-Bongiovi Joe

Mark Stein of Vanilla Fudge

A while back we reported on our work in the studio with rock legend, Mark Stein.  Just recently he was gracious enough to allow us to add one of his songs to our DPS demo player on dpsplugin.com.  This song, Break It Down, was created for the documentary Rockin the Wall and was recorded at our very own Power Station Studios in Pompano Beach, FL. (It will be added to our player on the plug-in site very soon.)  You can purchase the other songs from this recording session as well as Mark’s other solo work at his online store.   If you appreciate good solid rock and roll with powerful singing and soaring melodies you will find his work a real treat!

He and the rest of the Vanilla Fudge crew are also getting ready to go on tour in the North East culminating in 3 appearances at Zep Fest 2011 in Washington DC.  Visit Mark Stein.com for more tour details.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7KcOSAVF6s

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.