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You know, sometimes I get so distracted by all of the things that life throws at me that I forget that the path to doing it all is … well, doing it all. I just had a thought today that I don’t need to be totally submerged for days on end for each project. I just need to tackle a little every day. Anyway, we’ll see how it works.

But speaking of doing things everyday, I have had the privilege of seeing some really fantastic people work at this thing we call producing music.

I’m not sure I ever really understood the whole music business. While I had friends (well, friends of friends) that had deals with labels and varying degrees of “success”, I never had the experience, so for me the whole process was somewhat mysterious. Sure, I read things and heard things in the news, etc, but that’s all I knew about it. Yet, somehow I have found myself in the presence of a couple people who, every day, make a living producing music. And while I didn’t really have any expectations about the kind of people they might be, I found I was pleasantly surprised. They are both really, super nice guys. And in this business, that – and a certain amount of expertise and experience – gets you success. Every day.

I am talking about Jack Endino and Steve Fisk. While I’ve met plenty of super nice producer/engineers who are all, generally speaking, nice and skilled, Jack and Steve have been around for a while and really are giants in the industry. Not the Hollywood kind of, Larger Than Life – Who’s Dangling Their Kids Where – Do You See her Nipple?, kind of Giant. No, they are the no nonsense, blue collar, real thing, got their head on straigh,t PRODUCE EXCELLENT RECORDS  kind of giant. Guys you can depend on. Honest (and that means a lot to me (apparently it means a lot to many, many musicians and bands, too)). I love being a part of this community.

Anyway, Jack has recently had a couple articles written about him (You Don’t Know Jack and Grunge Legend …) and Steve just updated his website so its much easier to see the depth and breadth of his experience.

And now I’m off to build a robot….

mike

Yup, these guys spent four days here at the end of August, with Steve Fisk. Some really talented and creative kids, umm, I mean CATS. I walked in once and they were dropping a bag of percussion instruments on the floor … I think they were recording that, but I’m not 100% sure. They did some cool/creative stuff recording and they have the right guy producing them –  Steve made good use of the Fairchild EQ’s and Opto Compressor! That just made my day. It’s also cool to see Fisk’s ARP 2600 in the studio.

Check em out here: SEACATS

And, while we get lots of positive remarks about the Vibe at Soundhouse, this gives us a little extra credit, too …

Thanks guys!

– mike

Mouthful there. And quite in the realm of sensationalist journalism! I never liked journalism in school. Too many rules. But, it’s late and I’m tired and whether I’ll think it’s funny tomorrow, well, I’ll find out.

Chris “L.C.” Hunter (bass and backing vocals for Kandi Coded (Flotation Records) has a new band called Torch Burner (Chris Hunter-Bass/vocals, Mitch Wolfe-Drums, Apples Bonafazi-Guitar, Frank Gross-Lead Guitars). They came in for a quick one-day-three-song-record-and-mix-session with Mr. Endino on Monday. If anyone can do THAT in a day it’s Jack! I never did get to hear a whole song, but it sounded like a Seattle ROCK revival!

Young Dead Men

James Crosbie – Bass/Vocals
Nate Watkins – Lead Guitar
TJ Payne – Rhythm Guitar/Vocals
TJ Watson – Drums

… were in last weekend with Mr. Fisk – a young band (yes, they ARE young men) but in the studio they were, as Fisk said, “one take wonders”.

Coming in this month…

The Insurgence

Back Beat Blue

Stag

Barrett Martin (Screaming Trees drummer, Barrett Martin Group, Sunyata Records)

Let It Sparkle

Blue Star Creeper

Big Dirt (from the Wandering Infinity Collective)