On-site recording is recording in an environment that is not a conventional recording studio. More simply, taking the recording medium to the artist instead of the artist to the recording medium.

The comfort level of the artist, being in their own environment, is the advantage of on-site recording. If the artist was to record in a professional studio the performances would not be as natural. Some of the best known on-site recording engineers have been Ralph Peer, who first recorded the Carter Family and Jimmy Rogers in Bristol TN. Alan Lomax and George Mitchell who traveled all over the south and made many great recordings of regional artists

artist: Duck Homes site: Pluto Farm, Pluto MS
album: Gonna Get Old Someday label: Big Legal Mess (Fat Possum)
This record was recorded in February 2003 on the Pluto Farm in Pluto MS. Amos Harvey was the producer.

We set up, lived and worked, in the home of Don and Martha Foose. The recording space was in the den area and we ran a microphone cable snake into the living room, which became the control room. Everyday we would record Duck, live, with no overdubs (fixes). The only reverb, or ambient sound, that was used were microphones that were strategically placed in the room.

On a couple of days Bud Spires came to record harmonica with Duck. Bud used to play with legendary bluesman Jack Owens, who was also from Bentonia and actually taught Duck how to play the Bentonia style. I placed them side-by-side for the recording. These recordings were magical.

On the song Shaggy Hound we wanted a natural percussion element. So, we used the rattlesnake rattle, that was inside the guitar that Duck was playing. We taped it to the end of a drumstick and Calvin Jackson kept time with it.

The environment was as much a part of the recordings as the artists recorded on them. As a matter of fact, to give an idea of where we were, the picture on the header of the pages of this website was taken at the end of the driveway, of the home where we recorded, in Pluto, Mississippi.

artist: Precious Bryant site: “the space” Buena Vista, GA
album: The Truth label: Terminus
In the spring of 2004 Amos Harvey and I teamed up again and went to Buena Vista, Georgia to record Precious Bryant’s sophomore record “The Truth”. This time we set up in what we dubbed “The Space”, which was a room on the top floor of a building on the town square. This building was over a hundred years old and on the wall in the stairwell leading up to “The Space” people had written the condition of the local weather and date over the years. Sometimes we had to contend with glass pack mufflers of cars going by and birds chirping in the attic, but “The Space” worked out great.

We set up shop to record Precious over the next ten days. With this recording there was a drum kit, guitar amp, bass amp and Precious. Once again the ambience on the recording was accomplished by using room microphones. There were no headphones used so as not to cause disconnect between the artists and the music. Everyone played at a volume where they could hear each other. This is a technique that is not done much anymore. This record was a lot of fun. We all really enjoyed working together and it shows in the recording.

artist: Gee’s Bend Quilting Collective site: Gee’s Bend, AL
album: To Be Determined label: Tinwood
The last week of November 2006, Amos and I went to Gee’s Bend Alabama to record the ladies of the Gee’s Bend Quilting Collective. We were asked to do the project by Matt Arnett, an agent of the ladies of the Quilting Collective, who had heard some of the recordings that Amos Harvey and I had made.

Although the Quilters are primarily known for their Quilts, many do not realize what great singers they are. When the ladies are working together on the quilts they sing to pass the time.

We set up to record in the sanctuary of the Friendship Baptist Church at Gee’s Bend. Our goal was to make the ladies as comfortable as possible and to capture the natural beauty of their voices. We recorded different combinations of singers, from one to twenty people. The majority of this recording was done around a stereo microphone. I would listen to the balance of singing, before each song, by recognizing the tone of each ladies voice. Amos and I had a two way radio headset system. I would ask Amos to have certain ladies move forward or backward so many steps and this was how the songs were mixed. Once again no headphones were used. The ladies just listened to themselves.

Amos brought along two single mattresses in his van and at the end of the day he and I would set them up on the floor of the sanctuary, where we recorded during the day, and there we would sleep. We would wake up the next morning with the anticipation of not knowing what the new day would bring. Over the course of eight days, we recorded one hundred and two A cappella spirituals.