mark berlin +++ producer/engineer

Well fall is finally here, and I’m pushing myself to see how long I can keep riding my bike as the temperatures keep waning. Last year I don’t think I made it much lower than 60 degrees, so I’m already way past that this year.

Meanwhile, I continue to be busy, mostly with work at the Snowdome, aka my apartment.

I am still mixing the LMNOP record. (Seems like that’s been going on forever). In case you don’t know, LMNOP consists of two fellas, Mark and Nick, who play kinda spooky yet thoroughly dancey electro(nic)-rock. Its sortra like going to a Depeche Mode concert, and then having a nightmare about it later in your sleep.

Adam Fitz has also spent some time at my place. He’s a Chicago native with enough soul in his voice to make babies cry. He recorded a live-in-the-studio record a while back at Wall to Wall and has been mixing it with me at the Snowdome.

There are some other things going on too, but not as intersting, so I won’t bore you with them here. However, I’ve been on a kick of listening to old Sonny Rollins recently. He doesn’t quite have the on-the-edge-about-to-explode thing that Coltrane does, but damn is he lyrical.

i took a little trip to calilfornia to see some friends take a break.

now that i’m back, things are getting busy again! here are some things i am working on:

sam winch came down from appleton, wisconsin to play westfest and recorded a few new songs with me at gravity.

i’m beginning to mix the new ep by lmnop, dance!magik!fancy! that will be released on paribus records. they recorded the record at their apartment in pilsen, and i’m mixing it at the snowdome.

filligar is finishing up overdubs for their new full-length with me at gravity.

sally plays tonight at subterranean in chicago to help celebrate the release of arks new record on highwheel records, the international.

this is a guide i wrote for helping bands who are interested in using a click track in the studio, but have little or no experience. it is by no means the “end-all manual” on the subject, but serves as a good primer to get you started. any comments are welcome.

Click tracks are not for every band. But for a band that wants to ensure that a song or a section of a song stays at a constant tempo, a click track can be very helpful. This is a guide to help bands who are planning on going into the studio and do not quite know how to go about getting well skilled playing with a click track.

This article will not deal with determining whether your band should or should not use a click track. Each band’s situation is different, and the decision should be made by you, possibly with the help of your producer and/or engineer. That being said…

The things you will need: a source and an output. The source can be something as simple as a handheld metronome or drum machine (make sure it has an output you can plug into), or as fancy as a laptop with software that can generate a metronome. I prefer using a computer with some kind of sequencer, i.e. Reason, Pro Tools, Digital Performer. Software based sequencers tend give you greater flexibility over tempo increments, click sound, accents, and tempo maps (more on those later).
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i finally got my computer back from apple. i had to send out my g4 powerbook because the fans stopped working. it took two weeks for them to fix it, which is why i haven’t updated this page in a while.

nevertheless i have been busy. sally’s new lp, titled “long live the new flesh” is complete! we finished mixing a few weeks ago, and had it mastered by jason ward at chicago mastering service. its a new mastering facility in chicago, although jason and bob weston, who run it together, have been involved in the scene for a long time.

the record comes out june 21 on paribus records, and we play a release show that night at the empty bottle.

i got a copy of the arks record. the artwork, designed by singer/guitarist by night, cartoonist by day, paul hornschemeier, looks great!

sam winch, aka the lullabadeer, came down from appleton, wisconsin this week to do some more recording for his upcoming full-length. we’ve been working on the record on and off for several months now, and i’m super excited about it. much of the recorded has been recorded “live”, including most of sam’s lead vocals. this week we overdubed cello, piano, a horn section (trumpet, trombone, sousophone), and a little upright bass. we even squeezed in a live band take of a new song.

sally mixed six more songs for the new lp.

i’ll be finishing mixing for the metapuffs lp this weekend.

i also received a copy of brett ryan stewart’s record which i mixed at the snowdome this past winter. it was mixed “in the box” on a digi 002 and mastered by jim demain at yes master. it sounds great and you’d never be able to tell it was mixed all in pro tools!

and for everyone doing their taxes, here’s your chance to not pay for the war!

working on a lot of stuff recently!

the arks record is done and has been mastered. it sounds great!

my band, sally mixed a few songs at gravity for our upcoming full-length. most of it was tracked over four days with greg norman at electrical audio. charlie recorded the vocals himself with my digi 002 and an sm57 at home and our rehearsal space. we’re super excited about the record and can’t wait to finish it!

i also did some mixing for the metapuffs for their upcoming full-length, as well as lmnop for their upcoming paribus records release. both great bands! lmnop plays tonight at the empty bottle with sally’s own charlie deets for free!

time to get some rest!

i mastered two records this week, the goodluck boys and sub rosa.

the goodluck boys are marcus staniec and sam lilly, two expat friends of mine who live in tokyo, japan. their music incorporates a lot of traditional japanese folk instruments and sounds into their own special kind of freeform songwriting. as always, there’s a lot of really cool music going on in japan. here’s two japanese bands i’ve been digging on recently: ooioo and violent onsen geisha.

i’m having a birthday party tonight! it’s at ronny’s and presented by paribus records. charlie deets, lmnop, menowah, and the selfsame perform!

mixed six more songs for the arks record, tentatively titled the international. everything is sounding great and the guys are getting some good mario kart practice while i toil away in the control room.

sally went into the beautiful electrical audio this past weekend to record the bulk of our new full-length. greg norman manned the controls and did an amazing job. not only is he an excellent engineer, but also a swell guy. it was so nice actually being able to ‘be in the band’ for once and not have to worry about pushing any buttons! i was able to sit on the couch, eat sour patch kids, and occasionally chime in on the talkback. hopefully we’ll be done the record this month.