Black Finger, St James P-90 Phase, Hammond M-3 Organ

Microphones
Neumann M-149, Neumann KM-184 (matched pair), Schoeps CMC6 MK4 capsules (matched pair), Sennheiser 421 (5), AKG 414 (2), Blue Kiwi, Blue Mouse, Shure SM7, Shure SM-57 (5), Royer 121 (2), RE-20, D112, Yamaha Kick Sub, assorted others

Plug-Ins
Waves Platinum, Waves SSL, Melodyne, Autotune 4, Access Virus, Echo Boy Soundtoys, Chandler EMI TG12413, Eventide MP5 + H949, Fairchild 660/670, Filterbank Massive Pack 3, Focusrite D2/D3, Beat Detective, Avox Choir, Avox Punch, Bomb Factory, Bruno/Reso, Hybrid, Impact, Joemeek SC2 + VC5, Line 6 Echo Farm and Amp Farm, Maxim, McDSP MC2000 MP, MDW HiRes EQ v1 + v2, all Moogerfoogers, Sony Oxford R3, Princeton Plate Verb, pulteq EQH-2 + EQP-1A + MEQ-5, Purple Audio MC77, Reverb One, Revibe, Sans Amp, Slightly Rude, Smack, Soundblender, Soundreplacer, Soundtoys MP5, Speed, SST-282, Synchronic, TC Master X, Telray Delay, TL Space, URS MPack 5 Strip, Voce Spin/Chorus/Vibrato,

*work in progress

Dave Matthews Band (Live in Chicago) *certified platinum Producer: John Alagia Engineer: Jeff Juliano
Dave Matthews Band (Live at Folsom Field) *certified platinum Producer: John Alagia Engineer: Jeff Juliano
Jason Mraz (Waiting for my Rocket) *certified platinum Producer: John Alagia Engineer: Jeff Juliano
O.A.R. (Anytime Now)*certified gold Producer: John Alagia Engineer: Jeff Juliano
Cinder Road (Superhuman)
Sinch (Clearing The Channel)
SR-71 (Here We Go Again)
SR-71 (Axl Rose EP)
Jason Mraz (Halfway Home “unreleased”)

33 West (So Far Off To A Bad Start)
33 West (Grey and Burgundy)
Andy Zipf (Are We Going Down)
Bicycle Thieves (Second Place Confession)
Brindley Brothers (Filled with Fire)
City Riots (Signs)
Down to This (Funeral)
Evenout (Drown Inside)
Evenout (Red EP)
Everyone But Pete (Carry On)
Everyone But Pete (EBP)
Field Of Grey (Warning)
Fighting Gravity (Blue Sky and Black)
Getaway Car (All Your Little Pieces)
Jonasay (Spare Dimes)
Jubeus (Two Tone Circles)
Juniper Lane (Sirens)
Lionize (Mummies)
Madrone (Cause and Compromise)
Niki Barr (Lush)
Niki Barr (Go)
Numa
No Second Troy
Plunge (Hometown Hero)
Plunge (Limited Edition EP)
Rude Buddha (Fighter)
Rory Lowe Band (So Far So Near)
Saturn Down (Surviving the Crash)
Sickshot ({1})
Stepanian (For Lack of Better Words)
The Redfelts
The Speaks (High)
Torn (Reincarnate)
Waking State (Awake Asleep)
Welbilt (Due To The Current State of Things)