#dhound

Commuter

Wow! Almost 5 years ago, around April of 2011, we were recording Commuter. We hadn’t even named the band yet. We hadn’t even written any of the songs from our first album (Southern Charm). Commuter was actually the 3rd song we ever worked on together. It had this country/honky tonk feeling that was kind of awkward for a bunch of guys that had been playing in rock bands. But this was the beginning of Quiet Hounds, the start of exploring what we could do together as musicians and writers. I had the idea of doing a simple live recording to support the country vibe. We all had a very uninhibited approach to working on music at that time. We were pumping out ideas so fast back then we weren’t questioning if they “fit with anything. This was one of the pavers that set us on our way and I‘m very fond of this song. We recorded it with very minimal resources, 8 tracks live and then overdubbed lap steel and vocals thru an old fender vibrochamp guitar amp. When i pulled the session back up to remix and master it I added some harmonies and a shaker. Everything else is original. 

Like Animals

“I’m just here to do whatever you guys need me to do!” Countless times we have heard this phrase from Matt Rowles.

Just after the release of Megaphona in the summer of 2012, I ran into a guy on the grounds of the Goat Farm Arts Center. Literally… we ran in to each other. You see, Rowles and I are both always going at full speed which sometimes equates to a collision. And in our case that collision turned out to be destiny.

The band had been filming Beacon Sun and designing the concepts for what was soon to to be An Ode to Lost Souls. We knew we were on to something special and we wanted it to reach as many people as possible. After briefly meeting Rowles we exchanged contacts and agreed to reconnect. Our first phone call was about 2 hours long and by the end we both knew we were about to do something inspiring and it was going to sound really good! As it turns out it looked pretty awesome as well. Matt and his IndieATL crew of college students filmed, recorded and live broadcasted the entire event to great success. This was the first of many collaborations we would soon undertake.

I later remixed the audio from the show and Rowles did a video edit from the raw camera footage. You can watch I Get Up live from the Goat Farm here. While you’re there check out the great work Matt’s been doing with IndieATL for the past several years.

While celebrating the success of Ode, Rowles told me he had went to school for audio engineering and was a trained “Tape Op”. This was really exciting to me, I am always looking for new avenues to learn about my own craft. The idea of using analog machines and elevating the recording process to a new level was exactly what i wanted for the band. After more inspired discussion we decided he would be a part of the next QH recording process. That process became The Wild Hunt. I learned so much during the time we spent recording that album. From building an entire studio in an old farm house to live tracking in Southern Tracks to actually cutting the lacquers for our vinyl, Rowles has been there every step of the way.

Shake Don’t Shatter is no exception. Once again he and I built a studio in my house and pushed ourselves to make the best recordings we could make.

Q: What do Billy Joel, Queen, The Beatles & Quiet Hounds all have in common? 

A: Harmonies!

At every oppurtunity I'm looking for a way to put some classic sauce on the songs. Mansions was the perfect candidate for a classic background vocal. The harmonies you hear in the background of this track are 3 voices making a chord and moving with the changes of the song. 

oooh....1st, 3rd, 5th over F  / oooh...1st, Minor 3rd, 5th over Am / oooh...1st, 3rd, 5th over Bflat... and that’s the verse “BGV”. 

Shake Don't Shatter quite literally translates to perseverance. This notion was already long engrained in each of us on the day we met. 

Quiet Hounds was designed to be the bubble. The haven. A sanctuary free of rules where time stops and only imagination and implementation thrive. This is a world we created to share with everyone. You don't need to be cool or hip or young or brave or old or wise. You just need to care about the way your world feels, sounds and evolves. This is the story line we believe in.

The harsh realities of time came crashing down last year when E had to leave. Though we quickly put together a game plan for rehearsals and writing, this sea change was creeping into our minds and into the bubble. How could we really go on like this? Him being 3000 miles away wasn't even the worst part. It was having to realize our own perseverance again. The realization that our beautiful view of the world still hadn't aligned with the truth of reality, when we all felt it should.

Making this record wasn’t too different from the way we made the first three. We’ve always built everything ourselves from the ground up. Except this time our singer was recording ideas in a car on a laptop on the other side of the country. Oddly enough thats more relatable to musicians today than going into a proper studio to make a record. 

I believe art isn’t about the tools you use to create it but the composition you present at the end. And this time we used our perseverance as a tool. When the world gives you lemons…go plant a garden and grow a fruit you actually enjoy. 

The sound you hear at the beginning of this clip is an effect that comes from the vocal track being sent through an analog tape machine called an echo plex. If you turn a bunch of knobs while the tape is looping you'll get some unexpected and interesting sounds. We have a lot of fun experimenting with old recording devices. Making music is all about being inspired and we get into using interesting tools to do that. 

Also...harmonies don't suck.