Solis

MPE 301 Class Taps Jaffe's Expertise at Studio D in Sausalito

Joel Jaffe spent two days tracking the band "Solis" with the MP&E 301 class. His comfortable and well equipped facilities at Studio D proved to be a great training environment for the advanced music production and engineering class. A somewhat non-traditional approach was taken to tracking the band as Bryan Solon was both the drummer and Bass player. The band and Joel decided to track rhythm guitar, Bass, Cello and scratch vocals first using a click track generated by Protools as the timing reference. The drums were then over-dubbed afterwords.

Joel spent a lot of time showing the students various micing techniques for the drums, cello, bass, guitar and keyboards as well as how to use various hi end analog compressors and EQ's as the front end to his HD 192 Protools system.

ABOUT SOLIS

Amber Scott
Acoustic and electric guitars, vocals, piano, djembe, songwriter
Originally from San Diego, Amber has been singing, playing guitar and writing music since she was 15. She graduated from SFSU with a BA in Audio Production, and I has been an assistant engineer at Studio 880 in Oakland and Studio D in Sausalito. She was taught guitar by Greg Douglass of the Steve Miller Band and Hot Tuna, and her vocal coaches performed in the "Phantom of the Opera" in Germany. Amber says her songwriting is her way of therapy... "when I write I try to think of unique chord changes and my experience in audio production greatly adds to our unique expression." In my free time I like to surf, snowboard, and skateboard down big hills. :)

Bryan Solon
Drums, bass, percussion, piano
San Francisco native Bryan Solon is a writer and musician based in Marin. He studied drums with the late great Bay Area jazz drummer Scott Morris, and is self taught on piano, bass and guitar. After two brutal years dissecting classical harmony and exploring postmodern ethnomusicology, he dropped out of the music major program at UC Berkeley to pursue a variety of seemingly unrelated interests including two graduate degrees and odd jobs in New York, Switzerland, Japan and China. He’s graced the stages of venues large and small with many fine artists including a 9-piece funk band, an Ecuadorian classical guitarist, an African folk singer, and most recently worked on a prog rock EP with David Freiberg of Jefferson Starship. Bryan first met Amber during a recording session at Studio D in Sausalito where he was the session drummer and Amber was lead engineer.

Shannon Botts
Cello
Shannon, a Washington DC native, has been playing the cello for 8 years and also plays the piano. She is also graduating from SFSU in Audio Production, and is interning at Ben Manilla productions. She has spent the last year in Argentina as foreign exchange student travelling throughout South America, and plans to do much more travelling down there. Shannon is influenced by hip-hop, and brings a more urban edge to the band. She also is currently training in flamenco and afro-cuban dance expression.

A few of the band's influences:
Joni Mitchell, Massive Attack, Bjork, Tori Amos, Ani Difranco, Portisehead, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Nirvana, Pj Harvey, Lhasa, Sarah Mclachlan, Belle and Sebastian, Stereolab, Mazzy Star, Jurassic 5, Heart, Pat Benetar,Blackalicious, Black Eyed Peas

About Producer/Engineer Joel Jaffe:
Joel Jaffe is an award winning engineer producer, composer, and studio owner. He has worked on a number of GRAMMY albums and has been instrumental in developing new talent in the bay area for over twenty years. A member of The Recording Academy and board member for the last two years as well as an A.E.S. member. He has conducted seminars on recording in the real world for San Francisco State and Sonoma State recording arts programs. His music has appeared on major network television and film as theme songs and incidental pieces, “One life to live”, “Young and Restless” aired his compositions this past year. Compositions have recently been on major networks in America as well as internationally. He has scored the music for three shows on WDR network in Germany as well as the opening theme for the Golden State Warriors at the arena and the roundtable show. Currently he is the audio producer for the California Music Awards and the mixer for surround DVD’s for artist’s such as Ringo Starr “The Best of The All Starr Band”, David Grey, Carlos Santana, and Smashmouth and the surround mixer for the animated movie Wave Twisters by DJ Qbert out on DVD now.

About Studio D

http://www.studioDrecording.com

Studio D HD2 Protools System
Recording Room: 30' x 36' x 20'
Control Room: 20' x 20' with compression ceiling
Three Isolation Booths: 8' x 14' x 18'

E Q U I P M E N T
Yamaha C7E Grand Piano 7’4”
Hammond B3 with Leslie

M I X I N G C O N S O L E
DigiDesign Pro Control
Focusrite Preamps /Neve Preamps

A U T O M A T I O N:
Digidesign
T APE MACHINES:
Studer A 800 MKII-24
ALE - www.pyramind.com