If I See You In The Morning

I was getting tired of yelling this song at everyone, I think the lyrics needed a more subtle delivery from the band (and me!). So you can hear that we're experimenting with some new ideas here... evidenced by Gabe jumping the start of the first verse.

Lots of harmonies and a cool chicken pickin' guitar part. I love doing these types of repetitive arrangements, the guitar feels like an old buddy coming back after the verses.

PLAYERS

Adoniram Lipton - Vocals / Electric guitar
Bailey Moates - Lead guitar
Gabe Lipton - Harmony / Organ
Mike St Clair - Bass
Josh Wienholt - Drums

ENG Notes

This was tracked live in our rehearsal space through our A&H GS3000 board converted by a JoeCo BlackBox.

I think I'm singing through an EV 510 or maybe an EV 420. My electric is mic'd by an EV 625a. 

On this one I put some effort to try to recover Bailey's guitar which was going through a channel with a fuzzy output. Turned out Gabe's unused vocal mic was captured a lot room sound since we had it paralleled into a DBX 160. A little but of aggressive fader riding and BOOM... lead guitar part is back!

Drums are the way we always do them at rehearsal. Beyerdynamic m160 and Oktava 012 for overheads, Earthworks DM20 for snare, Beta 52 for kick.

Bass is going through SansAmp and also bleeding into the room out of the Rumble 200 we use for practice.

The mix was done at my home studio with a whole bunch of outboard gear in my standard "don't think" configuration and some utility plugs. We don't spend much time mixing these!

ENG Notes

This was tracked live in our rehearsal space through our A&H GS3000 board converted by a JoeCo BlackBox.

I think I'm singing through an EV 510 or maybe an EV 420. My electric is mic'd by an EV 625a. Gabe is singing through a Heil PR22.

Drums are the way we always do them at rehearsal. Beyerdynamic m160 and Oktava 012 for overheads, Earthworks DM20 for snare, Beta 52 for kick.

Bass is going through SansAmp and also bleeding into the room out of the Rumble 200 we use for practice.

The mix was done at my home studio with a whole bunch of outboard gear in my standard "don't think" configuration and some utility plugs. We don't spend much time mixing these!

Can We Do It Again (Rehearsal 2.23.23)

I was testing this plugin out to see what I could do about the sound of the direct acoustic guitar from our rehearsals and live recordings. Shockingly, people all over the internet are saying "it sucks" and "sounds nothing like a guitar" and all those things.

Huh?

Maybe they don't know how to use it? Or maybe they actually like a piezo sound? Judge for yourself. I'm toggling the plugin on and off.

Also, this is my beater Epiphone that I just grabbed with a totally not special Sonic Nanoflex. It's not a great sounding guitar and this clip sounds just like it. Haha.

Sound Machine Wood Works Test

Here's another one live from our rehearsal space. I wanted to experiment with some different techniques for mixing, it's a bit more minimalistic. Of course everything is live in one take, it's a rehearsal and in this case we were experimenting with a kind of countrified arrangement of a song I wrote years ago.

Most of the tone shaping on the tracks is being done through stuff other than EQ. Working on this since the "live in the room" approach can make EQ-ing things tricky. Each mic has a lot of the room in it, you can go crazy.

The lineup on this one is as follows...

Adoniram Lipton - Vocals (Heil PR20), Electric guitar (Blues Jr through EV 635a)
Gabe Lipton - Acoustic guitar (direct), Vocals (Heil PR20)
Bailey Moates - Bass (Fender Rumble 200 direct through SansAmp)
Josh Weinholt - Drums (OH - Beyer m160, Monoprice LR100. Snare - Earthworks DM20, Kick Shure Beta 52)

Everything goes through our A&H GS3000 and then to the home studio through a whole bunch of analog gear.

Take Me Home (Live Rehearsal, July '23)

Tracked live in our rehearsal space. 100% guaranteed to be free of any auto-tune, pitch correction, time correction, or any other type of robotics. Five people playing stuff at the same time.

Those people are...

Adoniram Lipton - Vocals, Piano
Gabe Lipton - Backing Vocals, Guitar
Jake Waylon - Electric Guitar
Bailey Moates - Bass
Josh Wienholt - Drums

Waiting Just For You / Oh, San Francisco / St Louis Is Calling (LIVE Rehearsal)

People like songs with a woman's title in the name, this one has that.

Hey Maria

New song we're working on. Getting closer to an arrangement that will work.

Falling Out Of Grace (Demo)

This is a new one, kind of a tribute to the country songs I like and the road warriors who keep them alive. 

Just guitar and vocals.

There's No Place Like Home (Acoustic Demo)

Here's a barroom style piano song written about the amazing Mavis Staples. Well it's only sort of about Mavis Staples, it's really about imagining what it would be like to love someone and be loved by someone who defend you and stand by you and dance the can-can and all the other things the song talks about.

Really it's a song about the idea of dreaming of a love without worrying about whether it's real or even could be real. But if it was real, me and Mavis would kiss by the Jordan River and dance away the night. Naturally.

This performance is a first take from a rehearsal we did in our studio for a trio show. What you hear is the first time that the band had played this song or even heard it. So a lot of this is improv and just good ears.

Who is the band on this track? Well it's a Mark "gum B" Williams on the stand-up bass and Bryce Clifford on the guitar. Adoniram is playing piano and that's all there is to it!

Live In Studio C

Mavis Staples

A special live in the studio performance for Meshed Up Productions straight outta TLA Industries Studio B.

Adoniram Lipton - lead vocal, piano
Jake Waylon - guitar, vocal
Bailey Moates - bass
Josh Wienholt - drums

I Wanna Be With You (Special LIVE Performance for Meshed Up Productions)

Here's a live take of The Light Aluminum on stage at the world famous Saxon Pub in Austin TX playing their song "St Louis Is Calling". 

Special thanks to Richard Vannoy for providing us with the board mix.

Adoniram Lipton - piano, vocals
Jake Waylon - guitar, backing vocals
Bailey Moates - bass
Josh Weinholt - drums

St Louis Is Calling (Live at Saxon Pub | Austin TX)

Recording all live in the studio in one take, this one features Adoniram singing and playing organ on this one. A regular staple over the years, it's never been properly recorded but we thought his captures the vibe of musical improvisation and experimentation.

The whole band is playing the same room as we like to do. Lots of bleed through open mics and other stuff gets the feel that you hear here.

Adoniram Lipton - vocals, organ
Gabe Lipton - acoustic guitar, harmony vocals
Jake Waylon - electric guitar
Bailey Moats - bass
Josh Wienholt - drums

Lonely Boy (live in the studio)

Adoniram James Lipton is the lead singer and songwriter for the Austin based band The Light Aluminum as well as the fictional, experimental rock project The Gigantic Monsters and the now retired Slowtrain.

A.J. Lipton & The Light Aluminum

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