2/15/2021: The Hermit - Now Up ON Bandcamp!

David Andrew Moore and the rest of the Arcanauts (Evan Waaramaa, Tom Dowd, Greg Toro, and Joe Albano) are becoming masters of remote music production - composing, arranging, performing, and recording all of their parts themselves from home! I had the joy of assembling and mixing this killer EP, and I am proud to say that these tracks were mixed and mastered at Waterdog Studios using only analog processing (except for a generic limiter plugin on the mix bus). Please check out their Bandcamp page, and consider supporting this wonderful group of musicians! Artwork by Mitchell Pluto.

11/15/2020: Thank You For Attending Our TED Talk!

Ralph Covert and several members of The Bad Examples (Steve Gerlach, Tommy O’Brien, and Bean Weng) had the distinctive honor of hosting a TEDx Talk live from Waterdog Studios! In contrast to the traditional lecture format, the folks at TEDx tasked us with presenting a 1-hour collaborative online songwriting class via Zoom. Ralph did a tremendous job of guiding the audience to write a complete song, start-to-finish, themselves. The Zoom participants collaborated in real time to co-write what has become the first official TEDx Naperville theme song, “The Unexpected Now!” The band came up with the arrangement on the spot, which I recorded and mixed live in the studio by the end of the TEDx Talk. We pulled it off, all within an hour! Whew. Watch the full presentation below, and you can listen to the studio mix of the song “The Unexpected Now” by visiting Ralph Covert's Patreon Page!


11/05/2020: The Godfinger EP - Coming Soon!

Chicago’s favorite Surf-Noir group Outronaut (Steve Gerlach, John Carpender, Ryan Nelson, and Peter Muschong) have returned to Waterdog Studios to begin work on their next digital offering, The Godfinger EP. So far, this is shaping up to be the group’s most bombastic album to date! Because of the strict social-distancing measures we are employing at Waterdog, (limiting our capacity to one musician in the studio at a time), this project will be an amalgamation of numerous overdub sessions – and it already feels like we’re building a monster. Photos by Yours Truly.

10/30/2020: Ghosts On The River - Out Now ON SPOTIFY!

In the spirit of the Spooky Season, here is a haunting gothic ballad by Ralph Covert! This is one of those rare mixes where no digital plugins were needed, thanks to the beautiful arrangement and musical direction of Michael Hartigan, and the outstanding analog gear at Waterdog Studios. I shot the cover photo from a window in Studio A, and very little digital processing was needed for that, too. Please enjoy! Cover design by Fiona Grey. Engineered, mixed, and mastered by Yours Truly.

10/15/2020: THe Magic (Look Inside) - Out Now On Bandcamp!

The Arcanauts and friends (David Andrew Moore, Robbie Pate, Wali Ali, Chris Tedesco, Evan Waaramaa, Tom Dowd, Greg Toro, and Joe Albano) have been busy creating some top-notch home recordings these days! It was great to collaborate remotely with these excellent musicians, and it was a joy to assemble and mix this socially-distanced celebration of classic Philly Soul! And Yes, those are real strings. Album art by Mitchell Pluto. Recorded at home during quarantine of 2020.

9/28/2020: Ralph's World TV Treehouse Concert Series - Season One COMPLETE!

We just wrapped the season finale of the Ralph's World TV Treehouse Concert Series, and all twelve episodes are currently available to view on the Elk Grove Public Library's website! Producing this socially-distanced virtual concert series was an incredibly rewarding experience, and we had a lot of fun doing it. All episodes were written and directed by Ralph Covert. Rani the squirrel is played by Jude Covert. Malcolm and Beauregard are played by Yours Truly. Videography, video editing, color grading, visual effects, audio recording, audio editing, and sound design also by Yours Truly. Illustration (top) by Scott Kubelka. Stay tuned for Season Two!

8/27/2020: "Ad Astra Per Aspera" and "Six String MAssacre" by OUTRONAUT (Throwback Thursday)

If you dig apocalyptic surf-noir crime-jazz soundtracks and psychotomimetic music videos, you are in for a  treat! "Ad Astra Per Aspera" (2015) is the title track of Outronaut's first full-length studio album, engineered by Yours Truly at Waterdog Records and mixed by Danny Shaffer at Velvet Shirt Studio. Video by Steve Gerlach.

"Six String Massacre" (2017) is from the album El Producto, engineered by Yours Truly at Waterdog Records and mixed by Doug McBride at Gravity Studios. Band footage shot by Yours Truly at Liars Club (thanks, Gary!). Video edited by Steve Gerlach.

8/20/2020: "West Virginia" by Dean III & The Wagers (ThrowBack Thursday)

I present to you my 2014 music video debut as the shirt-morphing lead guitarist of Dean III & The Wagers! Starring Dean Goldstein, Scott Gillis, Kirk Beck, and featuring Vas Agnostos as “Papa Legba.” Mixed by multi-platinum selling and multi-Grammy nominated producer and mixer Sean O’Keefe. Brilliant harmonica work by the great James Porter. Engineered and lead guitar work by Yours Truly.

7/28/2020: BALTHAZAR CABARET 13 COMBO AMPLIFIER!

I have recently partnered with the Chicago-based guitar amplifier company Balthazar Audio Systems to produce promotional material for their 2020 product line. Here are two short videos that demonstrate the amazing Cabaret 13 Combo Amplifier. 13 Watts, tube rectified, bias tremolo, tube spring reverb with Accutronics reverb tank, and a 10" Celestion Alnico Gold speaker. Holy smokes! These videos feature the inimitable guitar stylings of twang-master Steve Gerlach of the band Outronaut, with audio and video production by Yours Truly. Please enjoy!

5/6/2020: "KIll THE LIGHT" OFFICIAL Music Video Premiere!

It is with great delight and personal satisfaction that I can announce the release of Outronaut's official music video for the title track of their new album, Kill The Light. Please enjoy my first foray into music video production. Starring Sheri Will, Steve Gerlach, John Carpender, Ryan Nelson, Peter Muschong, and Yours Truly. Mixed and mastered by Doug McBride at Gravity Studios. Engineered, filmed, and assembled by Yours Truly at Waterdog Records. Much thanks to Ralph Covert for the use of his studio, Balthazar De Ley for the use of his beautifully designed Film Noir amplifier, and a very special thanks to all of our friends, family, and fans for their continued support!

5/2/2020: Meet Malcolm McGillikitty, My New ALter Ego

Ralph Covert and I have been very busy producing a new Ralph's World virtual concert series at Waterdog Studios, and I am thrilled to announce that my childhood dream of becoming a professional puppeteer is finally being realized. Yes, another hat to add to my collection indeed! Tune in to the Ridgedale Center's Facebook Page every Thursday evening at 5PM CST, starting May 7th! Learning how to create video content while adhering to strict social distancing guidelines is a challenge, but we are adjusting well to this new mode of working. Photo by Ralph Covert.

5/1/2020: Kill The Light - Out Now on Bandcamp!

After months of rigorous recording sessions at Waterdog Studios, and with to the support of our friends and fans, the magnanimity of Balthazar De Ley for providing an early prototype of his Balthazar Film Noir 18 Combo amplifier, and the expertise of the brilliant Doug McBride who hunkered down at Gravity Studios to mix and polish this gem of a collection of proggy Surf-Noir-Crime-Jazz (during a global pandemic, might I add!), we are proud to announce that Kill The Light is now available for download on Bandcamp! Many thanks to Ralph Covert for running and maintaining such a fine studio. Photo by Yours Truly.

2/8/2020: Tracking THE "Basics" for A new Ralph Covert Album

Gee but it's great to spend a full day in the studio tracking a live band! Saturday's session proved to be what Abraham Maslow classified as a "peak experience." Ralph, Brian Sheridan, Tom O'Brien, Chris Weng, Ryan Carney, and Michael Hartigan all brought their A-games to Waterdog Studios and laid the foundation for seven new or previously unrecorded Ralph Covert tunes. There was a great vibe in the studio, and their musical togetherness made my job as engineer exceptionally easy. Click on the thumbnail to see the full-sized image! Photos by Yours Truly.

2/2/2020: Ralph Covert & Michael HArtigan - Behind the scenes of "Here and gone and Back Again"

Here is a short behind-the-scenes video of a "musical experiment" we conducted in 2018 at Waterdog Records. Michael Hartigan scored a lovely arpeggiated accompaniment to Ralph Covert's song "Here And Gone And Back Again," but what began as a simple song demo turned into an exercise in instrumental counterpoint. Though we adhered to the written arrangement, we ventured to be spontaneous (and unorthodox) with the instrumentation. Please enjoy our creative process, from the initial brainstorming session to composing the musical arrangement to creating the final recording. Engineered and filmed by Yours Truly.

Instruments used: Martin T-18 Tiple; Wurlitzer Butterfly Baby Grand electric piano; Cable-Nelson baby grand piano; Gretsch Sho-Bro resonator guitar; Music Man StingRay 4 electric bass guitar; Ghanaian marimba with PVC resonators; Baldwin Fun Machine polyphonic synthesizer; Wurlitzer 4100 tube organ; Carmella De Luxe accordion.

1/16/2020: Outronaut - "Go Meekly"

Here, have a spritz of playful effervescence! "Go Meekly" is Outronaut's cheeky homage to our favorite space-age pop pioneer and high-functioning paranoid schizophrenic, Joe Meek. Mixed and mastered by Doug McBride at Gravity Studios. Slideshow by Steve Gerlach. Engineered by Yours Truly at Waterdog Records.

12/14/2019: DEpravos De La Mour - "Radiance"

Here is one of my favorite Depravos De La Mour tracks, "Radiance." A bleak jazz-noir lament, featuring the wistful vocal stylings of Louie Herscoe. Mixed and mastered by Danny Shaffer. Slideshow by Steve Gerlach. Engineered by Yours Truly at Waterdog Records.

12/2/2019: OMG! You Guys! We're on tV, you guys!

My wife Amelia and I were on The Travel Channel's Hometown Horror, in Episode 5: "Three Ring Terror!" The show explores small towns across the U.S. with dark, haunted, and otherwise weird history, and our episode was about beautiful and fascinating Baraboo, Wisconsin. We filmed there this spring, where Amelia spoke on the topic of Native American burial mounds, and we shared a strange experience of our own at the Man Mound Park in Sauk County. The episode includes several interesting locations and people, including our friends Shelly Wells and B.C. Farr of the Old Baraboo Inn. We attended the watch party at the Inn, and it was a lot of fun seeing ourselves on-screen with the Travel Channel logo next to our big heads.

11/14/2019: Professor Pollock Will See You Now

Portrait by my amazing wife Amelia Cotter.

10/24/2019: Outronaut - "Dark, Dark, Darkness"

In the spirit of the Spoopy Season, here's another one of my favorite Outronaut tracks, "Dark, Dark, Darkness." Mixed and mastered by Doug McBride at Gravity Studios. Video by Molly Kate Lane. Engineered by Yours Truly at Waterdog Records.

10/23/2019: Outronaut - "EL Producto"

Here's one of my favorite Outronaut tracks, "El Producto." Mixed and mastered by Doug McBride at Gravity Studios. Video by Steve Gerlach. Engineered (and "harppeggios") by Yours Truly at Waterdog Records.

10/22/2019: Crêpe & Penn - Spooky Edition

The Crepe & Penn Literary Magazine's Spooky Edition will be out on October 30, just in time for Halloween! Six of my photographs have been chosen for inclusion, and I hope I'm not violating any terms by sharing five of them here:
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