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NEWS // Moxi – THROUGH THE DARK – Producer Notes

March 2, 2015 by jhartry

Moxi‘s second EP, “Through The Dark”, “offers an intoxicating mix of wobbling synths and danceable beats.” -Kevin Bronson at Buzzbands LA.

We asked Through The Dark’s two producers, Andy Toy and Bobby Hartry to tell us about their experience co-producing this project.

IMG_4937

These guys love dressing up to work in the studio…

Andy: To me, co-producing is all about trust, and there’s probably nobody I trust more than Bobby Hartry to make my song better than I could on my own.  This comes from years of working together but also from a personal relationship I have with Bobby that makes it OK for one of us to say, “hey, that could be better” or “that sound’s not really working for me”.  One of my favorite moments of making “Through The Dark” was at Bobby’s studio when we decided to re-amp a few of my keyboard tracks through Bobby’s pedalboard into his vintage AC30.  The floor was covered in a mess of pedals, patch cables and batteries, but the sounds we got are some of my favorites on the record.

Bobby: Echoing what Andy said, co-producing is definitely about trust.  Building that trust and personal relationship creates an environment that can really foster risk taking, stepping out and trying stuff that maybe you haven’t done before.  For me, that’s what keeps things interesting, and that’s where your best work usually happens.
Another result of that personal relationship is a camaraderie that develops.  I definitely have this with Andy.  Not only is the record making process more fun because of our friendship and mutual trust, but there’s also an intangible quality that I think people can hear or feel in the music as a result.  I think it’s a freshness, or energy that’s evident in the crafting of the tracks as a result of working together.  Andy’s story of reamping the keyboards is and example of that I think.   Another moment like that for me was on the vocal session for “Save Me.”  We had this idea of layering several of Anna’s vocals in the second verse to create some tension and energy.  Some of the the layers were sung, some yelled, she’s starts on one note and bends up to another.  We tried different mic placements to create a variety of roomy textures.  I think at one point she stood in the door way of the studio bathroom with the mic several feet away.   The end result is a brief moment in the song, but it’s exactly what we needed for the second verse.
I love tracking guitars with Andy.  He’s up for trying anything.   I may have a passing thought of a sound or part that is unorthodox, and without any hesitation Andy is on board helping me make it happen.  And because I can trust his ear I’m freed up to really get lost in the guitar in those moments.  This is a huge thing for me.

Andy: One of my favorite songs on this EP is “Save Me” because the vocals and music work so well together to create this dark, mysterious tension of raw emotion.  The song opens with Bobby’s guitar hook that we doubled with my bit crushed wurlitzer and it sets the tone for the rest of the song: dark, aggressive and unique.  It’s fun to hear this song as a recording because we wrote it right after we released our first EP, In My Dreams.  After playing it live for a couple years, we had parts written and arrangement nailed down and we got to focus on the little things and be creative with things like guitar tone and vocal yells, like Bobby mentioned.  I think my favorite sound on the EP is that opening guitar hook; we tracked that guitar using close mics and left a room mic in omni in the corner of the studio.  The weird slapback effect you hear at the end of the phrase is the room mic being turned up just on the ends of the phrase, a Bobby Hartry signature move that totally ended up making the intro memorable.
We think the results are pretty awesome!  Download Moxi’s latest EP, “Through The Dark”, here. 

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