Going down rabbit holes can be a colossal waste of time, particularly on the internet, where vast amounts of information are available and minutes can turn into hours. Before you know it, an entire day can disappear, with nothing to show for it. Fortunately, some rabbit holes I recently explored yielded a substantial benefit—and a new opportunity for SoundStage! and its readers.
It began last August when I went to see the Daniel Lanois Trio perform at a theater in the small town of Picton, Ontario, Canada. I had been a fan of Lanois’s music for decades, having bought most of his recordings, but this was the first time I’d seen him play live. After the show, I bought a vinyl record from him—Acadie, which he originally released in 1989—got him to autograph it, congratulated him on his body of work, and headed home.
Experiencing that concert made me want to learn more about Lanois, not just as a musician, but as a record producer. That was the first rabbit hole. Much of my Lanois-related exploration came from listening to podcasts during long car drives for SoundStage!-related business. During those podcasts, the name Mark Howard kept coming up—another rabbit hole for me to explore.
The realization hits
This led me to listen to several podcasts featuring Howard, and a realization that genuinely shocked me: many of my favorite recordings of all time—albums I’d lived with for decades—were produced by Lanois but were primarily recorded and mixed by Howard. Among them: the Neville Brothers’ Yellow Moon, Bob Dylan’s Oh Mercy and Time Out of Mind, Willie Nelson’s Teatro, and Lanois’s Acadie, to name just a few. I had always thought of these albums as having a distinct “Lanois sound”—rich and atmospheric with finely preserved dynamics, vast soundstages, and deep, powerful bass—but I now understood that much of what I loved about them seemed to be Howard’s work and his sound.
Musician Emily O’Halloran with Mark Howard
That realization deepened when I learned through those podcasts that my favorite Tragically Hip album, Day for Night, was produced, recorded, and mixed by Howard. It shares the other Howard albums’ sonic qualities, but it’s also raw, visceral, and unlike anything else the Hip recorded before or after. Same goes for Tom Waits’s Real Gone, which I like and SoundStage! Ultra editor Jason Thorpe loves; in fact, he identified it as one of his all-time favorite albums in a recent For the Record column on Ultra. Again, Howard was the guy behind its sound.
After that, I found Howard on Instagram and sent him an email, explaining that I’d loved these recordings for years but had only just discovered his central role in shaping their sound. I simply wanted to thank him. Much to my surprise, he replied almost immediately and invited me to give him a call.
The call
I waited until the next day before calling, because I didn’t want to look too eager. We ended up talking for about an hour. At first, I told him the same story I’ve just outlined here. Then I added something else: if there was ever a chance to record some music for SoundStage! that could thrill audiophiles, I’d be open to hearing about it. Little did I know how things would escalate from that brief comment during our initial call.
Howard responded by asking, “How about a guy from Hamilton? Or a woman from New Orleans? Or another woman in Los Angeles?” At first I was bewildered, until he explained that he’d already recorded albums by these artists but that releasing this work had become difficult for them because of the costs and complexities of the modern music business. As it happened, I had experience producing DVDs in a previous business, and I also already knew a thing or two about arranging the manufacture of CDs and vinyl records, the latter being key for this project.
The author with musician Martin Verrall
One by one, I contacted the musicians—Martin Verrall in Hamilton (a Canadian city nicknamed “the Hammer” because of its steel-making roots); Emily O’Halloran in Los Angeles (she’s originally from Australia); and Shawn Williams, who was born and raised in New Orleans, where she still lives. They all wanted to take part in this collaboration involving SoundStage!, Mark Howard, and the musicians he’s worked with (and will work with). At that point, the SoundStage! Recordings record label was born.
Musically driven audiophile sound
What makes this project unique isn’t just the people involved, but how Mark Howard and I agreed the recordings should be released. While streaming services offer broad exposure, streaming is largely a dead end for musicians who need sustainable income to continue producing quality work. We decided to release these recordings on physical media, but we also agreed that while CDs are said to be making a comeback, that format’s popularity pales in comparison to vinyl. Further, most people we know would rather pay for a vinyl record in a beautiful package than a CD in a digipak or jewel case. Therefore, because I wanted to offer a compelling product that could excite buyers and financially reward the musicians, I committed to producing 180g limited-edition vinyl pressings of these artists’ recordings, all individually numbered. That doesn’t mean we’ll never produce digital discs or consider streaming, but for now everything is going to be on vinyl.
Sound quality was front and center in our talks, since it’s vitally important to both Howard and me—and for the SoundStage! audience too. While streaming and digital discs can deliver excellent results, streaming in particular encourages overly loud, dynamically compressed masters that drain the life out of the music. Howard also explained that he felt many mastering engineers tended to impose their own sonic stamp on his recordings, altering them in ways he’d never intended and often making them sound worse. Therefore, we concluded that these recordings would be pressed on vinyl in such a way as to preserve the sound as completely as the vinyl format inherently allows—meaning no unnecessary compression, no altering of the tonal balance, and no making something louder simply for the sake of loudness.
Adhering to that intent also means resisting the urge to fix minor flaws. Howard records multiple takes of songs when he works with an artist but typically chooses the one that “feels best” to him, even if it contains small imperfections. It might be a musician singing or playing an instrument imperfectly, a microphone getting bumped, an unexpected sound slipping in, or something else happening during the recording process.
When we talked about this, I explained to Howard that, as a listener, I find those subtle flaws can make recordings seem more real—they allow the listener to feel like they’re right there in the room. Howard explained to me that his goal is performance over perfection—producing something listeners can connect to emotionally. The word we kept returning to in this discussion was authentic, referring to the songs being written, the musicians playing, the recording process, and the unadulterated end result on vinyl.
Martin Verrall in Hamilton playing and celebrating the album release of C/O The Brain
We also agreed that these wouldn’t be records made merely for the sake of sounding good. First and foremost, they had to feature great music, which goes hand in hand with the kind of performances Howard strives to get. Too often, audiophile projects have prioritized pristine recording techniques and sound quality over musical substance, which makes those records hard to listen to. Howard built his career making world-class recordings of genuinely great music with a real, authentic, and lifelike sound that can be listened to in full, repeatedly—and that’s exactly what we’re continuing here.
The releases
The first SoundStage! Recordings release arrived from the pressing plant on January 15: Martin Verrall’s C/O The Brain. We celebrated with a release party on January 18 in Hamilton, where Verrall has been a fixture in the music and art scene for over 40 years. In April, we’ll release Emily O’Halloran’s Forsaken, which was recorded in LA, followed by Shawn Williams’s Acoustic SesShawns, recorded in her hometown of New Orleans.
Besides sounding great, every Mark Howard recording also has a story, often tied to unconventional recording locations, which is how he likes to work. He explores this theme in his books Listen Up!: Recording Music with Bob Dylan, Neil Young, U2, R.E.M., The Tragically Hip, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Waits . . . and Recording Icons / Creative Spaces: The Creative World of Mark Howard. Howard will accept studio projects but prefers recording in non-studio locations. That can be in a house or a commercial space—preferably one with a high ceiling to attain the kind of acoustical result Howard likes—to capture a unique room sound to further differentiate each of his recordings. These three albums are no exception.
Martin Verrall and C/O The Brain
To document our first three releases, we recorded a video interview with Verrall at the C/O The Brain launch, discussing all aspects of the recording from his perspective. Several days later, we traveled to Los Angeles to interview O’Halloran about Forsaken and Howard about all three albums. Our next trip will take us to New Orleans, where we’ll interview Williams. These interviews will be integrated into videos on our YouTube channel and social-media outlets. Our music writers and I will also be writing quite a bit more about each release.
Rabbit-hole reward
There’s no shortage of music being released in the world, whether via streaming, vinyl, or a digital medium. Furthermore, audiophile publications have created music projects before. But this collaboration between SoundStage! and Mark Howard stands apart for the music, the sound, and the stories behind the creation of that music. I’m thrilled I went down those rabbit holes last August. Had I not, none of this would have happened.
See www.SoundStageRecordings.com and www.instagram.com/soundstagemusic for more information.
. . . Doug Schneider
das@soundstage.com
Martin Verrall’s C/O The Brain is sold online at The Record Center
