After years of wanting one, I just picked up the Langevin MiniMassive equalizer. Wow, is this a great sounding EQ! I’ve only mastered a few records with it so far – One for James London and a compilation for the Oregon Historical Society but I can say without a doubt that I’ll be using this all the time, the high and low bands sound so sweet. Plus the transformer in/out/saturate switch adds some nice character.
Just in time for the start of July & Portland’s real summer I’m doing some mastering for 3RP (Three “R” – rock, reggae, R&B – Productions). This is really the perfect music to be working on right now, although it’s making me want to go outside, lay in the sun and sip on a beer…. not good for productivity! Their urban island sound is catchy and refined, heavy on the Polynesian reggae but with a modern edge. It’s probably the sunniest music I’ve ever heard from a Portland-based artist and it will get some time in the BBQ tunes rotation around my house this summer.
It’s been a good week here at the studio. I’m working on 4 albums, they’re all good and they couldn’t be more different from each other. Keeps the work interesting, challenging and makes me feel lucky to be in Portland!
I kicked off the week working on Petoskey’s debut LP Bombs Away. It’s another Skyler Norwood production and it sounds great – solid writing, pretty arrangements and warm mixes. They’re a 7-piece folk band with a reputation for a great live show. Based on the quality of the record I’m definitely going to check them out when I get the chance.
I also just finished up an album for the Ashland-based hip-hop crew One Movement. I’d never heard them before they delivered their tracks for mastering but I’m a fan now. Their album Here & Now will be released July 9th. It’s 18 tracks strong and draws on diverse influences from classic boom-bap to reggae to electro/dubstep.
Speaking of electro & dubstep, I’ve had a lot of fun working on Elias Moniker’s debut LP, The A.K.A.. He took advantage of my offer to master a track for free as a demo of my work last week and he was happy with the results, so I’m finishing up the rest of his album today. I haven’t worked on a ton of sinister electronica releases like this but I enjoy the style and I’m glad I had the opportunity. He’s got a couple of tracks from the album up on his slick looking website here.
Last but not least I’m preparing Tender Loving Empire’s fourth installment of their compilation series Friends & Friends of Friends for release. It’s an epic 40+ track double disc featuring some of Portland’s best bands on one of the best record labels in town!
I play bass for Alan Singley & Pants Machine, and we’re playing a free show tonight at Rontoms. We’re playing with Day Moanstar and the show starts at 9:30pm. Hope to see you there!
Check out this video for “Rice Pudding”, recorded live at Ethos music center for release on our album Feelin’ Citrus. The live show is less orchestral and more upbeat, so this doesn’t represent what we’re doing tonight. The excellent Keith Brush (Blue Cranes, The Stolen Sweets) plays the bass on this song while I run the recording session.
It’s bands like Priory that make me feel lucky to be a mastering engineer. When I was mastering this record back in February I was excited for these guys – it’s unusual for a band to put together such a strong debut album release. I wasn’t exactly surprised though. Their self-released EP Cold Hands from summer 2010 was full of hooks and potential. I’m glad they followed it up so quickly with a solid full-length album on Expunged Records (Blind Pilot, Sara Jackson-Holman, etc.).
I’m looking forward to seeing this band’s CD release show tomorrow. I’ve heard they’re an excellent live band, although I haven’t seen them yet myself. The Willamette Week sure had some nice things to say about them. You can hear their track “Kings of Troy” on my Sky Onion Comp 1.
Priory’s self-titled record release is Friday, June 17, at Mississippi Studios. 9 pm. $8 advance, $10 day of show. 21+.
My studio ad from last year was boring and it brought me no new customers. Maybe creepy in-your-face will work? We’ll see!
Hello internet! After years of thinking “I should probably start blogging or something” I finally got it going. Lucky for me there aren’t thousands of other Gus Elg’s out there buying up my domain name, so guselg.com was still available, and here I am.
I’m going use this website to write about things that I’m doing and things that are interesting to me. There will be a lot of music writing. I’m lucky enough to find myself working on some excellent records at my studio Sky Onion, and now I have a forum to share some of my favorites. I’m also a musician, so I’ll discuss my own experiences making records and playing in various bands over the last decade.
My other interests include electronics, remodeling, DIY, people, basketball, Portland, etc., so I’ll write a little bit about that stuff too. Thanks for reading, I hope to make it entertaining!