November 2006 (PDF) - Antigravity Magazine

Even though it won’t be open until next July, I droppedby Chris George and Daniel Majorie’s Living Room Studiorecently to check up on their progress. George founded theLiving Room Studio in, you guessed it, his living room in 1997and started to record artists like Silent Cinema, Glasgow,Big Blue Marble, Suplecs, Spickle, Hazard County Girls, andMangina. Friends since high school, George and Majorie hadrecorded together during semester breaks back in the day, sowhen Majorie called to say he was returning from Tennessee,they started looking for a bigger studio. In October of 2004,the duo purchased a 1930s wood frame former church inAlgiers to serve as the future location of the studio. In Januaryof 2005, they recorded their last client at the old studio – SamSarah – and started work on the church. It sits on nearly anacre of land, and thanks to Majorie’s plumbing and electricalskills and George’s painting and designing talents the place isalready looking pretty fly. I’m going to go ahead and say, withno disrespect to Piety St. and Truck Farm et al, that the LivingRoom will be the most requested local recording space whenall is said and done.ANTIGRAVITY: So, this is going to be a lifetimeinvestment. Is that what you’re thinking?Chris George: Yeah.AG: You’re putting enough work into this so thatyou make it so nice that hopefully, not only willeveryone want to record here, but it would besomething that, if you had kids, you could hand itover to your kids or whatever?CG: Yeah, this is an actual house. This right here (points tomain room) is bigger than the house I used to record in. Wealso have a workshop in the back and a huge yard that partof it we’ll turn into a courtyard. In the shop I’ll have a TV. Ialready have a pinball machine and a pool table. I’m going to setup some fans so that the bands can go back there and smokeand do whatever. If the singer is doing vocals and everyoneelse is bored, you know, they can go into the shop and playbasketball. The key thing is to keep them entertained. Theshit can get so boring. Imagine if you’re the drummer and thesinger is doing 87 takes of a chorus part and he keeps fuckin’up, he’s probably ready to kill himself. Especially if he’s fromMissouri and he can’t go anywhere.AG: What about bunk beds? Is it that big?CG: Well, the ultimate goal is that Daniel and I can move outand turn these two rooms (points to plans) into bunkroomsfor visiting bands. Temporarily, when I buy sofas for the studio,I’m going to buy sleeper sofas. I may even buy some cots. I’llmake it so that they can stay here, because if they have to stayin a hotel, it would suck. It’s like we willed this place into ourexistence. We knew that if we didn’t get this we’d be fucked,emotionally, because we like old cars, I like darkroom stuff,Daniel likes building electronics, so we knew that with thatworkshop, we’d be able to do whatever we wanted. Everyroom I wrote down all the dimensions, and I was working onthis drawing before we owned the place. We’d discuss whatwe should change and what we shouldn’t.AG: Are there any qualities that people enjoyedfrom the old Living Room that you’re going toincorporate into the new one?CG: I think it was because they felt comfortable, maybe. Mostof the bands I recorded I saw live. Half of ‘em I went up to ‘emto a show and went, “Hey, I have this studio. You should comecheck it out. I’ll do it for two weeks for this much money.”They can’t pass it up because if four guys in the band put upfifty dollars each and they record for two weeks, you know?AG: That’s probably exactly what bands want.They want someone to come to them who’spassionate about the music instead of having togo to someone. You’re going to invest more ofyourself because you’re passionate about it.CG: It’s equally terrible for me if I’m not into the band andthey ask me to record them. It goes both ways.AG: Yeah, and if you’re into the music, you don’twant to screw it up because you’re a fan. Whatare some things about The Living Room that’llmake it stand out from other recording studios inthe city, or is it more about relationships?CG: No, it’s going to be about the building, too. I obsess overevery single room. Like, I want them to go take a piss and belike, “Man, this bathroom sounds awesome!”AG: How did you get the ideas for the studio? Areyou modeling it after other recording studios?CG: It comes from stuff that aggravated me in my old place.You know, if I can ever do it right, I’m going to have a retardedamount of shelves to put everything. (Points in the main room)These two rooms will be isolated rooms. Both of ‘em are goingto sound different. One of ‘em is going to be extremely dead,like record a bass amp at 2 a.m. kind of room, and one of themis going to be a little more live.AG: How do you make a room live and make aroom dead? What’s the difference?CG: Depends on what you treat the walls with. The one that’sgoing to be really dead is going to be lined with a rubber thathas a lead liner in it. It’s comparable to a concrete wall.AG: Are there things you can do in a dead roomthat you can’t do in a live room?CG: It’s all about options. A dead room could give you moreoptions as far as adding effects. If you’ve already got a vocalrecorded in the live room that’s already wet with natural roomsound, you don’t really have a lot of room to add more reverbwith a processor, because then that would overdo it. You maywant a certain effect so you track it in a different room (deadroom) so you can add it artificially later for whatever reason.The same thing with a guitar. Out here(in the main room) it maybe a little too loud. You may want to tighten it up. You pieceit all together. It’s like doing a painting. You can do it howeveryou want. You make decisions as you go. Some of the wrongdecisions might end up sounding good. You made that decisionand you’ve gotta live with it. I know a guy that lost a clientbecause of a decision he made. It wound up being their bestsong. He lost the client because they got in this big fight aboutthat decision, and then down the road, it turns into this big song,and he ends up getting more clients because of it.AG: Do you know the history of this church?CG: Yeah, I looked it up. It was Calvary Baptist Church, whichis on Degaulle now. The government bought it from ‘em in ‘56because they didn’t know how much of this land they weregoing to need to build the bridge on.AG: Are you going to be recording with analog orPro Tools?CG: Analog. We have three tape machines.AG: Why analog over Pro Tools?CG: It just sounds better.AG: Do you find that most people agree with you,that analog sounds better, at least?CG: Yeah. That’s not really a secret that it does. A wellmaintainedtape machine sounds the best. It’s a lot of work,but everything that’s great is a lot of work. The computerthing is fine for what it is. I just don’t choose to use it. Myultimate goal is to make an awesome sounding record. I don’tcare about changing a word in a vocal track, editing it out. I’drather have the singer sing right. Everything is so focused onbeing perfect now.AG: Why does it have to be perfect? Where’s theraw...CG: That’s part of the reason music went down the shitter isbecause you can take somebody who can’t sing and you canmake ‘em sing.AG: Yeah, it’s become really commonplaceto separate all the instruments in recording.I understand why people do that, but nobodyrecords live anymore.CG: I’ve always recorded live. Always. Even if it’s separatedwith headphones, it’s still live.“AM I A CHRISTIAN/ARE YOU A JEW/DIDYOU KILL MY LORD AND SAVIOR/MUST IFORGIVE YOU?”I saw a great concert in October at the Republic.David Bazan from Pedro the Lion played an acousticsolo set, and from moment one, I knew the show wasgoing to be special. It was like being in church and verysimilar to seeing Low or Iron and Wine. Most of the50 or so knew the words and sung along with Bazan’sdepressed witticisms. I enjoyed the acoustic soundbetter (because it was more stark, personal, and raw)than his band work with PTL, but of course, after theconcert I went back to the band stuff and was able toappreciate that for being fuller in sound.Bazan asked the crowd if they had questions betweenevery third song or so, and while most asked aboutthe music, people also inquired about what he atethat night or where he had gotten his sneakers. Therewas great vibe in the room, and Bazan was a gracious,funny, and self-deprecating host. His feet-shuffling andface-twitching during songs made him endearing andmade his music seem that much more delicate.Bazan is a modern lyrical master of the gray area, justlike Dylan, of whom Bazan covered “The Man in Me.” Hedeals with uncertainty of the heart constantly, whether itbe in adultery, lies, amorality, or other things we’d rathernot talk about. He talks about things we love to relate tobut hate to think about. He talks about tragedy, and manhis words are hard-hitting (“A white ghost, making his wayup the west coast/Trying to focus his high hopes on a vaginaor two/He’s taking his chances/Meanwhile, back in his livingroom/Bright smiles are watching his toddler run speed trials/Over a grandmother’s rug/And nature advances”). He can befunny too, though – “You’re so creative/With your reviews/Of what other people do/How satisfying that must be foryou/Am I a Christian? /Are you a Jew? /Did you kill my Lord?/Must I forgive you?”His music is pretty great, as well. Some good referencepoints are Elliott Smith, (Smog), and Jeremy Enigk. He doesn’tkeep your attention so much by changing meter but bychanging rhythm. He kept my focus on him for 90 minutes, andthat’s pretty good for one guy on a stage. I wish he would haveplayed for another 90. It’s rare that I hear a singer-songwriterwho has so many good things to say that sound so good.Bazan’s songs are a call to arms. A call for honesty,carefulness, and caring.06_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative