Cheryl Wanner and Frank Gerace, of Boston's

Dreamchild have spoken to Gearwire about harps, basses, guitars and processors--all the elements used in making their music. The band produce a dark ethereal sound that borders on goth and tiptoes around ambient music. This time out they are talking about the gear they use to record. Roland products and the venerable Lexicon JamMans make an appearance.

"We use a Roland VS2480 CD to record. It's a stand alone workstation, though we have outboard gear we use with it. For Cheryl's vocals, we use a Neuman U87 and run that into an Avalon 737 mic pre," says Gerace. "I usually use the same mic and pre on the harp, and sometimes will blend it with another mic or a Focusrite pre depending on what I'm interested in obtaining for sound. I've used it in conjunction with the standard SM57 and 58s, with a kick drum mic to enhance the low end and with a pair of small diaphragm condensers for a huge stereo image (for solo harp pieces)."

Gerace runs the Roland VG-8 direct unless he is looking for am amped sound. In that case he uses a Vox AC 30. In other cases he runs the VG-8 into the Avalon and overdrives it. For acoustic guitars it depends on whether he wants a stereo mix or not.

"When I want mono, I'll use either the Neuman or an SDC and for a stereo image," says Gerace. "I'll play with different configurations of mics as well. It's about finding the right sound for the song."

For effects and looping both Wanner and Gerace use Lexicon JamMans and Gerace uses an Echoplex Digital Pro.

"I run the VG-8 into a Mackie 1202 and I use the effects sends to go into each looper. I have the returns coming back into separate channels on the 1202 so they can EQed and mixed in with the main signal as needed. I haven't yet upgraded the Echoplex to the newest version of the software, but I hope to do that next year," says Gerace. "There's still a lot of features in the current version I haven't fully explored and integrated into Dreamchild's song writing yet, so I'm not in a big hurry. Both of the JamMen are upgraded to the full 32 seconds of looping capability."

Wanner runs her mics into a Mackie 1202 and sends the signal to her JamMan via one of the effects sends. The return is then routed through a separate channel for control in the mix. She handles the mix from stage. Other effects send feeds to a Yamaha reverb unit and the returns there go into the FX returns.

Gerace says that in the studio they do whatever gets the best result.

"For some pieces, as they are created in the moment using a looper, we'll record those as they're being done, from wither the Jam Man or the Echoplex. For some things, we taken parts and looped them within the 2480, using the editing cut and paste functions," says Gerace. "For example, on La Belle Dame Sans Merci from Lullabies for the dead, I use the JamMan to create an atmospheric loop that I something to in each verse. At the end of the song, there is a layering of additional guitar parts as the main line repeats and builds. For the studio, I layered each part on its own separate track, allowing me more flexibility in the mixdown process, but I used the Jam Man to create the atmospherics and recorded that loop "live, adding parts to it as the song played through. Live, I layer all the individual guitars at the end on the Echoplex one at a time."

Live the band rely totally on the loopers and they are quick to note that none of their loops are pre-recorded.

"We don't bring any pre-recorded loops with us and play to them. So, every time we play, things are never quite the same. Sometime the loops are longer, sometimes, shorter. Sometimes the loopers don't respond, sometimes there's operator error," says Gerace. "All of these things enhance the performance, as we have to be on top of them to respond as they occur. In the studio, if we aren't getting exactly what we want from a loop, we can redo it and start again. Live, we just go with it and adapt the song to the 'new'" loop."

For Wanner the vocals are the thing she most likes creating loops for.

"I love being able to create multiple vocals, live onstage, in the moment and sing with several Cheryl Sirens at a time! As Frank said, neither of us use any pre-recorded samples live ever - we sample and loop everything right there," says Wanner. "In the studio, we sometimes record a vocal loop, but I often just improvise layers of recorded vocals and figure out how to loop them for live performance later."

The band is finishing up a run of shows in the Boston area and will then finish up on their fourth CD. More live shows will follow in the spring.