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Winner No. 3 Threek, Episode 51 Adam Kay's quirky CD is truly homegrown.
By Andrew DuBrock Our third Homegrown winner submitted one of the most completely homegrown packages we received. Threek’s Episode 51 was conceived, written, recorded, produced, duplicated, and packaged by Adam Kay in his bedroom over the course of several years. Though Kay is the mastermind, his threek (a four-pronged fork missing one prong) is the visible mascot of the project. Before opening the CD, it’s hard not to wonder what those two thumbless hands bearing walnuts on the cover are about. "They’re actually stolen from an episode of the Dick Van Dyke Show," says Kay. "You know, borrowed. It’s a nightmarish, science fiction–ish episode where he loses his thumbs and his sense of humor. And his wife is planting walnuts everywhere." That episode, "Episode 51," also inspired the name of the album. Cover photo credit goes to Kay’s neighbor, Dan DiPrima, who’d recently acquired a digital camera. And the thumbless hands? "I sat down with PhotoShop and made the artwork happen," says Kay. Listening to the album assured us we’d found our next winner. Quirky chord progressions, odd meters, and a unique perspective came through in the songs. On "Complete Failure," Kay proclaims, "It makes no difference if you stand on your head / I’ll still be the fool at your feet." In "The Passive Progressives," he sings, Vote for me Kay occasionally delivers his message in the traditional folk troubadour style over a strummed acoustic guitar, but the songs on Episode 51 vary in form quite a bit. The dreamy vocal quality and phrasing in some tunes are reminiscent of Pink Floyd, while the mixed meters in "Joan of Arc" combine songwriter sensibilities with the grooves of a progressive rock band. Kay provides more variety by balancing the lyrical tracks with instrumentals. The solo fingerstyle "Dessicant," for example, tastefully incorporates harmonics and calls to mind Duane Allman’s harmonic passages in "Little Martha." Almost everything on Episode 51 was played by Kay. "You’ll hear a little giggle at the beginning of one track, and that was a friend of mine . . . but everything else was me," says Kay. Acoustic guitar tracks were performed on a Lowden and a Kay guitar "practically made of cardboard" that he bought at a thrift shop. "I had to Krazy Glue the neck back on and it’s real buzzy and rattley, but it’s got character. For $50 I couldn’t go wrong." And thanks to the Kay logo, he adds, "I have a personalized guitar." Also featured on Episode 51 are electric guitar, organ, harmonica, mandolin, bass, and drums. Kay plugged his electric guitar into an Event Electronics amp, and for extra effect he ran some tracks (including the occasional harmony vocal) through a homemade Leslie speaker cabinet. "That was a dumb idea I had years ago, and I love the thing," says Kay. "I built the Leslie out of two little bookshelf speakers and a ceiling fan I bought at Home Depot for $25. I put a little vari-speed on it so you can spin it at different rates." Everything was recorded with an AKG 414 B-ULS microphone, with the exception of the kick drum, which was recorded with a Radio Shack mic. Kay finds it difficult to be both the engineer and performer. "Even with headphones on, you hear too much of the direct signal from the guitar," he says. "So it’s been trial and error finding what positions work." Generally, he recorded the acoustic guitars with the large-diaphragm AKG mic six inches off the bridge and almost parallel with the soundboard, occasionally backing up a bit to capture more of the room sound. Recording was done straight to hard disk on a Macintosh-based Pro Tools system. Kay currently works as a music editor on feature films, and he "retired" an older eight-channel Pro Tools system he used at work to become the centerpiece of his home studio. A Mackie 1604 VLZ mixer was used to bridge the gap between the computer and the microphones, and several unknown reverb and chorus plug-ins were used conservatively. "I’m a fan of the ‘no reverb’ approach," says Kay. "I really like the right-in-your-face intimate feel." In contrast to the high-tech Pro Tools effects, on one song he ran the signal through a bullhorn! Kay describes his mastering process as simply using his ears. "A lot of people forget to use their ears," he says. He lies on the floor in the next room and listens. "Does it sound like a good song? Can you hear everything? If that happens, then I come back in and print it." He didn’t have CDs mastered anywhere--he just burned them one at a time while printing the artwork individually. And he sells them through his Web site, www.yakmatter.com. But it looks like things are changing for Kay. "I’m probably going to look into having somebody else print them," he says. He also recently decided to quit his job and move to Austin, Texas, a town with a scene he feels will be more receptive to his type of music than Los Angeles. Though he’s taken a "lackadaisical" attitude toward his music in the past, it’s his only true interest. As our third Homegrown winner, Kay will be heading off to Austin with $1,000 more gear, compliments of Sweetwater Sound. Excerpted from Acoustic Guitar magazine, August 2000, No.92. WANT TO ENTER YOUR CD in our Homegrown CD contest? We’re accepting submissions until September 1, 2000. Get the details and the official entry form at www.acousticguitar.com/Homegrown/Homegrown.html. |
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