Garage Mahal Recording Studio

11/24/2022

Happy Harvest Day everyone!

11/01/2022

Last Friday I was at Gorham High School to give a talk and a demo on recording for the school's "Arts & Music X" program. Interacting with the kids was a fun and rewarding experience.

10/30/2022

Song of the Raven

“Song of the Raven”, the new single by Dedalus, is now up on YouTube. All tracks by Joe Wilford except drums by Runtt Wah and backing vocals by yours truly. Mixed by yours truly here at Garage Mahal Recording Studio. check it out!

from A Thread in the Labyrinth, track released October 28, 2022Guitars: joe WilfordVocals: joe Wilford & Rowan BishopDrums: Runtt WahMixed by Rowan Bishop at...

02/28/2022

An Overnight Low were at Garage Mahal Recording Studio over the weekend to lay down basic tracks for their next single. Believe it or not, that tiny drum kit that Paul Gauer played was really loud! Thanks to him, Chad Walls and Sam Anderson for their great playing and songwriting.

12/25/2021

Happy Holidays!

12/10/2021

Tilt One to Your Teeth (Saturnalia), by An Overnight Low

“Tilt One to Your Teeth”, the new holiday single from An Overnight Low, is now available on Bandcamp.com. It was recorded and mixed by Yours Truly at Garage Mahal Recording Studio. Check it out!

https://anovernightlow.bandcamp.com/track/tilt-one-to-your-teeth-saturnalia?fbclid=IwAR3DsSbymTtNldhA2LL2v0PC9XFrSG8gvWOtZuSmvTyT0ldf6t4Ps1JLkSU

from the album Portland (The Live Archive)

09/03/2021

Pet Sematary [cover], by Chal

I had the recent pleasure of mixing a cover of “Pet Sematary” by the Ramones, performed by Runtt Wah and his fur-suited compadres. The track was mastered at Pat Keane Mastering and I must say it CRUSHES.

track by Chal

08/12/2021

An Overnight Low was at Garage Mahal Recording yesterday and we took an old school approach: they set up in a circle and recorded completely live - no fixes or overdubs. Just 2 acoustic guitars, bass, cajon and three part vocal harmonies. Great job, guys!

08/03/2021

Don’t Try to Change the Band | Garage Mahal Recording

I never try to change an artist into something they are not.

Here’s what I don’t do at Garage Mahal Recording: try to change you or your music. Do I give you a best foot to put forward? Yes. Do I try to turn your music into something it isn’t? NO!

02/13/2021

Rupert Neve, GRAMMY-Winning Audio Industry Icon, Dies at 94 — Rupert Neve

A giant of recording technology, Rupert Neve, has passed at 94. This is a tremendous loss for the recording community. He will be sorely missed.

Wimberley, TX (Feb. 13, 2021) – It is with great sadness that we announce that Rupert Neve, whose name is synonymous with quality audio recording equipment worldwide, has died. He remained in great spirits to the end, enjoying his life in Wimberley, Texas, where he and his wife Evelyn have lived ...

11/27/2020

Mix Blog Live: Memories of Bruce Swedien - Mixonline

Here’s an article written by my good friend Steve La Cerra about the late Bruce Swedien. One thing’s for sure: once all the engineers of Bruce’s generation are gone (even those still alive are probably retired) there won’t be equally great engineers to replace them. It’s now all one big race to somewhere between ok and pretty good.

Steve La Cerra recalls the human side of Bruce Swedien, how they met over a story about Neumann M49s and how he ended up at the mix console at the legendary engineer's studio in Connecticut.

11/17/2020

Legendary Audio Engineer Bruce Swedien Dead at 86

In the world of recording, Bruce Swedien walked amongst the giants. He recorded and mixed countless artists, his most heard work probably being those classic Michael Jackson records. A friend of mine knew him and by all accounts he was a great guy. He passed yesterday, leaving us with a HUGE catalog of music to enjoy.

The man who recorded and mixed Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall and Thriller has died

08/09/2020

Prolific Rock And Metal Producer Martin Birch Dead At 71

This is tragic. Martin Birch recorded a laundry list of great albums, including Heaven and Hell by Black Sabbath, which I use as my primary reference mix in the studio. He will be sorely missed.

Martin Birch was at the helm of many great rock and heavy metal albums. He died early Sunday at the age of 71. Rest in Peace.

07/30/2020

A Beloved Portland, Maine, Music Club Says Goodbye

More bleak news regarding the closing of Port City Music Hall:

Port City Music Hall was key in propelling Father John Misty, Maggie Rogers and more to bigger stages. This week, the club announced it’s closing forever

07/29/2020

One of Portland Maine’s best live music venues, Port City Music Hall, has fallen victim to the corona virus and will be closing for good. Saw many good shows there: X, The Feelies, Henry Rollins, Eastern Spell, Ocean, The English Beat, and many others. It will be missed. I have fond memories of playing there myself. Here’s a photo of By Blood Alone playing there in happier times.

City Music Hall w/Ocean - 03/23/2010

05/12/2020

Better Than Before

VIces Inc have published a lyric video for their latest single, "Better Than Before" (recorded and mixed at Garage Mahal Recording Studio.) Check it out:

https://youtu.be/COwvjoWvShE

Lyric video for the single "Better Than Before"

05/06/2020

The new EP by Ex Avenue, "Nowhere Fast", is out! It was recorded and mixed at here at Garage Mahal Recording Studio and mastered at Pat Keane Mastering. Check it out here:

http://ow.ly/oYTd50zyoIO

05/01/2020

IE Thomson's EP "Fractured Pieces Torment" (recorded here at Garage Mahal Recording Studio) is now available online. it's a killer release - go check it out:

https://iethomson.bandcamp.com/releases

04/24/2020

About | Garage Mahal Recording Studio Maine | Garage Mahal Recording

As we weather the Coronavirus storm, I’m sure many of us are working on new music! Need a great mix to finish it all off? I am extending my deal on unattended mixing services for the low, low rate of $25/hr from now until May 15th, 2020. Hit me up!

Facebook or Instagram
email: [email protected]
text: 2074150536

20 percent of the proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross. Let’s make some music and stay safe everyone!

I got my start in recording studios back in the early 90s after graduating from Center for the Media Arts with a degree in recording studio engineering.

04/23/2020

All you musicians and audio folk out there: what’s your position on click tracks? Some think it a necessity - others find it a groove killer. Where do you stand on this issue?

https://www.garagemahalrecording.com/click-tracks-yay-or-nay/

03/19/2020

I hope everyone reading this is protecting themselves as best they can. Not surprisingly I have had some cancelations, so I am now offering unattended mixing services for the low, low rate of $25/hr from now until April 7th, 2020. Got a project that needs finishing? Hit me up! Contact me on:

Facebook or Instagram
email: [email protected]
text: 2074150536

20 percent of the proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross. Let’s make some music and stay safe everyone!

02/20/2020

Happy belated birthday to the riffmaster himself - Tony Iommi! Many of us would not be doing what we do without his textbook of evil and ominous guitar licks.

02/10/2020

Vices Inc were back at Garage Mahal Recording Studio last week laying down more tracks. (Guitar and drums, followed by bass, percussion and some vocals.) We should be finishing up the vocals this week.

https://www.garagemahalrecording.com

02/07/2020

Our beloved city of Portland Maine and its “wildly ambitious music scene” has been profiled in Rolling Stone. Nice for the smaller (and original) Portland to get some musical props.

http://ow.ly/Pxlx50yd7Ox

02/06/2020

A new band, Vices Inc, were in the studio the other week laying down basic tracks for the forthcoming slew of releases (EP, LP, and various singles.) Their sound lies somewhere between pop punk and Pixies style indie rock.

02/05/2020

Here’s me at NAMM a few weeks ago demoing the Universal Audio Ox. They actually had a left handed guitar for me to use. The Ox sounded great and I may have to pick up one. Or maybe two.

02/04/2020

It’s quite busy here at Garage Mahal Recording, and i’m really behind with posting. Look who I ran into at NAMM a few weeks ago - musical artist and engineer extraordinaire Logan Belle! We go way back to jr high school. It was great getting caught up.

12/20/2019

The guys from Ex Avenue were back at Garage Mahal Recording this week for vocals. Songs are taking shape nicely.

https://www.garagemahalrecording.com

11/25/2019

The Garage Mahal Recording Studio website has been redesigned. I'm thrilled with it's new look and functionality. Feel free to visit, listen to new audio clips, and get to know me and my work.

https://www.garagemahalrecording.com/sounds/

11/20/2019

Last week i was in Mix Mode, working on the new single by Avi Fine. Avi posesses a Rik Ocasek-esque voice and Elliot Easton level guitar chops, so not surprisingly the track has a distinct Cars vibe.

https://www.garagemahalrecording.com

11/18/2019

Ex Avenue were here at Garage Mahal Recording Studio over the weekend, laying tracks for their first release. They’ve got a Replacements vibe with some twangy, surfy guitar added in, and are fun guys to work with.

http://ow.ly/9y5n50xe43l

10/11/2019

The new single by Runtt Wah, “With You I Can Run Forever” Is now available on Bandcamp. Mixed here at Garage Mahal Recording, All the proceeds form this release will go to ALS Research. http://ow.ly/KMrt50wHxBu

10/10/2019

The new EP by IE Thomson, “Fractured Pieces Torment”, Is now available. Recorded and mixed here at Garage Mahal Recording, you can get it direct from IE herself! Just go to IE Thomson on Facebook and message her.

09/16/2019

Got some props on my production skills in a recent OGRE review: "Great production and engineering creates an instant classic."

http://ow.ly/xh2950wbxTX

#

09/10/2019

OGRE - The Future

"The Future", the first single from the album Thrice as Strong by OGRE, is now up on youtube. Check it out - it rocks very hard.

From the forthcoming album "Thrice As Strong" out Oct 25, 2019 on Cruz Del Sur Music. Pre-order: CD: http://tinyurl.com/y59tvgbw VINYL: http://tinyurl.com/y6...

09/03/2019

"Thrice as Strong" by Ogre (recorded by Yours Truly at Garage Mahal Recording) is now available for pre-order on Amazon. CD and LP. Get it! http://ow.ly/68sR50vV6qZ