Valve Studios : Recording Studio : Dallas Texas

April – May 2010

Casey — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:34:44 +0000

The Auxiliary Voice started recording their upcoming debut album with Producer Casey DiIorio. Basic tracks were completed for the first three songs….and then on a return visit all the guitars and keyboards were knocked out….look for some cool studio pics from the sessions from Will von Bolton! Instrumental mixes were completed for Idol Records artists Here Holy Spain and The Crash That Took Me’s last discs. LA Rockers Burn Halo took a day break from their tour and stopped in Valve Studios to record with Casey DiIorio. They laid down some great stuff before having to travel 15 hours to the next show!! Nick Evans completed the new Brandon Bush Band full-length, mastering completed by the infamous Richard Dodd. Look for a CD Release in the coming months. Lisa Linehan collaborated with Producer Casey DiIorio for a song written for her Project Husband creation. We had great fun working with Lisa. Check out the song and all her latest info on the CW 33 website! Austin indie rockers Zest of Yore returned for more tracking for their upcoming EP and Austin singer/songwriter Matt McCloskey came in for another mix for his EP. Fort Worth Bluegrass Band Acoustic Sound Hounds also came in to start work on a full length disc. Band is performing all the instruments live in the large room straight to tape. very cool. And Dallas Beastie Boy tribute band “Rhymin and Stealin” visited again to sweeten up more of their vinyl tracks for their live shows. Ill Part 2.

New Gear: Kontakt Komplete. Great software that opens directly in ProTools for quick and easy adds of instruments, pads, etc. Bring on the strings.

January – March 2010

Casey — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 22:32:46 +0000

January started off recording with Kirtland Records’ artist Smile Smile. Jaret Reddick from BFS produced with Casey DiIorio engineering and mixing. Great time working with Ryan and Jencey. Wichita Falls rockers Twice Broken tracked and mixed 5 songs for their upcoming full length release. Mastering is slated for February with West West Side Music. Austin singer/songwriter Matt McCloskey visited Valve again in February to mix his 2nd full length release with Casey DiIorio. Look for it to come out this summer! Matt Pence and Casey DiIorio mixed for 7 days new songs from John Dufilho (Deathray Davies, Apples in Stereo) and Jason G. Very cool experience and look forward to hearing the tracks mastered..much echoplex and plate reverb used by all. Austin rockers Zest of Yore came in for another day to track the song “Rock and Roll Times 2″…after Bob Pollard from Guided by Voices fame picked it out of a batch of demos. And finally, Dallas Beastie Boy tribute band “Rhymin and Stealin” came in to sweeten up their vinyl tracks and ready them for live shows. Ill.

New Gear: Retro Instruments 176 Tube Limiting Amplifier, SPL Stereo De-Esser, Manley Vari-Mu modded with 6386 Tubes (Much Better!!)

October – December 2009

Casey — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:33:32 +0000

Here Holy Spain came back to Valve in October to cut a Christmas single for Idol Records. Guest musicians included Rez from the Toadies on drums, Jencey from Smile Smile on vocals and Young & Brave on gang vocals. Track was mixed by Casey DiIorio and sent to Alan Douches for mastering….go buy the single on Itunes now! Producer Daniel Mendez (Dashboard Confessional, Lit) came to Valve Studios to record Austin band The Criminal Kind. A good time was had by all..Thai food included…look forward to seeing more of Daniel. Look for his mixes of The Criminal Kind by the end of the year. November saw the mixing done for the upcoming Dead Twins record….9 songs total….Mixed and recorded by Casey DiIorio. Look for an early 2010 release. Engineer Nick Evans recorded a full length disc with Texas country artist The Brandon Bush Band from Denton. Mixing to take place in early 2010. Their first single has already received some airplay. Tracking continued for Twice Broken throughout October/November and mixes completed in December. Mastering to take place in early 2010. Austin rockers Zest of Yore returned to Valve in December to start work with Casey DiIorio on their next set of tunes. They received great press on the first disc. Stay tuned for guest musicians on these songs and also a release date.

Hope everyone has a great holiday!!

New Gear: Added one more Universal Audio 1176 and Empirical Labs Distressor

August & September 2009

Casey — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:18:11 +0000

August was slammed starting with artist Johanna Miller and her husband Jake came in from California to track 3 songs with Producer Casey DiIorio….drummer extraordinaire Michael Jerome was flown in for the sessions. Songs were arranged and tracked in 7 days. Additional musicians included bassist Paul Jenkins. A song for the upcoming Bowling for Soup Sony Release was mixed by Casey DiIorio..look for it out in the next two months! Mixes were also completed for two EP’s…Austinites And a Future and Dallas/Denton’s A Revolution of Kings..both should be released in the fall. Casey DiIorio left Valve Studios for the day to track the Toadies at their outdoor festival, Dia De Los Toadies. Amazing time, we recorded through True Precision 8 pres, directly to apogee converters to Pro Tools HD. Band sounded amazing and crowd was great. September saw the mixing of Matthew Glenn Thompson’s upcoming full length. Mixes took about a week and Alan Douches will be mastering sometime in October…look for a New York trip to coincide! Tracking continued with Dallas’ Dead Twins. Engineer Nick Evans completed a new song with Jeff Stark. Additional guitar and vocal tracking continued with Twice Broken. And final mixes were completed for Analog Boy out of Austin TX, also to be mastered by Alan Douches.

New Gear: Axiom Pro 49 Controller

May – July 2009

Casey — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:24:02 +0000

May was overdub month at the studio for 4 different records including The Dead Twins, Matthew Thompson and A Revolution of Kings. For The Crash That Took Me, vocals were comped and with two tape machines, ADT was applied to all lead vocals. Valve welcomed Bowling for Soup back in June to record their upcoming single “No Habla Ingles” along with one other track. Chris Lord Alge is slated to mix next month…look for their new release in October on Jive/RCA! Overdubs continued for The Crash That Took Me including mellotron, strings and b-vocals. Twice Broken ventured down from WF TX also to record two songs. Artist Noah Wittman from Austin TX came in to record a couple songs, playing all instruments himself. July was locked out for two weeks for producer Casey DiIorio to mix the upcoming The Crash That Took Me album. Sean Magee at Abbey Road Studios is set to master in August. Look for the Idol Records release in November. The rest of the July was spent tracking for And a Future from Austin along with Noah Wittman as well.

New Gear: Blue Mouse Mic, All speakers reconed in our Marshall Cabs and Ampeg Bass Rig, Abbey Road Keys Samples

January – April 2009 Update

Casey — Fri, 01 May 2009 22:08:14 +0000

New Gear: Pair of Mercury Pultec EQ-P1 Tube EQs, Stereo Pair of SP modded AKG C12s, Porkpie 12″ and 16″ Toms, Mac G5 Computer w/10gig RAM, New Studio B editing/overdub room, ADR Compex Stereo Compressor

February saw a three week lockout with The Crash That Took Me to record their upcoming Idol Records Release. Tracking went amazing with some nifty tape tricks to boot…lots of ADT vocals ala Beatles will be featured on this record, along with many other things. Producing/Engineering being helmed by Casey DiIorio. Overdubs will continue for the next couple months with an early summer mix slot. A Revolution of Kings, Matt Thompson and Here Holy Spain were all at Valve in January to record. Most of March was locked out with Bowling for Soup for all their B-sides recording and mixing for their upcoming Jive release. Mastering will take place in April with West West Side Music. Engineer Nick Evans worked with Calling All War from Dallas TX and also recorded one song with Brandon Bush Band. Brandon’s song is getting some spins on local radio. Austin singer/songwriter Matt McCloskey came to Valve to mix his upcoming EP with Casey DiIorio. Look for this disc to be out pretty quickly. Cool songs. You can hear his single on Austin radio. April saw recording with indie band Dan Dockrill from Denton TX, a full record for Austin punk rockers A Letter of Warning, and more recording with The Crash.

2008…Really Quickly

Casey — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:47:24 +0000

All right….2008 was a crazy year….lots of great things going on with the new console and projects…..since we slacked on the news update, here’s just a few highlights to catch us up….we promise not to get so far behind again! Zest of Yore, The Fieros, Solly…all finished records and released….Paul Williams came to Valve to mix a couple records including band Here in Arms…Casey left for Australia, Japan and China for three weeks…Slider Pines recorded/mixed new EP, Here Holy Spain completed their first record and released by Idol Records….Matt Thompson flew in Michael Jerome to lay drums for his upcoming disc…mixed The Wellington Lights disc….Casey left for 5 weeks to record James Hart disc…..holidays galore…..onward!

June – July 2007 update

Administrator — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:41:15 +0000

New Gear: Neve 8128 In Line Console w/ Uptown 990 Moving Fader Automation, 32 Channels with 58 Channels at Mix, completely recapped and opamps upgraded

Guided by Voices guitarist Doug Gillard entered Valve Studios along with producer / engineer Casey Diiorio to add additional tracks to the upcoming Zest of Yore record. The experience was great and Doug added some really cool guitar, percussion and even drums to the tracks. Check out some pics in the photos section. Producer / engineer Paul Williams spent 14 days tracking a new record with solo artist Jim Watts. Some guest stars on the record included Clint Strong, Brian Wakeland and Carter Albrecht. Nashville singer Tim Reed returned to the studio to wrap up the final three songs for his soon to be released disc. Also coming in were Gabe and Nick from the Dead Twins to work on their final mixes for their upcoming CD..look for it in the fall.

The last two weeks of July were spent picking up and setting up our new Neve console! Originally owned by Michael Jackson, it has been at a great home for the last 13 years in Minneapolis at The Terrarium owned by Jason Orris who’s worked with Beck, Soul Asylum, Jayhawks and many others. The console is in amazing condition being globally recapped, opamps upgraded, a completely working bussing system and 32 channels of Uptown 990 moving fader automation. To go along with the console, we redesigned and reconstructed our control room with a higher ceiling and much improved sonics. Check the photos section for pics…or come by and see!

May 2007 update

Administrator — Tue, 01 May 2007 13:25:48 +0000

Former Chomksy frontman Sean Halleck entered the studio to begin working on some new material with drummer Rob Avsharian and bassist James Driscoll. Blues Artist Tutu Jones began tracking for his upcoming studio release with Casey Diiorio and Jim King, finishing most overdubs during the three month period. Zest of Yore returned again to the studio to continue final touchups on their disc as did Lord Tracy. Bowling for Soup visited for a couple days to knock out two songs and Fireworks over London also came back from Memphis to complete a few more overdubs. Denton punk rockers Sleezus Fist came in to record another full length disc…in four days. Solly featuring frontman Marc Solomon re-entered the studio with Casey Diiorio to begin working on songs for their upcoming release.

February 2007 update

Administrator — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 13:49:08 +0000

Memphis based Fireworks Over London began working with Casey Diiorio and Mark Petty on four songs for a possible upcoming release. These guys are in the vein of Muse and we’re very excited about what we’ve tracked so far. Solly came in for a few days to continue overdubs on three songs while Zest of Yore came in to put finishing touches on their upcoming release. Bowling for Soup stopped in to record a cover of Eddie Money’s “Two Tickets To Paradise”. The British press called it “brilliant”….nice brits. Engineer Zack Krzmarzick manned his first sessions here at Valve. Zack is a super cool guy from Minnesota and likes hockey….you can find him during the day at GC Pro in Dallas. Check out the new gear section…we’ve traded in the Digidesign converters on the protools rig to Apogee. Not only does the HD rig sound way better, but we can now transfer the tracks from the Studer to ProTools or vice versa using just Apogee converters.

New Gear: Apogee AD-16x, Apogee DA-16x, Shadow Hills Mono Gama Mic Pres,
Neve 33609 Compresor