The main thing we have to offer is a convenient way to have me record on your project when it is not practical for me to fly with my percussion to you. I have been blessed with a great home in Shaker Heights 10 min from the center of Cleveland Ohio. My recording space is what amounts to a ballroom on the 3rd floor of our home; a completely open space in a large “L” shaped room. Many artists have recording gear but few have rooms that feel and sound this good, the sound is lovely. My good friend and engineer *Dale Peters (bassist from the classic rock band “The James Gang”) has a great pair of ears and a creative music sensibility. Dale has a organize a wonderful remote recording set up that allows him to stay flexible and cost effective. We have a wide selection of microphones and large and small monitor speakers. The space is large enough to record small groups live as well. There is a great sounding Yamaha grand piano and a few guitar and bass amps that everybody seems to like.
The main focus for doing this was to be able to keep on collaborating with my musical colleges from around the world after moving from NYC. There are always new collaborations and new artists to share a musical experience with and I always look forward to that. Some projects offer a natural fit for the facilities and my musical vision of what works for me, others may not. The most honest way to approach this is to simply make a connection, have a talk and share some music and some feelings about the spirit and sound of the project.
Most importantly, I love and feel it is sacred to share music as a group in real time. But being a multi-percussionist interested in painting a sonic panoramic musical view makes the ability to overdub a necessity (after the basic tracks have been recorded). When I lived in NYC, carting a small portion of my available instruments with the help of a cartage company, paying for the studio, the engineer and me… can get costly. By offering the studio in my home, I have access to hundreds of my instruments and the comfort of a no stress environment that is pleasant to work in, for a price that is much more affordable. Half of the instruments I would never travel with because they are too costly to ship and fragile, but they sound great in my house.
Since the decline of the recording industry most artists are finding out that it is better to grow your own. Selling your own recordings over the web and grass roots networks can be very profitable. Depending on where your home is, Hong Kong, Marrakech or Nashville, it may not be practical for me to get to you with my gear or for you to get to me in Shaker Heights, but you are welcome. If you have music that you think I might sound good on, just sent it to me as a MP3 and we can discuss our options and see what makes a good fit. Whether you can be with us at the recording or not, it is still possible to get your feed back by sending you rough mixes of the recording as we are doing it, that seems to be rather painless and convenient. We can also SKYPE as the session is going on as well.
