Jasper Stone CD Hits the Streets

Posted on 14. Jun, 2016 by Tim Bushong in News

Over a year ago I got a call from Josh Casper, guitarist for the Plymouth, Indiana-based band, Jasper Stone. He was looking for a good local studio to record his band, and told me that he was disappointed with the results of their last recording project. “No worries,” I said, “I’m your guy!”

Now, I knew that they were the “worship band” for a church in Plymouth (Plymouth Wesleyan Church), and to be honest, that fact didn’t engender much confidence in me. Many times, churches don’t have the luxury of taking only top-notch musicians, and are happy when people volunteer their time and energies in order to be a part of the music.

Josh Casper (g), Joel Hartung (g, vocs), Heather Delp (vocs), Marc Greenawalt (drums), Christen Ellis (vocs), Dave Portteus (keys), and Jerry Cox on bass.

Marc Greenawalt lays down the groove...

So when they showed up on a Friday night, we got the drums set up and mic’d as usual, both guitars mic’d up in my “isolation barn” (this is Indiana, after all), and the bass went direct into the SansAmp D.I. We put the keys and both female vocalists in the control room with me, and we treated their vocals as “scratch” tracks. So, this was going to be a good old-fashioned, hold on to your hats, everybody-play-their-instrument-at-the-same-time session. Cool!

Well, as soon as we got going I realized that this was not just a few folks who got together only on Sundays, but was a real honest to goodness rock band. They knew the arrangements well, usually getting the right take on the 2^nd time around, and everyone seemed to be having fun, too—I love a good friendly session!

Joel is...intense.

We were able to get all of the basic tracks for 12 songs finished by the next Saturday evening, and began thinking about overdubs and vocals. Josh’s most excellent Boogie amp had some issues, so we used some of my amps for extra parts and solos.

Josh and his SG

The real pleasant surprise was when Heather and Christen came in to sing their parts. Instead of recording each vocalist separately, I placed two LCD mics facing each other so that the two singers could interact vocally with each other live in the studio. What a great idea (not just mine, either!), and they simply nailed their parts. It wasn’t like some young singers, who flit about the scale searching for the elusive harmony of the moment, but they knew exactly who was supposed to sing what part and when, and they just did a great job together.

Christen and Heather singing their live scratch tracks

Jasper Stone Boundless.

"Took me a LOOOOONG time to mix this record..."

Here are a couple of mix notes: I subgrouped the entire drum kit and was able to get a real tight sound by utilizing 4 freeware plugs in addition to a Waves Renaissance EQ and an old Timeworks Mastering Limiter. The chain went (in order):

Ferric TDS – Tape dynamics simulator>Waves Ren EQ>Tessla SE – Transformer saturation simulator> Voxengo MSED Mid-Side controller>TDR Feedback Compressor>Timeworks Mastering Limiter.

To get that big, smooth bass tone I used a Logic Overdrive into 2 UAD plugins—an LA-2 and a Cambridge EQ.

Jerry Cox, our big smooth bass player

For Josh and Joel’s guitar tones, I used their own amp sounds coming from the mics, and then did a little widening trick by bussing each guitar out to a sample delay of about 20-30 (each guitar gets a different delay) and then that delayed single fed a Voxengo Boogex cabinet emulator. By panning these effected tones opposite of the source tone and being pretty conservative with the level, it’s a cool way to “embiggen” the rhythm guitar sound.

(“It’s a perfectly cromulent word.”)

Vocals were processed through Voxengo Voxformers, a Valhalla Vintage Verb, and assorted little delays.

Ultimately, it’s all down to levels, panning, EQ, “space,” and compression—the ingredients that must be mixed right in order for the jambalaya to come out just right... and yes, I mastered it myself.

One other thing I noticed: the lyrics. They are very well thought-out, not at all clichéd , and full of interesting imagery that really helps communicate their worldview and message.

“Burn The Ships now, no looking back. Pressing on, the past is in the past…”

That is great metaphor for the Christian life and continuing in the faith, alluding to the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and his decision to “burn the ships,” which left his men with only 2 choices — die, or ensure victory.

“Like a Watchman with an eye on the horizon, waiting for sunrise…”, encouraging us to be ever-vigilant, for the the night will eventually be ended, and day approaches.

I missed the CD release show—always something coming up—but they’ll be out and about for sure. Here’s to great bands who not only play well together, but love each other deeply; it really comes out in the music.

Be sure and “like” them on Facebook.

One more sample:
Burnin’ Bright

Buy the CD here.