This 10" EP limited edition vinyl and download release features Portland's 12-piece Typhoon, one of the many interesting bands around town right now. I liked the sound of this album; it's big and wide, but loose in a perfect way. I tracked down Paul Laxer, the man who recorded and mixed this album, as well as their previous CD, Hunger and Thirst. "I recorded it on location at the band's Victorian style house in SE Portland. I used an RME Fireface USB interface, Event SP6 monitors, as well as RØDE, Studio Project, Shure and Audio-Technica microphones. I tracked the drums in the living room with both drummers facing each other. I set one kick drum microphone between them. Each kit had a [RØDE] NT5 focused on the snare region; I used [Shure] SM57s or SM58s to mic the snares, top and bottom. I close mic'd the toms with a few MXL tube microphones. I would always set up a distant drum room mic, about 25-feet away, in the sunroom behind a closed door. I found that it gave me a perfect chamber reverb effect that I consider my signature to the Typhoon drum sound." I assumed, with a 12-piece group recorded at home, that Paul would have had all the players going at once (which does sound kind of intimidating, now that I think of it). But, in reality, the EP was done with a series of overdubs. Tracking was "typically starting with just Kyle Morton [songwriter/vocalist] playing a DI'd guitar with the drummers to set a template for the rest of the layers of guitars, vocals and other overdubs. I usually recorded the horns and strings last." This strategic layering pays off in clean arrangements, amazing build-ups and songs that work as sonic journeys. Paul mixed on the Reaper DAW [Tape Op #80] "in the box" with "some choice plug-ins from Softube, the Waves API pack and the SoundToys Decapitator and EchoBoy quite a bit. The songs clocked in at 100+ tracks; I like to use a lot of tracks and less automation. I like it to sound huge, monstrous and epic." Well, he succeeded in that and surprised me with such a high track count! Check out Typhoon, and visit paullaxer.wordpress.com to see photos from these sessions.
(www.tenderlovingempire.com, www.wearetyphoon.com) -LC
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