Chris Thile & Michael Daves Duo

[mritter]

I agree disguiseglasses. Very high energy performance. They didn't phone it in.

[Mike Black]

I just got the new 7" 45 single of Man in the Middle / Blue Night produced by Jack White III released on his Third Man Records!!!! AWESOME STUFF. They really rock out in the full band setting!!!!!

Chris - Vocals and Mandolin
Michael - Vocals, Guitar & Bass
Cory Younts - Piano
Ruby Amanfu - Kettle drum and background vocals
Carl Broemel - Pedal Steel & Bass VI
Jack White - Drums

Highly suggested!

Time to dust that turntable off. Hopefully you've never quit enjoying the sounds of vinyl. I haven't

[SternART]

There is something... dare I say, dangerous, about them. I love that Thile and Daves are bringing a bit of an attitude to the music.

I'm with you there.......like they are walking, or better yet running a tightrope fer sure!
They would be a fun band to see live. Chris oughta take Daves on the road & open with
the duo for a set, then the Punch Bros. and of course add Daves for the encores!

[mritter]

"They would be fun to see live."

Anyone here seen them yet?

[Mike Black]

Am I the only one to get the new 7" single so far? The website says that it's not supposed to ship until the 24th, but I got mine on the 16th. I'm curious what everyone else thinks of these two in a rock setting. There isn't an electric guitar listed but it sure sounds like it. Must be the Bass VI.

[BradKlein]

There's a sample track via Rolling Stone, here. It's the gospel song, Man in the Middle.

That ain't yr traditional bluegrass gospel recording!!!!!!!!

[Mike Black]

That ain't yr traditional bluegrass gospel recording!!!!!!!!

I agree...They got the spirit!

[sgarrity]

I bet I've listened to this 20+ times now and it just keeps getting better. Their energy and wild abandon on many of the tunes is infectious!

[BradKlein]

Just to be 100% clear, the Rolling Stone link is to one of two cuts produced by Jack White for his own label, and (to be) released on a vinyl 7-inch . It's NOT part of the Nonesuch CD which was self-produced and of course doesn't use drums and bass etc.

There's a sample track via Rolling Stone, here. It's the gospel song, Man in the Middle.

That ain't yr traditional bluegrass gospel recording!!!!!!!!

[Jeff A]

I saw the show last night in Atlanta and it blew me away! They were playing a small room at Smith's Olde Bar to what Chris referred to as a mosh pit crowd. High energy to say the least. Opened with Evening Prayer Blues which is one of my favorite tunes. Lots of great 2 part harmonies and a good number of fiddle tunes, performed in an extraordinary way, were in the 2 sets. Blue night was the encore.

I am not a audio geek, but it seems the CD accurately captures what they were doing live. One mike for voice and instruments. Some of the distortion mentioned might be because Michael was playing a funky Truetone Western Flyer guitar for about half the tunes. Michael is from Atlanta and he was exited to have lots of family in the crowd.

If they are coming your way, don't miss this show.

[pf330ci]

Going to see them tonight in Knoxville!

[Vancalot]

Here's a Chris quote from the Thile/Daves website on the recording (Thanks to Don Grieser):

"It was just so much fun, man, like records ought to be—all ribbon mics and not that many of ‘em, and singing into just one RCA 77."

So-ooo, I'm guessing after listening that we are hearing a single 77 in figure-of-8, and a cardioid ribbon (does anyone know which ones??) on each of the instruments....

Listened to the samples and they sounded fine to me....

Hello all,
I've been reading your comments for that last couple weeks and it's been a fun read! I would love to clarify some things concerning the recording of "Sleep..."

I chose to use a RCA 77dx for the bulk of the sound of this recording because of it's classic sound and pattern. I had at my disposal a U47, but because I wanted them to be looking right at each other and blending their voices acoustically it was a better choice than the cardioid or omni 47. It was sent to a Neve 1073 mic pre in the console and then channel one of a Fairchild 670 was inserted in the channel before being sent to track 6. Chris and Michael stood about 1.5 feet apart with the mic between them, quite close.

The instruments were mic'd using a AEA R88 Stereo ribbon to the right side of Chris(left of Michael) parallel and 18 inches back from the 77 at mando/guitar level. It was routed to 2-1073's and then to buss 1/2 routed to track 5/6. A Neve 33609 was inserted at the buss and set to just bump a db of attenuation at the highest level (which was Michael singing!)

For Chris' Mandolin I used a Coles 4038 into the 1073 mic pre about 6 inches from the end pin facing the bridge. No eq, no compression. The mandolin channel was sent to buss 1, and then to track 2 if needed for solos.

Michael's guitar was mic'd in a similar position with a RCA 77d into a 1073, no eq, no compression routed to buss 2, and then recorded on track 7.

I used two "room mics" basically a u47 and a u67 off in random parts of the room routed to 1073's and the to tracks 2/8. These were barely used in the final mixes, but they can be heard at times in the louder Michael vocals.

One last mic, a old Ampex harp mic was placed on a stand parallel to the 77/AEA at vocal height and sent to a fender deluxe reverb in the room. It provided a dirty sort of midrange to the room sound... just barely audible, but there. I mic'd the Fender with a 57 and sent it to track 1.

A Studer A 800 2" 8 track at 7 1/2 ips was the recorder, and the tracks were mixed to a Ampex ATR 100 1" 2 track at 15 ips. RMGI 900 tape was used in recording and in mix. 0/250 nwbr was the operating level, if you are geeky enough to get that! (;-)>

The track sheet looked something like this..
1. Ampex>Fender
2.Room (Behind Chris)
3.Mandolin
4.Left (R88 Left and Mandolin)Mix
5.Right (R88 Right and Acoustic)Mix
6.Vocal
7.Acoustic
8.Room (Behind Michael)

Thanks for all the comments, and I understand that some people were expecting something different/better(?). One man's OMG! is another's WTF!.

Nice talking to you all, keep making great music!

Vance Powell

[Douglas McMullin]

Wow! Thanks for all of the details. Most of it is over my head, but I can say the recording sounds great to me.

[swampy]

Well, alright Vance! Thanks for taking the time to post the specs and whatnot. Awesome.

[mritter]

That should just about settle it. Nice work, by the way.

[LastMohican]

Unbelievable. Every effort like this simply pushes this wonderful music forward in time to the benefit of us all! Chris Thile is one the greatest musicians making music today and it's not about liking a 100% of his stuff. It's about being simply amazed by a lot of it and appreciating the virtuosity of all of it.

[Lynn Dudenbostel]

Well, just got back from the Knoxville show Amazing, as expected! First time I've been to an indoor show where I had to stand the whole time (no seats!), but got to say, I'd stand thru the show again. Chris said this was just their 3rd show together outside of NYC. They sound like they've played together for years. Great harmony and amazing instrumentals. Bury Me 'Neath the Willow may be the best I've ever heard it done. If Chris and Michael are anywhere near your area, the show is a must see!

[JonZ]

I grew up with punk rock, so I "get" the whole edginess thing. But I must be getting to be an old geezer, because I wish there were more pretty songs on the disk. "Bury Me Beneath the Willow" is the only song that really grabs me. Too often it sounds like they are trying to push every song to 11.

I've got teenage sons who push everything to 11. Who gets to sit in the front seat gets pushed to 11. I get enough of 11.

I like the solos, back up, and arrangements, but if they would have just laid back a notch, I would have found it more to my liking.

Great musicians, and there are a lot of interesting things to hear on the recording. If their goal was to burn it up, they succeeded.

[pf330ci]

Well, just got back from the Knoxville show Amazing, as expected! First time I've been to an indoor show where I had to stand the whole time (no seats!), but got to say, I'd stand thru the show again. Chris said this was just their 3rd show together outside of NYC. They sound like they've played together for years. Great harmony and amazing instrumentals. Bury Me 'Neath the Willow may be the best I've ever heard it done. If Chris and Michael are anywhere near your area, the show is a must see!

I agree Lynn, it was a amazing show, and the two encores were a nice plus! I'm sure you heard the group I was with when the guy yelled "SUCK IT UP" to Chris... haha

[mando.player]

So...I'm kind of digging the Jack White produced "Man in the middle" single. I'd love to hear the flip-side "Blue Night". Being a Detroiter, you it's pretty obvious that Jack put his stamp on this one. Even if I didn't know who the producer was, my first guess would have been White.

[Caleb]

I grew up with punk rock, so I "get" the whole edginess thing. But I must be getting to be an old geezer, because I wish there were more pretty songs on the disk. "Bury Me Beneath the Willow" is the only song that really grabs me. Too often it sounds like they are trying to push every song to 11.

I've got teenage sons who push everything to 11. Who gets to sit in the front seat gets pushed to 11. I get enough of 11.

I like the solos, back up, and arrangements, but if they would have just laid back a notch, I would have found it more to my liking.

Great musicians, and there are a lot of interesting things to hear on the recording. If their goal was to burn it up, they succeeded.

I prefer slower numbers from most any artist, and I'm enjoying the ones on this record more than the faster ones. Thile's playing on slowers numbers have always moved me more than his more upbeat stuff. Sweet Afton comes to mind, as does Waltz for D.P. et al. Such beautiful playing.

[Don Stiernberg]

That Man in the Middle track can also be found at paste.com

[Don Stiernberg]

ooops i meant to say www.pastemagazine.com

[Alex Orr]

Well, just got back from the Knoxville show Amazing, as expected!

I can't wait to see 'em in Annapolis on Sunday!

There's a sample track via Rolling Stone, here. It's the gospel song, Man in the Middle.

That ain't yr traditional bluegrass gospel recording!!!!!!!!

Well, it's certainly original, however, if I never hear it again it will be too soon.

[Spruce]

Hello all,
I've been reading your comments for that last couple weeks and it's been a fun read! I would love to clarify some things concerning the recording of "Sleep..."

I chose to use a RCA 77dx for the bulk of the sound of this recording because of it's classic sound and pattern. I had at my disposal a U47, but because I wanted them to be looking right at each other and blending their voices acoustically it was a better choice than the cardioid or omni 47. It was sent to a Neve 1073 mic pre in the console and then channel one of a Fairchild 670 was inserted in the channel before being sent to track 6. Chris and Michael stood about 1.5 feet apart with the mic between them, quite close.

The instruments were mic'd using a AEA R88 Stereo ribbon to the right side of Chris(left of Michael) parallel and 18 inches back from the 77 at mando/guitar level. It was routed to 2-1073's and then to buss 1/2 routed to track 5/6. A Neve 33609 was inserted at the buss and set to just bump a db of attenuation at the highest level (which was Michael singing!)

For Chris' Mandolin I used a Coles 4038 into the 1073 mic pre about 6 inches from the end pin facing the bridge. No eq, no compression. The mandolin channel was sent to buss 1, and then to track 2 if needed for solos.

Michael's guitar was mic'd in a similar position with a RCA 77d into a 1073, no eq, no compression routed to buss 2, and then recorded on track 7.

I used two "room mics" basically a u47 and a u67 off in random parts of the room routed to 1073's and the to tracks 2/8. These were barely used in the final mixes, but they can be heard at times in the louder Michael vocals.

One last mic, a old Ampex harp mic was placed on a stand parallel to the 77/AEA at vocal height and sent to a fender deluxe reverb in the room. It provided a dirty sort of midrange to the room sound... just barely audible, but there. I mic'd the Fender with a 57 and sent it to track 1.

A Studer A 800 2" 8 track at 7 1/2 ips was the recorder, and the tracks were mixed to a Ampex ATR 100 1" 2 track at 15 ips. RMGI 900 tape was used in recording and in mix. 0/250 nwbr was the operating level, if you are geeky enough to get that! (;-)>

The track sheet looked something like this..
1. Ampex>Fender
2.Room (Behind Chris)
3.Mandolin
4.Left (R88 Left and Mandolin)Mix
5.Right (R88 Right and Acoustic)Mix
6.Vocal
7.Acoustic
8.Room (Behind Michael)

Thanks for all the comments, and I understand that some people were expecting something different/better(?). One man's OMG! is another's WTF!.

Nice talking to you all, keep making great music!

Vance Powell

Thanks so much for that!!

I love to hear how other folks are doing things, and as it turns out we're on a similar path...
Analog tape here too, and I love using a good ol' ribbon for duet vox...

Interesting choice of a 4038 on the mando--have to try that one...

That harp mic trick might be what folks are WTF'ing about...
I have an old EV shotgun mic that I have permanently mounted high on the wall that I have on at all times, even if the music is sweet and lovely...
Really helps glue things together....
You can see it in this pic:



Anyway, thanks for the track sheet and spillin' the beans...
Have to go have another listen...

PS....
Do you mind if I share your post with the TapeOp folks??