EQ Magazine - June 2008 - (Page 20)

THE PANIC IS ON Panic At The Disco tracking live at Studio At The Palms in Las Vegas, NV. (Vanessa Williams, Carly Simon). The pairing was a bit unlikely—one that would leave many wondering what the common ground was that attracted these two musical forces. “An opportunity to record a cover with the band came up for the re-release of Danny Elfman’s The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack,” explains Mathes. “Ryan and Brendon [Urie, guitarist] had done a work-up of the song ‘This Is Halloween,’ with guitar and vocals, and my manager had suggested to Ryan that he work with me, as I could orchestrate the song straight down the Elfman route. I got the demo, and I was delighted. They’d totally gone for it—recording all kinds of crazy vocal parts. Ryan and I traded emails, and I told him I was just going to go nuts on it, and write a full orchestral score to match their tracks.” Mathes met Ross for the first time in the studio during the “This Is Halloween” orchestral tracking sessions. “I had scored these strange licks for contra bassoon and bass clarinet—the kind of parts most pop bands would kind of dismiss, and instead ask me to bring up the guitars in that section,” says Mathes. “But Ryan was like, ‘Let’s take the guitars out of there, and bring the woodwinds up.’ He was really into it.” At that point, Panic had already begun working on songs for its second album. Being so totally enchanted with Elfman’s soundtracks, Ross and the rest of the band had originally wanted Elfman himself to produce the record. But, at the beginning of last year, Mathes got another call from his manager, asking if he’d like to produce the band’s next release. “At that point, I’d started doing some more producing—trying to branch out a bit,” says Mathes. “But this is a business of typecasting. If you have a Vanessa Williams credit, it’s almost impossible that you’ll get to produce a Panic At The Disco record. It’s like the motion-picture industry. ‘Rob Mathes? He has done David Sanborn and Michael McDonald. He’s the last person we want.’ So, of course, I said yes.” Panic first demoed the Pretty. Odd songs at the band’s home studio in Las Vegas. “We have a pretty basic demo-recording setup in Spencer’s [Smith, drums] house,” Ross says. “We have a few mics, and we use Apple GarageBand and Pro Tools LE. Our demos never sound that good, but we like the process of recording ourselves.” As the main songwriter for A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, Ross says that he collaborated much more with his bandmates on the songs for Pretty. Odd. “Jon and I wrote a lot together on guitar,” he explains, “and we both did a lot of writing on our own, as well. Brendon has a couple songs on the album, too. This time around, we were all really involved.” Functioning as producer, guitarist, keyboardist, and arranger on Pretty. Odd, Mathes dug in deep with Panic to mold their rough songs into elaborate orchestral numbers. “Rob was a total fountain of knowledge for us,” says Ross. “Anything we wanted to know, he either already knew, or he could help us figure it out. He has gotten me closer to the music in my head than anyone else. He’s the first person I’ve met who truly understands the music we’re trying to make.” “Conceptually, they wanted someone who could make their music into an event,” adds Mathes. “They wanted to say, ‘Welcome to the sound of Pretty. Odd. They wanted the record to be this festival of vibes. People will hear references to Sgt. Pepper and Brian Wilson’s Smile—in that the music is so peculiar in this beautiful way—but it’s still so Panic At The Disco.” Working closest with Ross throughout the entire production, Mathes says he was enthralled with the young artist’s tastes. “When Ryan goes home at night, he’s 20 EQ JUNE 2008 www.eqmag.com http://www.eqmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EQ Magazine - June 2008

EQ Magazine - June 2008 Contents Talk Box Sounding Board 3 Doors Down, Hard-Fi, Paul Manousos Tool Box Panic at the Disco Guitar Trax Bass Management Key Issues Drum Heads Vocal Cords Mix Bus Cheat Sheet Cakewalk Projects Apple Loops Utility SSL Duende Mini JBL LSR4326/PAK & LSR4312SP Holophone H3-D Creation Audio Labs MW1 Studio Tool Amp Modeler Roundup Eventide Timefactor, Electro-Harmonix Stereo Pedals, Korg Pandora PX5D Room with a Vu: Blues Tunes Studios, Silverlake, CA

EQ Magazine - June 2008

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