ProAudio Review - July 2008 - (Page 66)

Single Slice by Strother Bullins “Fallout Shelter” | Roger Powell SINGLE: “Fallout Shelter” ALBUM: Fossil Poets (Inner Knot) DATES: Recorded and mixed by Gary Tanin in 2006 at GT Labs in Milwaukee, WI PRODUCER: Gary Tanin and Roger Powell ENGINEER: Gary Tanin MIXER: Gary Tanin MASTERING ENGINEER: Gary Tanin OTHER PROJECTS: Tanin worked with artists such as the Bodeans, Jerry Harrison, Daryl Stuermer, Victor DeLorenzo, XPensive Dogs, and Monovox. STUDIO MONITORS: Yamaha NS10 and JBL SB-1 subwoofer (via 200Hz crossover) with a Sony STR-AV770 amplifier, Auratone Sound Cubes VINYL LISTENING ROOM: Pioneer SX-828 amplifier, Micro Seiki DD-40 turntable, Audio-Technica cartridge, Klipsch Heresy and Acoustic Research AR4X monitors, TEAC PD-165 CD Player (for pre-master listening) STUDIO WORKSTATION/CONTROLLERS: Digidesign Pro Tools|HD running on a Mac G5 with the Digi 002 Rack SELECT PRE-AMPS: Digi 002, PreSonus BlueTube SELECT MICROPHONE: Shure SM57 SELECT MIX PLUG-INS: Tel-Ray Variable Delay (Moog), WAVES Enigma (guitar) SELECT MASTERING PLUG-INS: (24-bit Vinyl and 16-bit CD versions) WAVES MaxxBass, WAVES L2 Lin multiband compressor, WAVES L2 Linear EQ, WAVES L2 Ultra Maximizer; PoWr Dither Type 1 (16-bit version only) PRODUCER’S DIARY Strother Bullins is a music and pro audio industry writer based in North Carolina. Roger Powell — primarily recognized as the keyboardist for Utopia, a prog-rock band led by Todd Rundgren from the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s — can once again be heard in all his creative glory on Fossil Poets, a synth-based, self-described “retro-future” progressive album produced with engineer/musician Gary Tanin. Also an inventor, Powell — a protégé of the legendary Bob Moog — created the ‘Powell Probe,’ the first remote handheld polyphonic synthesizer controller back in the day. So, as you can imagine, the minds behind Fossil Poets have much to offer in the way of fluid textures, trippy beats, and otherworldly soundscapes. ‘Fallout Shelter’ is the album’s schizophrenic guitar-heavy selection featuring the deft guitar stylings of Greg Koch. “Greg’s hands, guitar, and rig was the tone,” explains Tanin of Koch’s Fender Stratocaster tracks. “I used a SM57 on his Fender Custom Vibrolux amp and recorded his Fender Cyber Twin amp direct through a [PreSonus] BlueTube pre-amplifier.” Meanwhile, Powell laid down his tracks with a MOTM Modular (custom built) synthesizer, Roger Powell with Gary Tanin at GT Labs Moog Voyager (for lead lines), and the Korg Electribes Production Station. For the most part, the sounds and effects of the performed tracks comprised the final mix, although Tanin notes that the Tel-Ray Variable Delay and WAVES Enigma phaser/flanger were used on Moog and guitar, respectively; the Enigma “mangled the guitar track as chorus end with a bit of medium delay,” offers Tanin. Tanin also mastered the project, doing a discrete session per format, CD and Vinyl. Most notably, the WAVES L2 Lin multiband compressor was used to add “a few dB at high-mids and at the low end, leaving low-mids untouched.” Further, the L2 Ultra Maximizer was used at a light -3.0 threshold — “basically no limiting, just leveling,” offers Tanin. In today’s online music marketplace, it could be argued that any song available via iTunes — like ‘Fallout Shelter’ — can be considered, by definition, a single. Thus, the music of Fossil Poets offers the best of both format extremes: the immediacy and convenience of a downloadable single, and the glorious analog listening experience of the LP (on limited edition blue vinyl, no less). 66 | ProAudio Review | July 2008 www.proaudioreview.com http://www.proaudioreview.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ProAudio Review - July 2008

ProAudio Review - July 2008 Contents Publisher's Page: Inside Broadcast Production Studio News and New Products Steinberg Nuendo 4 Digital Audio Workstation Developments & Trends: Digital Audio Workstation I/O JZ Microphones Black Hole BH-1 Apple Logic Studio Behind The Scenes: JBL Professional – A 60-Year Legacy Broadcast News and New Products WLOY: Real World Facilities For An On-Campus Radio Station Post News and New Products Hot Gear InfoComm 08 Chandler Limited TG1 Abbey Road/EMI Series Limiter/Compressor Live News and New Products Cerwin-Vega! Professional Active Series CVA-28 and CVA-118 Speakers QSC Audio Model GX5 Power Amplifier From The Road: A Week In The Life — Gear Essentials Contracting News and New Products Taming The Driving Factor — Drums UpSampler: sE Instrument Reflection Filter Buyer’s Guide: Live Sound Amplifiers Single Slice: Roger Powell “Fallout Shelter”

ProAudio Review - July 2008

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