Alex Krug Combo's Big Little >EP<

When influential singer/songwriter Alex Krug and her combo recorded their acclaimed EP Gentle Spotted Giant" (iTunes, Spotify, Amazon), producer Michael Selverne and Echo Mountain engineer Julian Dreyer chose Soundsmiths to master the project.

Both attended the mastering session, and it was a blast finding ways to augment and preserve the fascinating tones of these four showcase tunes. Not only is Krug's voice rich in character and tone, but so is the instrumentation she chose in these arrangements. The whole effect is like a trip to the Chocolate Lounge--dark, rich and creamy!

Preserving that rich tone pallete was job #1, and the rest was finding a way to let her vocals shine through even in loud passages while managing to fill up the meters enough to sound like a record.

This is a perfect case study for the proposition that client-attended sessions are the most efficient way to get something done! No need for v1, v2, v3 as decision-makers weigh in after the fact. This way, everybody's reading off the same page from the beginning, and what you end up with is an approved master.

If you like New Acoustic that's not all strumming guitars and piano noodling, but relies more on things like violin (bowed and pizzicato), drums and string bass (well, OK there are a few strummed acoustic guitar chords) as a platform over which voices and occasional amped guitar do a complex and amazing dance, with lyrics that could stand as poetry, then you're guaranteed to enjoy this musical gem. I certainly did!