There really is something about Memphis and Ardent Studios. Driving east on Madison from downtown, the same street Ardent Studios is located on, I pass some of my favorite places in the world: The P and H Café, Murphy’s, the old Antenna, Minglewood Hall, the BBQ Shop, Pho Hoa Bin, Zinny’s, The Lamplighter, Fino’s, Boscos (mmmmmm stock Ale…..), The Blue Monkey, and Kwik Check. I have been lucky enough, many times in fact, to enjoy my “Turk that was Greek” sandwich at Kwik Check, then walk across the street to the world famous Ardent Studios.
I have had the pleasure to work in Studios A, B and C with many different bands and with many amazing producers and engineers. Back in 2001, my band Snowglobe mastered our first full length record with Larry and Kevin Nix. Over the years I have recorded piano, guitar, vocals, and crazy noises both on my own and other folk’s records at Ardent. Back in 2007, Ardent started doing something known as the Ardent Sessions. My bands Oh No Oh My and Antenna Shoes have both been invited to record episodes.
The Ardent Sessions is awesome. It allows a band to play a show in front of their fans, and have that show be recorded with incredible microphones and the best new and old recording gear. With Alan Burcham behind the desk, placing guitars through the Neve preamps, and Fairchild compressors, sometimes I just want to cry. It’s so beautiful. As musicians you have pressure to perform the material live for the audience, with an extra pressure that the performance is being recorded. I think that with the right mix of pressure, magic is made. I am very happy to have been a part of the magic that has been made at Ardent Studios throughout the years. This episode was extra special because we shared the episode with our good friends from Knoxville, Royal Bangs. Nice.
BTW, our new 7 inch contains two songs off of our record ‘People Problems.’ The songs are “Brains” and “Walking Into Me:”. They were recorded at Jim Eno’s Studio Public HiFi in Austin Tx. We like them a lot. We hope you do too!
—Tim Regan
Pick up the new 7″ and other great merch from Oh No Oh My here.
Ardent Sessions: Oh No Oh My Vs. Royal Bangs
http://soundcloud.com/ardentstudios/ardent-sessions-oh-no-oh-my-vs
