B-sides #2

This Summer I have been working on upgrades in Studio B, while also taking time to get familiar with Studio A.

As of today, Studio B is now connected directly to the Live Room which gives us another control room at Wire & Vice. Additionally, after a bit of acoustic treatment, Studio B was calibrated using Sonarworks software; meaning it is now an even more transparent monitoring environment. Lastly, I am excited to mention that I’ve invested in a new Mac Studio that will become the workhorse in Studio B as soon as it arrives from Apple!

When Dan and Ian added the API 2448 to Studio A they did a wonderful job creating a hybrid setup that leverages Wire & Vice’s collection of analog hardware with modern technology. As an engineer, it has been a blast getting my hands on that setup to see what works best between my established processes and all of the new possibilities that equipment provides. The results have been pretty neat, and I’m excited to share some tunes soon.

Speaking of tunes, I’m keeping most of what I’m working on sonically under wraps. Yet, I will mention that I am starting to schedule sessions for this Fall. If you have any interest in getting in touch with me I can be reached at: JohnnyWV@pm.me

As always, thanks for following along!

- John

B-sides #1

In the Fall of 2019 I was working on an album of originals. After composing a rough mix for the first song for that record I reached out to the folks at Wire & Vice to see if I could recruit their help recording drums and vocals in their live room. Dan and Ian were gracious enough to spend two days with me, and the results were something I was truly excited about.

I completed college that December, and was dialing in rough mixes for the next two songs for that album, but then my plans to come back to Wire & Vice to record additional tracks were halted due to COVID. Over the next two years I worked on music a bit more sporadically, took a job in Downtown Milwaukee, and moved all of my belongings and music equipment to the East Side.

One day this past Winter I dropped by Wire & Vice, for I was curious to see what the space was being used for in the time since I had recorded there. I was fortunate to run into Luke, and we spoke about his aspirations for the studio moving forward. This initial conversation led to further discussions about future plans for Wire & Vice; and as of this past May I am now a part of those plans doing all of my engineering work out of Studio B.

I intend to provide meaningful updates on a variety of projects happening in Studio B, and at Wire & Vice as a whole, in future editions of this blog. Thank you for following along!

- John