In-Session: Jordan Galland with Alex Lipsen at Headgear Recording (Video)

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN: Last Fall, SonicScoop and Vintage King held a contest to pair up NYC-based singer/songwriter/filmmaker Jordan Galland with a local studio and producer to record some new material. Looking for the right engineer and room in which to track drums, vocals and piano, Galland chose Alex Lipsen, producer, engineer (Phosphorescent, The Jealous Girlfriends) and co-owner of Headgear Recording, as the winner.

As such, Lipsen won an Inward Connections EQP2 (two-band parametric 500 Series equalizer), courtesy of Vintage King, and recorded Galland at Headgear in December. We dropped by and caught some of the session, which began with tracking Sam Koppleman (Mark Ronson, Amy Winehouse, Daniel Merriweather) on drums.

“I recorded drums using probably ten microphones on the kick, and I put the EQP2 to good use on the Coles mono overhead,” says Lipsen. “I love the Coles, but I tend to add a lot of high-end to it so I’m always looking for an EQ that isn’t harsh — the EQP2 was the perfect compliment. I got the overhead to sound deep and punchy with a nice amount of top to it which with other EQs can be almost impossible.”

Galland had three new songs to record, including his anthemic farewell-to-youth “The Party Years.” We first heard this song live at Union Pool last year, when Galland and band opened for Sean Lennon’s Ghost of a Saber Toothed Tiger. Our interview with Jordan and the session at Headgear is documented in this video by Jack Schlinkert. Check it out, and read on for the rest of the story:

IN THE STUDIO: with Jordan Galland from plastic pearl on Vimeo.

“Developing new songs can be like developing a script or filming a movie where the show is like a table read,” offered Galland. “This is where you can figure out what’s wrong with the songs, where the audience responds, where they can be improved. On my last two solo records, I hadn’t really played the songs live, but this time around I had a little of that development process ahead of the recording.

“[Today,] I’m coming in with programmed drums, keyboards, bass and guitar all recorded in my home studio using a Line 6 Bass pod combined with some Waves guitar plug-ins. And here in the studio we’ll do drums, vocals, Wurlitzer and hopefully some piano if there’s time. And again, like a film shoot, trying to capture as much as possible, and I’ll edit later on at home.”

The spacious Headgear live room was a terrific venue in which to capture the bigger drum, vocal and piano sounds Galland had in mind — a bit of a departure, sonically, from the French pop song-style production of his earlier solo work in Airbrush and Search Party.

Alex Lipsen (left) and Jordan Galland tracking drums at Headgear Recording.

“I’ve been listening to a lot of Beach House,” he said. “And I’ve also been listening also to a lot of Duran Duran, specifically “The Chauffeur” — which was a good sound for me to reference for the drummer. I wanted this mix of a fun drum machine vibe that’s very campy and mechanical and then a live, funky drum beat playing next to it.”

After lunch, things were moving fast and furious so we left them to it, vowing to follow up later with Lipsen, whose other recent productions include records with Gabriel Miller Phillips, The Doc Marshalls and Sri.

“Working with Jordan was a lot of fun,” he recapped. “After recording a bunch of passes for each song and recording a couple of quick piano tracks, we moved onto vocals during which my wizard assistant Avery took over the engineering and got a fabulous vocal sound. Near the end of the session we ordered some great food from Pies ‘n’ Thighs in the neighborhood and passed out from music and food coma! It was fantastic!”

Visit Headgear at http://www.headgearrecording.com, keep up with Jordan Galland via http://www.jordangalland.com, find  awesome audio gear like the EQP2 at http://www.vintageking.com, and if you’re in the neighborhood, be sure to eat at Pies ‘n Thies!

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