Actually I thank you from the top of my heart … your crappy drums have lead to days and now weeks of testing, tweaking and trial and erroring, eq’ing and leveling.

Your broken down trash can kit has made me a better man and my wife thanks you … Also your mom says thanks for finally  getting the eyesores out of her garage.

Enough joking … It’s sorta hard to explain and show all of the experience I’ve gained with the tracking that was done with Joe’s drums.  I have learned a great deal from the experience and am truly grateful.

I’ve tried to boil it all down into this little demonstration … listen to each file and see if you can guess what was done to each track.

Here are your choices …

1) mixed only using levels and pan    2) mixed using SSL preset levels and panning

3)mixed using the eq guide by Cliff Goldmacher at Audio Fanzine 4) nothing, just raw tracks

Now I’m sure you’ve listened to each track at least three times  … here are your answers.

This is just a bit of insight into what I do with some of my spare time.   You can also hear these same drums on the Fatlock artists page.

~ thanks & enjoy

With a list of influences as epic as Kurt Cobain, Neil Young and Elliott Smith, this album shows off his musical roots in a style that is all his own. Known firstly as a drummer Jeffrey stands alone on most tracks showing the true musicianship of an artist well beyond his years. Aside from a few helping hand while recording and a final mix down by Damon Sink of Dal Segno Productions this album is all Jeffrey.

Listen to the Entire Album:

Watch the video for “Everyday Killer”:

Available for download on Amazon.com this album is definitely worth a spin!
Check out myspace.com/jeffreycrace and jeffreycrace.com for more details and upcoming events!

[The first show that we had the pleasure of catching was Rodrigo y Gabriela. A fierce acoustic duo, known for bringing flamenco flare to metal covers as well as their own eclectic originals. In front of what I thought was an impressive crowd congregated at the main stage they went to town in the hot Tennessee sun they showed all that they had to offer. Rodrigo’s lightning fast licks (think Yngewie on acoustic) and Gabriela’s percussive pounding on the every inch of guitar left me in awe. Playing tracks from their 2006 self titled release, as well as a few new tunes, and a notable cover of Metallica’s “Orion” this set easily climbed to the top of my list of favorites.

After cruising around and grabbing a slice of “Spicy Pie” (and for the record I do in fact LOVE Spicy Pie!) we settled in for another highly anticipated set, Wilco. They greeted the crowd with the self titled track from their new self titled album. Playing tracks ranging from old to new with the precision of musical surgeons. Making every song hang in the air with studio recorded quality. We stuck around to hear a few tunes off of my personal favorite album, “Sky Blue Sky” such as “You Are My Face”, “Side With the Seeds”, and “Impossible Germany”, before making our way to the Which Stage to check in on Warren Haynes and Gov’t Mule.

Now I must admit that I am not exactly a fan of Gov’t Mule, but with Warren’s participation in 75% of all the southern rock bands left around I felt that it was necessity. We hung out for a tune or two, but as I already stated not being a follower I am not sure what they were. Once we had our fill we strolled back to catch the end of Wilco just in time to hear Jeff Tweedy ask if we excited to see the Boss and told everyone that it was ok to boo them that night as they would just pretend we were all chanting “Bruce”. Once Wilco ended we headed back to the Which Stage for The Mars Volta.

Cedric Bixler-Zavala greeted the crowd by proclaiming “It’s good to be at Burning Man”. They got maybe 4 measures into the first song before Cedric stopped everything making what he declared to be a joking jab at guitarist Omar Rodriguez for not knowing how to tune his guitar. After his rues not being that well received by the crowd, he explained that as a band they share everything and they had seen him drunk and naked puking on himself too many times and surely took no offense to his ribbing. This band is apparently not to be seen from way in the back, (which is where we were) because it was hard to see the somewhat Roger Daughtry esque stage antics such as swinging and throwing his microphone all around. Since there wasn’t much to see from where we were at we sat to enjoy the sunset and the hot air balloon that rose over the crowd. While enjoying the music and people watching we noticed that we were but a mere stone’s throw from star of MTV’s Jackass, Raab Himself. I inconspicuously snapped a few photos. I thought about asking him for an autograph but opted not seeing as he was just there to enjoy himself amid the rest of us rock and roll misfits and heathens. As for the wife and I we were by no means done rocking for the evening, but now was as good a time as any to head back to base camp for refueling.

We got back to our “house” and just tried to relax a little knowing that Springsteen was the next show that we were headed and after that the night was mapped out into the wee hours of the morning. Much like Gov’t Mule neither of us had much of a need to hurry back for the Boss, but we did want to try to catch the end. Needless to say we were not only glad that we made it back for the last few songs, once all was said and done we wished that seen more. It was every bit of 2.5+ hours into his set when we sat down and the energy that he was still pouring on the crowd was amazing. We laughed as he told the crowd “You can’t take not more Bonnaroo, You’re all Bonnaroo’d out!” and then continued to crank out hits. Then everyone joined in for a sing along to “Glory Days” to bring his set to a close. Not before he let us all know that we had just seen…”the heart stoppin’, pants droppin’, hard rockin’, booty shakin’, earth quakin’, love makin’, Viagra takin’, legendary E-Street Band!” We stood there for a minute while and let the awesomeness of what we had just sink in for a minute and then headed to NIN!

This is yet another set that was at the top of my favorites list. Planted way in the back again like at The Mars Volta, was not that bad as this showed could have probably been seen and heard from miles away! The song list was amazing, the lights were amazing, the band was amazing. There is really nothing bad that I can imagine any fan of NIN could say about this set. That is except for the fact that Trent announced to the crowd that that night would be the last American stop for the band. Notable tracks included, “March of the Pigs”, “Piggy”, “Terrible Lie”, “Reptile”, David Bowie’s “I am Afraid of Americans”, “Mr. Self Destruct”, “Head Like a Hole”. Trent made reference to how many cool bands were playing the Roo this year and then asked a band that he “thought could use the cool points” (Dilinger Escape Plan) up to help them out on “Wish”.

When it was time to head out from this set we were absolutely wiped out. We tried our best to make it over to catch some of MGMT, but by that point we knew it was in our best interest to just head to bed. We did make our way through the crowd and get to see Triumph the Insult Comic Dog interviewing an astronaut. We strolled to our campsite with the electric eclectic mix as a perfect soundtrack to pull another great night together!

Sunday we took our sweet time waking up and getting moving. Now that I have had time to see clips and check out some of the bands that we missed I am a little sad to have missed some of what we did. Cage the Elephant, Citizen Cope, and Coheed and Cambria, Neko Case. We were pretty wore out and just thankful that we had one more day of incredible things to be a part of. We entered Centeroo to Erykah Badu and roamed around in search of the Budweiser Troo Music Lounge. This is a place venue that focuses on smaller acts trying to leave their mark on the anyone looking for some shade and nice place to sit.

We were on a mission to snap a few shots of a band that we knew very little about for a friend of ours. We found our way good and early to see a cool interview by Spin magazine with the gorgeous Grace Potter who broke down the festival from her point of view and answered some questions from the enthusiastic on lookers. (One of which being will you marry me?) We were standing front and center for Dear and the Headlights as I said earlier to make sure that we could get some could pics, but were floored by the performance from the drop of the first energetic note. These guys are unreal live. Performing tracks from Small Steps Heavy Hooves and their latest release Drunk Like Bible Times, these guys brought it hard. I was blown away and put these second on my list of Bonnaroo 2009 favorites. Right behind the aforementioned Tift Merrit. These indie rockers have a power and ferocity on stage that I think will raise them to the head of their class with honors. I am really a some what loss for words to describe how entertaining this set was to watch. We were sad that we had to leave before we were finished but elated what we were off to next. Snoop.

Snoop was a little late coming on but made up for it with a ‘gangsta-riffic’ late afternoon set of fun and partying. Performing for nearly an hour and a half not one second was was less than a blast. Honestly I wondered how well Snoop would fit into the overall festival scene, but everyone seemed to enjoy the ‘best of set that Snoop and his band laid out for us on the farm. Wrapping up the show we settled into our spots and got ready for our weekend closer. Another set from attendee favorites Phish!

Knowing that Phish is quite used to performing multiple times in a weekend we knew that we were in for a treat. No where near ready for what we got to see. They started the set and powered through a few great tunes before introducing The Boss on stage for a rousing couple of songs. We all joined together in singing “Mustang Sally” and “Glory Days”. Quite a special treat to say the least. We ended our incredible weekend of mischief and mayhem in a shower of glow sticks and musical euphoria. Bringing to an end yet another successful Bonnaroo. Of the two years that we have had the incredible privilege of making this amazing trip, this was far and away the best!

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Peace Through Music Film Clip: Playing for Change from Playing For Change on Vimeo.

http://playingforchange.com – Playing For Change: Peace Through Music is a film that explores our connections in a world overwhelmed with division. Through the process of making this film we traveled around the world and discovered that music opens the door to a place where we can come together as a human race. Music helps us to persevere through struggles and celebrate our differences which changes the world into a more peaceful place. Look for the DVD of this award-winning film in stores in late 2009.

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I’m not sure who has the patience to pull this off … but I’m sure glad they do!

Here’s Vetiver

And  NOMO

Enjoy …

Robert Randolph & The Family Band with special guest Dr. John & The Lower 911 was the final show of the 2009 Blues Festival at Lincoln Park also featuring Austin “Walkin’ Cane” and the Kelly Bell Band.

I heard scorching renditions of Ain’t Nothing Wrong With That and I Need More Love. But perhaps the most notable performance of the evening were two distinct tributes to the late Michael Jackson. I’ve since learned the RR has been know to rip out a bluesy Wanna be Starting Something on occasion. A ten minute “Billy Jean” closed out the show … very cool. Dayton thanks you … please come back soon.

Note About Fraze Pavilion … southwestern Ohio’s premiere outdoor entertainment venue, the 4300-seat amphitheater is celebrating its 18th season.

After driving all night to reach the Great Stage Park in Manchester Tennessee, we were grateful to find that traffic was nowhere near the headache that it was for us in 2008 (although I have read horror stories of other attendees waiting 11 hours to get in). We were quickly whisked off route 24 and onto back roads leading us straight to empty entrance gates and almost no wait what so ever. In less than an hour we had staked our claim for tent space and began meeting our neighbors. After resting up, sadly locking our keys in our car, and with rain clouds looming in the distance we packed up our camelbaks and headed out to start out audio adventure.

We meandered our way through Shakedown Street and the countless vendors, made our way through the arch and headed straight for The Other Tent to see MURS. A rousing set that erased every thought that I could have ever had that good ol’ hip hop was even close to dead. This was an energy packed set that kicked things off in a big way for us. By the end the rain was closing in and we thought it would be a good idea to head back to the tent to make sure everything was tied down and grab some rain gear. As we reached our tent the skies opened up and released its fury on us and we decided to go ahead skip out on the rest of the evening and call it a night. With a long weekend ahead of us we figured that an early night and dry start in the morning would be the best choice. So we sat and listened to the storm roll through and slipped off to sleep.

Friday morning the sun was shining and everyone seemed to be in great spirits despite the monsoon the night before. It didn’t take long for the main thoroughfares to dry up and I think everyone was happy for that. The first show that we wanted to see was Tift Merritt. Trying to make up for our early retiring the night before we made a point to head out early and get up front for this one. I expected this to be an exciting set but I was by no means ready for what was in store. Here I am in the midst of a lot of my musical heroes and I was completely floored with the intense and captivating display of musicality that was put forth by Tift and company. I know many will disagree with what I am about to say, but for me this was by far the best performance of the weekend. Dealing well with the searing Tennessee heat this up and coming alt-country foursome laid everything that they had out on the stage, leaving nothing but happy ears and contented smiles on everyone who was lucky enough to catch ANY of this set. My favorites were off the new album Another Country and included “Something to Me”, “Broken”.

The first set in the David Byrne curated That Tent that we were able to see was St. Vincent. An interesting set to say the least, St. Vincent (also known by her ‘secret’ name Annie [Clark]) brought her full band out to play and entertain the very welcoming crowd. Although I must admit that I was hoping to see a St. Vincent solo performance, I was pleasantly surprised with the full ensemble. This was yet another show that I was able to get close enough to snap off a few decent pictures. Topping off my favorites were “Your Lips Are Red” and “Now Now” both off her album Marry Me. If this is a show that makes it anywhere close to where you are I HIGHLY recommend making an attempt to check it out.

We decided to just hang out after the show since we had a nice piece of shade and got to listen to the Sanitgold set which was one of my “let’s check it out, how bad could it be” moments. And man were we both happy that we did. Although we couldn’t see anything at all from where we sat, (and were sort of distracted by the poor dehydrated girl that was being tended to directly in front of us) both me and the wifey found ourselves bouncing happily along to the beat. I cannot really comment on favorites as I am not really familiar with her music, but as I have already eluded it was a fun set to say the least.

The day had been great and our bellies were full from dinner when we headed back to What Stage for one of the sets that we were incredibly excited for Beastie Boys! Although any picture that I attempted to capture was terrible due to the constant changing lights and moving of the crowd, the set was something quite special. Mix Master Mike tore it up for a minute before the boys finally rolled out and kicked things off with more energy than some guys half their age. It was a somewhat eclectic set but had all the elements that you would hope for from these Hip Hop heroes. As if “Sure Shot”, “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” and “Egg Raid On Mojo” weren’t enough to send us all home happy they also brought out NAS for “Too Many Rappers”, then going into “Paul Revere” (apparently a special request by NAS himself). Bouncing between rhyming and playing instruments themselves they wrapped things up with “So Whatcha Want” and left for the encore break. But the music didn’t stop while they regained their composure. Mix Master Mike made sure that everyone stayed pumped up with an awesome DJ solo. The encore alone was incredible with “Intergalactic”, “3 Mcs”, “Heart Attack Man”, and “Sabotage” to round out there time with us for the night. Now with the dark set in and a slight nip to the air there was nothing to do but hang out and wait for what we had been waiting most anxiously for since we read the initial line up posted months ago……PHISH!!

Just when I thought we could wait no longer the lights went down, and the crowd went crazy. The next 3 hours were an absolute razzle dazzle of lights and sounds that soothed the soul and melted our faces. They came out strong with “Chalkdust Torture” coming up for air only after another few songs for Trey to thank the crowd and to say how excited they were to be there, leading directly into “The Divided Sky”. Other notable selections were “Possum”, “Free”, and “Wolfman’s Brother”. AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” was a definite crowd pleaser. As well as the “You Enjoy Myself” to “Wilson” back into “You Enjoy Myself” bit leading them into the encore break. They came back from the break to send us all off to bed with a fantastic rendition of the Beatles “A Day in the Life”. All in all an amazing couple of days and we were only halfway done.

We settled in for the night and rested up for the next 2 days of ridiculous that we had in store. Check back soon for the rest of the story. I promise there are lots of incredible things to tell about Saturday and Sunday.