On The Run Sound

New recording setup including converting an old rotary phone to a microphone. May try it out on the new project. 🤪

The latest On The Run production. The audio recording features layered vocals and instruments. The video was shot entirely in front of a green screen allowing for various backgrounds. At times there are stacked 4 green screen shots creating some tricky editing to get acceptable blending.

This was an unplanned project that step by step forced its way into being. Now back to what is scheduled! 🙂

The Little Drummer Boy - 2025 Yuletide Minstrels version of the popular Christmas song.

Final results. Of course, this is just my opinion. Recorded a song with each mic separately while also rerecording a direct track with each. I listened to the mic track by itself and also with some of the direct track mixed in. Then I did a little processing (EQ and Reverb) to the mic tracks. The two top performers are the least expensive of the bunch, not that any of these are top-tier snootyville mics.

Fixin' to see which of these studio mics I like better for recording acoustic guitar. Left to right: AKG C214, Peavey Studio Pro M2, AT2020, and an AT 4033a. May even do a test for vocals.

Keith Richards: So much technology has flooded in in the last seven or eight years—not that it ever stopped, but it’s speeding up a bit now with all the possibilities—and everybody’s going a bit berserk. What you eventually end up with, right, is that you’ve got five million more possibilities of what you can do with all these different pieces of equipment with the result that all records start to sound more and more alike—and most records are made on the same three or four pieces of equipment. A studio will buy a new piece of equipment even if it costs a billion dollars, because it keeps you in the studio. They know that every time they give you another possibility or a choice to make, you have to be making these decisions in the studio and the clock’s ticking and money’s going around. I mean, you can make a movie with the budget of a record for a big group.
“Street Fighting Man” was cut on a cassette player and you know what they were like in those days! The first little Phillips ones, you know. There’s a million possibilities—like overloading an acoustic guitar instead of using an electric guitar. You can get that lovely acoustic dryness and feel but with an electric sound. To make a rock ’n’ roll record, technology is the least important thing. As far as technology is concerned we keep it to a minimum. We’re the kind of band that you don’t . . . . We sound terrible if you try and make it techno-pop with us!

Photo: Michael Donald photography

The gear is staged for tomorrow's gig at Arden Middle School for their 8th grade Promotion. It's been 13 years since I've worked a school graduation ceremony when I did them yearly. Should be a blast seeing the kids reaching this milestone!

Once again, here is one my favorite Christmas recordings I was fortunate to be part of. Every time Mary Finney Santiman hears another version of this she says: "Hey, that's Margaret Cunningham's song!" Merry Christmas and may your New Year's dreams come true!

The Christmas Waltz - Margaret Cunningham A beautiful version featuring Margaret Cunningham on vocals and Roger Morris on keyboards. Recorded for an unreleased project of The Bluebird Bells in 2008.

Physical manufacturing almost complete at Disc Makers! Our Multi-Dollar Distribution agreement (yes, I'm having fun with the phrase..) is set up for digital to be released on October 25th. The CD's should be available for purchase online that week as well. Here is how the CD label will look. The cover jacket is pretty awesome too! Thanks MK Kibbe for all your hard work on the design!

One step closer to our October 25th release date for the Yuletide Minstrels EP "Holy Night"!