APRA-cadabra! Calgary Recording Company is tracking magic

Calgary Recording Company:
Local studio loaded with expertise, great analog & digital gear
ready to rock!!! 

13 December 2017By Christine Leonard 

A hidden entrance, a secret knock, a whispered password. These are the trademarks of a prohibition-era speakeasy, but for audio engineers Ian Dillon and Jason Tawkin the concept of firing up a hard-to-find but worth-the-time recording studio is exactly the kind of underground operation they’ve been searching for. But make no mistake, this is no bootleg operation.  

“I’ve been working in recording studios for a long time, says co-operator Ian Dillon, who first met his business partner, Tawkin, when the two were both students at the Academy of Production and Recording Arts (APRA). “I started helping out at a family-run studio in Edmonton (Blue Room) as a teenager. My career has taken me around the world and established strong relationships within the music community both locally and abroad.”  

“When we finished those courses we went our separate ways,” explains Tawkin, who has worked with collections at the National Music Centre. “I started a studio in a slaughterhouse with another local engineer, Marcello Castronuovo, and Ian started his own studio Electric Park Studios. Years later we would meet again while helping a local vinyl pressing start-up get off the ground.” 

Having amassed a ton of high-end audio gear between them, Dillon and Tawkin came to the inevitable conclusion that they had best establish their own domain and set up a recording studio to beat the band – no pun intended.  

“It’s a collaboration of equipment and experience between myself and Jason,” Dillon affirms. “We’ve been collecting equipment and working in the music scene for many years, and when we had the opportunity to use a very unique space in the city, at a former vinyl record pressing factory, we took it. Since a lot of our recording equipment comes from a variety of now-defunct Calgary-based studios, we thought it would be fitting to honour the city’s vibrant music history with the name Calgary Recording Company.” 

“We have 50 years of recording technology that we can pull from in our toolbox of lovingly maintained equipment,” adds Tawkin. “Plus, we have enough room to record a band live off the floor, which we feel is the best approach when making a record. The results are fantastic because you’re capturing the magic of a moment.”

Veterans at directing studio sessions they have immortalized the creative essence of Goyte, Randy Bachman, Luke Doucet  Bloated Pig, Cowpuncher, Throne Of Vengeance, No More Moments, Citizen Rage, Oh Shit, The Electric Revival (Dillon’s own band) and Sean McCann, just to name a few. Dillon and Tawkin have also mastered and cut vinyl lacquers for big names such as The Misfits, Diana Krall, Muddy Waters, Oscar Peterson, Lightnin’ Hopkins, 54-40 and the Juno Awards. Calgary Recording Company also functions to provide a full range of digitization, restoration and preservation services. Through trial and error, the enterprising technicians have come to gain an understanding and mastery of those key elements that go into a successful studio project.  

“In the ever-growing world of basement studios and hobby engineers, we offer a refreshing spin to the project studio format,” says Dillion. “Our goal is to offer professional audio production services at reasonable rates, in a comfortable environment, using a wide assortment of technologies. One thing that sets us apart from the average project studio is our ability to record analog to tape directly, without the use of computers, for the entire project. We also have our analog system integrated with Pro Tools HD to get the best of both the analog and digital recording mediums. Our shop is designed to offer each client the appropriate methods required for them to achieve their artistic vision.”  

An exemplary blues-rock vocalist/guitarist in his own right, studio door-keeper Dillon knows firsthand the challenges and triumphs that come with the territory. Aiming to work hand-in-hand with their clientele, the minds behind CRC have tapped into a large network of artists, manufacturers, bookers, promoters, venues and promotional services to ensure that each release reaches its true potential.  

“Calgary has a great music scene with the infrastructure to properly support it,” Dillon concurs. “Talented artists, great locales and established music festivals call Calgary home. We are looking forward to playing our role in this very diverse and talented community.”

Turning their eyes and tuning their ears to the prohibitively long and dark nights of a frigid Canadian winter, Dillon and Tawkin are encouraging bands to consider a well-timed retreat to their studio sanctuary in preparation for a busy summer touring season. Pocket flasks of bathtub gin are, of course, entirely optional.

“It’s a great time to focus on your music and prepare for the year ahead,” A sage Dillon advises. “Winter touring can be difficult in Canada. The short days and cold weather are perfect for warming up to a nice analog recording console and getting lost in your art. With proper planning and execution, you can prepare new material now to take on the road in the warmer months.”

CALGARY RECORDING STUDIO is now open for business! 

CRC
4080 23 St NE, Calgary, AB
(587) 888-5453
Always Open

Free Fire: Best Films of the 2017 Calgary Underground Film Festival

Free Fire: 2017 CUFF Film Preview

10 December 2017
By Christine Leonard

 

Free Fire  

Although technically a 2016 release, this shoot-’em-up anchored the Calgary Underground Film Festival back in April of 2017. Once again extended the privilege of DJing live at the front of the theatre while the audience settled in, I hauled out a crate of cowbell-festooned power rock to compliment the film’s 1978 context. There, I was unexpectedly accompanied by a nimble-fingered VJ with a multitude of graphic samples at his disposal. And, so we wove an audio-visual tall tale that summited buxom mountain ranges and snaked through Technicolor bayous like a psychedelic locomotive. 

Finally winding down for the introduction of ballistic main feature we synchronously concluded our preshow sensory collage with Chambers Brothers’ “Time Has Come Today,” as giant ticking clocks crumbled in slow motion on the screen behind us. Sufficiently mollified, the audience turned their aspects and eyes to the backstabbing antics of three of the best-looking people to ever sport corduroy bell-bottoms and polyester disco collars; Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy and Armie Hammer. The hail of bullets and profanity that followed was all too familiar to those anyone who’s ever binged on SOA. Another IRA arms deal gone awry? I got this. 

(CL) 

Hawksley Workman launches into Almost a Full Moon Tour

Hawksley Workman:
Canadiana… deep in the snow, under the moonlight glow 

01 December 2017 By Christine Leonard

“Brain freeze. Rock and roll poet outsmarts Old Man Winter.”

The coldest time of the year always brings a glow to Canadian singer-songwriter Hawksley Workman’s cheeks. Donning his best woolens and dashing into the great outdoors with all the zeal of an eight-year-old brandishing a new GT Snowracer, Workman relishes the extremes in temperature and temperament that typify the holiday season. His poetic prescription for beating the short day blues? A modern Christmas cabaret featuring a hearty dose of Canadiana.  

BeatRoute: It’s been 16 years since your album “Almost a Full Moon” was released. How has your relationship with the material on this album evolved over time? Have the songs taken on new significance for you? 

Hawksley Workman: Sixteen years ago my grandma Hawksley was still alive. I wrote this record to let her know how important she was and to celebrate the rituals and excitement she brought to the season. Sixteen years on, her ghost is always around me, and those songs are like a time capsule. So, these songs have locked in a nostalgia, not just for my childhood remembrances, but for the wide-eyed kid from rural Ontario who was on the cusp of a moment of fame. “3 Generations” and “Merry Christmas (I love you)” still make me cry to play them. 

BR:  There’s a lovely illustrated children’s book to accompany the track “Almost a Full Moon.” How did that come to fruition?  

HW: The “Almost a Full Moon” picture book came to be after I was asked by somebody at Random House if I’d be interested in putting my stage ramblings into book form. I reasoned that it’d be nearly impossible to sit and write what comes out of me on stage because the context would feel so different. I suggested the children’s book idea and they thought it was great, so we went with it. 

BR: How do you get through the long, dark, cold winter months? 

HW: I feel like I’ve lost touch with hobbies, but certainly not distractions… there’s more of them now than ever. I ski and snowshoe. I’m getting ready to not see winter this year. To not care of its robbing me of mobility. To roam the streets unfettered. To not even notice it, except deliberate moments to notice its beauty. I will outsmart it this year, as I’ve attempted to do so many times. I will think myself into a warm, forgiving bubble while the Montreal winter rages. 

BR: Do you keep any special Yuletide traditions of your own?  

HW: Winter is beautiful. Winter is a test. Winter lets you hunker down in the candlelight without the guilt or thought of engagement. Winter is an ache. My tradition is to rise at 4:30am and retire early too. To see through the steam rising off the teacup.  

BR:  Tell us about the style of performance you have planned for this tour.
HW: I’ll have a brand new piano genius with me for this tour. His name is Leith Fleming Smith, and he’s from Halifax. It’ll be the two of us playing. I’ll be playing an old Martin guitar that used to be on the Don Messer Show. Leith will play trumpet. I might play harmonica or recorder. Mostly gently, but spirited too. With the Almost A Full Moon Tour, we do the record in full plus other sad/happy songs about weather and family.  

BR: What kind of atmosphere do you like to create during your holiday performances? What can people expect when they come to experience Almost a Full Moon live in concert?  

HW: At this time of year we feel the envelope closing. We feel the light of the days slipping away. We write a contract with ourselves to honour the dark. It’s a beautiful time to gather and sing. Our hearts are readying themselves for it. Winter is when you sit and repair, darn the socks, count the seeds. You let the darkness conceal your dreaming. You want to feel the fire’s glow. Communities gather to remind themselves they can’t get through alone, and that they’ll all be needed to survive till the thaw. 

BR: And, finally, what does Hawksley Workman want for Christmas and what is up in 2018?  

HW: I’d like to feel less dissatisfied.  

 Hawksley Workman will be bringing the Almost a Full Moon Tour across the country, playing Dec. 7 & 8 at Theatre Junction Grand (Calgary), Dec. 9 at The Exchange (Regina) and Dec. 10 & 11 at the Emmanuel Anglican Church (Saskatoon).