Subterranean Recording

Mystics With a Craft and the Ghosts of Celebritism

2010-02-07T19:02:00.040-07:00

In September of 1992 I performed at the Bumbershoot music festival at the Seattle fairgrounds with the Lost Angel Stone Ensemble. When we finished our performance we packed up our van with all of our ritual objects and were told we would have to wait to leave the grounds with an escort behind Michelle Shocked, a well known folksinger of the day (the only access was the sidewalk which was packed with people and just wide enough for one vehicle). Michelle was talking politics to a small crowd from a band shell stage behind the venue where we had just played. When her discussion was finished she stepped down and I thought "Great, we're on our way". But then, most of the crowd came up to talk to her, and she stopped and talked to each of them, and shook their hands one to the next, and forty-five minutes later she finally made it the twenty feet to her limo.

In the midst of my impatience I had an epiphany: All my life I had the ambition-even the expectation-to become a celebrated touring and recording artist. However, at that moment, I realized that I could never do what I had just witnessed this woman do. I did not have the constellation to be even remotely that generous with myself or my time. Did this revelation depress me? Quite the contrary, it was liberating. I realized that I could pursue other music-related paths that were compelling and available to me, but without the need of being the center of attention. It was as if I had just dropped a huge burden from my shoulders.

In Tibet, India, and other parts of the eastern world, young people who are chosen or feel called to become spiritual leaders of their people are taught the skill to take on this task from a very early age. If they fulfill this destiny (like the Dalai Lama for instance), people flock to them by the thousands to experience in their presence a doorway to the world of the unconscious. But these teachers learn from childhood that as they grow older, their life will be a life in the service of others, every moment of every day, to be a selfless conduit and compass to help others to find the way to their own souls.

The late Joseph Campbell said "Artists are mystics with a craft". And so it is in the west that artists who achieve notoriety in a myriad of disciplines: film, theater, music, literature, and the visual arts, are overwhelmed by their adoring public much in the same way as spiritual leaders in the east. But, for the most part, they have no training to deal with being in such a position. They stand as a window to the world of the soul, but in many cases their motivation for pursuing such a role are the legendary riches and fame that accompany such a life, without even the faintest notion of the generosity of spirit that is required of them in return, at the very least for them to play the part gracefully.

The Swiss Psychologist Carl Jung coined a phrase "You've suffered a success", because he had so many patients come to him in the midst of psychological crisis or depression who had just experienced some great accolade or financial triumph. He found that the psyche dealt with the situation by catapulting the personality to the opposite extreme in order to maintain a compensatory equilibrium. Even though I was intellectually aware of this when I won my first Grammy, a few weeks after the initial elation of the event I fell into a psychological black hole that took some months to climb out of.

In much the same way that soldiers experience repeated trauma witnessing and experiencing the horrors of war, young people who are exalted to the status of celebrity (with no preparation for such a thing) experience a repeated trauma of a different sort, but disturbing to the personality and nervous system in a similar way. What often follows is an addiction to a consistent gush of mass approval much like a drug fix, which is why so many resort to drugs and alcohol as their careers decline.

In many cases the personality becomes crystallized or fixed at the very moment they are born to stardom. This was clearly visible in the life of the late Micheal Jackson, who retained many aspects of his childhood personality as an adult. I've observed this myself on many occasions. Some years ago I had to deal with a rock star in his 60's who achieved fame quite young. He behaved like a pathetic and abusive 17-year-old bully in his treatment of those around him.

Actor Hugh Grant stated in an interview that he had lost the ability to generate self-esteem, and depended on his adoring public for his feeling of well-being. He compared it to a hypo-thyroid condition, as if the organ that generated such feelings had shut down. Adam Duritz of the band Counting Crows explores this phenomena in the 1990's hit "Mr. Jones" when he states "when everybody loves you, you will never be lonely". I once gave an illustrious rock personage a lift to a gig who had achieved stardom in the 1970's, but seemed more gracefully adapted and adjusted to his situation than most. We spent an hour in the car together on the way to the show and he was a little surly, seemingly depressed, and not much interested in conversation. However, as soon as we arrived at the venue his personality did a complete and instant 180 degree turnaround, and suddenly I was treated like his best friend and he enthusiastically introduced me to his band and road crew. I believe this change in his personality occurred because he was on the threshold of the one experience that made him feel truly alive, that of standing before an adoring audience.

Of course many of those who have "greatness thrust upon them" have mature and grounded enough personalities to weather this psychological storm, and even learn to thrive in the midst of it. Such celebrities often gracefully carry this role forward into their old age. But just as common (if not more so) are those who crash and burn in the flames of drug and alcohol addiction and personal dysfunction. Whether celebrities as a group suffer more psychological difficulties than any other group of humans is hard to say, but their problems are unique to their situation.

I find very curious the ancient and primitive archetypes that are still at play in our culture's obsession with celebrity. With the popes and royalty of old, much was projected on such leaders with regards to their influence on the well-being of the collective culture, and if they failed in their role the consequences were often violent and extreme. The higher the pedestal the further the fall, as in the case of golfer Tiger Woods, who was recently crucified by the media and his fans for not maintaining his bigger-and-more-virtuous-than-life illusion. The same holds true for our political leaders...the oval office...the hot seat.

I admire the way David Byrne illustrated this notion in the Talking Head's film "Stop Making Sense" by wearing a bigger-than-life suit. It seemed such a playful and sane acknowledgment of the role he had accepted.

The Brilliance and Tragedy of the Tempered Scale

2010-02-02T23:10:00.001-07:00

The tempered scale is a construct of our European forefathers of an equal division of the octave into 12 parts. They did this to solve the problems of harmony, yes, but many say also to make their cosmology seem synchronous: 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 months of the year, 12 apostles etc. But in creating this construct (which I believe was brilliant in many respects) they deviated from nature in a very consequential way.

The pure overtone series of the vibrating string (which is the model of nature they started with in the first place) has dramatic tuning discrepancies with the tempered scale. This can be illustrated with a guitar and an electronic tuner by comparing the harmonics of a major 3rd and major 6th with fretted notes of the same intervals. The third is 14 cents sharp of the true 3rd in the overtone series, and the 6th is 16 cents sharp when compared to its pure counterpart (very painful), and those are only two of the intervals with significant problems.

The most common alternative to tempered tuning is called Just Intonation. However, chord harmony that is ubiquitous in tempered tuning is very limited in this system. If one wants to compose something in Just Intonation, one needs to screw on a very different cap (and maybe use some different instruments or gadgets as well).

Entire musical forms that we love and take for granted would never have existed without the equal-tempered scale. I use it myself on a regular basis knowing full well it is a deviation from the natural model it was derived from.
But my ear will always long for the beauty of a true (or just) interval of a third, and lament the compromise of equal-temperament.

Testimonials

2010-02-02T22:54:00.004-07:00

"The artist and the producer have to be team players. When you work with someone with a like mind like Tom , he completes the team. He has a sensibility and a sensitivity to an artist and their needs. And, he's a nice guy, easy to work with. He also plays so many instruments he's like a one-man-band."
Mary Youngblood, two-time Grammy-winning recording artist

“If traditional players ever seek to lift their music up out of antiquity and lend it modern resonance, they should just go to producer and multi-instrumentalist Tom Wasinger.”
John Diliberto, Echos on NPR

“Tom is definitely one-of-a-kind. He works with a palette of sounds unlike anybody else out there and he uses them very tastefully. But he’s not just being exotic or different for the sake of being different, he makes it fit.”
James Marienthal, Silver Wave Records

At the 2009 Grammys

2010-02-02T22:32:00.002-07:00

Tom & his son Rainer at the 2009 Grammys

Microphones

2010-01-29T23:30:00.001-07:00

When the first condenser microphones (or capacitor microphones as they are known in Europe) hit the recording world in the 1950’s they were a revelation. They brought definition and presence to the sibilance of vocal tracks and things with lots of high–end content like cymbals. This was because the analog recording machines of the time were under-achievers in this area, so one got a more accurate picture of organic sound with this type of microphone.
With the advent of digital recording, condenser microphones generally provided a very hyped up high-end response in this new format, but people kept using them because that’s what they were used to, and because they liked the “sizzle”. But in digital recording they painted a highly inaccurate picture of many things.
So over the last couple of decades some of my favorite microphones for use in digital recording are ribbon mics. They were the microphone of choice before the advent of condensers, and now with digital recording they often provide a much more organic sound for many things. For example, if you put a condenser mic on a hand drum, you get lots of the slap of the hand against the skin, but you lose much of the body and warmth of the instrument. If you try a dynamic mic the sound is closer to the real thing but a little lack luster on top. But a good ribbon mic will provide much of the definition of a condenser while still reaching out and grabbing the warmth of the bottom. Or, on a close-miked violin a ribbon will give you less of the scratch of the bow on the string, and more of the beauty of the body of the instrument.
I still use condensers for plucked stringed instruments like acoustic guitars, wind instruments (but not reeds or brass), and vocals (although I’ve used a ribbon on my own voice before), and drum overheads (to catch the brilliance of cymbals). I use dynamic mics only on close-miked loud drums, and for most other things I like ribbons.

Analog vs. Digital Recording

2010-01-29T23:27:00.000-07:00

At some point n the 1990’s I sold the last of my analog recording machines. Cut and paste digital editing had completely changed the way I worked. I could take any of the myriad of instruments I had compulsively collected, start working on a phrase I heard in my head, and record it over a click track numerous times until I played it as I heard it. I would then lay it in the piece in the appropriate spot. So that even if my skill on a particular instrument was limited, I could eventually get what I was looking for. Such a non-linear approach to recording and arranging musical parts was a revelation for me. This in combination with the plethora of other technical advantages of software-based recording eventually confirmed my preference for digital recording.

On an environmental level I also could no longer rationalize the formidable power consumption of analog recording machines and mixing consoles. There is also the issue of inconsistent frequency response related to head calibration and tape formulations etc. (including the common bump at 20 – 80 Hz.).

I still prefer the sound of analog recording for loud music, but since the technology of noise reduction slowed after the introduction of digital recording devices, I prefer digital recording for quiet music (as some tape noise is still an issue even with the best noise reduction schemes).

Resources

2010-01-28T09:59:00.001-07:00

Boulder, Colorado boasts one of the world's best mastering facilities...Airshow Mastering. So if you want to make the best sounding recording possible, you might want to consider letting them get their hands on it, and they're great folks as well.

My favorite pro-audio dealer is Wind Over the Earth. You won't find a better deal anywhere and they take good care of you.

Many musical instrument shops are run by frustrated musicians who've grown older and jaded and cynical, but not Robb's Boulder Music. They are young, enthusiastic, they love music and sound, and they carry many wonderful instruments and gadgets that can be used to create it.

Grace Design makes the world's best (in my opinion) microphone preamps and other wonderful gadgets for recording sound. I use nothing else. Since microphones and mic preamps are probably the most important components in the signal path if you're trying to record sound, you might want to consider checking them out.

In the software recording world some of my favorite plug-ins are from Steven Massey. Beautiful sounding compressors/limiters and EQ's.

Bowed Strings

2010-01-28T09:09:00.001-07:00

Pictured here first are a pair of West African rebabs (primitive two string fiddles), then a Turkish spike fiddle, followed by a bass viol da gamba which I bought damaged and repaired. I usually tune the third string of this instrument up one semitone and play it like a bowed guitar. And finally we have not a bowed string instrument, but actually a bowed tine instrument: a nail violin. Larry Pogreba and I built this from an 18th century illustration.

Discography (including links to samples/downloads)

2010-01-27T23:06:00.006-07:00

To hear audio samples, or to purchase many of these titles go to: Silver Wave Records.
Additional audio samples and downloads are available from : iTunes, emusic, and Rhapsody.

AS PRODUCER:
The World Sings Goodnight (Silver Wave, 1993)
International lullabies sung by 33 different singers.

The World Sings Goodnight 2 (Silver Wave, 1995)
A sequel to the above.

Matriarch Joanne Shenandoah (Silver Wave, 1996)
Iroquois women’s songs. Winner: Indie Award 1997.

Under the Green Corn Moon (Silver Wave, 1998)
Native American lullabies sung by 17 different singers.
Winner: American Library Association Award 1999.

Orenda Joanne Shenandoah and Lawrence Laughing
(Silver Wave, 1998) Traditional Native American songs.
Winner:Nammy Award 1999.

Call it What it Is Lee Nestor (Move/Polygram, 1999)
Mainstream rock.

Heart of the World Mary Youngblood (Silver Wave,
1999) Contemporary Native American flute compositions.
Winner:Indie Award 2000, Nammy Award 2000,
Amazon.com Award 2000, New Age Voice Award 2000.

Peacemaker’s Journey Joanne Shenandoah
(Silver Wave, 2000) Contemporary Native American
compositions. Grammy nominee 2000, Winner: Indie
Award 2001, two Nammy Awards 2001 including
“Best Producer”.

The Prophecy of the Eagle and the Condor Tito La
Rosa (Silver Wave, 2001) Contemporary Peruvian compositions,
with guest artist Mary Youngblood.

Eagle Cries Joanne Shenandoah (Paras/Red Feather,
2001) Folk/Rock, with guest artists
Neil Young, Bill Miller and Bruce Cockburn.

Beneath the Raven Moon Mary Youngblood
(Silver Wave, 2002) Contemporary Native American
Flute Compositions. Winner: Grammy Award 2003,
Indie Award 2003.

Sisters Maisie Shenandoah and Elizabeth Robert
(Silver Wave, 2003) Oneida Iroquois Hymns with guest
artist Joanne Shenandoah.

Feed the Fire Mary Youngblood
(Silver Wave, 2004) Contemporary Native American
Flute Compositions. With guest artist Ian Anderson.
Grammy nominee 2005, Winner: Nammy award 2005
for “Best Producer”

Sky Woman Joanne Shenandoah (Silver Wave, 2005)
Orchestral compostitions based on Native American
themes.

Dance with the Wind Mary Youngblood (Silver Wave,
2006) Contemporary Native American Flute
Compositions. Winner: Grammy Award 2007

Horizons Andy Schiller (Omega 13, 2007)

Contemporary classical guitar

Come to Me Great Mystery Various artists singing traditional
Native American songs. (Silver Wave, 2008)
Winner: Grammy Award 2009

Earth Gift Kevin Locke (Ixtlan Recording Consortium, 2008)
traditional Native American songs. Winner: Nammy award 2009
for "Record of the Year"

I Believe Khalid Ghayur(Move, 2009)
Pakistani pop/dance music

A Volta Johnny O (Johnny O Band Publishing, 2009)
Brazilian Jazz

Brighter Days Coming Orange Free State (Vohnic, 2010)
Rock/Pop

Watch for Wildlife Watch for Wildlife (2011)
Psychedelic Rock

Open Your Heart Mark Thunderwolf (Ancient Winds, 2011)
Contemporary Native American flute compositions

Something I've Been Missing Anna Lisa Hughes (2011)
Blues, Rock, Latin Jazz

Lifegivers Joanne Shenandoah (2011)
Contemporary Native American vocal compositions

Long Story Short Sarah Kelton (2012)
Folk, Country, Pop

AS PRODUCER /ARTIST:

Paradox Found Tom Wasinger (Myth Informed,
1985) Vocal compositions.

Rock Music Tom Wasinger (Invincible, 1989) Music
composed from the sounds of resonating stones.

Track to Bumbliwa Tom Wasinger and James Harvey
(Silver Wave, 1991) Compositions in collaboration with
the Australian Aboriginals.

Many Moons Tom and Susan Wasinger (Silver Wave,
1995) Vocal compositions.

Angels in the Wilderness Tom and Susan Wasinger
(Myth Informed/Silver Wave, 2007) Vocal compositions.

Bio

2010-01-27T23:02:00.001-07:00

T O M W A S I N G E R is a composer, arranger, producer, and multi-instrumentalist based in Boulder, Colorado.
Tom has received three GRAMMY AWARDS as producer of the “Best Native American Music Album” in 2003 and 2007, and 2009. Tom also produced two other GRAMMY nominated records, one in 2001, and another in 2005.
Tom’s first commercial success as a producer came in 1994 when his collection of international lullabies “The World Sings Goodnight” reached #3 on the Billboard World Music chart. This collection has since been licensed by National Geographic for the release “Lullabies, Dream Songs From Around the World”.
For other recordings Tom has received four A.F.I.M. Indie awards (American Federation of Independent Music), five NAMA Nammy awards (Native American Music Association) including best producer for 2001 and 2005, as well as awards from Amazon.com, the American Library Association, and New Age Voice.
Please see discography for award details.
As a composer, Tom wrote the score for the feature length mountain biking film “Tread”, and the scores for numerous commercial short films. His music has been used in programming and syndicated programming on ABC, NBC, CBS, HBO, ESPN, and Animal Planet.
He has also been commissioned to compose music for prominent modern dance companies including Llory Wilson and Dancers of Seattle, and Helander Dance Theatre of Boulder, Colorado.
Tom has performed live in concert halls around the world from Carnegie Hall in New York to the Cemal Resit Rey Concert Hall in Istanbul Turkey.
Tom builds experimental musical instruments and is the founder of
“The Lost Angel Stone Ensemble”, the world’s only touring ensemble of resonating stone instruments.
Tom and his music have been featured twice on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered”.
As an educator Tom has taught music privately since 1976, and has been a guest lecturer at the University of Colorado/Boulder and the University of Colorado/Denver.

Studio Big Room

2010-01-27T22:37:00.000-07:00

This is one of the most beautiful sounding rooms in the world for recording anything that makes noise, especially drums. Large live room, high ceilings, no parallel surfaces including ceiling to floor.

Studio Control Room

2010-01-27T22:32:00.001-07:00

Here is a shot of the studio control room featuring lots of vintage and modern gear. I no longer use a mixing console as three different computers with ProTools and Logic (used in tandem for mixing) have taken its place. Also, there's a wonderful collection of vintage and contemporary large and small diaphragm condenser microphones, ribbon microphones, dynamic microphones, and the world's best mic preamps. A standard stereo monitoring system, as well as a 5.1 surround monitoring system.

Hammered Strings

2010-01-27T22:19:00.001-07:00

First we have a Hungarian cimbalom built in Budapest by Schunda in the early 20th century. These are quite rare in the USA, and this is the grand-daddy of all hammered stringed instruments. Then pictured is a Brazilian berimbau, a single stringed instrument descended from the bow. The Young Chang baby grand piano was dropped from a crane during a house remodel in Aspen, Colorado, and slid down a hillside on its top and crashed into the ravine below. Fortunately pianos are made like tanks and this one survived to be voiced for recording and is loved by microphones and pianists alike.

Wind Instruments

2010-01-27T22:04:00.000-07:00

First is a collection of Central/South American ceramic ocarinas. The one in the upper right-hand corner is modern, from Chile, and quite musically accurate. The others are copies of older more primitive designs but still quite wonderful. Then pictured is an assortment of winds starting with a bizarre Tibetan horn fashioned from worked silver, copper, and carved yak bone, then a Turkish double reed instrument called a Duduk, followed by a Native American eagle bone whistle, a Native American flute, a ceramic side-blown flute, a wooden recorder, and a metal penny whistle. The next shot features a series of bamboo flutes from Southeast Asia know as suling,

and the last photo shows two variations on the pan-pipe theme.

Tube Amplifiers

2010-01-27T21:48:00.000-07:00

Here is a collection of vintage and contemporary electric guitar and bass tube amplifiers, each with different tube configurations as well as different potential speaker options. I love tubes, the electronics of the last century had such simplicity and 50's sci-fi naivete, they didn't even bother to put ground pins on the plugs of these potentially dangerous circuits. Still, even with all of our modeling technology we're unable to produce anything that truly sounds like these wonderful beasts.

Miscellaneous Stringed Instruments

2010-01-27T20:16:00.000-07:00

First we have a Turkish oud I purchased in Istanbul while performing there in 2006, then a five course Cittern (the big brother of the mandolin), followed by a West African Kora (harp), followed by an Early American style banjo with no frets and gut strings (notice the similarities with the Kora, both with skin stretched over a gourd), then a Hurdy Gurdy which I built with the help of a few luthiers much more skilled than myself, a pair of single-stringed Bengali gopichands, and finally a vintage Sho-bud pedal steel and a vintage Oahu lap steel.

Guitars and Bass Guitars

2010-01-27T11:35:00.001-07:00

Featured here are photos of my toolbox of vintage and contemporary electric, acoustic and bass guitars. Among the electrics are an 80's polyphonic guitar synth, a solid body with both single coil and double coil pick-ups, a semi-hollow with single coils, a semi hollow with double coils, a vintage electric 12-string, a vintage hollow body with big single coils, and an odd little acoustic/electric I use for performing. Among the basses are a semi-hollow fretless, a vintage semi-hollow, a typical solid body, and a six-string baritone guitar. Among the acoustics are a vintage archtop, a brass body resonator guitar, a Macaferri copy, a baritone, a vintage 12 string, small body and large body flat-tops, and a Spanish classical. Finally pictured is a baroque reproduction with 5 double courses of gut strings.

Drums and Percussion

2010-01-27T11:20:00.000-07:00

We begin with a collection of rattles and shakers: an Oneida Iroquois rattle made from a cow's horn, a Hopi gourd rattle, two Peruvian gourd rattles, then at the top two different seed rattles from South America, and finally a goat-toe rattle worn around the ankle while dancing. The next photo features a pair of Australian Aboriginal boomerangs used as clappers for percussion, followed by a pair of Aboriginal mulga-wood clapsticks. The next photo shows an ntenga drum from Uganda, a gorgeous sounding tympani type hand drum made from cowhide with a bit of the animal's heart inside. Then follows a cahon, a South American wooden drum that evolved from drawer pulled from a dresser, this one I built as a chair to save space. Next is a set of angklungs (tuned bamboo percussion) from Indonesia. The last is a bass kalimba or thumb piano that I built from a large cookie tin and the tines from a rake.

Zithers

2010-01-27T11:01:00.001-07:00

The first two pictured are the Pianolin and the Marxophone. These instruments were sold door to door in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and were all variations on the zither theme. The Pianolin is a combination of a zither and a bowed psaltry, the Marxophone is combination of a zither and a hammered string instrument (with great metal hammers on spring-steel arms). Then pictured is a German concert zither and bowed zither both from the 19th century. The last is an African raft zither that features thin bamboo strips instead of strings that are hammered instead of plucked or bowed.

Commissioned Lithophone

2010-01-27T10:08:00.000-07:00

This is an instrument I was commissioned to build for the outdoor courtyard in the midst of a collection of storefronts and lofts in a Colorado community called Prospect New Town.
The slate bars are suspended between aluminum rails so the instrument could be stepped on without damage. The photo in the upper right shows the copper resonators tuned to the fundamental of each bar. The instrument is tuned to a minor pentatonic scale.
Might you be interested in a one-of-a-kind instrument such as this or something like the ones in the resonating tone instrument posting ?
Feel free to contact me, I'd love to build you one.

Resonating Stone Instruments (Lithophones)

2010-01-27T08:42:00.001-07:00

I built a collection of non-tempered resonating stone instruments with percussionist Mark McCoin in the early 1990's. We were inspired by the Balinese Gamelan orchestras who have a different tuning in each village. At the top is a series based on Slit or Tongue drums (including a kick drum), next is a vertical slate marimba, and then two instruments based on the Balinese Gender with bars of Basanite. Percussionist Jesse Manno and I still occasionally perform on these instruments as "The Lost Angel Stone Ensemble", seen here playing a rack of tuned hanging stone gongs.