Creative Caffeine: Nashville Recording Studio

East Nashville has seen a dramatic transformation in the past decade. Historically the east side of the river has always been more progressive than the other parts of Nashville, and today it is a hotbed of what just might be an artistic renaissance… especially if you are involved with music performance and production.

There is something about East Nashville that attracts musicians and artists. That something might just be other musicians and artists, but it also could be the relatively affordable housing, the best coffee shop in Nashville (Bongo Java), the hip music-friendly clubs (Radio Cafe, The Family Wash, The 5-Spot), as well as an overall hometown-within-a-city vibe. You might just forget you’re in Nashville if you stay for a spell.

Time and space seem to change dimension when you cross over Gallatin road or Main Street into the 37206 zip code. There are beautiful Victorian and Tudor style homes, people walk freely for pleasure and transport, and there always seems to be something interesting happening: art exhibition at the Garage Mahal; dogs walking people; gatherings at the tiny post office; bold renovations of old homes.

Bohemian. Well, as bohemian as Nashville gets. It is no East Village, but it is the Nashville equivalent.

However, what you might not see until you live and mingle in East Nashville is the preponderance of music recording and performance behind closed doors. Studios don’t often advertise their existence for practical and zoning reasons and because most real studios aren’t like Sam Phillips Sun Studios where you walk in and book a session with a receptionist; business is built on reputation and referral.

It is possible that there are literally hundreds of active recording studios operating today in East Nashville and growing. This is not the PC mixer and condenser mic variety, but professional project studios with multiple isolated rooms, expensive microphones, preamps and multi tracking systems.

The granddaddy of them all is the legendary Woodland Studios where many a classic country sessions went to tape in the 50s and 60s. Today Woodland is owned by Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings for their projects.

Then you’ve got other well known rooms like legendary violinist Buddy Spicher’s The Fiddle House across the street from Woodland, as well as Roswell East run by Jordan Richter (Mathhew Ryan, Sixpence None the Richer, the Legendary Shack Shakers).

A couple of blocks over you’ve got Grammy winner Brent Truitt’s Le Garage (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Lonesome River Band), and Danny Ramsey’s Little Hollywood studio which is also has the distinction of once being the home of Marty Robbins and studio legend Grady Martin. Little Hollywood has put microphones in front of Ronnie McDowell, Victor Wooten, Walter Egan, Jeff Cease, Albert Lee, and many others.

Beyond these heavyweights of the major label biz, there are dozens of other studios hidden in otherwise unsuspecting homes, like Eric McConnell’s place. A friend saw a bunch of vans loading in and out of McConnell’s home and a roadie that looked remarkably like Jack White of the White Stripes. Turns out it was Jack. The phenomenal Loretta Lynn record produced by White was tracked at McConnell’s classic Victorian home. Hell, even the picture on the cover was taken in East Nashville.

Jack liked it so much that he relocated Nashville, but sadly to another part of town… We think. But we surely won’t hold that against him.

McConnell is in the Vanguard of the new generation of East Nashville studio wizards who feel equally at home with classic vintage guitars and advanced pro-tools techniques. Most musicians these days tend to be computer geeks too, and the modern computer has brought the barriers to entry down when it comes to getting top-quality recordings. For this reason, most musicians professional and otherwise invest in impressive home studios that allow the creative impulse to happen where they are most comfortable.

Another hot studio for indie rockers is Jeremy Ferguson’s BattleTapes, nestled in an East Nashville house and producing some amazing recordings for the likes of Forget Cassettes, Apollo Up, Hands Down Eugene and others. BattleTapes takes the cake for ambiance and bohemian vibe, because indie studios often realize that mood is just as critical as sound quality for a good recording.

It seems like everybody in East Nashville is damn talented, and to top it off, they probably have a studio and a killer self-produced CD, or a buddy who can help them get one. Everyone is genuinely interested in and supportive of the grassroots community. Walk into a bar like The Family Wash and you can throw a rock in the air and probably hit a working musician, producer, or agent.

So what is it about East Nashville that has things cooking in recording land? A possible explanation is the ‘Americana’ movement that keeps building steam. Country is cool again, Western is hip, and a new generation of musicians have embraced the rootsy sound of bluegrass, slide guitars, honky tonk, and well… great songcraft.

Quite a few professional musicians are relocating (or at least buying homes) in East Nashville for a variety of reasons: access to music community, a low cost of living, no state income tax, laid back environment, and moderate climate.

But what you will hear most from the working professionals living here is that the attitudes and ethics of music producers, writers, and managers are substantially different from LA, New York, Portland, Chicago, or other “hotbeds” of American music. Nashville has always been about professionalism and modesty. Nashville is synonymous with country music, and Country has always been down-to-earth music made by down-to-earth people.

Being a professional isn’t about being an enigma, or being in the inside crowd. Some folks pick guitars and write songs, others build houses or own businesses. Selling out is a blessing instead of a curse, and is never a reason to get up on a high horse. This is an unspoken ethos of the southern country music culture that I hope Music City never loses sight of, and just might be the ticket for an artistic renaissance of global proportions here on the Cumberland river.

- Ernie Gray

Nashville Skyline: » Is East Nashville Becoming A Recording Studio Mecca?

The Nashville Number System is simply the best and most practical way of charting your song for a recording session. Any studio player should be able to follow these charts with no problem. The primary advantage on using the number system over actual chord names, is that if the key to the song needs changed at the last minute, the charts don’t need re-written, nor does the musician have to transpose on the fly.

Things You’ll Need:

* Either a real piano keyboard or a simple mock up of one
* Knowledge of the basic note scale and where those notes exist on the keyboard
* Paper
* Pencil

Step 1:
If you are not familiar with the basic note scale and where it exists on the piano keyboard, just look it up on the Internet or have someone knowledgeable about the scale show you.

Step 2:
Once you know the basic note scale, write the scale down across the top of a sheet of paper, beginning with “C” and leaving a little space between each of the remaining notes.

Step 3:
Write the number “1″ above the letter “C,” the number “2″ above the letter “D” and so on across the scale. Once completed, you now have the core of the Number System in front of you. In the studio, if the players were preparing a “chart” for a song in the key of C, and the first, say, five chords to be played in the song were C, F, G, F, G, the “chart” would simply read 1-4-5-4-5.

Step 4:
The final step is what makes the number system so user friendly. Unlike conventional sheet music which has to be re-written for each key that the song needs to be played in, with the number system, you change keys simply by assigning the number 1 to the key of the song and then numbering the other notes accordingly. So, if the song is in the key of G, the G note in number 1 and so on.

Link to Original Article:
How To Learn the Nashville Studio Number System | eHow.com

Nashville Studio News…

Pat McMakin has been named director of studio operations at Ocean Way Nashville Recording Studios, which is part of the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business at Belmont University.

read full article here:
Ocean Way Nashville names new studio director – Nashville Business Journal:

the following appeared in the Tennessean Friday March 30, 2007

Caffeine Studio Mixes Old with the New

Berry Hill — Creative Caffeine Recording Studio in Berry Hill (south nashville) features vintage microhpones, a full-sized grand piano, recording drum kit and three separate recording systems.

The studio makes extensive use of wood, for aesthetics and sound. It includes an all-wood main tracking room with vaulted ceiling and wood in the keyboard room, utility booth, and vocal booth.

After World War II, some German manufacturers, such as Neumann, built microphones “that were unparalleled,” Brock said. The studio has several Neumann microphones and one Telefunken, which was the East German counterpart to Neumann.

Brock said he uses a combination of analog and digital recording formats so that he can stay on the cutting edge with digital and at the same time retain the warmer sound of the analog era.

Brock said there are some qualities to analog tape “that you can’t get on digital.” He believes live drums, bass and acoustic piano just sound better on analog tape. But, he added, the speed of digital is essential for less critical overdubs and editing, mixing, and archiving.

“We can use them separately or in conjunction with one another,” Brock said about the different recording systems. “We can accommodate any format.”

The studio uses converters to convert the analog signal to digital. Brock referred to it as a “hybrid” approach to recording.

The studio has two engineers on staff: Collin Peterson, studio manager and chief engineer, and John Mills, former chief engineer for Capitol Records in Hollywood.

Andy Leftwich, fiddle player for Ricky Skaggs and his band Kentucky Thunder, has participated in several recordings at the studio and refers to Peterson as a “musician’s engineer.”

“He’s great at troubleshooting and getting a real handle on how it’s supposed to sound,” Leftwich said.

written by Suzanne Normond Blackwood – Tennessean.com

The following appeared in the Tennessean Friday March 30, 2007.

Music’s Brewin’ at Creative Caffeine

Berry Hill — Just as one gets a warm and cozy feeling from drinking a cup of coffee, so does he or she after leaving a recording session at Creative Caffeine, if owner Jeff Brock has his way.

This is the concept behind Creative Caffeine, a Berry Hill recording studio that recently underwent major renovations to help it market its coffee house-like feel.

Among the studio’s catch phrases is “Creative Caffeine: Hot Coffee, Warm Sound,” which describes the studio’s mission, said Brock.

Renovations included converting an office and galley into a larger kitchen, where meals can be prepared, and installing solid maple cabinets, Ivory Coast granite counters and panted canvas tiled walls. (more…)

Simply put… mics matter! Creative Caffeine has a purpose-built collection of vintage and contemporary mics to make your project stand out above the rest. From a matched pair of vintage Neumann U87s, modified by the well-known late mic guru Fred Cameron, to a very early and sweet-sounding Telefunken U47 with its original factory tube, diaphragm, and capsule, you will find our collection of mics hard to beat among Nashville studios. Combine those with one of the best tracking rooms in town and you’re living the project you’ve been dreaming of.

Creative Caffeine Studio specializes in the nearly lost art of analog recording.

“Direct-to-digital”, the epitome of convenience, has nevertheless given the world music that is frequently harsh, characterless, and fatiguing. However, the problem with music recording today is not the embracing of the newest digital technology, but that most studios have completely replaced the “sound” with that digital “convenience” by throwing out its analog “dinosaurs” with the bath water. This allows “product” to be cranked out at an amazing rate, but often with disappointing sonic results.

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