Two Sticks Audio

March 11, 2010

My staff tells me i’m supposed to let you know this stuff when it actually happens, so i apologize for the late update! There’s an app you can get for your iphone called InstantDrummer: Heartbreaker that features some my playing here at Two Sticks. the content is similar to what you’d find in the Reason Refill released a while back. The App is a basic backbeat with variations in the pattern, it’s tonality and ambience. Try it out instead of a metronome next time you sit down with a guitar or at the piano. This past January, the Grammy’s gave DCFC a nod for Best Alternative album once again, which was very odd and unexpected considering it was for an EP and not a full length album. The Open Door EP was recorded here as part of the Narrow Stairs session in 2007 and 2008. Though the songs didn’t make the record, we still wanted the world to know there was something else from that chapter of music, hence the idea for an EP. Lastly, I’ve always been a fan of destination recording. As I write this entry from Pulse Recording Studio in Silverlake (LA actually), I’m reminded that there’s a lot of great rooms out there and It’s inspiring to learn what a new studio will do for your playing and writing process. Every place has a spirit you can feel the minute you walk in the door. JM

February 25, 2010 —

Pictured here is Eric of the Lonely Forest with Chris Walla.

The Lonely Forest spent 4 days here in January recording an EP that will be the inaugural release on Walla’s new label TRANS. Get the full scoop in this week’s Stranger.

I heard some fantastically heavy sounds that week…. Or perhaps hairy/fuzzy would be more accurate. The word "PINKERTON" was spoken at least once. So cool to hear the same drum room presented in a bunch of different ways depending on the band and engineer.

JJL

February 16, 2010 — 0 to 60

In the past week, I’ve watched two records being tracked here from start to near-finish. Not earth shattering maybe – this is a studio after all – but there’s something particularly efficient about tracking here. It’s part technical…we’ve got tons of pre-amps on hand, good isolation options, plus loud, clean, individualized headphone mixes. But there’s also something about the size of Two Sticks that seems to get bands into that “all hands on deck” mode.

20 Riverside have been here the past three days knocking out a sweet jazz/funk album with Don Gunn. They’re working each song from start to finish and totally killing it. Everyone seems to be proficient in no less than 3 instruments a piece. They’ve also made good use of our Leslie, which is totally underrated and underutilized!

To the right is Joel and Garrett of Bear Cove, who spent 4 days with us last week.

JJL

February , 2010 — Campesinos LP is here!

Here at Two Sticks we occasionally get foreign visitors. This past May Los Campesinos! from Cardiff, Wales spent nearly a month here with producer John Goodmanson making a record called “Romance Is Boring.” That record is out as of this week, and that slightly-disturbing image to the right is the album cover.

This past month Goodmanson brought us a rad duo from London called We Rock Like Girls Don’t. True to their name, the sounds were pummeling. Properly in the spirit of the Breeders and Sleater-Kinney. Goodmanson is truly the distortion pedal tsar!

Sitting in front of me at this instant is Seattle-producer Cameron Nicklaus who is here producing an LP with Bellingham’s Bear Cove. Our Bellingham roots continue to bring us an onslaught of bands from the City of Subdued Excitement.

JJL

January 13, 2010 — 2010

Hello blog, it’s been too long. Rather than play catch-up, I will just report that 2010 is off to a busy start up here!

To the right is Bellingham’s Vantage, who are tracking and mixing their debut LP here this month.

Next time...gear updates.
JJL

September 16, 2009 — Dead-On ’67

Jason just brought this beauty through the door. It’s Danelectro’s re-issue of the classic Hornet guitar, circa 1967. The tremelo is essential.

It joins our Squire Duo-Sonic in the cheap-but-rad category. Both guitars are well set-up and ready for action! I’ll buy a Krispy Kreme donut for the first person to bust out The Sonics “Witch” on the Dano.

JJL

September 16, 2009 — Summer Post-Mortem

It’s been rather quiet on the blog front for no good reason! Now that Fall is looking inevitable, let me give you a taste of our summer. June was spent with incomparable Tegan & Sara, under the direction of producer team Walla and Redekopp. The new album “Sainthood” is out October 27th. I should mention that it features our Jason McGerr on drums and it sounds nothing short of classic! (Photo of TQ by Lindsey Byrnes.)

In addition to touring the globe with his band Telekinesis, Mr. Michael Lerner mixed a record for Seattle’s Transient Songs in the summer months and engineered for young guns, Kids and Animals.

Mr. Don Gunn has been here working with Shaded Enmity, Drummer Dave Hooper and Ockham’s Razor among others!

And for yours truly, I completed mixes for BOAT’s new album “Setting the Paces” over the course of two marathon days in early July. I also mixed records for two new Seattle bands Jauhar and Society Nurse and tracked with Bellingham’s answer to the Replacements, So Adult.

And finally, in the past two weeks we’ve a bunch of the Origin Records jazz crew through the doors, including drummers John Bishop and Matt Jorgenson. JJL

July 15, 2009 — SUMMER @ TWO STICKS AUDIO

Hello!

Check out this new garden area in the back of the studio, perfect for taking a break for lunch or dinner. It’s really quite lovely!

Hooray!

Michael Benjamin Lerner

July 14, 2009 — SHADED ENMITY SHREDS!

Hello! Michael Benjamin Lerner here.

In the studio today are a totally rad metal band from Edmonds, WA called Shaded Enmity. Currently, they are shredding my face off with their killer riffs, and crazy gravity snare drum blasts. It’s insanity! (www.myspace.com/shadedenmity)

TSA all star Don Gunn is at the helm, and he’s nailing it as well. The sounds are great!

Look at this drum kit! Crazy!

Okay, back to the hot rock.

June , 2009 — An heroic visit!

I had the incredible fortune of recording a lifelong musical hero at Two Sticks last week - Robert Fripp!! Last year, I recorded and mixed The Humans’ record that features Robert’s wife, Toyah Willcox, Bill Rieflin and Chris Wong and they are putting out a single to help promote the release and wanted to feature Robert’s guitar work in a way he’s not generally presented in his other projects.

He was fortuitously in town for a Guitar Craft summit and Bill and I grabbed him for a few hours to do his thing! We got five different parts from him in such a short time - it was a blur in the studio. All useful stuff and will be a big part of the single!

dkg

April 12, 2009 — Bears, oh my!

I had the good fortune of recording Seattle band, Benjamin Bear, last week for their upcoming release. They are a piano/drums duo with a very unique sound and a bevy of killer tunes. Mike Squires of Duff McKagan’s Loaded was on-hand to produce and play some bass, too.

Look out for this one!

dkg

March 27, 2009 — MARCH MADNESS

We’ve had an exciting month around the studio. British Columbia’s Hayley Sales just spent time with us cutting drum tracks with her Seattle drummer T. Tacket Brown and the rest of her outstanding band. Great summertime jams!

Don spent an evening with LA drummer extraordinaire Dave Hooper, who recorded on our Yamaha Maple Custom kit. Speaking of Mr. Gunn, several projects he tracked at TSA have been released this month -- including Ian McFeron’s latest LP “Love Me Blue” and Dan Connolly’s “ Running Underwater.”

On my end, I had two great marathon sessions – one with Bellingham’s Brownes Condition and the other with my vessel, BOAT. Gear wise, I’m loving the Ludwig Legacy Classic kit and the new ACME amps. Both have been seeing a lot of playing time on a variety of different sessions.

Stay tuned! JL

March , 2009 — NASA

LA’s Squeak E. Clean dropped by Two Sticks with his NASA crew last night to power out a 5-minute mix tape for BBC1. Squeak’s a producer extraordinaire. He’ll do anything from re-mix Kylie Minogue or Iggy Pop to score for Spike Jonze to produce the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s. Right now NASA’s out on a endless transatlantic tour. It was amazing to see these dudes do their thing on our turf!

March , 2009 — Peninsula Pride

Here’s Israfel! These boys hail from the Kitsap Peninsula and are the first Four Square playin’ rock band I’ve met in a while. Our three days with Israfel were a good reminder of how much can get done when a band plays well together and has their songs down cold. These guys cranked out a bulk of their LP in just three days with Don Gunn at the helm. It’s hard to imagine there was any time left for Xbox or Four Square… -JL

February 12, 2009 — JESSE QUITSLAND IS A GENIUS

Jesse Quitsland does not mess around. He’s the kind of fellow that just wreaks cool, and the minute you meet him you automatically want to be best friends. The same thing goes for the amazing amplifiers that he builds in his hometown of Tacoma, Washington.

We’ve been using his ’acme’ silvertone here at Two Sticks for a while, and it’s an absolutely incredible super clean amplifier. That, coupled with the DR. Z cabinet that we recently acquired here at Two Sticks, make for a seriously sweet pairing. If you’re looking for super clean, warm tone, then this is your ticket.

But Jesse doesn’t stop here with the good stuff. I recently came to work and noticed two new Quitsland creations. After a very quick test run, I can honestly say with my whole heart that these are some of the coolest amplifiers I’ve ever heard (on top of being the coolest I’ve ever seen).

I think they are supposed to be modeled after the Orange "tiny terror" amplifiers. I’m not a nerdy guitar player, so I’m not really certain on the actual specifics of this amp, but you won’t care about them once you hear it. It’s amazing. The Lulu has two knobs on the front, a ’volume’ knob and a ’feedback’ knob. I turned the feedback all the way up, and it was one of the cleanest, most lovely, no fuss distorted guitar tones. It’s really something else. There’s even ’hot’ and ’cold’ switches, which I’m guessing have something to do with the tubes and transistors inside. They change the tone in quite a drastic way, and it’s a really neat little feature.

These amps are pretty special little buggers, and I’d highly recommend checking them out! And I’ve heard rumours of him beginning to take orders for the general public for these little lovlies. Stay tuned!

Score three for Jesse Quitsland! Hooray!

LOVE,

Michael Benjamin Lerner

January 28, 2009 — Strings and Stuff

I actually used my own studio the other day for the first time since the recording of Death Cab’s Narrow Stairs. Because I’ve been on tour so much, it’s a rarity these days, but some time opened up and I snagged it. Nice to be here though and work with Michael Lerner, remembering that it’s good people who help to make good music. Both he and Jackson Long are 2 of the best guys one could hope to find at any studio.

Tonight Don Gunn and I are recording some strings for a couple Smoosh songs with Phil Peterson and Victoria Parker who are sounding truly amazing. Can’t wait for the world to hear their next record.

- JM

January 22, 2009 — TMTS, Ek, 4038

Seattle indie heavyweights, Throw Me The Statue, just spent a long weekend with us recording drums and basics for their new LP on 2” tape with producer Phil Ek. We had a blast pulling tons of drum kits from the shelf and making a mess. Jared (of TMTS) finally settled on this Frankenstein-kit for a bunch of the tracking. Pictured with the drums is one of our new Coles 4038 ribbon mics!

The original 4038 was designed for the BBC and used by The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and a host of others no doubt. This new stereo pair are only two serial numbers apart and will no doubt be instant favorites at TSA for mono overheads, room mics or whatever!

January 12, 2009 — Some New Gear!

So we got some new stuff. That happens sometimes you know? We have plenty of outboard mic pres, but a couple more can’t hurt right? especially if they’re good. We’ve added two Chandler TG Channels that offer both a pre and EQ on each channel......... and they sounds amazing! It’s that EMI / Abbey Road thing that Chandler does so well.

While recently on tour, I stopped by Chicago Music in Tuscon, AZ which is a regular gear watering hole for touring musicians. The place is 3 floors of dusty gear you’ve gotta sift through with a mask and gloves, but be patient and you can find an occasional gem. Like the 1940 Slingerland Radioking I walked out with, that was signed by a drummer out of NYC who played with Dizzy Gillespie in the 1950’s. No joke! This is the drum pictured here in the lounge.

We’ve also finally updated our kitchen and the bathroom that was so desperately needed, so you won’t feel like you’re in shop class anymore. Photos will be up very soon. - JM

December 29, 2008 — Welcome to the new site!

If this is your first visit to the Two Sticks Audio site, then we’re glad you could see what it is we offer and hope you find the place enticing enough to consider for your next record. Whether you’ve visited the site in the past, or have been to the studio, please take a gander at the new features we’ve added to help our clients understand how truly unique this studio is.

Our Gear page is now loaded with lots of pictures and descriptions that will allow a band who’s booked time to select and advance equipment before they walk in the door. It’s meant to be a time saver more than anything, but also a reminder of all the equipment that’s included in the day rate, especially in the drum room. There’s little bits of history and information too, in case you don’t know what you’re looking at or why it’s special.

3-D Room Layout’s are also new and attached to the room photos as PDF’s if you’d like to get a better idea of the size of the room you’re looking at. Acoustic treatments are not draw in but you should be able to get a good idea from the pics themselves.

Another thing we’ve added on our Story Page, is some information about the staff. Having experienced people around, as engineers, musicians or project managers is really one the most important factors in any studio environment. Please take the time read about the team and be assured we’ll all make you feel comfy.

All in all, we wanted to welcome you again to Two Sticks Audio and remind you to check back every now and then to see what’s new or who’s been recording. And best of luck in 2009!

- Jason McGerr / Owner