December already?

Wow. It's already December! Where does all the time go? Gotta do some catching up here on the blog!!!

October and November were full of activity here at Saint Claire. Anti-Flag's crew kept us occupied for about three weeks for the mix of their forthcoming album. The mixes on those tracks were fantastic to witness. We're all eager to see the final product when it gets released in '08 (supposedly around the Feb./Mar. timeframe). In the meanwhile, a truckload of photos from the making of the album are now up for viewing in a set on our Flickr account. Also, don't miss their appearance in the January '08 edition of Alternative Press Magazine (pg. 122).

Shortly after the Anti-Flag guys vacated the building, Shake Anderson's session resumed tracking for an additional week. Week two was every bit as incredible as the first round. Zach McNees flew down from NYC to play the part of engineer again. The session went fantastically and near the end, Shake treated us all to an overwhelming meal of home-cooked soul food. That man can cook! And he's not a bad musician, either. All of the tracking for Shake's album is now complete and they're presently anticipating coming back to St. Claire to mix in early '08. There are lots of photos that have been added to the Shake photo set on Flickr as well.

After Shake and company left us, we had a couple of days to put things back in order before a british rock band called Saint Jude took over the studio. Dave Hadlin, a local producer, has teamed up with the London-based Chris Kimsey (read: Rolling Stones, Peter Frampton, Duran Duran, INXS, etc, etc.) and they chose to come over here to record Saint Jude's album. We, of course, were honored to have them; there is some serious talent in that band and, with Chris driving the boat, it was truly wonderful to be a part of. Such great music and genuinely delightful people to be around... We were sad to see them go when the session was over. Photos of that session are still on the way. Keep an eye out for them.

That's all for now! More activity is scheduled to start here very soon, so stay tuned!

September Session

Saint Claire was blessed with a fantastic session in September. Shake Anderson (who we've known for quite some time, but simply haven't had a chance to work with until now) brought his solo project to us. He's a very talented guy with lots of talented friends. He and a whole crew of his pals came in to record some fantastic music here. Zach McNees came down from Brooklyn to take on the engineering duties. Shake played bass and produced the arrangements, J.D. Blair played drums, Darrell Tibbs was on percussion, Tim Krekel and Mark Hamilton handled guitar, Thomas Cain came up from Nashville to play piano, and a whole handful of other talented individuals came in at different times to add to the mix. Watching that team of top-notch musicians knock out entire passes in one or two takes was simply amazing.

Mixing will happen on round two of this session (which will be very soon). For now, though, enjoy the pics from what's happened so far!



~rosco.

Small Update...

Well, Chiodos have come and gone and we had a great session. Now, they're out on the road and Casey Bates has returned to Seattle to mix. More big things are brewing in the not-too-distant horizon for Saint Claire and we're very excited about some changes going on here at the studio... more about that will come in subsequent posts, though.

For now, I just wanted to post something geeky. Our vintage LA3A's were sent out to master tech/magician Dave Hecht to have them gone through and modded with the classic "Evans Mod" (sometimes called the Clearmountain Mod...). They're back in the rack and clean as a whistle now. Love that.

Thanks, Dave.

FIELD DAY!

MTV2 held a contest for two lucky fans to win a day at the studio with Chiodos. An executive decision called for a day off from recording and turned the day into a celebration. Everybody had a great time. The winners were flown out to Lexington and driven out to meet the band. We all chilled outside and enjoyed the beautiful summer weather. A fantastic lunch was catered by Tony Roma's and everyone enjoyed a few rounds of basketball, then we all headed in to give a quick tour of the studio. After the tour, everyone headed to the control room where the two lucky contestants got the privilege of being the first to hear the new album in its still somewhat formative stages. Needless to say, they weren't disappointed.

Everyone had a great time; great food, games, slip-n-slide, and just chillin' out behind the studio. It was a perfect day to be outside, enjoying the open air. Later that evening (one and a half kegs later...), we broke out the fireworks and shot some impromptu portraits as well. For photographic evidence of the fantastic day, click the photo in this post to head to our flickr.com account.

Quick Chiodos Update

Nick Martin, vocalist for Underminded, flew in to do some guest vocals on a couple of tracks. Everyone was stoked to have him here and he really nailed the takes. Really cool guy. He was nice enough to let me snap a couple shots of him in the booth...

Now we're off to the airport to send him home. Safe travels, man. Thanks for coming down.

Chiodos Conquer the Claire

Rosco here with more news about what's happening at Saint Claire....

We've been invaded.


The Michigan based hardcore band Chiodos
has taken over the building. They're here for a little over a month, tracking new songs for their upcoming release. There is quite a bit of buzz around this band lately and the excitement is infectious. We've already been tracking for a couple of weeks now and so far, the stuff these guys are pumping out is fantastic. (click on the photo for more shots of the session)

Engineer/producer Casey Bates has traveled down all the way from Seattle to spearhead the session and our very own Tim is handling the assisting duties. This session is exactly what our facility was designed for. Pretty much every square inch of our building is being used. It's nice to see such a crowd of people here for such an extended stay, even if it does mean an awful lot of laundry and dishes!

MTV2 has taken a strong interest in these guys, as well as AP Magazine. MTV even held a contest for one lucky fan to come spend a day with the band while they record. They're also sponsoring a "field day" here at the studio towards the end of the session and everyone is anticipating a killer party. Shortly after the session ends, the band heads out on the road as one of the top acts of the Warped Tour. We're really excited for them and glad that they chose to come here to record their new album.

Speaking of which, the new album (titled Bone Palace Ballet) is due to hit on September 4th. Be sure and check their MySpace page and the Chiodos.net website for more info. Also, it bears mentioning that Chiodos are on the cover of Substream magazine this month. Look for it.

Christmas at The Claire!

Big box,
originally uploaded by saintclaire.

Just recently, a big box of new toys showed up here at St. Claire. We're very excited about our new additions to the already massive collection of gear. Zach McNees was down here when everything showed up, so he helped us open all the presents.

Among the things we received are a pair of e609 mics, a new Bryston 4BSST power amp, a new case for floating rack-gear, a new Korg rack mount tuner, some 10db pads for our Schoeps mics, a Countryman DI, a Yamaha SubKick, a SM7, a PCM42, a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier and a Marshall 4x12 cab to go with it. We also upgraded our ProTools rig to 7.3 and added a faster hard drive to the ol' G5. LOTS of nice upgrades to an already stellar collection!

Some fun photos from the deliver are HERE.

Mmmmhmm!

First post

Saint Claire Recording Company studio news lives here!