RECORDING May 2023 - 59

Inside the
Studio
with Mark Hornsby
THE STUDIOS
Founded in 1968 by musician
and entrepreneur Geordie Hormel
(from the Hormel meat packing
fortune), the building that would
become home to The Village was
previously a 20,000+ sft. Masonic
Temple. We
would
record
the
rhythm section in Studio D, the
famed Fleetwood Mac Tusk room.
For all of the electric guitar
tracks, we would head over
to Sunset Sound, Studio 3 in
Hollywood, on (you guessed it)
Sunset Blvd. Founded in 1958 by
Walt Disney's director of recording
Tutti Camarata, the walls in these
rooms have been privy to the music
of Mary Poppins to Van Halen,
The Doors to Janis Joplin, and Led
Zeppelin to Prince-to name a few.
Carl and I have recorded many
an album here. We love the guitar
sounds you can coax out of here
and the massive sound from the
custom consoles in Studio 1 and 3.
DRUMS AND BASS
There were two drummers and one bass
player on this record. Chad Wackerman
and John Mader held down the groove
while Dave Marotta filled in the gaps.
Chad and John played DW drums while
Dave brought in a handful of basses, including
various Music Man models and a
1970 Fender P Bass. The bass went direct
with a kiss of UREI LA-2A compression.
I went old school for the drums:
Sennheiser MD-421 dynamic mics
on the toms, Royer R121 ribbon mics
on the overheads, Shure SM57 mics
on the snare, and a Shure Beta 52
and Neumann Fet 47 on the kick. For
compression, while tracking, I used a
pair of dbx 160 VU compressors on the
snare top and the inside kick mic-one of
my favorite old-school compressors. For
a little bit of " new, " I also used a Sony
C800 tube mic as a center overhead to
reinforce the snare in the center channel
while the ribbons held down the cymbals
on the left and right.
56 RECORDING May 2023
John Mader,
Studio D, The Village Studios,
Los Angeles, CA
CHAMBER
One of the coolest things in Studio D at
The Village is the chamber attached to the
main tracking room. The drums were set up
right in front of the door, so I cracked it open
and set up an AKG C414 in omni mode
inside the chamber. The key here is how
much to open the door. If I opened it up all
the way, it would sound too chaotic, but just
cracking the door let just the right amount of
drum bleed in for a very nice effect.
We were fortunate enough to have
Alex Acuña and Euro Zambrano join the
rhythm section on percussion for the featured
instrumental song on the album.
KEYS
We had the lovely and talented Mr. Jim
Cox and Mr. Troy Dexter on keys. Again,
we went old school: Hammond B3, Yamaha
C7, Rhodes and Wurly-all the classics.
Small Neumann KM84 condensers on the
organ, direct on the electric pianos, AKG
C414 mics on the Yamaha.
THE GUITARS
After working on four albums together,
for his guitar sound, Carl and I continue
to be fond of a Telefunken M80 dynamic
mic paired with a Royer R-121. The M80
provides more clarity on the top end than
a typical SM57, and Carl loves some
" sparkle " on his guitar tone. Since Sunset
Sound Studio 3 is undoubtedly a room
known for great guitar tones, we set up a
stereo-spaced pair of vintage Neumann
U67 mics out in the room. That doesn't
mean I'll use them on every track of every
song, but it's nice to have the option,
especially for guitar solos.
Most of the solos were performed on
Carl's LsL CV maple neck Signature Strat,
Dave Marotta, Studio D, The
Village Studios, Los Angeles, CA
Carl Verheyen, Studio D, The
Village Studios, Los Angeles, CA
a 1961 or 1965 Fender Stratocaster, a
1966 Gibson SG, a 1968 ES-335 and on
one song, a Framus Mayfield. He used a
1960 Fender Telecaster custom for rhythm
guitar parts plus a '59 Gretsch 6120 Chet
Atkins. His 1968 Rickenbacker 12-string
always makes an appearance along with
his acoustics: a Martin D-28 Modern
Deluxe and a 1959 Martin D-18. He also
used a 1951 Gibson J-50. This record
also has one song with a new Alvarez
baritone acoustic. I tracked the acoustic
guitars with either a pair of KM84 mics
in stereo or an old Neumann U87 in
mono-doubled, all running through a
UREI 1176.
AMPS
For amps, we prefer to set up the heads
in the control room with a speaker wire
pass-through to select cabinets out in the
tracking room. That way, we can hear what
RECORDING May 2023

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