{"id":338,"date":"2008-09-11T10:57:07","date_gmt":"2008-09-11T14:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/noelborthwick.com\/cakewalk\/?p=338"},"modified":"2008-09-11T10:57:07","modified_gmt":"2008-09-11T14:57:07","slug":"studio-spotlight-sun-studio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noelborthwick.com\/cakewalk\/2008\/09\/11\/studio-spotlight-sun-studio\/","title":{"rendered":"Studio Spotlight: Sun Studio"},"content":{"rendered":"

SONAR at Sun Studio: The Birthplace of Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll<\/strong>
\nChief Engineer James Lott and Assistant Engineer Matt Ross-Spang<\/em><\/p>\n

By Randy Alberts<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOur clients love what we do for them here with SONAR,\u201d says James Lott, chief engineer for over 20 years at the legendary Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. \u201cIt sounds great and we\u2019ve been using it for a long, long time. But most of all they trust us and how we\u2019re using SONAR to record them. When we tell a band \u2018OK, you can move on to the next song now,\u2019 they trust us completely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spoken on behalf of Sun Studio\u2014the birthplace of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll and the country\u2019s only National Historic Landmark with a digital audio workstation in the tour\u2014Lott\u2019s professional trust in Cakewalk\u2019s SONAR shouts volumes.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike a good horse,\u201d he adds with a laugh, \u201cwhen something in a studio runs as fast as SONAR and does everything you tell it to, then you\u2019re gonna ride that horse a long, long way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tracking History Then & Now<\/strong><\/p>\n

The sheer history of music behind Sun Studio, since Sam Phillips first built it in 1950, deserves far more space than this story allows- to give it proper justice.<\/p>\n

Those who visit Memphis, especially musicians and engineers, would not want to miss taking one of the studio\u2019s daily tours to learn more about the studio\u2019s historic past.<\/p>\n

Elvis recorded his first two songs at Sun Studio in 1953 for $3.25, when it was still called Memphis Recording Service. Before Elvis, there was Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats who recorded the world\u2019s first rock \u2018n\u2019 roll single, Rocket 88, at Sun, originally composed by Ike Turner.<\/p>\n

\"James<\/a><\/p>\n

With all the history within the studio\u2019s walls\u2014the same cozy 25×20 live room, tight vocal booth, tiny control room, and tiled front office where the original studio manager, Marion Keisker, sat in for the absent Phillips\u2019 to record Elvis\u2019 first songs\u2014Sun is one of the top, most vibrant studios in the world today.<\/p>\n

Recently, Lott used SONAR to track, edit, and mix projects for Liz Phair, Matchbox Twenty, Maroon 5 and Bowling for Soup. Tom Petty, a tape devotee, also recorded some new tunes at Sun with the studio\u2019s prized MCI 24-track machine. Another recent SONAR session at Sun involved Amy LaVere, an Americana music composer and vocalist who expertly plays an upright acoustic bass far taller than she. Billy Bob Thornton\u2019s band too, was due in for another Sun session shortly after our interview with Lott.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vibe of this place, this sort of \u2018welcome homey\u2019 kind of feel, is really what brings people back here all the time,\u201d says Lott.<\/p>\n

\u201cBilly Bob is a longtime friend of Sun, in here for the fourth or fifth time now, and it\u2019s his birthday, too. He told us that he wanted to come celebrate and to make some music up in here. It\u2019s very old school here:\u00a0not much has changed from the old days. There’s the same floor tiles, control room, front office, and even old\u00a0lamps from the ’50s hanging from the ceiling. Even Marion’s front desk is still here, the same one she was\u00a0sitting at when Elvis first walked in the door.\u00a0Besides our staff and the gear we use, it\u2019s the original vintage vibe of this place that keeps \u2018em comin\u2019 back.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Tracking Rattles & Hums<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lott, who began working at Sun in 1987, still chairs 90% of the studio\u2019s sessions. His first job was recording U2\u2019s Rattle & Hum on an old Akai 12-track recorder.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a madhouse,\u201d James recalls of U2\u2019s historic Sun sessions. \u201cWe were squeezing all of that\u2014a four-piece horn section, three female singers, the band, and a film crew for their movie\u2014into our small space.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Lott began using Vegas and Cakewalk 9 about 10 years after Rattle & Hum. He has been a dedicated DAW and SONAR user ever since. Save for the occasional 2-track editing in other programs and the occasional projects like Petty\u2019s going to tape, everything Lott and his assistant do at Sun- is produced in SONAR.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone who\u2019s been around Sun just loves the fact that SONAR is so much faster,\u201d says Lott. \u201cThey like not having to wait for the tape reels to take up\u201d (He imitates the fluttering sound of the vintage tape, slowly ramping up to speed then closing down). He enjoys the suggestion of an imaginary new audio plug-in that would deftly re-insert the same sound of winding tape reels back into his digital mixes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d he laughs, \u201cthat\u2019d be a classic plug-in for us here at Sun.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Luckiest Guy In Memphis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Matt Ross-Spang is a 21-year-old engineer, musician and Memphis local who began as Lott\u2019s intern when he was just 15. He may be the only recording studio tour guide ever to have interned and become an engineer in the same studio.<\/p>\n

At 14, just before he started giving daily Sun Studio tours to Memphis\u2019 Elvis Week tourists, Matt saved up enough dough to record his band\u2019s music for three hours. Sun needed an intern at the time and Matt\u2014who Lott describes as \u201cmy right arm, the future of Sun, and a sponge who learns everything I know\u201d\u2014jumped at the opportunity.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBack then it was just a hobby,\u201d recalls Ross-Spang of his early band and songwriting days. \u201cBut I became James\u2019 intern and learned about recording and mixing by watching him and bugging him about a bunch of things. I\u2019m constantly asking him questions. Living here in Memphis, I was always a fan of this studio. It\u2019s an honor and a blast working with James.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt has learned a lot about using SONAR while at Lott\u2019s side. The two now wear many hats together at Sun; including manning the video equipment to tape a client\u2019s session or two, for a new series of Webisodes the studio is posting on their site called Sun Sessions (think Live from Abbey Road meets the birthplace of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll).<\/p>\n

\u201cSONAR is an amazing program to sit down with,\u201d says Ross-Spang. \u201cIt\u2019s far more user friendly than the other DAW programs I\u2019ve used. It\u2019s easy for me to figure out. Still, I can do all the crazy stuff I want with it! A couple of bands recently used Dimension Pro here, too. James and I assemble beats and tracks together between sessions with Session Drummer and Dimension Pro.<\/p>\n

The piano sounds Dimension Pro has are incredible. In studio, we\u2019ve got a great old, beat-up honky-tonk 54-spinet piano. The same one that\u2019s been here all along from Sun\u2019s early days. We don\u2019t have a grand piano, so it\u2019s really nice having Dimension Pro\u2019s great-sounding grand pianos at hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall, Lott states, \u201cwe\u2019ve been really happy here at Sun with SONAR\u2019s sound quality, speed, and stability. With a nice quad-core system you can do anything in SONAR. I\u2019ve got an old RCA 44 analog board and 77-DX microphones that don\u2019t even need a preamp or EQ on the front end. With SONAR, we can just go right to the board.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about SONAR\u2019s 64-bit engine, James Lott gives another honest reply.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s All In The Ears<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how to answer that question,\u201d Lott responds with a laugh, \u201cbut to say that I love how SONAR sounds. He explains his simple, yet effective theory of editing.<\/p>\n

Everybody\u2019s ears are different. Comparing listening quality tests\u00a0is such a subjective thing. I don\u2019t participate at all in those conversations about whose engine and what platform is better based on test results and such. It just comes down to what you\u2019re hearing!<\/p>\n

People have made great records on the old single-track mono machines. Many, right here in this room I\u2019m sitting in. All those great Elvis tunes were recorded here by Sam [Phillips] to 1\/4-inch mono tape. All it takes is good ears, competent equipment and the patience to learn how to use it all for everything you record and mix.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lott says he and Ross-Spang also enjoy using many of the plug-ins bundled with SONAR, particularly Boost 11, VC-64 Vintage Channel, Linear Compressor, Tape Delay, Tape Sim, and the Lexicon Pantheon reverb plug-ins.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Considering the epic rock \u2018n\u2019 roll and Dixie R&B history and all the vintage gear found at Sun Studio- as well as the expertise of the two guys behind the desk there these days- it\u2019s safe to say that folks like Billy Bob Thornton, Matchbox Twenty and Liz Phair keep coming back, at least in part, because of SONAR, Sun\u2019s DAW of choice for years now.<\/p>\n

\"Legendary<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cSONAR is very stable, and it does everything we ask of it here at Sun,\u201d sys Lott. \u201cLike I said earlier, if the equipment in the studio stays out of the way and does everything you tell it to, like a good horse should, then you\u2019ll ride that horse a long ways!\u201d (laughs).<\/p>\n

As we end our conversation, James Lott, a down-to-Earth, very humble man as one can have the pleasure of speaking with, described a few recent visitors to Sun. Robert Plant, between tour dates with Alison Krauss, stopped by for \u201cjust a social visit and dinner to talk about the blues and rockabilly,\u201d as did Bill Wyman of Stones fame, who did a book signing party at the studio. Wrapping things up, James described one of the many great photos hanging on the walls of the legendary Sun Studio.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a shot of [Atlantic Records co-founder] Ahmet Ertegun, Sam Phillips and myself in the control room watching Matchbox Twenty in the studio,\u201d he says. \u201cI look at that photo every single day. I\u2019m sitting in the middle of Sam and Ahmet, two of the greatest producers in the history of recorded music telling me completely opposite things to do with my mix! That photo says to me, \u2018At some point you just have to close your eyes and do what you think is best for the song.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

———————–
\nwww.sunstudio.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SONAR at Sun Studio: The Birthplace of Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll Chief Engineer James Lott and Assistant Engineer Matt Ross-Spang By Randy Alberts \u201cOur clients love what we do for them here with SONAR,\u201d says James Lott, chief engineer for over 20 years at the legendary Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. \u201cIt sounds great and we\u2019ve … <\/p>\n

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