I’ll be doing an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session over at the Electronic Music sub on Reddit today, Monday, April 15th, 2013 at 1 PM PST. The AMA is listed as Tycho but being that it’s all the same thing, I’ll also be answering any ISO50 related questions you might have.
I’ll update the links here once the AMA is live. Hope to hear from you over there.
Firefox was a 1983 film starring and directed by Clint Eastwood in which the protagonist must steal some sort of fictional Soviet “ultimate killing machine”, which from the looks of it and the “specs” is loosely modelled on the SR-71. I must confess I haven’t watched it, and after viewing the trailer I have no desire to do so. But I did find a lot of great stills from the film along with some promotional imagery. Love the suit.
Can’t believe I just now stumbled onto this. Sound City is a documentary about the legendary studios by the same name. Everything from Neil Young’s After The Gold Rush to Nirvana’s Nevermind were recorded at Sound City Studios so a lot of people in the community were sad to see them close their doors in 2011. The documentary chronicles the history of the facility through interviews with many of the artists who recorded there. The film is produced and directed by Dave Grohl who purchased Sound City’s Neve 8028 mixing console when the studio closed. Must have been a good feeling to end up owning the same console his band recorded their breakout album on over 20 years before.
Update: Watched it. Really entertaining; very engaging for people into this sort of thing already but also does a great job of explaining the recording process for the layman. My only criticism is that at times the underlying plot of “how and why Dave Grohl acquired the Neve Console from Sound City” seems a little forced. I’d rather have seen a bit less of Grohl waxing nostalgic on his past and fawning allover Rupert Neve and more interviews and dialog about Sound City itself.
It’s not often that get very excited about modern audio equipment but when the name Neve is attached there’s always room for an exception. Rupert Neve Designs (not to be confused with AMS Neve) announced this week at Musikmesse a new desktop console dubbed the 5060. It’s meant to be a sort of studio centerpiece and features a 24×2 mixer with sends and transport control. There are other products out there that do this (the SSL Nucleus for one) but none do it while looking this good (although not quite as good as the original Neve Sidecar). Unfortunately, as is always the case with quality recording equipment, with a MSRP just under $8,000 USD the 5060 is way out of reach for all of us mortals and will most likely exist only in the world of medium to large sized professional studios. I guess I’ll just hold out hope that in 40 years I might find one at a garage sale of some lady who’s “son left it in the attic when he moved” or whatever cliche scenario it seems like everyone acquired their choice vintage gear via.
More info at Neve’s 5060 Page
Some new stuff from one of my favorite designers, Leif Podhjaski. He’s been doing a lot of work for musicians lately (Tame Impala, Bonobo, Youth Lagoon to name a few). Loving that Horrors boxset packaging.
Really happy to announce that I’ll be taking a break from the studio this summer to play the Lightning in a Bottle festival on July 14th, 2013. Always wanted to check out LIB, excited to be a part of it.
Daft Punk and The Creators Project are releasing a series of interviews / features on the collaborators who worked on the new album Random Access Memories. First up is Giorgio Moroder.
Update – Got the credits on this (via Tetsuo in the comments):
Art Direction – Brett Kilroe, Fab Moretti*
Design – Brett Kilroe, Tina Ibañez
More Info
I don’t really know The Strokes’ music so I can’t speak to that but the cover art for their new album, Comedown Machine, caught my eye today. I absolutely love it. Sadly I wasn’t able to find much information on the designer / art director. Does anyone know who did this? The artwork is derived from the packaging for some old RCA Magnetic Tape and the oversized RCA logo is an apparent reference to the fact that this was The Stroke’s final album of a five album deal with the label. The execution is absolutely perfect; it appears as if they really printed the label and sleeve up, weathered / distressed them, and then photographed it. I’m wondering who pitched this idea, the band or the art director? At any rate, I want this framed on my wall.
