Droptone Studio

Chester Bay – “Changes With The Midwest Moon”

stephen — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 04:37:09 +0000

Recording Chester Bay has been one of my favorite recording experiences in the last 21 years. Their acoustic/reggae/rock/jam/folk style called for a very clean, transparent, and in-your-face production. Having a nice, big sound room and some seriously pristine mics and preamps allowed us to capture what they do so well – perform great music live.

Jake and Cory Bosben are true songsmiths with ultra-creative pop sensibilities. Every step from honing in on the arrangement to the final mix was highly gratifying. The only problem was having their tunes stuck in my head every moment I wasn’t working on the album. For that reason and so many more, we’re proud to feature Chester Bay’s new song, “Victory” on our first-ever Droptone Sampler.

Droptone Sampler – Breakthrough Productions Vol. 1 by Droptone Studio
We approached tracking by starting with rhythm takes, capturing drums and bass live, while Jake played along with scratch guitar and vocals. Marcus Greely (drummer) was extremely prepared, allowing us to focus on getting great, large-room drum tones and in-the-pocket grooves. With Cory’s ridiculously tight bass playing we were able to capture unusually dynamic rhythm takes that exposed their nack for seamless groove changes.

Next, we recorded Jake on our two in-house Taylor acoustic guitars. Room micing with 2 Neumann KM184′s and close micing with a stereo pair of transformerless AKG 414′s covered both Jake’s big strums and delicate funk lines. To add some beef we also miced up his amp and used the direct line for kicks. Yep, that’s 6 tracks for acoustic guitar alone. So much of their music is based on his playing we didn’t want to miss a thing.
Mike Salow ripped through electric guitar rhythm and solo parts adding a lot of edge and tasty technical ability to their tracks. He’s a studio monster and he killed all his songs in one session! Check out “40 hours” and “Who We Are” for a couple of his highlights.
They let me fill in some guitar work that fell in my own comfort zones with a reggae Wah Pedal on “My Reality” and acoustic fingerpicking on “Victory.” These guys are so fun to be around I had to try get on the album so I can jump on the bus when they end up touring with a 10 piece band!

Geoff Matson played incredible sax on “Far and Gone”. His style is uniquely melodic, even Branford Marsalis esque. It was nice to use a couple of our best mics to heat up his already warm tone.
Kevin Gastonguay added some incredible piano and organ parts. He’s a savant; I’ve never seen a studio cat chart, record, manipulate midi controlled organ draw bars, and text his girlfriend all at the same time. But nothing was lacking! Check out “These Memories” for his ability to blend what’s both beautiful and soulful at the same time. Also check out his band, New Sound Underground.
Pancho Lopez (Blue Print) completed the rhythm tracks with percusion touches adding color and syncopation to nearly all the songs. His ability to play just about everything that shakes, rattles, and rolls made it easy to enhance all the beats without weighing down the mixes. Pancho is one of those one/two take, great musicians we rely on heavily at Droptone for various projects.
Finally, tracking Jake and Cory’s vocals was a blast. Signal chain: Neumann U87 to Universal Audio 1176 – clean and very forward worked for these guys. They sing with such great tone and pitch it was nice to focus on emotion when getting takes. They got sweet, sad, happy, and mad in all the right places. When we got lost on back-ups, Droptone’s Stephen Helvig was there to show us the righteous path to majestic harmonies. He also lended his pitch perfect ear to subtle vocal editing. Everybody does it, but not always well. I think Steve’s the best in town at this.
The mix was fluid. Maybe the only trick was to figure out a way to help delineate these two twin brothers uniquely but subtly different voices. A la Beatles, I just panned them a little like George Martin did to John and Paul and it’s like they’re right there in front of you at the Wicked Moose or something. Jake and Cory that is.
Basically, with talent like this I just tried to get out of the way. They didn’t need production tricks, they needed production quality. I think we did that. Listen to this album from beggining to end and let us know if we did. I know Chester Bay did their part.

-David.

Join us at the Droptone Studio Showcase on Friday, April 12th, 2013 downtown at The Fine Line Music Cafe. Chester Bay will be playing their CD release show with supporting performances from 9Tomorrows, Mikel Wright & The Wrongs, and Hounds of Finn. Starts at 9:00 pm. Ages 18+. $10 at the door or just $5 presale.

For more on Chester Bay, check out their website: http://chesterbayrock.com
Buy their music on iTunes

Hot Southern Mess – “Forever & A Day”

stephen — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 22:29:55 +0000

Hot Southern Mess is a brand new country music trio consisting of Katie Doffing, Kristen Thomas, and Kayleen Goettsche. HSM approached me to help them do some songwriting, production, and recording back in February of 2011. At that time, they were working on a few songs but didn’t have anything fully completed yet. Katie and Kristen are great singers. When I first heard them, it was obvious that they had done a lot of singing together and they had a blend difficult to achieve. Kayleen was contributing to the songwriting duties, and they all had fragments of songs – some more comprehensive than others. We spent our first session just going through all their ideas and demos. The girls showed me a wide range of styles and genres they were comfortable and capable of doing, but didn’t feel too strongly about any particular direction. I took notes and presented some ideas of my own. We actually started with a demo that was more in the direction of Top 40/Dance music rather than country. But in the end, the girls realized that country felt the most at home. I think they made the right decision The following year, we slowly pieced together 5 songs that we’re proud of.

In order to give them some more time to cultivate specifically country-oriented songs, we started recording a cover, “Material Girl” by Madonna. Kristen and Katie had performed this song for years and already had strong vocal parts prepared. We laid down the basic rhythm track with session drummer Timothy Java first. I recorded an acoustic guitar part and then Katie and Kristen put in their parts. Once we had the framework completed, I started to get creative on how to countrify this well-known pop song. Some pedal steel, harmonica, and blue guitar did the trick.
After “Material Girl,” we chose to work on a song of Katie’s called “You Were the One.” Katie and I took a session to collaborate on the song together. I added a few new sections and lyrics and together we crafted the first original tune for their project. After that, the girls really dug into their songwriting talents and progressively needed less help from me in order to complete their songs.
The last song we recorded, “Forever & A Day” is the title track, and I’m particularly pleased with how that one turned out. We combined the country and folk elements of Kristen’s piano playing with an anthemic attitude of U2 influenced delayed guitars.
It was a pleasure working with Hot Southern Mess and all the session musicians involved were fantastic as always. Mark Puder also contributed some drumming, Jai Bowie played bass, Ian Lew added electric guitar, and Joe Savage layed down the pedal steel. The resulting 5-song EP “Forever & A Day” is a great collection of mainstream country music that I know you’ll enjoy. Follow Hot Southern Mess on facebook here.
Forever & A Day by Hot Southern Mess
Credits:
Produced, mixed, and recorded by Stephen Helvig
All songs arranged by Hot Southern Mess & Stephen Helvig
Assistant Engineers: Drew Schmalz and Nick Schmidt
Mastered by Greg Reierson
Musicians:
Vocals: Katie Doffing & Kristen Thomas
Piano: Kristen Thomas
Acoustic Guitar: Stephen Helvig
Pedal Steel: Joe Savage
Bass: Jai Bowie
Electric Guitar: Ian Lew
Drums: Timothy Java (Blue Eyed Baby, Material Girl, You Were The One) & Mark Puder (Waiting at the Door, Forever & A Day).

Michelle Bergh

stephen — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 15:52:27 +0000

The past two years I’ve had the pleasure of working with Michelle Bergh, currently the “Miss Minnesota Preteen” title-holder. Michelle is very talented and has accomplished a lot for being so young. She previously was the “Miss Preteen National Sweetheart” and is VERY active with volunteer work. Just check out her website to see all the community service projects she’s involved in. Michelle came to Droptone looking for someone to start developing her musical talent. I met with Michelle and her mother, Donna, and together we talked about Michelle’s influences and aspirations. Once I had a good feel for Michelle’s abilities, I began crafting music that I felt would best represent Michelle’s persona as well as meet her stylistic expectations.
Michelle and I talked about a variety of lyrical subjects that I could write about for her. I used some of our conversation to craft a lyric idea and then started writing the music. I focused on up-beat, danceable, melodic pop music. For her first two songs, I stayed entirely electronic and relied on our extensive sample library to create some really unique textures for Michelle to sing on. But for the third, “All I Need,” I combined those same electronic samples with real musicians. I was going for another up-beat, dance tune, but I also wanted a “Taylor Swift” pop/country feel. I played acoustic guitar and bass, but decided to hire some extra help. Mark Puder played drums, Patrick Vogl brought the piano, and Joe Savage provided the pedal steel. The results speak for themselves. All the session musicians did excellent jobs and provided the right balance between country and mainstream pop music.
Michelle Bergh by Michelle Bergh
Vocally, Michelle is taking all the right steps to develop her talent. Michelle trains with a voice teacher regularly and also performs publicly when she can. This being Michelle’s first recording experience, I acted as her in-studio vocal coach. I made sure to write vocal melodies and harmonies that were within her range and ability. I then played the melodies on piano and left them in the music so she could always have a reference track to practice with. When we tracked her vocals, we broke the song down into smaller sections which allowed Michelle to focus on single phrases rather than the whole thing. These techniques helped us achieve a much higher level of quality and also kept the entire experience stress-free and enjoyable. Michelle always came in very prepared and confident. She was an absolute pleasure to work with and I am very impressed with her rate of improvement. I look forward to hearing what she does next. Download her 3 songs at iTunes. Michelle is a client of Oryon Media Artists and Privileged Models.

Culture Cry Wolf – “Día de los Muertos”

stephen — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 16:10:57 +0000

Culture Cry Wolf came into Droptone in January 2011 to start production of their debut studio album, Día de los Muertos. Produced by both David Kellogg and myself (Stephen Helvig), this album has made an impact in both the hip/hop and punk rock scenes. Culture Cry Wolf is comprised of 6 members and about 16 genres. Their sound borrows from punk, hip/hop, reggae, ska, doo-wop, and cumbia among others. That’s what made this album especially enticing for David and I – it allowed us to collectively work in areas that we excel in. From hip/hop grooved drum-loops to big, guitar-heavy hooks, this album called for lots of different production and recording techniques and gives every listener something to appreciate.
Take a minute to watch some behind the scenes footage in Droptone Studio:

This album started like most – with the drums. The guys in CCW brought in pre-made scratch tracks that they could record to and we dug into getting drums. Each song was tailored for its individual needs. For some, we created live drum loops, for others, we kept great-feel takes and natural dynamics. We really enjoyed hearing some of the raucous tracks come alive when we added a room mic for depth about 20 feet away and 15 feet high. After drums we put down bass and guitars. We tracked each musician individually, carefully crafting the right tones and textures for the varying styles. Trumpet, auxiliary percussion, and vocals followed. We really warmed up the the piercing latin trumpet lines with our Beyerdynamic ribbon mic sent through our 6176. We put extra effort in experimenting with trumpet harmonies, vocal arrangements and harmonies, and tracking tons of extra percussion toys. CCW also invited Sims, a member of Doomtree, to lay a vocal on “Second Wind.” All these elements really helped bring definition and a unique identity to Día de los Muertos. Needless to say, we loved making this record and the band was inspiring to work with. The creativity brought forth throughout this project by the hard work of everyone involved deserves a listen. Once you’re convinced, head over to iTunes and buy your copy.

Find out when the next show is or buy some CCW merch at www.culturecrywolf.com
Culture Cry Wolf is:
Mike Daly – Vocals/Guitar
Botzy – Emcee
Jaime Peláez – Auxiliary Percussion
Druby Soho – Bass
Frankie Blydenburgh – Drums
Kyle Borchert – Trumpet
Daniel De la Torre – Trumpet/Guitars (on the album)
Album Credits:
All songs performed and arranged by Culture Cry Wolf
All songs written by Mike Daly
All lyrics by Botzy and Mike Daly
Additional drums by Paul Mathis and Jaime Peláez
Sims on “Second Wind” appears courtesy of Doomtree
Produced by David Kellogg and Stephen Helvig
Mixed and Recorded by David Kellogg and Stephen Helvig at Droptone Studio, Excelsior, MN
Mastered by Greg Reierson at Rare Form Mastering, Minneapolis, MN
Check out what others have said about Culture Cry Wolf’s debut album:
City Pages Review
Above Ground Magazine
Music Videos:

Mikel Wright & The Wrongs – “We Get Down”

stephen — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 21:23:45 +0000

Droptone is pleased to announce the release of Mikel Wright & The Wrong’s first album, “We Get Down.” This was an incredibly fun project and we enjoyed the opportunity to work with some very talented local musicians. Since 2007, Mikel Wright has been building his fan-base with his progressive beach-funk sound. This album captured elements of their high-energy, danceable live shows, but also highlighted Mikel’s singer-songwriter abilities. From brass and guitar-driven “We Get Down” to the smooth, grooving ballad “Angel,” Mikel Wright & The Wrongs have impressive tunes that are sure to get you on the dance-floor and singing along.

We Get Down by Mikel Wright & The Wrongs

“We Get Down” was recorded over the last several months. Each song began with drums, bass, keys, and the rhythm guitar all playing together. This allowed us to capture the “live” feel of the band, but ultimately keep ideal isolation for the best sound quality. Once we decided on the overall take with the best feel, we made any necessary punches/edits and started overdubbing guitars, keys, percussion and sax. Everyone did a great job adding different flavors to each track. Mikel and Chris Hunnicutt laid down their respective vocal tracks and that was the bulk of the recording process. It was easy and enjoyable to work with everyone involved with MW&TW. Take a moment to listen to the tracks and then head on over to mikelwrightandthewrongs.com to find out when their next show is. You won’t regret it.

Credits:
Vocals: Mikel Wright and Chris Hunnicutt
Acoustic Guitar: Mikel Wright
Drums: Joe Diaz (Nathan Miller & Unstoppable Co. & Debra G Band and Pancho Lopez (Blue Print)
Bass: Chris Hunnicutt (PB & The Jam)
Keys: Trey Grimm
Electric Guitar: Aaron Peterson (Cymatic, WBPN, & Sovereign Sect) and Zach Mullan (Shoeless Revolution & Bigtree Bonsai)
Saxaphone: Ben Peterson (Shoeless Revolution & Bigtree Bonsai)
Aux Percussion: Teeto Miller (John Wayne and the Pain)
Additional Vocals: Deploi on “Vision”

Ariel Strasser

stephen — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 21:55:49 +0000

Last summer I had the sincere pleasure of working with singer/songwriter Ariel Strasser. A recent graduate of The Boston Conservatory, Ari is an up-and-coming artist from St. Paul, Minnesota. Ari is deeply rooted in music. Her father, Tamás Strasser, is a violist in the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, her mother, Anne Strasser, is a violinist and manager of Crocus Hill Trio, and her step-father, Peter Douglas, teaches Bassoon at the University of St. Thomas and played professionally in the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. It’s no surprise that Ari has developed a talent for singing and writing that is catching the attention of many. With an honest voice and a unique pen, Ari crafted 4 songs here at Droptone. With the help of her parents and friends, Ari’s songs are decorated with varying textures. Ari played piano on all the songs, but we added a string quartet, drums, and various percussion to Good Night, Rounds, and The Void.
We started the recording process with some scratch tracks Ari recorded at home. We then recorded drums with Scott Horey and percussion with Fernando Meza, the director of percussion at the University of Minnesota. Once the rhythm section was done, we set the room up for a string quartet, consisting of Anne Strasser (Violin – Crocus Hill Trio), Julia Persitz (Violin – MN Sinfonia, MN Opera), Tamás Strasser (Viola – Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra), and Julia Morehouse (Cello – Duluth Superior Symphony). We had quite a room full of talent that day.

Day 2 consisted of tracking all the piano parts and starting on vocals. Day 3 was wrapping up vocals and mixing the songs. I couldn’t be happier with the experience of working with Ari and the end result. Take a listen and you’ll hear the delicate nature and the warmth that emanates from each note. I hope you enjoy.

Check out more shows, videos, and information at www.arielstrasser.com.
You can also check out Ari on Reverb Nation.

Credits:
Music, Lyrics, and Arrangements by Ariel Strasser
Piano/Vocals – Ariel Strasser
Drums – Scotty Horey
Percussion – Fernando Meza
Violin – Anne Strasser
Violin – Julia Persitz
Viola – Tamás Strasser
Cello – Julia Morehouse
Producer/Engineer – Stephen Helvig

Samuel Crown – “Dream My Way Up”

stephen — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:09:51 +0000

Samuel Crown has released a new E.P. “Dream My Way Up,” a collection of 5 songs recorded over the past year. Ranging from electronic, synth-based dance tunes to bare-bones acoustic ballads, Samuel Crown covers a lot of territory.

Toni Adedeji, whose stage name is Samuel Crown, got started recording at Droptone nearly a year ago. Toni plays piano and guitar and is featured on both instruments for this project. Toni is a strong musician and a great songwriter. I had a great time working with him. He brought a lot of great ideas to the studio and together we assembled an EP we both are very proud of.

We started by putting together the basic rhythm guitar track or piano track for each song. We then discussed the direction for each song and slowly pieced in missing elements. We were careful about every detail along the way: the key, the tempo, the right textures, the recording approach. Nothing went undiscussed to make sure every song got the full treatment.

For the drums, we hired Timothy Java to help us out. Tim is a fantastic session drummer and really added an amazing dynamic to these songs. While I did the original programming for all the drum songs, Tim was able to bring the songs to life and add a feel that only a professional drummer is capable of. Toni played piano and guitar in all songs and he invited his friend Joe Frappert for some lead guitar work on “Haunting Me” and “Above It All.” Joe’s lead guitar skills are solid and it was a pleasure to have him add so much color and intensity to those songs. I took care of the bass work and arranged and programmed the strings for “Fairy Tale.” Toni and I both contributed additional synth parts to “I Wish I Never Met You” and “Dream My Way Up.” Toni also invited the talented Ariel Strasser to sing harmonies on a few of his songs. Ari has a beautiful voice that blended well with Toni’s. Make sure to listen to their duet on “Above It All.” I’d also like to mention my intern, Drew Schmalz who helped greatly towards the end of this project with both arrangements and mixes.

To check out more on Samuel Crown, visit his facebook here.

If you enjoy these tunes, be a true music fan and PURCHASE THE MUSIC ON iTUNES.

The Sota Boys – “MistleFlow”

stephen — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:27:47 +0000

The Sota Boys are back to follow-up their album “Always Say Always” with a Christmas EP, “MistleFlow”. The EP consists of 5 songs, 4 of which are originals, and one of which is a Sota Boy twist on George Michael’s classic “Last Christmas”. The project includes featured vocals from Jarryd Haag, who has helped produce & write several Sota Boys instrumentals; The DL Show, who bring a uniquely heartfelt swagger to “Last Christmas”; and former American Idol contestant Nels Leafblad, who lends a powerful vocal to the choruses of “Christmas Forever”, “Coming Home”, and “The Christmas Jam”. Altogether, there is a spirit of celebration throughout the album; with plenty of fun Christmas cliches, coupled with moments of tenderness and emotion that bring it back to the real reason they celebrate (“The Reason”). The songs are really catchy and bring a unique flavor to the Christmas genre, and the boys once again had a blast recording it at Droptone.
Check it out on iTunes here.

Visit the Sota Boys on Facebook.

The Sota Boys – “Always Say Always”

stephen — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:39:43 +0000

The Sota Boys are a local pop/hip-hop group managed by Droptone intern Drew Schmalz. The group consists of members Brent Haglund, Jesse Johnson, and BJ Skoog, with occasional features from some of their friends. This past summer, we had the privilege of producing their first full-length album, “Always Say Always”. This was their first project since their debut EP back in 2009, so the boys were excited to get to work. The goal of this album was variety. They wanted to stick to their signature sound of clean pop vocals mixed with energetic rap verses, but they also wanted to try some new twists on this project. The result was 13 catchy pop tracks that dip into several genres, including country (“Wanted”), dubstep (“Star Steppin’”), rock (“Spotlight”), dance (“Club Sota”) and more. They also tried to vary the subject matter, from love songs (“Synths I Met You”, “Heartbreaker”) to overcoming haters (“Phazers”) to just plain nonsense (“Do The Monster”). The Sota Boys try to give their all to their music without taking themselves too seriously, and Always Say Always does a good job of capturing this mindset. They had a blast in the studio during their sessions, and have since returned to follow up their album with an EP of original Christmas songs, “MistleFlow”, to be released 12/1/11. They plan to keep writing new music while promoting themselves more and more locally, and hope to continue working with Droptone on future projects. Check out a few of their videos below and make sure to head over to iTunes and pick up your copy today.

The Sota Boys on Facebook

The Sota Boys on iTunes

Vision The Kid – “Lost Summer”

stephen — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:05:22 +0000

Over the last several months we’ve been fortunate enough to track and mix Vision The Kid’s upcoming album “Lost Summer”. Together with Producer Ryan Tru Truax, making this album has been an amazingly eclectic adventure. Our pristine signal chain met its match with Vision’s lyrics and incredibly syncopated delivery. A master of minimal takes, his gift to rip through verses made the whole recording experience feel more like having a box seat in the front row of a concert. We our very proud of this album for its content, sound, and the talent these guys showcased in our studio. The release party and performance is tonight at Honey. Come down and celebrate with Vision, Tru, Droptone and all the fans.
Visit Vision The Kid’s webiste.

Watch Vision’s music videos off the Lost Summer album: