Citizen Cope, Mulebone, Barbeque Bob & More at Excello

March 23rd, 2010 by Janice Brown

Williamsburg’s Excello Recording has been super busy of late, hosting sessions recently with Citizen Cope and Alice Smith. Ian Dench, of EMF fame, cut guitars at Excello for Smith’s new release.

Citizen Cope

Also at Excello recently, Mulebone, the Piedmont blues duo of Excello owner/engineer/musician Hugh Pool and multi-instrumentalist John Ragusa (Beth Nielson Chapman, Tom Ze), recently finished their second record. The duo recorded on 2″ tape at Excello, capturing live performances relying heavily on ribbon mics such as Royer R121s and vintage RCA 77DX. The record was mixed to ½” tape on the Ampex ATR-102 mixdown deck.

Excello also hosted Barbeque Bob & The Spareribs recording “15 songs of juicy southern goodness to 2″ tape.” Guitarists Bob Pomeroy and Zonder Kennedy used a variety of vintage amps including Pool’s ’56 Tweed Fender Deluxe, Silvertone Twin-Twelve, and Silverface Fender Deluxe Reverb. Excello reports: “Like many artists choose to do at Excello, the band tracked together in the live room with their amplifiers in isolation, letting us record a great take, while the band achieves a performance like they’re on stage.” Pool also mixed the record.

Excello also hosted a voiceover and mix session on a new spot for the History Channel. Pool recorded music for the spot upstate with Jack Grace, and the crew decided to cut the V/O and mix the spot “Making History Every Day” back in Brooklyn on Excello’s vintage AMS-Calrec console. Additionally, the Jack Grace Band’s new album, Drinking Songs for Lovers, was recorded and mixed at Excello.

In other recent sessions, guitarist and composer Askold Buk came to Excello with bassist/producer Robert Greenfield and drummer Steve Williams (Digable Planets, David Byrne) and laid down 14 tracks in a matter of two days, and Pete Pidgeon overdub and mixing sessions for Pete Pidgeon’s new record, released last week. Excello reports that Pidgeon’s In the Name of Megan Smith, with its Jeff Buckley-esque vocals and sonic soundscapes, was the perfect fit for utilizing our EMT 140 and EcoPlate, and the proprietary Calrec Width Modules built into the desk.”

Excello also offers tape transfers and restoration, servicing the following varieties:
– Two Inch 24 Track 7.5/15/30 IPS,
– Half Inch 4 Track 15/30 IPS,
– Half Inch 2 Track 15/30 IPS,
– Quarter Inch 2 Track 3.75/7.5/15/30 IPS,
– Half Inch 16 Track 15 IPS
– 16 consecutive channels ADAT (Type 1 and 2)
– Analog Cassette
– DAT
– And More!

Recently, the Excello team transfered a reel of Half Track Mono 1/4″ Acetate Backed Tape from 1953, reporting, “There was no tape shedding, and our care to slow winding the tape backwards actually made the tape packing and storage better than it was when it came in.”