Q Division Studios

Making great sounding records in comfort and style in Boston's best recording studio

Clients

Le Couteau – Now You’re Nowhere

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Last summer we had Le Couteau in for a two-day lockout session in Studio A. At first the goal was just to capture their sound and release it as close to live as possible. But after hearing everything, the band decided to take their time with the process and we are glad they did. Save for a few hours of guitar overdubs in Studio B, the band tracked their whole record in those first two days. Driven primarily by frontman/guitarist, Jean-Francois Blain, the band blends their various influences to make something familiar to shoegaze fans but unique to each of the players in the band. Phil Murray sang backup and played bass, and Faris Albayya played drums.

Q Engineer Terrance Reeves co-produced and recorded. The album was mixed by local friend, Dereck Blackburn (of Quiethouse Recordings).

Count Zero – Live at Q Division

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We were incredibly happy to host local icons Count Zero a couple of months ago for a very ambitious project. They wanted to perform their new record “thought so,” AND a bunch of older songs, live with and without an audience, while we multi tracked the show AND filmed with multiple cameras.

This session would require the highest possible quality of recording (including isolation), careful lighting, and multiple cameras and angles, alongside live sound reinforcement for the audience, and in ear monitoring for the band. We spent quite a bit of time getting to know the material and plotting the set up – and working through all the possible technical pitfalls we’d run into. The band booked two days – one entire day was dedicated to set up, then to recording/performing the set once with out an audience. On the second day we ran through the set at least one more time – with costume changes, and then the audience rolled in and they performed the set a final time (two sets, to be exact). We were able to capture a full multi track of the performance, mix the show live for the in house audience, and capture as many as 7-9 cameras of the performance (oh, and we also ran a secret livestream out to close friends and family of the band:).

Chuck Hargreaves engineered the recording, Izaak Biewald assisted and mixed the live sound, Rafi Sofer oversaw the entire production and took care of lights and cameras, with additional help provided by Q interns Kieh Blevins and Lydia Hazzard-Lael.
Peter Moore and Will Ragano (of the band) mixes and edited the resulting videos – check out this one for their song SOUTH.

Check out With A Feather – featuring keyboardist Jude Heichelbech on lead vocals

And here’s Big Wig, featuring Will Ragano on lead vocals (Will also edited all these videos):

And… Tail Bites Dog:

And their hit, Radium Eyes:

And one more…

Bob Bradshaw – Live in Boston

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A few months ago Bob Bradshaw brought his band of killer players to Studio A, alongside a very talented video crew, and proceeded to record a live album in a single day!

Mike, John, Steven, Andrew, Peat, Bob, James, Rafi, Andy, Frank, Mark.

The band, which plays regularly with Bradshaw in haunts as near as the Lizard Lounge and as far as Tipperary, Ireland, is a finely tuned band. Featuring (the Amazing) Mike Connors on drums, Andrew Stern on guitar, John Sheeran on bass, and special guests James Rohr on piano and Andy Santospago on pedal steel and guitar, this crew pulled no punches during an incredibly long day. They recorded upward of 12 songs! The video crew, helmed by Mark Steele captured multiple cameras with fantastic lighting, and the resulting album will be released soon – the videos have been trickling out in anticipation of this release. Rafi Sofer recorded the band, and Dave Westner mixed it (not at Q:).

Check out this video of the song Albuquerque.

Abbie Barrett’s Freedumb

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With just days until the 2024 presidential election, “Freedumb” — the new single and video from Massachusetts-based songwriter Abbie Barrett and her band — is just about as on point as it gets.

Tracked at Q Division, produced by Ed Valauskas, and recorded, mixed, and mastered by Pat DiCenso; “Freedumb” captures the chaos of January 6, 2021, when a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the election. The song and its video (Fuel Heart Productions) serve as a chilling reminder of that infamous day and what’s at stake on November 5th.

While Barrett wrote the lyrics alone, she and her bandmates co-wrote the music. They are: Mike Oram (guitar), Rice Edmonston (drums), and Ed Valauskas (bass). Guest musicians include Dana Colley (Morphine, Vapors of Morphine) on saxophone and 13-year-old Auggie Valauskas on upright bass.

Barrett didn’t set out to write a song about the January 6 insurrection, nor did she intend to make a political statement. But as the music came together, the lyrics started revealing themselves. Like many who watched that day’s events unfold, she felt deeply angry about the hypocrisy of it all.

“I don’t really consider this song all that political. If you support democracy, then you support the election process, which includes the peaceful transfer of power,” says Barrett. “Calling out the people — including the former president — who stoked the fires that led to such a violent and un-American event shouldn’t be considered controversial.”

A portion of the song’s proceeds will go to the League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan, grassroots organization that defends democracy through advocacy, education, and litigation at the local, state, and national levels. Visit abbiebarrett.com to listen and contribute.

Big Richard – Town Line

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Ours (and everyone in Boston’s) friend Hazel Royer joined the Colorado based bluegrass band Big Richard a while back. While they do most of their recordings in Colorado, Hazel does drop in at Q on occasion to cut a vocal or bass part.

Their new album is called Girl Dinner, and the vocals for the first single, Town Line, was recorded in Studio B by Rafi.