Opened in April 2008, The Clocktower is a studio/rehearsal space full of musical toys and vintage gear. We hand-select the artists we record and attempt to release only the most magical recordings.
Operating as usual
The first release Clocktower Studios' head engineer Matt Livensparger engineered/produced in Austin, TX is available online for download. Mastered in Chicago by the great Collin Jordan at The Boiler Room in Chicago, this psych-rock EP is ear candy.
4 track album
So true, so true. Photo taken in a bathroom stall at Jackalope in Austin, Texas.
"Sadly...on the occasions when my tracks are mixed by so-called famous mixers, they try to change the sound of the record. It is truly heartbreaking to put as much effort as I do into recording a song, Exactly the way it is intended to sound, only to have it homogenized by a mixer more interested in quantity than quality...
"The record company takes it from the producer's hands (VERY common), and has [a mixer] make it sound exactly like everything else on the radio. Then, as if that weren't enough, they have a mastering engineer come in and stomp the last remaining bit of life out of the production and make it sound as two-dimensional and loud as possible." -Mixerman, 112-113.
Hmmm.
My Uncle Bill and I in HIS recording studio, Dallas, TX.
Timeline Photos
The Clocktower would like to wish you Happy Holidays! As a little gift, you can download an album we recorded of Holiday-esque music for FREE, no spam, no emails, just...free. Click Buy Now and enter $0! Thank you everyone for your support this year!
9 track album
The Illinois Entertainer boasted about the Antony and The Tramps album (recorded at The Clocktower) this month, saying "Wonderfully orchestrated and crisply produced, this roots rock for the 21st Century sounds almost too good to be true..."
Chicagoland’s Free Music Monthly Magazine – In Print And Online
Recorded "For Best Enjoyment...In Your Car, In A Snowstorm"
Written and recorded December 1-13 at The Clocktower, "For Best Enjoyment..." was created as a Christmas gift to family and friends. Originally only released as handmade, physical CDs, it is now fully available for FREE download. Merry Christmas to all!
http://thechillmill.bandcamp.com
"You have a musician who can solo just as well as Slash but can't write a song, and you have a musician who can't solo to save his life but can write a tune as good as Coldplay.
"Though the abilities of both are preferable, the latter is the better musician."
The Clocktower Studios's cover photo
"The Livensparger Tone"
Recording July 2012 - September 2012
The Fox & The Hounds
Recording a killer saxophone solo!
The Clocktower Studios's cover photo
Recording July 2012 - September 2012
Recording July 2012 - September 2012
T-Pain is nothing original. The Clocktower had that s**t when it was on 3 1/2" floppy.
Hallway recording, amp head in room for easy-dial......thwarted by extremely annoying self-indulgent drum soloing from a practice room upstairs somewhere. Sigh.
Began tracking The Fox & The Hounds.
The Fox & The Hounds record is well on its way.
Anybody have a Moog synth we can record with before September? A Korg MS2000 would do the trick too, or any analog controlled synth...
Timeline Photos
Amp turned to 11, mics all down the hallway.
Timeline Photos
"You probably haven't any voice. But there are probably three notes you can sing. I can take those three notes and give them an arrangement and some lyrics. That makes a song. And your song will sell."
-Berry Gordy, founder, Motown Records
Rehearsals
Four years ago today, Fred and I picked up the keys and for the first time hung around what we now call The Clocktower. Four beautiful years later we've found a second home for ourselves and an outlet for our minds, with a portfolio of hundreds of songs and a boatload of memories. Thank you to everyone who has come here with us. I've posted an album of (low quality) camera phone photos from these first days in their own album.
On a low note however, one of Fred and my favorite artists and an inspiration for a wealth of our ideas passed away today. Levon Helm, singer and drummer of The Band died of throat cancer and we're both distraught. The songs which his voice carried have meant so much to us. "I'm so sad. Like a family member," Fred said today. Those these two events may coincide today, we mustn't forget that the path is paved with the ashes of the dead.
Cheers,
Matt
From "The Band is Back" DVD Vancouver 1983
These are the first pictures taken at The Clocktower, Spring 2008.
These are the first pictures taken at The Clocktower, Spring 2008.
These are the first pictures taken at The Clocktower, Spring 2008.
These are the first pictures taken at The Clocktower, Spring 2008.
Fox & The Hounds
The Clocktower
The Fox & The Hounds rehearsal.
Tracked Antony & The Tramps.
Sessions lasted through March 2012.
www.andthetramps.com
BUY THE RECORD NOW!
http://antonyandthetramps.bandcamp.com/
Tracked chamber-pop quartet Wooden Rings.
http://woodenringsmusic.com/
Buy & stream the album here:
http://woodenrings.bandcamp.com/
Tracked No Promises.
The Clocktower
Tracked pop-punk trio Outside Chicago.
1648 W Kinzie St
Chicago, IL
60623
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