Music
On Meeting the Pet Shop Boys
Meeting a favorite artist or band can be a religious experience. One is given that rare chance to grab an autograph, a picture with their idols, a chance to tell that artist how much their music has meant to them, or just the opportunity to smile/wave/gawk at them. When my long-time favorites Pet Shop Boys announced their Fall “Pandemonium” tour with a chance to purchase a “VIP Meet and Greet” package, I jumped at the opportunity. … read more
Thursday @ Club Sound
Arriving at In The Venue, I found the entrance locked and the distinct vocals of La Dispute’s Jordan Dreyer blaring from the doors of Club Sound to the north. Walking through the sparsely filled venue, I looked over at the tiny (and I really mean tiny) stage in bewilderment. “Is this the stage Thursday’s playing on?” I asked the kid next to me. Oooh yeeeah. … read more
Sea Wolf @ Club Sound
The sweet, low voice of a man in a flannel shirt, the rain against the window flows with the strum of guitar, and you, lucky you, are sitting in the warmth of a small soul-warming fire enjoying this all to yourself. Mmm, if only this could be the layout of a Sea Wolf show. … read more
National CD Reviews – October 2009
Reviews of national music, including new releases from The Black Dahlia Murder, Converge, The Entrance Band, Exene Cervenka, Health, Karl Blau, Liturgy, Mew, Pissed Jeans, Thrice, The Twilight Sad and many more. … read more
Matt Winegar
Matt Winegar is a local producer, audio engineer and musician. All this he sums up tersely as “making records.” “Lots of kids get confused by this,” he says. As he explained why this is the case, we spoke of recording studios and the state of musical technology in the broadest sense––drums and wires, but also the body parts and skills that make up the total experience music. … read more
Terrance DH
Terrance DH’s introduction to recording was an accident, really. In the early 90s, his band Bad Yodelers were recording with an engineer who had a bad habit of disappearing for three to four hours at a time. To deal with the engineer’s disappearing act, the Yodelers’ drummer sat Terrance behind the console and taught him the basics of recording. “I would hit play and record and they would do takes of their drums,” DH says.
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Dave Payne
When he’s not busy being a father of twins, fixing up his house, performing with several bands, or up late playing arcade games in his basement, Dave Payne is at the helm of his very own recording studio known as Spaceship Arcade Studio. … read more
Jud Powell
When an average person walks into a room, they don’t think about how it could potentially be set up for proper sound diffusion, if the space has adequate reverberation time for the size of the ambient and/or if it is provided with low levels of reflection. Jud Powell can’t help but think about all of these factors and more. … read more
Wesley Johnson
At only 21, Johnson is already making a living recording full time. “I work well with bands my age. It’s easier for them, compared to working with somebody much older. They feel more comfortable, which helps the outcome of their music.” Johnson makes it clear that he’s not just the guy in a band with a studio though, “I’m an engineer, not a hobbyist.” … read more
Neil Bly
Unless you are a devotee of a certain few bands out of Utah County, you’ve probably never heard of Neil Bly. He doesn’t solicit bands to record with him. He doesn’t advertise Friendless Records, the studio he runs in his Provo basement. He doesn’t even have a set price on hours. He has a Web site that not many people seem to know about, but Bly’s reputation, if not widely known, is indisputable in terms of his vast abilities in the studio. … read more
Mike Sasich
“I was always interested in how the bands I listened to could do separate guitar parts and such.” Initial experiments aside, when Sasich moved back to Salt Lake from California roughly eight years ago, he began doing live sound, which somewhat naturally flowed into studio recordings, initially conducted in his house. … read more
Herc
For a moment, walking into Herc’s home is like walking into anyone’s home, until you empty out into Herc’s Living Room, and the scene changes from cozy to state-of-the-art. Although Herc’s high-end set up spans four rooms of his abode, the comfy furniture, carpeted spaces and secluded backyard garden keep the house that doubles as a recording studio feeling like a home. … read more
