CONGRATULATIONS F. REID SHIPPEN
NOMINEE FOR SINGLE OF THE YEAR WITH DIERKS BENTLEY’S “BURNING MAN” FT. BROTHERS OSBORNE.
MIX ENGINEER: F. Reid Shippen
PRODUCER(S): Ross Copperman, Jon Randall, Arturo Buenahora, Jr.
A night celebrating community and creativity in education, hosted by SongFarm co-founders Ross Copperman and F. Reid Shippen. Featuring in-the-round performances from Ross, Nicolle Galyon, Jimmy Robbins, Blessing Offor, and special guest Kelleigh Bannen.
Special thanks to our partner Save the Music and surprise guest Dave Franco from Glenvar High School.
All proceeds went to support supplemental music curricula at SongFarm’s partner schools.
Visit the SongFarm or Save the Music websites for more information.
Written by Jaren Johnston, Neil Mason, Josh Dunne. Produced by The Cadillac Three.
Mixed by F. Reid Shippen.
Stream on Spotify and Apple Music
Congratulations F. Reid Shippen
recipient of the 2019 ACM Studio Recording Award: Audio Engineer of the Year.
Press Release: 13th Annual ACM Honors
We recorded a live to vinyl session with artist Boo-Ray, direct to Pete Lyman’s 1956 Neumann AM-32B cutting lathe. Thank you to Warren Huart and Produce Like A Pro for capturing.
Check out the video below.
Featuring: BooRay, Produce Like A Pro, and White Label Black Heart.
Auralex Acoustical Treatment Employed by Music Education Non-Profit: SongFarm.
Features: Auralex Acoustics, Music Merchandise Review.
“It definitely did not sound like a recording studio, by any means,” says F. Reid Shippen, whose own credits include platinum-selling artists Backstreet Boys, Kelsea Ballerini, Lady Antebellum and many others. “But we put a call into Auralex and it was nothing short of amazing what you can do with their acoustical products and expertise.” After the installation of a number of Auralex ProPanels™, ProClouds™, ISO Series® products and ProMAX™ free-standing acoustical treatments, the transformation was complete. “Suddenly, you could now monitor accurately in there,” says Shippen. READ MORE.
SongFarm, co-founded by Ross Copperman and F. Reid Shippen, is a coalition of musicians, educators, and businesses who work collaboratively to enable music creation programs in secondary schools.
Learn more here.
Joined my bud Ross Copperman to talk about utilizing Izotope plugins in the production of Dierks Bentley's new album "The Mountain."
This week, we spoke with Ross Copperman and F. Reid Shippen, who produced, engineered, and mixed the new Dierks Bentley album, The Mountain, which was released June 8 on Capitol, and is currently topping charts worldwide. They used iZotope in many ways in the process; as Copperman put it, "I couldn’t imagine making a record without these brilliant products."
Shippen expanded on exactly what was used, and how.
"Let’s start with tracking. I love using old funky gear for tone, but sometimes it’s noisy. Example; I cut a lot of the acoustics with an old RCA 77B and an Altec 1567A. The high end EQ can be vibey but noisy. So I routinely record 5 seconds of just the noise in the chain, and I use Spectral De-noise to clean the tracks. All. The. Time. It’s amazing that you can keep the quality of the instrument and lose the noise. It allows me to use all my vintage character pieces without worrying about the noise.
“RX happens on every lead vocal to remove mouth noise and any bad edits. Insight for metering, always. And Ozone on certain busses like drums for a little extra vibe. Every mix I send out gets a little level bump from Ozone limiter. It’s the best sounding I’ve ever found. I’m using Ozone Imager on lots of stuff…vocals, strings, keys. Trash gets the occasional workout on same.
“I used VocalSynth on some lead vocals to add a little vibe to choruses. I used it on ‘Burning Man,’ just to mess around with lead vocal texture in the chorus. I used it mainly to add the lower octave and may have added a few other little distortions or whatever. On ‘Burning Man’ I also used Vinyl to process the lead vocal, print it, and blend it into the normal vocal for edge. 1930 setting, I believe. I gotta admit…Vinyl is the bomb on vocals and drum loops.
"Nectar gets used on lead vocals as a little trick to add cut and harmonics, which I call “snootchie bootchies”—you have to invert polarity on the duplicated vocal track, and then blend in slightly to taste. It’s a fantastic trick for bringing out a little clarity and vocals, or when a vocal comes to you slightly distorted. I used this on several of the lead vocals on The Mountain. Definitely on ‘Woman, Amen.’”
F. Reid Shippen: Trying to Get Fired & Fun Dates
Sat down with Andy Hong and Mark Rubel to talk about recording gear, trying to get fired, and breaking the rules. Check out the interview in the May/Jun 2018 issue of Tape Op.
Had the pleasure of engineering and mixing the new Dierks Bentley record, The Mountain. The album will be released on June 9, and the CD release show on June 7 will be benefiting the Opry Trust Fund. This was a killer project to be a part of, and hope to see you at the show.