Long post about “Wild Yonder” by Bear Hive
All In Real Time by Bear Hive
Bear Hive are one of my favorite bands I’ve ever worked with, and their record “All In Real Time” is easily in my top 5 records I’ve produced. It was in label purgatory for a while before the band sneakily put it on bandcamp in November. Here are some notes on the track “Wild Yonder,” my favorite from the album:
1. Chris Phillips was in a band called The Good Pyramid; their trumpet player played on Hunter Gatherer’s record (that band later regrouped into Foxing) and Chris got in touch with me about recording The Good Pyramid. That didn’t happen, but when Chris started his new band Bear Hive, he got in touch. “Wild Yonder” was the first track the band recorded with me, and I’d never heard a single note before we pressed record. Therefore, this is the first Bear Hive song I’ve ever heard.
2. “Wild Yonder” is one of 4 Bear Hive songs recorded at Bird Cloud’s second location (my house) back in 2011-ish that came out on an EP. When Bird Cloud moved into our third and current location (not in a house), we began working on the Bear Hive full length. By then, the band was playing “Wild Yonder” differently so we re-recorded it from the ground up. HOWEVER, there was something magical about the first recording that we could never capture. Part of it is in the drum sound, which relies on a room mic that was in the hallway of my house. The album version is a hodge-podge of the two different versions. The drums are from the original, BUT I went through the old take and pasted together the exact drum fills Nate Heininger played on the newer version.
3. Lyrically and vocally, this is my favorite thing Chris Phillips has written. I mean, he’s probably written better and will write better, but you know, sentiments. I also really love the way he uses "Flatlander" as an insult.
4. We made a conscious decision to only use mechanical, non-digital reverbs on this record. The vocals on this song were mostly through the “Rite Of Spring Reverb,” which is just the reverb tank from a dumpster-redeemed mixer. I posted about that device here (with a sample of the vocals to “Wild Yonder!”). Elsewhere on the album you can hear an air-duct plate reverb (”Daze For Days”) and a slinky reverb (”Wigwam”).
5. I love me a good distorted bass. Thanks, Joel Burton.
6. I’m fully aware this track, and this record as a whole, has production quirks that could be potentially viewed as unprofessional, lo-fi, bad, whatever. I was a bit hesitant to post about this record, if only because posting something on your studio site has automatic salesman-type qualities to it, and this record seems representative of a former, less-informed production style of mine. I’ve gotten better as an engineer, producer, mixer, whatever. It can make it hard listening back to something that was done 4 years ago. But I am very proud of this record, and every attempt I made to clean it up, make it more hi-fi, whatever, during the mixing process last year just felt dishonest to the record. You have to break eggs to make an omelet, and sometimes you have to mess up the omelet and make scrambled eggs and throw some salsa in there, and it’s ugly but delicious. That’s about the best description of Bear Hive, and “All in Real Time” that I can muster.
7. With that said, thanks to Christian Schaeffer for reviewing “All In Real Time” for RFT, an untimely 5 months after its release. And another thanks for saying “Wasoba's production is as clear and precise as ever,“ even though clarity and precision are the last two adjectives I’d use.
