Flying High at Airtime...

By Heidi Drockelman
The Bloomington Independent

There's something in the air at Airtime Studios. Dave Weber, owner and main engineer, has been flying high on a number of projects by some of this area's most respected and consistent artists.

Carrie Newcomer's latest effort, recorded live in Indianapolis and at the Waldron here in B-town, was mixed at Airtime, the first project to be mixed on a new all-digital console. Bare to the Bone is currently available at Carrie's live shows and through Rounder Records' mail order. Newcomer's previous release was also partially tracked at Airtime.

Slats Klug (Mojo Hand, Liar's Bench) is currently working on a new production based on stories and characters from Nashville and Brown County slated for a fall release. Klug is also putting together a CD of songs chronicling the fascinating history of the West Baden Hotel. Mojo Hand singler Lauren Robert's Making It cast CD was recently produced at Airtime and is available at local record stores.

Beth Lodge-Rigal, Ricardo Lorenz' "adventurous string quartet arrangement" and local rockers Hema Huh all recently completed recording sessions. Look out for a limited run of Monkey Puzzle's final performance at the Buskirk-Chumley (contact Airtime for ordering info), and IU's favorite sons, Straight No Chaser, are working on a live CD to include performances from a recent show at Alumni Hall and their last CD release at the MAC. Incidentally, both Monkey Puzzle and Straight No Chaser won national awards for the CDs they previously recorded at Airtime.

Airtime has a few more projects under construction as well. Wynton Reynolds, jazz pianist, is lyaing down a new CD, and local rap artists the Thundacats are due to begin session work in June.

And because serious musicians require not only tremendous patience, for themselves and from their friends, but also serious equipment, Weber has made some major equipment upgrades at the studio. He recently acquired a beautiful new Yamaha 7-foot, 4-inch conservatory grand piano for studio use, along with the aforementioned all-new digital console, with 48 inputs and 72 channels, full automation of every parameter and total recall. He also purchased the ADAT XT 20 bit recorders for 32 total tracks for recording on tape.

"The beauty of the new console," quipped Weber, "is that it makes almost anything possible with far less time and effort than before. Sonically it is wonderful, great equalizers, great all around. The automation takes all of the stress out of mixing because every detail of the mix can be recalled at a later time to make adjustments. I also purchased a new portable console to facilitate live multitrack recording."

For questions on the new equipment, or an extended resume of projects, contact Dave Weber at (812) 323-2111 or email fishroad@aol.com. In the meantime, look out for Airtime Studios projects in your local record stores.

© 2000 Dan Dixon, Scott Schirmer, & the DarWest Team.