EXCLUSIVE: Mixing The ‘End’ with Dishwalla’s J.R. Richards PART I

Photo Credit:Ian Ebright |  The Broken Telegraph

There’s something surreal about this particular August afternoon in Weed, California. Outside of the recording studios, it’s 85 degrees and the sky is cloudless, but I have to strain my eyes to realize that.  The distant forest fires plaguing the state have covered the local sky with a veil of translucent blue smoke, and brought the scent of charred nature to this humbly-sized town at the base of Mount Shasta.

I get my first look inside the recording studios where Dishwalla’s singer/songwriter J.R. Richards is mixing his debut album, and like the setting outside, this space is far from predictable. The primary facility of the RadioStar Studios compound is a Vaudevillian theater that was built way back during the early 20th century. That, and it’s also haunted. 

My tour guide assures me of this while sharing the story of his first-person encounter with a ghost near the stage in the main auditorium (Studio A). I shouldn’t be surprised; even RadioStar’s website claims that mysterious applause has made its way onto past recordings (but the spirits always wait to clap until the songs are finished). Elsewhere in the studios, sounds of unclaimed footsteps and sightings of phantoms have been reported. How’s that for a welcome mat?

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The lobby of RadioStar Studios. Photo Credit: The Broken Telegraph

It seems appropriate that J.R. Richards has brought his own ’Ghost’ to this place. There is a supernatural current flowing throughout his latest works- the totality of which will become the album ‘A Beautiful End.’ That vibe is expressed through his lyrics, and other times works more subtly by way of an electronic ambiance that is spread between several songs. This is a collection of songs filled with memories and longing, and focused on polar opposites- light and dark, beginnings and ends, decay and redemption. On this day, Richards’ vocals are carried through the space like the apparitions I’ve been warned about. “The ghost of sorrow…is here,” he sings while it echoes off the walls. The song is ‘Ghost of Sorrow,’ and it blows the roof off. It builds to an eruption and is accompanied by Richards’ smoldering voice. As a piece of music it’s cathartic and somewhat sinister at the same time.

Richards is mixing in RadioStar’s Studio B- what is actually the theater’s former balcony. The wall facing the auditorium is lined with windows that have been closed and blacked out for the session. The whole room is painted in Joker-purple and has the world’s most comfortable set of black leather couches waiting along the back wall. Richards has hired engineer Michael C. Ross to mix  ‘A Beautiful End.’ Ross’ previous work is an impressive mile-long list of collaborations with prominent artists ranging from Christina Aguilera and Eric Clapton to Counting Crows and Barry White. 

Today, Richards and Ross have found symbiosis. The pop sensibility of Ross is working in tandem with Richards’ tilt towards rock music, and the result is a title track that is immediately assessable but also without compromise.

Later in the day, Richards is seated in a chair at the center of the “boomerang:” Studio B’s massive horseshoe-shaped Solid State Logic J-9080 console, of which it is one of only four in the world. This creature has 80 inputs and moving fader automation. Richards is dwarfed by the overwhelming size of the equipment; he looks like a kid seated at a church organ. This is one of the frequent playback sessions, and this time he’s focused on two piano notes that happen during the title track’s crescendo. Richards lifts his hands and uses his index fingers like a maestro conducting his symphony. Obviously, those two notes matter to him. A few minutes prior, he decided to have Ross amplify the notes so that they stand a bit taller amidst the rush of other sounds. It’s a good choice; now the crescendo has found its peak. The willingness to nitpick seems to be one of the necessary disciplines while pursuing each song’s potential.

Click here to read Part 2.

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Click here for Part 3.

Click here to visit J.R. Richards’ Myspace profile.