Bosco

Being a sound engineer (and who else would read Mix Magazine?) I like the whole article, however what really caught my was this part "Schick, who will be returning to the Loft in October to work with Wilco on the band’s forthcoming album"

The electronic press kit for Mavis Staples’ new album, You Are Not Alone (Anti, out September 14), includes video of Staples and her producer, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, talking about the sessions in Wilco’s Loft studio in Chicago. “This session for me was the most joyful and uplifting and spiritual,” Staples says. “I feel this was meant to be.”

Truly, it’s an inspired collaboration. Tweedy suggested all of the material on the album, and he clearly has the utmost respect for the gospel tradition that spawned the Staple Singers 50 years ago, but he also brought in two of his own great songs (including the title track): one by Randy Newman and one from John Fogerty. It’s singer/songwriter meets gospel/blues with Staples at the mic. What could be better?

The sessions were recorded and mixed by engineer Tom Schick, who definitely enjoyed his first experience in the Loft: “It’s a big open space with no control room, no booths or anything,” he says. “Everybody was set up live in the room. It’s just a big, beautiful space filled with great instruments, great amps and a pretty simple recording setup.”

Schick captured most of the sessions live, with Staples singing in the room with her touring band. Only the drums were baffled off somewhat. “Jeff had seen them play and wanted to keep it to what they do,” observes Schick, who says that easily 60 to 70 percent of his work these days is analog. He recorded these sessions to Wilco’s Studer A827 (Quantegy 456 tape at 30 ips). The studio is fitted with Genelec monitors and a Sony MXP 3000 console, but Schick largely bypassed the board, using it for monitoring only.

“There’s a rack of about 20 API mic pre’s, which we used on pretty much everything,” he says. “And just some basic compression. We had dbx 160s on drums, Tube-Tech stereo compressor on drums, Chandler TG1 on electric guitars. On her voice, we used a Shure SM7 mic into an 1176. The SM7 helped because she was in the room with the band, standing five or 10 feet from a guitar amp. If I’d had a [Neumann] U47 or 67 on her, the guitar and drum bleed would have been too uncontrollable. And, honestly, you could put anything in front of Mavis Staples, and she’s still going to sound like Mavis Staples.”

You Are Not Alone is the first project to be mixed in the Loft, as well. “We were a little nervous because it’s just a big, raw open space, so we took a couple of rough mixes to a different studio just to see what the difference was, but we realized that what we were getting at the Loft was just as good.”

Schick, who will be returning to the Loft in October to work with Wilco on the band’s forthcoming album, says the mix was done in Pro Tools because they couldn’t find a half-inch machine to use quickly enough: “So, [mastering engineer] Bob Ludwig at Gateway transferred the mixes to half-inch for us and mastered off that. We kept it as close as we could to all-analog.”

After reading this thread I was browsing the Wilco Store, and noticed they had some of the unsigned posters that guy was making outside the Poster display at Mass MoCA, figured what the hell, one more souvenir couldn't hurt, and made the splash. After the order was confirmed I checked back at the store, turns out I got the last one , I can't wait to get this baby framed!

Yes and when I play it on guitar too, hell just last night I was playing it, actually first I played this song I wrote for her for our 15th wedding anniversary using our wedding vows and then went into Via Chicago and she was like "ah oh, what did I do now"

Do any other wives get a slight shiver when their husband says Via Chicago is his favourite song?? (Purely for the dynamics of course!)

Words have failed me, but this is kinda what it felt like:

 

It’s just like if Wilco invited you over their house to hang out on a late summer afternoon. You know it would be some cool, funked out industrial playground of a space. Art everywhere. Their generous and fun-loving spirit would make you feel right at home but at the same time you’d be awestruck at your dumb luck. Nels would be stringing together some noisy loop of pedals in the basement and he’d let you play with them. Glenn would be tricking out these crazy drum heads and would want to show you how they work, how he brings them to life. You’d eat falafel and drink beer. Mikael would tell jokes and tinkle around on the piano, filling the space. You’d wander into a room and find John strumming and singing pretty melodies. At some point, Pat would whip out his photo albums and show you his beautiful Polaroids. There'd be new music to explore - record players, headphones, stacks of vinyl. They'd be psyched to turn you on to their new favorite bands. You'd watch old movies. There'd be ice cream. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, Jeff would lure everyone out into the backyard and turn the hose on ‘em – all for a good cause, of course. Then, as the afternoon turned to dusk and the deep blue sky faded to a purple bruise, they would gild this lily of day by rocking your socks off. You’d be totally blissed out, realizing you fell in love with the right band, a band that loves you back, a band that makes you feel like you belong right there with them. Then you’d get to sleepover and do it all again the next day. And at the end of it all, you’d have no idea how to thank them for showing you the time of your life.

 

And this is kinda what it looked like.

And that just about sums it up, great job! What an awesome time, I'm sitting at work (listening to Wilco of course), and I'm still kind of in MassMoCA, weird, I'm standing in line for coffee this morning and I somehow expected to bump into John yet again. That they did this for us is so overwhelming unbelieveable that we could NEVER thank them enough!

Once again this was a great experience, I'm still working on my review and I'll surely post it here later.

 

My only complaint was that I was one of the younger ones there. Most of the people I met were a lot older than me (since I'm only 13). I still loved meeting them but the problem was when my mother and I first started chatting with them, they thought my mother was the major Wilco fan and she only brought me because I was her daughter, when it really was the opposite.

 

Every other person we talked to seemed pretty surprised when they saw that I was such a Wilco fan at only 13... I saw very few others my age there and if they were there it was because their parents were forced to bring them or something of the like. Talking to the older Wilco fans was cool though since most of them shared my favorite bands (Wilco and Radiohead).

 

I hope to see them in the front row again next year!

You've got good taste, you can't really go wrong with either band, next year we hope to bring our kids, my oldest is 12, he's into Wilco, maybe I'll start sneaking some Radiohead onto his IPod for you.

If you went to Glenn's drum exhibit where he was talking about all the different sounds, someone asked him a question along the lines of 'have you ever used that on a Wilco record?' and his answer was ( sorry, paraphrasing here) 'well actaully yes, I just got out of the studio where I used it'!!! So I took that as a yes indeed they are currently making a new record

I spent over 25 years as a soundman, I'll do house left/right or stage left/right, however you want I was just (house)left of the snake in front of another taper (who had an umbrella).

Yea I remember you, I felt bad for you when it started to rain, been there done that, it still kills me though, what I find odd is I haven't taped in several years, and yet I still have a mic stand umbrella in my car and I had it in my hand to bring in "just in case" but put it down for some reason.

I'm pretty sure we didn't talk, before the show I was talkin' with my wife, another taper, and a couple who just got engaged at a private Tweedy show for charity.

Yeah ok, the snake. Let's talk left and right in terms of audience l / r, like us looking toward the stage I was to the right of the snake just barely, right at the soundboard rail. Silver stand, yes.

 

Oh wait, try this - I was the only guy who didn't have a mic umbrella - that help?

You are a good man, probably better then I, we sat next to a couple who got engaged at a private party that Jeff played earlier this year I think, they waited around to hear about 3 songs when they had to leave to catch a flight out of Albany, we made sure we had Monday off ;^)

I didn't get to see Tweedy +. i had to leave after Autumn Defense because of travel plans. i came this {} close to changing my travel plans and letting my wife; who had to start her teaching gig on monday, fly back to Dallas alone. But I decided to "look out for my love" for REAL!!!!

i can't wait to hear the capture.

I was sitting next to the snake, in front of the guy with the stand a little in front of you. You used a stand and there was a guy to your right completely hand-held right?

I was the guy front center of the board for Tweedy. There was a guy in front of me to the left and a guy a little to my right. I'm using Church Audio cards and pre > Edirol R-09.

While I am still a "member" of Rust, I haven't actively participated (or even received the digest in years), I was one of the three people who started Human Highway and Bad News Beat (and Rust Future actually) after the split in '97, it was a tough time to be sure, my Rustie name was/is "Arc", I hope this isn't a "bad" thing here ;^)

So what was your take on Look Out For My Love, I personally thought it was both genius and histarical at the same time.

Nice digs btw!

As a long time member of both rust and VC i can tell you, you will find a number of rusties here. i met long time rusties Harry O and Sara S after the Brenda set in the breeze way. And a added bit of coincidence the room i stayed in at the House on main B&B in Williamstown was called "Rust"

To quote myself (my facebook page), this was "the single finest weekend of my life... no lie". Words WILL fail me here, but I'll try. I used to go to ridiculous lengths, sacrifice, and expense to catch the Grateful Dead whenever and wherever I could. Few of my family, friends, co-workers understood. But they never experienced those "moments".., a six hour drive each way, madness in the parking lot before and after the show, a blown radiator on the beltway at rush hour, etc, all for that "moment". Everything would click musically, a Stella Blue, maybe a Crazy Fingers, it didn't really matter what song, but it always came at least once per show, when I knew I was standing exactly where I was supposed to be... at the fleeting, floating center of the universe. In that moment I would be moved to tears by the majesty, the beauty, the frailty of our existence, and my soul would be flooded with the purest of gratitude that I had been simply allowed to stand right there, right then. I felt that way again, some fifteen years later, during Jeff's set, standing in the rain, the Berkshires as backdrop. Some three thousand people, a festival audience no less, outside, and you could hear a pin drop... Such respectful, loving fans of a such a respectful, loving band.

 

Thank you Wilco, thank you MassMoca, thank you Higher Ground, and thank you EVERYONE that performed and attended. It was wonderful beyond my feeble words.

Very well said, I was also a DeadHead, and a taper, I see the connection, oh my old touring buds think I'm nuts they don't "get it". I put Solid Sound up there with any Dead experience I ever had, including Europe '90 (or my first Dark Star in '89). I only wish I hadn't sold all my old taping gear to buy guitars, but then again I get much more use out of the guitars :^)

After meeting all of the band except Jeff, hell Glenn even sat and talked with us in the middle of the On Fillmore set (he was playing some tambourine w/ducks or something at the time), my wife is now on board, and she wants to catch a show in Chicago for the home town experience (and how dignified is that)!!!

It's too bad I just joined this forum and I don't really know anybody here, I do know how cool that is from my Rust/Human Highway (Neil Young) connections, it would have been cool to meet some of you. I am a longtime fan, and have seen the band many times, and yet I have to admit I haven't seen Jeff play the bass since the only time I saw Uncle Tupelo (Toad's in New Haven back in '91) so I was in tears just seeing THAT on Sunday.

This was, without a doubt the coolest festival ever! All the music was great, the people were awesome, the band was amazing, the way they just all hung out all weekend just talking to the fans, I'm still blown away, I could never have imagined anything so cool.

I'm just gonna leave this here.

Sounds great, can't wait to hear the whole thing, and this comes from a long time taper and Old Sound Man. Which rig was yours (sorry I'm new to the forum) I was checking them out all weekend, we may have talked even.

I remember at Woodstock in '94 we were at a campsite about 5 or so miles away, they supplied an hourly shuttle back and forth between the site. I have no idea how it worked out because in a drunken stupor in the middle of the night (the night before the event even started) we torn down our camp site and set up at Woodstock. The point being they knew why they were booked that weekend and they did the right thing, I have no idea why all campgrounds wouldn't do this.

I'm very new to the site, but I am so excited for this, I can't even concentrate at work I've seen Wilco many times, I even got to see Uncle Tupelo once when they opened for the Replacements at Toads in New Haven, CT, my wife has seen Wilco three times but she is just starting to really "get" Wilco.

We'll be staying at the Historic Valley Campground, and we were thinking about riding our bikes to the gig, anyone else staying there?

John

All I can say is Thank You Wilco!!! I am a long time fan and I've been to countless shows, however I have never been able to get my wife into them, I've played her the discs, shown her the movies, she has even seen them twice as an opening act (Sheryl Crow '97 and Neil Young '08) and actually enjoyed both shows, but still never really got it. Finally I got her to go to the Hartford show and she was hesitant going in, even mocking my excitement (she went to sleep during both webcasts), however coming out of the show she was in, she wanted to go to Philly and Pittsburg (to hell with the kids I guess) she can't wait for what I'm calling Wilco Fest in August, and she is listening to them nonstop, she even said "How come you never told me how awesome they are?" Thanks for the most incredible show!!!