Hey everybody,
Tune into www.dittytv.com today at noon to watch Mike Mangione & The Union play songs from our upcoming release “Red-winged Blackbird Man”.
As a bonus, you’ll get to see and hear my sweet Taye StudioBirch kit with my brand new Taye 14×7 Maple/Walnut hybrid snare. The guys at Taye really hit it out of the park with this snare. It’s crisp and fat, deep but with a nice snap to it. It’s two snares in one!
2012 is here and I’m already behind but I wanted to jot down a quick note about what’s coming up this year –
New gear – as usual I’ve acquired a few new cymbals over the past year thanks to my pal Bob Rupp at Sabian and I’ll be working those into the live rotation this year. Some HHX, AAX, OMNI and prototypes that are all pretty cool.
Music! The new Mike Mangione release rounded out nicely in mixing at the end of last year and went off to be mastered in December. We haven’t decided on a release date yet but new songs are creeping into the live set and people seem to really like them. Also, working on both the new Sulek and Justin Heron releases (even playing some bass!) and those should come out some time this year.
Shows – lots of upcoming shows with Mike Mangione and The Union as well as some shows here and there with my pals in Sulek and Justin Heron.
MMTU dates can be found here: http://mikemangione.com/tour and I’ll try to keep updates on the others as they arise.
Speaking of new and live – here’s Mike Mangione & The Union live on WGN America (and local Chicago channel 9) previewing a song called Burn in My Belly. Enjoy!
Mike Mangione and The Union in the WGN TV Midday Music Lounge
Thanks to the great Bo Ramsey, our new “record” was recorded in 3.5 days. We got lots of great takes, I think, and very little if any overdubs at all were tracked and I really think this new release captured what it’s like to see Mike Mangione & The Union live.
Two mixing session have gone by now, one in September and one in October and I think we’ll have a finished to share soon!
We took a listen to the 8 (yes 8!) tracks that we had recorded, we averaged about 3 takes a song and then picked the best performance, and then had time to record a non album track, spot check some details and then the rhythm section was done.
Mike had two more songs to do, no drums no bass but strings on one. And on the other Bo decided to lay down some slide work on acoustic that was just too cool. That man is an amazing guitar player as well as producer. We’re so lucky to be working with him.
We had a late night listening session and then I got about 4 hours of sleep before heading back home.
Incidentally, if you have a long, flat, Midwestern drive to do, put on some early Genesis like “Selling England By The Pound.” It will make even the most boring drive seem epic. Haha
(Kitwise, I stuck with the last drum and cymbal setup for the “bonus track”. Why mess with a good thing?)
More cymbal and drum combos – on Friday I used that same kit for all songs:
22 and 16 Taye StudioBirch
12 Spaun wood hoop tom
And then either the Spaun wood hoop snare or the Black Beauty
For cymbal I flipped the mixed hats with the SABIAN HHX groove top and the Mastersound bottom
20 HH French hasn’t left the set up once (love that cymbal! Thanks Jackie and Kevin Laskey at SABIAN for picking me a winner!)
Kept the Ciccerelli up all day too and then rotated between two of the following based on the songs:
18″ HHX Stage, 18″ HH Thin, 18″ AAX Ozone
Progress? Made it through the bulk of 8 tracks and might do a few quick retakes. Our producer Bo Ramsey likes to keep us moving quickly and we’ve have some great takes to show for it!
Tracked multiple takes of four songs yesterday and they may all be keepers!
So far I’ve used the following sets:
14″ HHX groove hats
20″ HH French (Crash/Ride)
21″ Hammer with 3 rivets (Bosphorus)
18″ AAX Ozone
18″ HHX Stage Crash
Or
14″ Mastersound hats
20″ HH French (Crash/Ride)
21″ signature Andre Ceccerelli ride
13″ AA Thin Crash
17″ Vault Crash
I also did a little Mastersound top (nice and thin) with the groove hat bottom (a little heavier) which worked really well.
Snare wise I’ve used the Ludwig twins (supra and black beauty) and also the Spaun 5.5 x 14 wood hoops with the snares off.
Drums have all been my Taye kit, rack and 14″ tuned up tight and the 16 and 22 tuned low and fat.
Can’t wait to get over there today for more tracking, these sessions are off to a great start!
(ooh and just got back to the studio and realized that I used this set up last:
14″ Mastersound top Groove bottom
20″ HH French (Crash/Ride)
21″ signature Andre Ceccerelli ride
18″ HHX Stage crash
17″ Vault Crash )
LLRLRR 