Amateurs first formed in San Francisco in 2004, with Keith Waggoner (vocals/guitars) and Stephen Garver (drums). The duo quickly relocated to Los Angeles and recorded an EP, Hope For The Best, Expect The Worst. The band became a three-piece when violinist Shannon De Jong joined. After touring in support of the EP Amateurs added guitarist Anthony Puglisi. The band then set to recording their first full-length release, Speak Easy, which was released earlier this year.

Guitarist Puglisi took some time to talk to Gearwire extensively about the band's recording. Here is part one of that interview.

Patrick Ogle: Can you tell me where you record and why?

We recorded our record at Kingsize Sound Labs in Eagle Rock California. It is the largest of a group of studios known as the Rock Block. We decided on Kingsize for a number of reasons, first being Dave Trumfio. Kingsize is Dave’s studio and he has recorded and produced some of our favorite bands -- Wilco, My Morning Jacket, Built To Spill, Grandaddy and so many more. His client list reads like a who’s who of music that we actually listen to so we thought Dave would be a good fit for what we were after. Plus he’s a really down-to-earth and funny guy who knows all about making records from both sides of the glass. He’s made sure the studio environment is comfortable and conducive to the making of great recordings. Once you’ve walked in through the front door, it doesn’t take long to feel right at home.

Additionally, Dave is the king of kings when it comes to gear so that made the decision to record at Kingsize even easier. The A Room has a very well maintained 32 channel Neve 8068. There are some 1073 modules in it somewhere as well. That thing sounds ridiculous! His outboard collection consists of standard high-end fare – API 550A, 550B, 560, LA2As, 1176s, Distressors, etc. He even had some of the more esoteric stuff - seeing stuff from Alan Smart, Inward Connections, and George Massenburg in his racks not only made me drool, but assured me that Dave was most definitely a gear connoisseur. Dave’s mic locker is just as impeccable – top quality selections from Neumann, Korby, Beyer, Sennheiser, and many more. I don’t think the other guys really grasped the pedigree of Dave’s gear, but, as a self-proclaimed gear spotter, I was in gear heaven. (Dave mixed our record up at the studio at his house…You should see the setup in there! Holy crap!)

As far as the recording medium was concerned, we knew we wanted the flexibility of digital. Because time and budget were limited, we wanted the option to do additional work beyond the scheduled studio time if we needed to. Since I have a project studio here at home centered around a DIGI002, we knew from the get-go that we wanted to record to Pro Tools. Dave has 48 channels I/O on a ProTools HD3 Accel clocked to a UA 2192 AD/DA. Not too shabby! So we really were after the best of both worlds and we got an extremely powerful, high-end digital rig fronted by a super high-end analog setup.

What hardware/software do you use in recording?

For Speak Easy, we tracked everything live through the Neve to Pro Tools. We’ve done some demo stuff at my house here to Pro Tools as well. Nothing fancy. We also used this super janky Boss all-in-one recording unit heavily in preproduction to work out arrangements, song structure, and vocal harmonies. As crappy as that thing was (and as much as I complained about it!), it really did help us shape the songs in our run-up to the recording. The sounds that came out of that thing were actually pretty surprising especially once you put the recording through the built-in “mastering” algorithms (what I lovingly came to refer to as “that mastering bullshit.”). I was so sketched to let Dave hear those recordings, but, as a testament to his talent, he easily saw past the quality issues and could hear what we were going for. Whatever works.

What about effects? Do you use software or outboard gear for this?

We use whatever sounds good and whatever the situation calls for. The guitars came in wet through our pedals and amps. We took a DI of our guitars just in case we wanted to re-amp and fiddle with tone-blending in post production. But Dave and Josiah Mazzaschi (First Engineer on our recording) dialed in and committed to the tones from the start. No saving it to “fix in the mix.” What you hear on the record is pretty much our guitar tone through the Neve.

For violin, it was a little tougher. Shannon plays live through a little Fender Blues Jr. tube amp, with an EQ and Holy Grail Reverb. Unlike the guitars, the amplified violin tone isn’t as important as the tone of the instrument itself. The pickups on the violin alter the instrument’s tone, and in the recording scenario, capturing the violin’s true tone was priority one. So she removed the pickup and tracked acoustically. In this case we could only really commit to getting the violin recorded as best as possible. We used Altiverb and the behemoth Ecoplate plate reverb in post-production to hone her sound. We actually capitalized on access to that plate as much as we could and used it quite a bit. It gives such a great, classic sound.

Any drum “effects” were achieved mostly with mic placement. We definitely had some more experimental placements for room mics and used those to alter the sound of the drums where needed. You can really hear this on “After All.” Stephen cut a double of the drum track but we only recorded 1 or 2 of the more bizarre mic placements. Dave compressed the hell out of the double in mixing and it gives the drums on that song such a loose, but hard-hitting feel.

Dave utilized more hardware than software effects on the record, at least in terms of dynamics. Up at his home studio, Chateau Trumfio, he has possibly the most drool-worthy home studio you can imagine. He’s got a heavily modified 56 input Trident C Range there with a set of Barefoot Micromains, easily the craziest monitors I’ve ever seen or heard. Some highlights of the outboard there included the SPL Transient Designer and Ridge Farm Boiler Ultra Compressor that he used to give the drums that extra special magic.

He used the slightest, sweetening touch of a GML 8200 on the 2 bus. The Inward Connections DEQ-1 and APIs worked wonders on the guitars. For some of the more specialized effects, he had to call upon a plugin or two. I was handed a printout of all the plugin authorizations he has. To give you an idea - the printout was 180 pages long. Highlights include Soundtoys’ Echoboy which found its way on quite a bit of stuff, and the Chandler EMI TG12413 Limiter which Dave had nothing but kind words for.

Do you have any special pieces of gear or techniques with gear you use in recording?

No. It’s my feeling that any piece of gear or technique is as special as the next if you decide to put it in your recording. I like mojo pieces as much as the next guy, but the mojo piece is no better than the workhorse piece in the sum of the parts and either should be used where appropriate. It’s dubious to say X is special because at the end of the day, what you put through it still matters most.