Non-Profit Weathervane Music Produces “Borrowed Heart” by Hezekiah Jones
Pictured with the TELEFUNKEN U47 large diaphragm microphone is Raphael “Raph” Cutrufello, lead singer of the group Hezekiah Jones. Photo by Peter English.
South Windsor, CT, May, 2011 – TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik, manufacturer of modern day classic tube microphones, has provided a broad selection of mics for a new online series entitled “Shaking Through.” The episode with Hezekiah Jones features a wealth of multi-track resources, including individual raw tracks and mixing stems of the recording sessions for the song “Borrowed Heart.” The session files can be opened with GarageBand, Pro Tools, Logic, and other popular audio workstation programs.
“We were thrilled to have access to the entire line of TELEFUNKEN mics,” commented Brian McTear, producer and founder of Weathervane Music. “The mics are super high-end, amazing boutique microphones. Thanks to George Hajioannou of Studio Logic Sound, I was able to drive away with $40,000 dollars in quality mics, including a U47, an Ela M 251, and the ELA M 260!”
“The two big ones were the Ela M 251 and the U47,” explained engineer, Jonathan Low. “The 251 was really big and full sounding, full range, and very realistic. The U47 is a little more out front, and not quite as big in the low end.”
“We chose which ones to use based on how it would sound on the person’s voice and what type of space that part was supposed to occupy within the song,” explained McTear. “For instance, we had Raph sing into the U47 because we wanted him close up on that mic for an intimate delivery of the vocal. Given the big, rich voice he has, if we had used the 251, it would have been too big. On the other hand, when we were doing the back up vocals, we had seven people and you can’t get up close and personal. We wanted them to sound like a vocal chorus from another time and place. The 251 was great because all those voices were combined together for a unified quality.”
Weathervane Music is a non-profit, new music incubator whose mission is to create projects that advance artists’ careers while strengthening the community that makes independent music possible. The organization was founded by McTear in 2009 because record labels today rarely invest in the early stages of artists’ careers, making it unlikely for even the best young artists’ music to reach audiences. The “Shaking Through” series, produced in conjunction with National Public Radio station WXPN in Philadelphia, shows the birth of a brand new song in a high-end recording studio, told from both the artists’ perspective in the main feature video, and the production crews’ perspective in technical features.
“Shaking Through” videos are professionally produced and effective in telling Weathervane’s mission at the same time. The main feature videos and MP3s are promoted heavily to indie music blogs (Pitchfork, Stereogum, etc). The technical videos, raw tracks and mix stems are shared online through forums such as Gearslutz.
To view the videos and download the final MP3 of Hezekiah Jones’ “Borrowed Heart,” go to: http://shakingthrough.com/hezekiahjones
To view the technical video, go to:
To download the raw audio tracks and mix stems, go to: http://shakingthrough.com/stems
To learn more about Weathervane Music, go to: http://weathervanemusic.org