Recording Mark and his group in the studio makes me realize how folks like him became music icons: Every note that comes out of his body is pure rock and roll dynamite! Energy, optimism and professionalism are ever present during the sessions, and that has translated into a truly great recording!

The band played live in the studio with Mark playing a 1960′s era Hammond B3 with the Leslie tone cabinet in the vocal booth. I recorded it with two Shure Beta 56′s at 90 degrees for the top rotor and a AKG D12 for the bottom speaker. The two top microphones went through our new Amek Recall’s preamps while the D12 went through our DW Fern mic pre and a Motown eq for a huge tone.
The guitarist, Jimi Fiano, recorded through our souped up 50 watt Marshall JCM 800 with the cabinet (4×12 vintage greenback speakers) in an isolation booth. The cabinet was recorded with a Shure SM57 through a Neve 1085 preamp/eq module.
The bass player, Steve Argy, recorded direct through our Avalon direct box directly into ProTools (we use Apogee DA/AD 16Xs for our TDM system).
The drummer, Jimmyjack, brought in his beautiful maple DW kit that we set up in our big live room. I used the AKG D112 he had mounted inside his bass drum for the close sound (through the Fern and Motown eq) and a Blue Dragonfly for the far mic (console). His Ludwig snare was recorded with a Shure SM7 through another Neve 1085 module. For the toms I chose Shure Beta 56′s (the hyper cardioid pattern works well with our room) with a AKG D112 for the floor tom. The cymbals were captured with a pair of AKG 414′s (silver face) and the room with our AEA stereo ribbon mic.

These recordings will be part of the soundtrack for a new documentary called Rockin’ the Wall by writer Larry Schweikart and producer Marc Lief.  Check it out.