EQ Magazine - September 2007 - (Page 16)

FOR A RELATIVELY YOUNG band, Ozma has enjoyed a rollercoaster of a career. Over the course of a decade, the group has released three albums (mostly self-produced), swapped out a keyboardist, were handpicked by Rivers Cuomo to be Weezer’s opening act at the height of their resurgence in 2001, and then officially broke up in 2004, before reuniting with a new drummer in 2006. Their sound, a heavy mix of power pop and synth-rich new wave, caught the ears of indie and mainstream critics who praised their ability to be infectious and adventurous in a genre littered with Top 40 sound-alikes. During their two-year hiatus, guitarists Ryen Slegr and Jose Galvez formed the band Yes Dear, forging a close relationship with producer Billy Burke at his Loveless Motel studio just outside Pasadena, California. So when it came time for the reformed Ozma to hit the studio to record its latest release, Pasadena, Burke was more than happy to man the boards. Burke’s studio is haven for vintage gear, including a Wurlitzer 720a and an extremely rare solid-state Wurlitzer 206a, both previously owned by Daniel Lanois. His core recording setup is simple: a TASCAM DM-24 digital mixer and a PC running Sonar 6 Producer Edition DAW software. However, Burke also employs a Behringer BCR2000 USB/MIDI controller for simple, more tactile control of his TC Electronic PowerCore, Sony Oxford EQ, and Universal Audio UAD-1 Pultec-Pro EQ plug-ins, rather than having to use mouseclicks to tweak software settings. “My studio is more like a tape-based recording environment, he explains. “It’s ” not that one piece of software takes care of everything for me. I’ve tried to find software and hardware that do particular jobs really well — such as Sonar and the DM-24 — then get them all to integrate together very smoothly.” Due to a lengthy pre-production process with Pasadena co-producer Greg Doyle, Ozma had demos for close to 16 songs. More than just scratch sessions, these recordings were vital in creating the album’s cohesive sound, and some demo tracks actually made it on the album. On “Barriers, for example, a transcendent ” demo vocal was transferred to Sonar, and defined as a Groove Clip (an audio file that can be time and pitch-stretched), so it could be edited and used in the final mix. In the case of “I Wonder, Pasadena’s only ” acoustic track, the original demo take ended up on the record. “Why try to recreate an original idea that was good to begin with?” says Burke. In the studio, Slegr played his 1967 Epiphone Wilshire through either a 1979 Marshall JMP head or a Matchless DC-30. A vintage, alien-green Supro amp was used heavily on “Lunchbreak (Cobra’s Theme).” Galvez’s main rig was a sunburst ’63 Gibson ES-355 and a Fender Super Reverb. When the guitarists plugged into vintage amps without master volume controls — such as a Fender Deluxe and a Vox AC30 — Burke used THD Hot Plates to attenuate the output levels so Slegr and Galvez could crank up and achieve maximum crunch without splitting their eardrums. Ozma is the first to admit its affinity for classic new-wave pop, and the pairing of Slegr’s lead guitar with Star Wick’s keyboard lines recalls the magical dynamic between the Cars’ Elliot Easton and Greg Hawkes. They often trade call-andresponse solos (such as on “No One Needs To Know”), or work together to THE WIZARDS OF Peak into Billy Burke’s Loveless Motel Studio to See How the California Power-Poppers Tracked Their Latest Release, Pasadena 16 EQ SEPTEMBER 2007 www.eqmag.com http://www.eqmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EQ Magazine - September 2007

Contents Talk Box Sounding Board Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly Ben and Vesper Kaiser Chiefs Toolbox Ozma Porcupine Tree Rush The Software Power User Guide Guitar Trax Bass Management Key Issues Drumheads Vocal Cords Mix Bus Cheat Sheet Chameleon Labs TS1 and TS2 Primera Bravo Se Disc Publisher Roland MC-808 Magix Samplitude Professional 9.1 Massey Tape-Head Big Fish Audio Revolucion Reggaeton Sonivox World Beats Sony Pocket Diva Adobe Audition 2.0 Cakewalk Sonar 6 Room with a VU: J Street Recorders, Sacramento, CA

EQ Magazine - September 2007

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