Tristan Sayre Gillis – Sky Audio

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Contact Details

Interview Details

Date: Thursday 12/21/2023
Location: South Burlington
Length: 34:33
Episode Number: 43
Show Notes Link: https://vermonttalks.com/tristan-sayre-gillis-sky-audio/
Short Link: vermonttalks.com/43

Transcript

Becca Hammond 00:00:01 What’s new? 8 0 2. I’m Becca Hammond and you’re listening to Vermont Talks. Vermont talks may include graphic or explicit content. Listener discretion is advised. Okay. All right. Welcome to Vermont Talks. I’m here with Tristan Sayer Gillis. He’s the owner of Sky Audio in Richmond, Vermont, and he’s the front man of Valerie. False.
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:00:23 Hey, how’s it going? Hey,
Becca Hammond 00:00:25 I’m so happy we’re, this is the third time we’ve recorded this interview. I want everyone to know that because I wanna make it clear that we’ve tried really hard to get this show out, .
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:00:38 It’s been pretty, um, a a long and arduous journey, a long,
Becca Hammond 00:00:43 Long and winding road of getting to this point as, as
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:00:46 Paul McCartney would say, .
Becca Hammond 00:00:48 So I think the first time we recorded you hadn’t actually opened the studio. So this is actually a good thing. ’cause now I can put pictures up on our show notes page. This is the 43rd interview. I’m getting lost here. I will, I’m gonna look it up and I’m gonna tell you exactly what interview it is at the end of the show. But, but tell us all when your dream started of building the studio in Richmond.
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:01:19 Yeah, yeah, of course. Well, I mean, I always wanted a studio. The thing is, is, um, I started, uh, you know, getting into recording music in I guess 2013. So I was like 16 years old or something. And, uh, I just always liked the idea of having like, my own space. And for the longest time I just thought, oh, well, you know, hopefully I’ll just get hired somewhere and I, I won’t have to worry about, you know, just making my own space ’cause it’d be so much money and a hassle. And, you know, I, I just didn’t think I was like, cut out for something like that. But, um, the more I got, kind of got involved in, you know, local bands and the scene, and also getting, uh, recorded myself by these other studios, I, I realized, you know, it was gonna be a lot harder because there were, there were a lot more kind of like lone wolves out there who were kind of just doing it themselves and doing these DIY sort of methods studios. And it at least gave me the confidence to know that I could do it myself, , and not second guess myself about doing that because all these other people were doing it. So, you know, why couldn’t I?
Becca Hammond 00:02:27 Yeah, definitely. And I mean, you, you have construction skills too, which certainly helped you out in building the studio. I
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:02:33 Had less construction skills before, but I, I had, I had the, like, the basic like gist, the, like, the basic like, yeah, 16 on Center for Framing is like a, a general one . That’s, that’s one that I knew. And that, that was pretty much it.
Becca Hammond 00:02:50 Well it’s pretty impressive ’cause so the whole space is in, in a basement, but it’s all free floating, so it’s all basically soundproofed and your neighbors can’t really hear you at all.
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:03:02 Yeah, well, uh, so I moved to Vermont in 2021 and prior to that, um, my girlfriend, uh, Megan, who’s also in Valerie Falls, she’s, um, the other guitarist in that, in that band, um, she was always interested in doing something with the basement. So you have one person who always wanted to have their own space for music or just recording or a band or whatever. And you have another person who wants pretty much the same thing, except in her mind she was seeing it as actually more like a, like a venue and . I was like, I don’t know about a venue, Meg. I mean, it seems like it’s a, a pretty small space. I mean, generally, especially if, you know, you get like, you know, 30, 40 like kids down there. But like, um, what I always thought would be a cool idea was, well, a studio now that could work , throw some insulation in the ceiling, um, build a structure. Uh, and it wasn’t gonna be easy, but, um, you know, lo and behold, I happened upon an old, uh, 401k that I didn’t know about. And, and thus the, the, the studio was born
Becca Hammond 00:04:14 through a lot of labor and floods and
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:04:16 Tears, trial tribulation and, uh, lots of, um, sailor man talk. Lots of swearing and . Just . But it’s here. It’s tangible. It’s, it’s real and you know, it’s awesome. Yeah,
Becca Hammond 00:04:30 It’s a great little space. So I’ve, I’ve been in this space, I know how it’s, it’s definitely cozy. It’s not really large by any means, but it sounds really good. Like it sounds very solid and you did it very professionally too. Thank you. When you walk in, you can tell it’s a studio. There’s space for the drum kit, you know, , you know where that goes. It’s very clear that this is set up with a nice audio setup. You got a good dawn and everything and toys to play with.
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:04:58 Yeah, it, uh, it wasn’t easy. ’cause you know, the thing is, is, um, when you’re designing a space like that, obviously there’s, um, the acoustics to consider. So you don’t know if it’s gonna be, um, something that you are, you’re gonna have to even, you know, like you don’t know if you’re gonna be able to build it in that space to begin with. Um, especially in a, a place like a, a basement where it’s, you know, so reflective like, you know, I had to consider if I even wanted to do a space or if I just wanted to use just the room itself and try to mold it to more of what I was looking for. Um, and it took me probably like 20 or 30 different designs to come up with. The one that, um, we currently have, which is, um, it, it combines, um, basically like a, a listing room slash mixing area with a live room. So it’s, it’s all just sort of like one room and you have, uh, the drum area as kind of like a separate corner and then everything else just kind of happens on the floor.
Becca Hammond 00:06:00 Yep. And it’s, the drum area has a little stage, doesn’t it? Right?
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:06:04 Yes, it does and it’s, you know, it’s, it’s all by design, I mean, so like, the way the the drum room looks, it, it’s sort of, it’s definitely wonky. I mean it’s ’cause it’s built around pipes. Um, and you know, one could say like, oh, well, you know, I’m sure that doesn’t help the acoustics too well, building around all those pipes. Um, the thing is, is, uh, what I’ve come to realize, um, you know, just from the past, from seeing like different, you know, studios in person is it’s actually okay to, if it’s a little bit more, uh, irregular because, uh, the more areas where you can build to capture the sound, the, the debtor it can be. And so I used the opportunity of of having all these different, you know, nooks and crannies to kind of build these sound absorbers. So it was just a, a debtor, you know, nicer, quieter kind of space.
Becca Hammond 00:06:55 Yeah. Yeah. That makes total sense. Less 90 degree angles and front space.
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:06:59 Yeah. Yeah. Well it also helps that I’m a shitty carpenter . So, um, I’m sure if you were like a carpenter, like a really like decent carpenter and you went down there and you took a look, you’d immediately notice that something was off. But for pretty much every , anybody else, if you go down there, you’re like, oh wow, this looks really nice. ,
Becca Hammond 00:07:19 It looks like a recording studio.
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:07:21 . Yeah, well, I mean, I’m talking like, if you were to put like a rule, like a, what do you call it, like a square, right? So like the corners, like it’s not perfectly square . It’s definitely not. Well,
Becca Hammond 00:07:31 You basically built an entire room. So not only the floors are all covered, you have no concrete floors to reflect sound off of. Right. Which is huge. You don’t have exposed ceilings ’cause you put, is it all insulation? Did you put any other sound deader in the ceiling?
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:07:47 Uh, yeah. So basically, uh, like I said, there were many different ways that I could have approached it. I mean, at one point, um, like in the original design I was just thinking, okay, well, I mean, it’d be way too expensive to go and, and build a whole studio, so I’ll just do like these little booths. And, and maybe that would be a better way of kind of both mi mitigating the vibrations getting out so we don’t have disturb the neighbors, but also keeping the sound in and quickly realized like, you know, these booths were gonna have to be huge Yeah. To a point where it would negate even attempting them in the first place where it just maybe at that point makes more sense to just build a room . Right,
Becca Hammond 00:08:24 Right. Well the whole room is like one booth.
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:08:27 Exactly. Exactly. So, so that’s kind of the, um, how I, you know, wanted to proceed. And so what you’d end up getting is, um, kind of a, it’s, it’s definitely sort of like a, a a best, you know, case scenario for what I was given. Um, I could have done double walls. I didn’t do double walls because it’s already concrete on, on two of the four faces. So already, you know, you’re, you’re looking pretty good with that.
Becca Hammond 00:08:56 It’s also a huge amount of space. Like you, you built inward on everything from the Yeah, yeah. Ceiling down the floor, up the walls in Yeah,
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:09:06 Every, everything’s by design. So like the how, like how big it is right now that that was all determined by, um, the size of the insulation. Um, you know, the, the brand of the insulation I was gonna be using where it was all gonna go, um, as far as like the, the ceiling went, because obviously that wasn’t an area that had, um, you know, a lot of headroom originally. ’cause it’s, it’s just a basement. I think the ceiling originally was like eight four or something like that, which sounds large, but when you’re building, like you said, like a, you know, a structure within a structure, I mean, it quickly, it becomes eaten up by those extra beams that you have to put up. Yep. So, um, and in my case, I just did, um, uh, six, uh, what do you call it? Uh, six inch beams in the ceiling.
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:09:54 And, uh, yeah, what I ended up doing was I, I put insulation in the original layer, which is just R 30 insulation, which is, um, the, the second to best, uh, highest, uh, grade of, um, r value that you can get. Uh, and then beneath that I put the beams for the structure, which are just, like I said, the six inch, um, bays, which I , um, put R 30 inside of. Yep. And then, um, on top of, uh, that is actually what I put a soundboard. Yep. So there’s a, there’s a homo, so, uh, four 40 soundboard on top of the beams for the structure. Um, on top of which is there is also an air gap that separates the two. So, um, it never touches the, uh, the main structure. There’s always a gap or something preventing the vibrations from traveling outwards.
Becca Hammond 00:10:39 Yeah, that’s huge. That’s probably why your neighbors can’t hear you ’cause base. Oh my God. Does bury base carry through a structure? Like no. Yeah, nobody’s business. I think it’s worse than a drum kit, honestly. Somebody who’s just wailing on that low e stringing or lower if you’re drop tuning or what have you, oh my god. That can carry. And I’m a bass player, but that drives me nuts. Like I’m only hearing the worst of your bass playing . So I’m sure your neighbors very much appreciate all the work you’ve done
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:11:10 There. Was there, there was just like so much thought that just like had to go into, you know, just it, the, the type of situation that, you know, we were handed just like, you know, it just wasn’t ideal. And definitely like the base frequencies were, you know, in my mind it was like a, a pretty big problem because, um, you know, when Megan first, um, got this condo, she tried having band practice there, and basically they set up, the drummer played for maybe like two minutes, and within those two minutes the neighbor was at the, the door knocking saying that, um, in her words, her whole condo was vibrating. Yeah. And that just prompted that, that was a huge indicator to me that, you know, the, the main issue here wasn’t necessarily that, um, you know, it was noisy. It’s that inherently sound is vibration.
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:12:03 So if you can mitigate the vibration, you can therefore mitigate the sound traveling to a different location. And so the stage that I built for the drums is specifically designed to do that. So the stage doesn’t touch the structure. Yeah. So the, the box within a box structure that I built, it doesn’t touch that it’s actually inset a good, like two inches or so, and that two inches is something that I, I found in my research that, um, somewhere I read that you had to inset at least two as many as four inches from whatever area you’re trying to isolate. Yep. Um, it’s bottomed out with rubber, so it doesn’t have any of the, uh, the, the wood floor beneath it. It’s just rubber and then the wood and the wood is stuffed with more insulation on, on the floor . And then you have the, uh, the plywood on top of that, which, uh, plywood, um, just wood in general is a, a great sound deadener. And then on top of that is, uh, just, uh, some area rug. Yep. And you throw drums on top of that and it, you’d be, you’d be shocked without how, um, it, it really does, uh, help mitigate the sound traveling out of that room.
Becca Hammond 00:13:14 Yeah. It’s been a huge amount of work that you’ve done there. So you’re ready, you’re ready to start recording? I know you’ve done all of the Valerie Falls recordings, correct?
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:13:25 Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, it’s, it’s intended to be, the first release from the studio is, is, uh, Valerie Falls, um, first album that we have coming out, uh, next year. And, uh, right now we’re, we’re like 70 or 80% done with that album. It’s gonna be 12 track album. Uh, what was gonna be maybe 13 or 14 or, or maybe, no, no, we were, we were always gonna do the, the, the 12. But, um, we just swap songs out, you know, songs that are better we want on the album and yeah, , but we’ve done a lot of recording down there at this point. So very excited to get that out and, and get it, you know, out there as the first Sky audio, um, produced release.
Becca Hammond 00:14:05 Cool. Very cool. Have you, have you been doing any marketing? Are you putting your name out there, come
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:14:12 To record? Uh, it’s certainly, certainly under Valerie Falls. The thing is, it’s, uh, you know, it’s, it’s a lot of work. ’cause being in a band in itself is already a huge amount of work, especially nowadays, um, where you have to be, um, not just a musician, but like a, a marketing guy. You have to be a little bit of a, I mean, obviously you have to be, you know, an artist, but in more ways than just, you know, yeah. Um, the actual, you know, musicianship. But you also have to, you know, make show posters or
Becca Hammond 00:14:41 Yes. You have to be a graphic designer, a videographer, a marketer. Right. A musician, uh, you know, there’s probably six other things, a manufacturing expert if you wanna do
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:14:51 Your own stuff. course. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we’re, we’re out there like we’ve been, um, this is the, the first, uh, band that I’ve been in where we actually, we took like, you know, the merch really seriously too, so we have to worry about merch and . It’s just, it’s a lot. And then, you know, um, you have this like album that, um, you know, I’m producing, uh, under, uh, sky Audio. So it’s one of those things that, you know, at the moment, it’s definitely taken a backseat to just how, uh, intense the schedule has been with the band. But over the next couple months, uh, is definitely gonna be given a lot of attention and especially leading up to that, um, album release.
Becca Hammond 00:15:29 Cool. Do you you have a date set, or are you guys just kind of floating into next year? Sometime next year,
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:15:34 Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, we’ve been talking, uh, to some friends in, uh, don’t Blink Music Group actually. Um, so they’ll be helping us out with the release and, uh, getting it properly marketed. And it’s, it’s gonna be sort of a, a longer process, um, to actually get the music out. But, um, it’s, it’s, and this sort of environment for musicians, it’s, it’s definitely the smartest thing to do is to get, um, a pr um, sort of, you know, agency on your side. So
Becca Hammond 00:16:02 What’s, I feel like someone else has mentioned Don’t Blink, it could have been Valerie Falls last time ’cause you guys came on the podcast. It was awesome. . Uh, tell me more about Don’t Blink. What, what do they do? What is it?
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:16:14 Yeah, so they, they offer a variety of services. Um, you know, they, they do some marketing, they do some, they, they will get you shows, even tours. Uh, they’re sort of just an all around kind of like marketing, just hype, sort of like agency. And they’re super cool guys. Um, Colin, uh, one of their guys is actually, um, in a band that we just played with down in Randolph. Um, I believe, I believe their name is Promise Game. But yeah, we, we just played with them down in Randolph and yeah. Had a great show with them and, uh, and yeah, just looking forward to working with them, getting, uh, these, uh, you know, these songs out.
Becca Hammond 00:16:54 Is it local?
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:16:56 Uh, I believe they’re based in, I wanna say, I wanna say Massachusetts, but I’m not entirely sure. It, it’s either Massachusetts or New Hampshire or Connecticut. close, close enough to be local, Northeast, definitely, definitely like New England oriented, I’ll say that. Yeah.
Becca Hammond 00:17:12 Cool. Very cool. I’ll have to check them out. So have you had anyone else come and ask you to record them yet? Have you had anyone, are you doing, see, I forget, we talked, we’ve talked three times, so I’ve gotta get this straight. Are you willing to master tracks other people have recorded? Do you wanna record everything yourself? What’s your preference? What’s your ideal dream for Sky Audio?
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:17:37 Yeah, so Sky Audio, uh, in its current state is, uh, basically kind of a, you know, I mean, it is for all intents and purposes, like a one man job, . So you take that for what you will. But, uh, definitely offer tracking, mixing, mastering, uh, pretty much anything that you can need as well as, uh, production is, uh, is a big part of, um, uh, my artistic approach. So it’s definitely, um, you know, all of those are just kind of one in the same as far as Sky Audio goes.
Becca Hammond 00:18:08 Cool. Do you want to ever get into like live sound type recording?
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:18:15 Yeah, I’ve thought about it. I mean, from what I can tell, it’s sort of like a, I don’t wanna say like a, like a dying art, but they’re definitely harder to come by that the Live Sound guys, um, I’m not sure if you know of, uh, James Cross, he’s very much into live sounds. So I guess I could, you know, plug him and say he did mix our show Yeah. In Randolph, and it sounded, uh, pristine. So if you’re looking for a guy, he would be the guy . Yes. Uh, I see Live Sound is just a totally different animal, so while I, I probably could do it, um, you know, at least for right now, it’s, it’s already enough on my plate. Just having the band and having, you know, the studio to work on, uh, all these tracks and Yeah. You know, I think maybe in the future, if it, if it ever, you know, if the opportunity present presented itself and I felt like, you know, I could handle it, especially with the schedule and being in a band and everything, it’s definitely something, you know, I’d be open to.
Becca Hammond 00:19:10 Yeah. Yeah. I think you’re right in saying it’s a dying art. Especially, I, I think of back in the nineties, there were, and earlier than that, there were a lot of albums that were live albums. Yeah. And that, it’s hard to find that now. A lot of modern bands never put out a live album. Yeah. But I think there’s something really special about those. Uh, in particular, and I know everyone talks about Queen, but Queen had some amazing, like better than their studio tracks Yeah. Of them playing live and just these moments, there’s another one of, uh, Tom Petty, I always loved Tom Petty, where the whole crowd sang the song louder than him, and he just kinda let them sing for, you know, half this song on a live album was amazing. It was just amazing to hear how, how connected everyone was and to get that feel from a live show. Studio tracks are amazing that just, there’s something about that feeling
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:20:08 At a live show. No, I totally know, know what you mean. I am, so one of my favorite live albums is, um, it’s, uh, Nirvana at The Paramount. It’s just so good. Just like you said, just, it’s like one of those albums that almost sounds like, you know, a lot of these tracks are just better than how they were initially, you know, record. Well, I don’t wanna say better, but, you know, they’re, they’re different. They’re
Becca Hammond 00:20:31 So different with the crowd, with the
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:20:32 Energy. Yeah.
Becca Hammond 00:20:33 Something about the energy Exactly. Does something to the sound.
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:20:36 Um, I will say, um, definitely live sound has come such a long way since like, um, what, uh, the Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl, , you know, the, the, just the, the Shrills screaming fans just totally like drowning them out. Uh, you go from that to like, you know, something like, um, you know, Nirvana at The Paramount and it’s just like night and day. And especially like these days, you know, you see a lot of like, you know, stuff with like Audio Tree Live or like, you know, back in the day with like the a OL sessions and Yeah. You know, there’s still some good stuff out there. I think it’s just a matter of like, you know, where you’re looking.
Becca Hammond 00:21:11 Yeah. Yeah. I feel like Audio Tree is almost like it’s live, but it’s like live in studio, you kind of, yeah. It’s cool. Don’t get me wrong. I love some audio tree, but it’s not the same like I wanna hear
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:21:23 Oh
Becca Hammond 00:21:23 Yeah. How they play off the crowd. The crowd and how they Yeah. Because that’s it. The, the way that energy works, its way back into the music and you get everybody at a show gets a totally different experience and picks up on that energy. So to be able to record it in a way where it kinda gives you goosebumps when you listen to it. Yeah. And you’re like, you almost feel like you’re there when you can feel the energy. A lot of, a lot of bands, don’t you, you, you just miss that. I hope, I hope that we can get to that point in Vermont where we can start recording little DIY
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:21:53 Shows. I love it. It would be so cool. Especially, uh, like the, the bigger venue I, I, I would say in Vermont is higher ground and it would be awesome to see some bands there, especially even, you know, some of the smaller bands. It would be awesome to see just some like professionally recorded sound Yeah. Coming outta there. Unless they’re not, not, that’s not to say there, there might already be some, because if there are some then , you know, I’m happy to, you know. Yeah.
Becca Hammond 00:22:18 I would love, shoot, I would love, love to talk to these people if they are. ’cause that’s, if you’re there, I haven’t heard anybody, I’ve seen people do, like, there’s some videographers recording Mm-Hmm. You know, a song or two. But, uh, one videographer’s a lot different than someone set up to the record the entire band and get the audio, get the audio in the live sound correct. To put a real recording out and make it like the full album. Oh yeah. I haven’t seen that. If, if you’re in Vermont and you’re hearing this, please let me know if you know of any people doing this. ’cause I’m fascinated by that entire scene. And I would, I would love to see it. It’s a huge investment though. Oh yeah. In terms of just ’cause you think of a band setting up for soundcheck like that in and of itself is this massive undertaking. It’s a huge amount of work. So if you’re talking about, okay, band doing soundcheck, but now we’re gonna record you, that means we’ve got 10 mics, 15 mics set up. Well,
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:23:10 You know, it’s also, it’s also frustrating ’cause um, the thing about, um, I mean I guess you could say this for like, you know, studio recording too, but any band is gonna, you know, have their own personal preferences and sometimes it just conflicts with, you know, the reality of the situation. , I guess. Yep. So, you know, you could be a sound guy, you know, at a place like Higher Ground or whatever, and you have a band that’s on and you know, their guitarist for whatever reason, they just, they just want to be turned up, up, up, up. Yeah. And you know, at this point he’s drowning everybody else out. Um, and, but he just doesn’t wanna, you know, let up.
Becca Hammond 00:23:49 That’s their art
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:23:51 . That’s, that’s part of the art is saying, fuck you, like,
Becca Hammond 00:23:55 Hey, to be fair, I feel like people like that. You know, you do, you Mm-Hmm. . But the live sound guy is gonna be like
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:24:05 . Well, no, no, no. Because you and I both know that that guy is sitting there and he’s ghost turning that knob. Yeah. And then giving the thumbs up to the guy on the stage, like, yeah, you’re good buddy. Yeah, I can hear you a lot better now. You’re right. Yeah.
Becca Hammond 00:24:18 You sound great now . Yeah. If, yeah. Right. If they get to that point. ’cause I feel like if you’re gonna give your live sound guy at, at the biggest venue in Vermont, a hard time, you might not get welcome back to do that kind of thing because it’s just, you’re, you’re making problems for everybody else. Like yes, respect your art, you get your own say, but you gotta trust. You gotta have some trust in the person that’s helping you balance. You gotta have everything because you can’t hear it on stage, even with the monitors. Like, you just, oh yeah. You’re totally losing what it sounds like at the back of the room in the corner of the room. Like, you, you can’t, no, you can’t be in two places at once. Well,
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:24:56 Um, it kind circles back to, um, what we were talking about, um, before we started recording. Um, today. Uh, I was talking to you a little bit about Steve Albini. Um, I’ve just been digging into like all of his stuff, all of his videos that he posts online. Um, uh,
Becca Hammond 00:25:14 Can you, can you tell the people who
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:25:16 He’s Oh yeah, I’m sorry. Yeah. So Steve Albini, so he is, uh, the producer, um, who produced, uh, Nirvana’s and Utero album is probably what he’s most known for. But, um, he’s sort of like a DIY hero, um, from just what I’ve been researching just the last like, couple weeks. He’s really done like a couple thousand actually albums of just a lot of DIY bands. And something really unique about him is that he actually even won’t refuse like, credit. So, you know, all these bands, not, not that, you know, I’m sure the bands go out and, you know, push it themselves, like oh yeah. Mixed produced by Steven Albini. But as far as like his, like personal credit, he just does it for the love of the mu of the music. And I just think it’s so awesome. But, um, he also has this, um, this just awesome just sort of like, uh, you know, what do you call it?
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:26:09 Just like thing that he does where he, he wants the bands to sound like they would if they were live. Yep. And he puts all of his efforts into capturing that sound, including, like you had mentioned before we started recording. Um, he loves to get, uh, a capture of the, at least one capture of the band playing together. Yep. Not, maybe not necessarily in the same room, but together. So you have the sound of a live sounding band, and then he’ll go in afterwards and do maybe a couple over dubs. Although he’s a, he’s somewhat of a purist from what I can tell. He likes to keep it, you know, very bare bones, but do just enough to elevate it to make it sound like you’re in the room with them. Yeah. I just think that’s, that’s so awesome. And, you know, even, you know, as a producer myself and as somebody who, you know, always is like fiddling like with my toys and just like, I’ll spend, you know, countless hundreds of hours in like a song, you know, it’s, it’s nice that there’s somebody out there who, you know, is just, um, .
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:27:17 He, he just, he just believes so strongly that you know, that that sort of sound that you’re chasing, that it could just be captured in mic. Yeah. You know, you don’t have to go through all these extra steps or buy all these extra pieces of like, outboard hardware, although they Right. So tantalizing and nice. Yes,
Becca Hammond 00:27:36 Yes. A hundred percent. I think there’s something to be said about trying to keep that, that live sound alive because there’s nothing more disappointing than hearing a song you like on the radio and then going to see that band and being like, what, in like, this is not the same band. Like, I have a hard time believing this is the same band. And that’s ’cause they recorded it all separately. They did huge amount of mastering. It doesn’t sound the same by the time you go see them live. You’re like, this is, there’s been a few shows I’ve done that, and I’m like, whoa. Like woof, this was, this was not what I was expecting. ’cause it sets that certain expectation, right? Like, if you ever make it so big that they’re playing you on the top four, you
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:28:19 Even eventually it’ll stop sounding like them. Yeah. So it’s, it’s a delicate balance. And, you know, I could say that personally, I may not agree with everything that Steve says, but I just think he’s such a genius that, you know, you almost can’t ignore somebody like that Yeah. When he says something. Um, and so at the very least, I’d like to take everything that he says into account, um, especially like lately what I’ve been working on the Valerie Fall stuff. Um, I want it to sound like it would sound if we were playing a show and in that same kind of energy that you were mentioning before of just a, a live production and, and a live room with like a bunch of people in it. We’re not gonna do like the can stuff though. . We’re not gonna do like the woo the claps like, oh, you guys sound
Becca Hammond 00:29:03 Well. Oh yeah. No, no, don’t, don’t do anything can that would not be,
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:29:07 It’s good. So we won’t do that.
Becca Hammond 00:29:09 Well, you tracks sound so slick. I’ve gotta say, I, I know I gushed a bit when I was talking to the whole band with Valerie Falls, but highly recommend. Go check out Valerie Falls on Spotify Band, camp, whatever, and just hear how Tristan mastered these tracks. And I think you’ll appreciate and also wanna work with him. If you need someone to help you record, I think you should definitely hit up Tristan. So Tristan, what is your website for Sky Audio?
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:29:39 Uh, uh, so the, the site for, uh, sky Audio is www do sky audio.com
Becca Hammond 00:29:45 And it’s S-K-Y-A-U-D-I-O
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:29:48 Com. That’s right. Okay. And also, and, uh, just a little aside here, uh, you said, uh, mastered, I did not master those tracks. That was, uh, Mr. Ryan Cohen at Robot Do Studios. Oh, snap. Oh, I did, I did. I apologize. Yep. Nope, that’s okay. I did mix those tracks, but, uh, those are mastered by, um, Ryan over there at Robot Dog. Yes.
Becca Hammond 00:30:08 Shout out to Robot Dog Studios. Shout out,
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:30:10 Gosh,
Becca Hammond 00:30:10 Out to Ryan. Gosh, he’s he’s very talented. All, all the praise to Ryan. I didn’t realize that. I thought you did everything on those for
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:30:17 Those, uh, the thing is, is sometimes you, you want to have the extra set of ears because you get so involved in it and it’s your baby that you almost, um, can’t tell what’s good apart from your own personal bias. Yeah. And so every now and again, you know, you have to take a step back and say, you know, do I really wanna take this, you know, all the way, or do I maybe want to just to, you know, be a little bit safer? And that was just the route that I decided to take.
Becca Hammond 00:30:45 So you recorded and you mixed everything. And are you doing the whole album recording mix and then are you sending the whole album to Robot Dog for the mastering?
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:30:53 Uh, no, I, I think for the full album, it, it is just gonna be in-house, but, um Okay. You know, it’s just one of those things that
Becca Hammond 00:31:00 ’cause you can master.
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:31:01 Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, it, it was different for the first couple singles because, um, you know, what you have to understand is, um, you know, I’m very new to, um, for example, recording, um, full drum sets. Um, a lot of, uh, you know, I’m sure producers out there like, who are just starting out can probably relate to that. But, um, recording drums is, is seen by a lot of people as being like the next step, you know, and becoming like a, you know, getting rid of that like imposter syndrome and you know, really like teaching yourself how to be a, a better, uh, producer. And for me that was, uh, the, the first two singles that we put out, Rosie and Ghost to Bottom. So those are the first, um, singles that I ever recorded, uh, drums for. Uh, and you know, as such, not having that experience prior, you know, it was just kind of a situation of Okay. I think they sound good.
Becca Hammond 00:31:54 . They do. They, I never would’ve realized that was the first time you recorded drum kit if you hadn’t told me that.
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:32:00 Thank you. Yeah. That’s, that’s awesome. I’m glad that I fooled you, but .
Becca Hammond 00:32:05 Hey, I wasn’t fooled. It’s, it’s good stuff. I am, yeah. I got nothing but good things to say about you and your band. We’re at 32 minutes, I think we’re gonna, we’re gonna call it. So Valerie Falls. Do you guys have any shows planned coming up? I know you’re gonna release an album next year.
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:32:22 Yeah, so we have a show coming coming up, uh, January 27th. Uh, that is going to be at
Becca Hammond 00:32:32 .
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:32:33 I actually can’t remember ,
Becca Hammond 00:32:35 Is that the Lily’s? No,
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:32:38 No. Wait, let me look up the, ’cause I have a poster. Yeah,
Becca Hammond 00:32:41 No worries.
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:32:45 Oh, you know what, I remember where it’s gonna be. That’s gonna be down in White River Junction, I believe. Nice. Yeah. Nice. Cool. So that, um, let me just find the venue just so I can, you
Becca Hammond 00:32:55 Guys have been all over the state. You had to show up in Derby a
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:32:58 Couple weeks ago. Yeah, I think, I think that’s part of it is just we’ve had so many shows like recently it’s . I know it’s like a lame thing to say, but it’s actually like, kind of legitimately hard to like, keep track of .
Becca Hammond 00:33:09 Yeah. Everything starts blending together the more you play.
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:33:12 Exactly. Um, it’s, it’s not coming up, but uh, it is in White River Junction . And
Becca Hammond 00:33:20 You can find
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:33:21 Valerie Falls. You can falls, you can, you can find the poster on our socials. We’re on Facebook. Yes, we’re on Instagram.
Becca Hammond 00:33:26 Valerie Falls is V-A-L-L-O-R-Y falls. Correct.
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:33:31 Yep.
Becca Hammond 00:33:31 Spelled not like Valerie. The name Valerie. Like a place,
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:33:35 Like a place, like a place
Becca Hammond 00:33:36 . So thank you so much Tristan for coming on the show. Please check out Valerie Falls, check out Sky Audio. I’m excited for you. It’s a very cool space.
Tristan Sayre Gillis 00:33:47 Thank you. Thanks for having me. Yeah. Have a
Becca Hammond 00:33:49 Good one everybody. Thanks so much for listening to the end of the show. Subscribe to Vermont Talks on your favorite podcasting platform. You can find me on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook all over the web. Contact becca@vermonttalks.com if you’d like to be interviewed or if you know someone who should be. Thanks so much to Jason Baker for creating the show music. The views and opinions expressed by the guests are those of the individuals and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Vermont talks. Any content or statements provided by our guests are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, anyone or anything. And that’s what was new in the 8 0 2. Have a great day.