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BRIAN McCALL
The Lowdown Or Ghatt Park. And Then Some
C hase Park Transduction's David Barbe is a
busy man. After releasing his solo debut, the
uncategorizable Comet Of the Season, in
2000, Barbe began playing out live more than
anyone had seen him do in quite a while. Barbe's
live presence has since been on the backburner,
however, as he and the rest of the Chase Park crew
(Andy Baker and Andy LeMaster) have had a
steady stream of clientele come through their
doors of late. Barbe is playing out a bit more
these days though and hopes to get in more stage
time in the near future.
"I've been writing songs since Comet came
out," says Barbe. "So in that way I have been
working on new material that is hopefully begin
ning to comprise the follow-up. I've been playing
with John Neff [Barbara Cue, Monday Night
Recorders], Frank MacDonnell [ex-Tom Collins],
John Mills [Barbara Cue] and Aaron Phillips
[Redneck GReece] since early last summer. It's
really turned into a great band. We played pretty
regularly during the fall, then I got really busy
and we didn't get to play together much until
mid-December, when we spent the better part of a
week here at the studio playing and recording.
tion of work styles. I engineered a Dropsonic
record that Dallas Austin produced, which was a
fun experience. The same arrangement went for
Injected’s last one with me engineering and Nick
DiDia doing the production. Brian Paulson brought
Seven Mary Three in so we just showed him where
everything was and let him make himself at home.
In between all that, I just started with Barbara
Cue, I'm in the middle with Dodd and the Stars
and I'm very close to finishing up with Southern
Bitch at this time."
Since opening their doors, Barbe, Baker and
LeMaster have been the nuts and bolts of Chase
Park's ever-rotating gear assembly. However, there
are a couple of new faces in the mix.
"Daniel Rickard's been doing a good bit with
us over the last year," notes Barbe. "He's been
engineering a lot as well as assisting me on the
Dropsonic project and filling in for me with the
Truckers when I cavalierly declined getting a flu
shot and ended up with a nasty stomach bug.
[Lona guitarist] Marcus Thompson has also been
really valuable helping out with the Truckers' new
stuff. He made the trip to Muscle Shoals with us
as well."
Since early fall we’ve actually had
more outAide engineer* and producer*
coming in to work than in the pa*t.
There * been a heavy combination k ,
of work Atyle*. *
Frank MacDonell and David Barbe
What will come of that, I don't yet know. We'll be
recording some more during the spring or summer,
hopefully right on the tail of doing some shows."
As gifted a producer as he is a singer-song
writer, Barbe's behind-the-boards talent has had
rule of the roost lately. Open for over seven years
and going strong since its inception, the Chase
Park facility has recently been at work with such
local outfits as Barbara Cue, Southern Bitch and
Dodd Ferrelle & the Tinfoil Stars. One of the most
highly anticipated releases of '04, the new one
from the Drive-By Truckers (still tentatively titled
The Dirty South), is currently receiving its final
coat of polish courtesy of Barbe and equally well-
respected engineer John Agnello, who's worked
with an A-list multitude of artists from Patti
Smith to Dinosaur Jr.
"We're almost ready to master the new Truckers
record," Barbe promises. "We've been working on
that off and on for about a year, mostly at Chase
Park, but also a bit in Muscle Shoals, AL, at Fame
Studio B. We spent about a week there just after
the new year. At the tail end of that, John came
down and we mixed it together. I haven't had
much experience with having my recordings mixed
by somebody else, but it really did work out well.
"Since early fall we've actually had more out
side engineers and producers coming in to work
than in the past. There's been a heavy combina-
The reason that Chase Park remains so busy
and highly regarded is that it doesn't give off the
pristine, finger-wagging pretense that's associated
with big time studios and hundred bucks a minute
producers. However, the guys are all musicians
themselves and are serious about what they do.
They're also generous enough to pass their knowl
edge on to the fellow musicians. So, lesson being,
if you go 'round Chase Park way keep an open ear
as you'll likely gain some valuable know-how that
might get lost in translation coming from a less
attentive and less trustworthy staff.
"We do have a lot of repeat clients, for which
I'm very grateful," Barbe says. "It really helps to
establish a working relationship over time. You
can get over some humps the first go-round, then
it becomes easier to get down to creativity the
more you work together. On the other hand, if I've
been able to gain some knowledge from other
engineers, John Keane in particular, then I'm
happy to share what I can when someone is gen
uinely interested. It's funny and also an asset that
two people can record something the same way
through the same equipment and the two finished
products will sound totally different I've experi
enced this with John and of course with the
Andys. There's just too many variables at play."
Michael Andrews
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MARCH 3, 2004 • FLAGPOLE.COM 21
