A Superlative Session

Superlative Kick Drum
...very very different from super laxative.

Marty Stuart has a new satellite radio show on XM. It is an hour-long show called, "Marty Stuart's American Odyssey". Each show focuses on a different part of the country and will showcase the local sounds and influences during the program.

We were lucky enough to host Marty and his band, The Fabulous Superlatives, while they tracked some favorite standards to use in forthcoming broadcasts of the show.

Harry Stinson, the Superlative drummer, had previously produced sessions for Corb Lund here and it was great to see him and the rest of the band feeling the vibe.

New episodes of “Marty Stuart’s American Odyssey,” which airs Fridays at 8 a.m. ET on XM’s classic country channel “America” (XM 10), will also be available all day every Friday on “XMX” (XM 2), a recently launched channel that provides fans with XM’s most popular and critically-acclaimed original music shows all in one place.

Dogwood Days of Summer

Dogwood with Nathan Chapman and Scott Velazco
...in the control room at Vibe 56 Studio

I suppose it isn't summer anymore, but we were all "in heat" about Dogwood reuniting in our studio. Dogwood consists of Steve Chapman, Ron Elder, and Ken Fletcher. Steve's son, Nathan, has used the Vibe for a variety of projects including some Taylor Swift tracks recently.

Dogwood recorded their tracks "in-the-round" all together, acoustic guitars, bass, and vocals all at the same time. No other overdubs were applied, or even needed.

Here's a track that they graciously allowed me to upload for you here, it's called, 'After The Flood':



You can learn more about Dogwood on their MySpace page:
myspace.com/dogwoodreunion

Rugged Terrain

Lining It Up
...that is not a purse.

While out and about at the Nashville Flea Market last weekend, I came across the same exact rug that we've got in our control room. I almost didn't recognize it, being on a different plane and all.

I had my son take a photo of me in front of the vertical version of the rug. Instead of using the rule of thirds while taking the photo, he divided by 0.

[edited to add...]
That is SO not a purse, it's the little bag for my digital camera. No, I will not carry your car keys in it either.

Console Tape Dispenser Returns After Extended Tour

Console Tape Dispenser
...best described as a console tape dispenser.

I completely acknowledge the fact that this blog does not receive the updates that it should. This update will focus on the return of our console tape dispenser that went missing several months ago. The rights to this story are available, just contact me at cj@vibe56.com and we can work out the details and make this into the movie and/or mini-series it is destined for.

One of the first meaningful purchases I made as the new studio manager for Vibe 56 was this console tape dispenser. I made a joke at the time that the console tape dispenser signified our arrival of "real recording studio" stature. It wasn't that funny then, just as it is now, and you didn't even have to be there. This occurred in February 2006.

I noticed in the spring of this year that the console tape dispenser was missing. After keeping an eye out for it for a couple of weeks I finally broke down and focused a full, money-is-no-object, search of every last corner of the building for the console tape dispenser. The mystery only grew, while the case remained opened.

I came into the studio a few days ago and found the console tape dispenser just sitting in the middle of a table located in our kitchen/lounge. The sun was shining through the blinds on the window in such a way that the console tape dispenser appeared to glow. It was back home.

It turned out that the console tape dispenser had been returned to us by Drum Paradise. They had found it inside of a kick drum, presumably used to weigh the kick drum down in lieu of the more-typical sandbag, or even brick / large rock.

So we're back to being an officially sanctioned "real studio" as governed by the presence of our newly-returned console tape dispenser. It feels good to be whole again.