Jonathan Lee is Sound of Music's Studio Manager and First Friday Organizer. A Richmond transplant from Memphis TN, Lee currently plays in experimental rock act Souvenir's Young America and under the solo moniker Anduin. If you need a question answered, some studio time booked, some guidance on your project, or just need to pay a bill, Jonathan is here to assist you. Contact him during office hours Mon - Fri 11 to 5 or via email jonathan@soundofmusic.org.

Bryan Walthall is an engineer to watch out for. Although he's one of Sound of Music's youngest, he's been making records for the past eight years starting at his home and various studios in the DC area. A true "old school" and analog enthusiast, he would rather be spooling tape and cleaning heads than playing with a mouse in a box. As a musician he attened VCU's jazz performance program for drums and alto sax, but is a consummate lover of all music. He was even one of the founding members of Richmond's Special Ed and the Short Bus. Recent engineering highlights include The Pomegranates "Everything is Alive" and the soon to be released "Bombs Away Baby" by Conshafter. He has also worked closely with all the engineers at SOM on projects like Carbon Leaf, Tea Leaf Green, and David Lowery's new solo record.

From "Mixing Outside the Lines" at MIX Online:

Producer/engineer Alan Weatherhead has mixed records for Sparklehorse, The Comas, Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker, among numerous other indie bands that appreciate his naturally experimental style. The bands that hire Weatherhead to mix their records usually share this aesthetic: "The records I'll mix have usually been created with an experimental energy, and so they want to continue in that direction," he notes. "So my job is to take it a little further in some cases, and in others figure out how I can subtract from what's there to make it stronger."

Weatherhead's mixing arsenal is distinguished by his affinity for effects pedals, Amek 9098 channel strips and Distressors. He mixed the new record by A Camp, the New York City-based indie-rock band led by Nina Persson of The Cardigans, at Firehouse 12 Studios in New Haven, Conn. "The band gave me license to do whatever I wanted in mixing, basically," says Weatherhead. "You never know what the outcome of some sonic experiment will be, and it's part of my approach to try anything. First I get things in place, and then ask, 'Texturally, what would make things more interesting?'"

Weatherhead mixed the A Camp record in Pro Tools, running most everything through Firehouse 12's API Legacy console, and using both analog pedals and software effects to add dimension to their recorded sounds. "On one song, we ran this single note acoustic guitar part through Eventide's H949 plug-in, basically bringing the guitar up an octave and adding reverb to it," he recalls. "On its own, it sounds completely glitchy, almost not musical. But in the mix, having some of that underneath the guitar made it sound like a 12-string."

On vocals, Weatherhead used parallel compression and experimented with tape delay. "We'd record the tape delay and then line it up so it was actually in time with the vocal to give it a fatter, thicker sound." Backing vocals were run through a variety of filters. "I have a pedal made by Frostwave called the Resonator, and it's basically a clone of the filter section of an MS20 synth. And like the tape delays, a lot of times the vocal would be running through the Resonator and we'd be manipulating it as we were recording it. We used the Sherman Filterbank on a lot of stuff, particularly on drums." In general, Weatherhead adds, "What we're doing with all these filters is never the whole sound, but another layer, something else snuck in there for texture."

Mixing a record for singer/songwriter Nadine Khouri recently, Weatherhead used distortion as a creative solution to a less-than-ideal recording. "There's one song on her record that had a really heavy ending, but since they'd recorded basics for it on the same day they cut a few mellower songs and didn't change the drum sound for the heavier one, it didn't sound quite right," he explains. "So we put the snare drum through a distortion pedal and gated it, just made it sound super-crazy. Sometimes it's better to make a sound that's not working so well into something totally different rather than trying to be so literal about it."

Few producers and engineers will ever make as many records as John Morand has in the last 15 years. Since his commencement in the recording field, his work with such acts as Honor Role, Breadwinner and Butterglove influenced large parts of the entire '90's "math rock" movement. The sonic foundation that Morand laid with seminal Richmond bands like Fudge (Caroline), The Technical Jed (Spinart), and Four Walls Falling (Jade Tree) lead to the founding of the Sound of Music recording studios with David Lowery. Together, they worked on several critically lauded recordings including Sparklehorse (Capital), September 67 (EMI), Lauren Hoffman (Virgin), and even Hanson! Yes, that Hanson. Morand's more recent work reflects the achievements of his tenure in the art of engineering and production. From the eerie minimalism of his multiple LaBradford(Kranky/Blast First) recordings to the Celtic rock of American Music Award winners Carbon Leaf, from the pristine production of Joan Osborne's underappreciated second release to the pummeling hardcore of Jade Tree's flagship politicos Strike Anywhere, Morand has an immeasurable flexibility to work with anyone. Hell, the aforementioned Hanson project yielded a Platinum Record for his recording and mixing of their "3 Car Garage" debut. This all barely scratches the surface of who is belovedly known to us the jolliest man in rock 'n roll. Studio!!

As the frontman for Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven, David Lowery has been witness to some of the most innovative and intuitive forms of production in the recording process. His credits as a producer, like his musical endeavors, span many styles. Consider: FSK (Sub Up), Sparklehorse (Capital), Magnet (PC Music), Blue Dogs, the Seymores (Caroline) , Joan Osborne (Interscope) Counting Crows (Interscope), LP (Koch), Lauren Hoffman (Virgin), Tweaker (Brass booty), September 67/Shannon Worrell (Superduke) Kitty Snyder (Pitch-a-Tent) and Bruce Gruthro (EMI Canada). David Lowery has resurrected the Athens-based Pitch-a-Tent label in recent years in his quest to offer singular and unique talent a vehicle for marketing their music. Coupled with today's modern technology and distribution methods, he also offers the respected and reputable guidance of someone who has been in the trenches of the independent music scene since the early 80's. Lowery's approach to the production of any band is to find the most salient point of reference in a given song, maximize its potential, and couple that with relaxed surroundings in order to draw the best performance from the artist. Surrounded by a knowledgeable staff, and dare we say, scores of eager interns, it seems from the outside to be an easy route from start to finish--thus the reason why most all of his work is done here at the Sound of Music recording studios.

Craig Harmon became an owner of Sound of Music in early 2004, but his connection with the studio on both the creative and the business sides goes back a lot farther than that. Craig has, for a number of years, represented the studio and several of its owners and staff as an attorney. He is a partner at the mega-law firm of McGuire Woods, where his practice included entertainment law. He is also a keyboard player/Pedel Steel for Flatbed Americana and brings to the studio his version of the gospel, blues and country flavors from his native city--Memphis, Tennessee. Craig's implements of choice are the Hammond B3, Wurlitzer 200A, grand piano and Pedel Steel. Craig's work includes records from artists as diverse as Hanson on one hand, to Trixie Delicious on the other. In between, there are recordings by Susan Greenbaum, Kyle Davis, Joan Osborne, Gibb Droll, and David Garza to name a few. Craig also played on the the two most recent Cracker albums. To get in touch with Craig to bring a little of the deep-south-gospel-woodshed to your project--or to make arrangements for the use of some of his vintage keyboard gear, contact Miguel Urbiztondo for details. Craig makes tremendous contributions to Sound of Music, and is here when you need him.