Positive Mental Trip

Luke Weiler of Positive Mental Trip has used the Sterling ST77 microphone in the studio(on all demos toured with 2008-2010) and on many songs on the 2017 PMT album, “the black and white album”. I prefer it to the sound of the Blue Baby Bottle if we are picking just one mic but I often blend them both together as I like the character of a few different mics on vocal tracks for some song. When tracking Chris Bonnano’s saxaphone on “the black and white album” in 2017 we used both mics at once on his saxaphone. It was also one of many mics used on Richard Goddeau’s 13 piece pearl master series drum set we mic’d for the almost 12 minute version of Circles that ended the 2017 album. Richard was an original member of PMT back in the day and had played Circles with us a lot so it was cool to reconnect with him musically and have him as a special guest on that track.

Luke Weiler of Positive Mental Trip used the EV co9 vocal microphone live on and off (2010-2019) and surprisingly used it a lot blended with the blue baby bottle and Sterling ST 77 on the 2nd PMT studio album in 2017. “Yeah i took the cobalt dirty through the digitech RP 300 vocal processor on a lot of those songs. I blended the dirty Cobalt vocal tracks with clean condensor mic tracks and when I liked the results those tracks made the album.”

Luke Weiler of Positive Mental Trip sang through a Telefunken Ela M 251 E Large Diaphragm Tube Microphone during the “Change Your Mind” Recording sessions in 2011. “Change Your Mind” was released in 2012. 5 songs on “Change Your Mind” we’re recorded/tracked at applehead recording studios where Luke sang “Smile”, “Change Your Mind”, “Paradox”, “Good Times”, and “Break of Dawn”. Luke also might have sang through a Telefunken M 16 on some of these songs. It is unclear which mics were used on which songs we only know for sure the ELA M 251 E and the M 16 were used. 26 seconds into this homemade video of “No Escape” (a PMT song which still has not made it on an album) you see Luke Weiler of Positive Mental Trip singing through what appears to be a Telefunken ELA M 251 E. This is definitely the best microphone (arguably) Luke ever tracked/recorded vocals on a Positive Mental Trip album with. Telefunken microphones are legendary for being some of the best mics in the world in the best studios in the world.

Luke Weiler of Positive Mental Trip has been using the Shure SM 7 B in the studio since 2011. The Shure SM7B into a Great River preamp was the vocal sounds for songs on “change your mind”(2012) like “Hoping For The best” and “Back up again”. The Shure SM 7B will be used as one of the many mics on many tracks on PMT’s 3 rd Studio album. (“Love Never Dies) 2019

Luke Weiler of Positive Mental Trip is known to use a Beta 58 A on live vocals sometimes. Since 2006 Luke has been seen singing through a beta 58 A Live. Although not a popular studio microphone when blending 5 or 6 microphones together or layering different microphones on top of each other Luke has used the beta 58A on studio recordings. It is said the Shure Beta 58A was used tracking vocals on the Positive Mental Trip song “John The Baptist” from the 2017 PMT album. (“The Black And White Album”)

Luke Weiler was known to use a Shure SM 57A live for vocals in late 2005 into early 2006. In early 2006 he let Laura (PMT flute player at the time) use the Beta 57A and Luke started using an SM 58 or Beta 58A live. He ended up giving the mic to Laura and was not seen with a Beta 57 A until recently when using a 5-7 mic recording rig in the studio. You can hear the Beta 57 A blended in with other condensor and dynamic mics on the “downtown funky stuff Malone V5” demo on bandcamp. “I love the sound of dynamic mics and Condensor mics used together in the studio and live. I could def see myself with a Beta 87A, and a Beta 57 or 58A as a 2 mic live vocal rig for future shows.”- PMT Luke

Luke Weiler of Positive Mental Trip is known to use the Shure Beta 87A as well as the Blue Baby Bottle on vocals when recording at Loud and Conscious Studios in Woodstock NY. “I was really blown away by the Shure Beta 87A being such a high quality condensor that you could use live but also if the producer knows how to EQ the mic it can actually be a solid studio sound as well. To me sometimes in the studio it feels good to hold a mic and sing into it rather than having to sing into a pop filter held on a stand with a shockmount and all. I was blown away by the Beta 87A sounding as good as mics you can’t hold in your hand and that cost 2 to 3 times as much and can’t be used live.”

Like Weiler of Positive Mental Trip has used the Electro Voice ND 76 live on vocals on and off from 2011-2019. “The ND76 is a microphone that not all sound guys can dial in proper to my liking. If I feel like the sound guy can’t get the ND 76 sounding how I love it live, I’ll take out an SM57 or the EV cobalt which are mics every sound man has dialed in 1000 times. I prefer the ND76 but it doesn’t always work live. I’ve used it on a few of the tracks blended in with condensors on the new Album. I love the Mic so it’s hard to not try to use it, even though it is a mic most producers and vocalists would not dare to use in the studio.”

Luke Weiler of Positive Mental Trip has been known to use the Blue Baby Bottle Condensor Mic on vocals, acoustic guitar, and saxophone. The Blue Baby Bottle was used on 3 vocal tracks on “Change Your Mind” (2012) and was used and blended with the Sterling ST77 and dynamic cardioid mics on almost all vocal tracks on “the black and white album”.

Luke Weiler of Positive Mental Trip has often used a Shure SM 58 live on vocals.

The CAD Trion 7000 ribbon Microphone was used by Luke Weiler of Positive Mental Trip along with the CAD D189 to mic the 1/2 stack (crate blue Voodoo head into a Marshall cabinet) for all electric guitar parts on “Pure”. The 2 CAD mics were sold for some time by CAD as the “Joe Satriani Amp Mic Kit”. Luke planned to use this mic kit live and in the studio. However the CAD Trion 7000 was used more blended with the Sterling ST77 for studio vocal tracks. The CAD D189 became luke’s Choice for live vocals during the PMT touring 2008-2009 era. It is said the CAD TRION 7000 although not used on “the black and white album”(2017), will appear as one of the mics blended on vocals and will also combine with a Shure Beta 57 A to record amp sounds this year. Positive Mental Trip has been slowly but surely tracking for the “Love Never Dies”(studio album, there were a few demos with the album title circa 2007-2010) since 2018 and continues tracking in 2019. The album is said to be finished and released in 2019.

Luke Weiler of Positive Mental Trip used the CAD D 189 along with the CAD Trion 7000 ribbon mic to capture electric guitar sounds. Luke wanted to use these on amps live but ended up not getting the chance to. instead he used the D 189 on live vocals 2008-2009. The CAD Trion 7000 (also part of the Joe satriani Mic Kit luke purchased) was blended and used on studio vocals 2008-2013. It is said both CAD mics will be used to track amp sounds on the “Love Never Dies” album in 2019. Luke will be using both mics to capture electric guitar sounds coming through his VOX AC 15 w celestion greenback speaker.

An AKG C 414 XLS condenser mic was used to capture the sound of Luke’s Gibson custom J 185 rosewood cutaway acoustic guitar.... during recording sessions at applehead in Woodstock/saugerties NY. Songs off the 2012 “Smile”, “Change Your Mind”, “Break of Dawn”, “Good Times”, and “Paradox” are either all acoustic clean or have a clean acoustic blended in. The 1 st track on the PMT 2012 album “Change Your Mind”...”Brand New Day” was recorded at Blue Sky Recording Studios in Delmar, NY. The AKG C414 condenser mic was used on that track for all rythm and lead acoustic parts played on the Gibson as well.

A Shure SM 57 was used on Richard Goddeau’s snare drum to capture the sound of his Pearl Custom Masters Series set on “Circles”. Richard Goddeau only appears on 1 song on “the black and white album”(2017). However an SM 57 was also used on his snare drum on “Back Up Again” and “Brand New Day” tracks 1 and 7 on Positive Mental Trip’s 1st professional studio album “Change Your Mind”(2012)

An AKG C 451 Microphone was 1 of the amazing arsenal of microphones that were used to capture drum sounds on 5 songs on “Change Your Mind”. The Positive Mental Trip recording sessions at applehead captured all drum sounds on “smile”(Reggae), “Change Your Mind”, “Paradox”, “Good Times”, and “Break of Dawn”. These particular 5 songs recorded at Applehead are still to this day the best sounding drums recorded on any Positive Mental Trip album. On the title track “Change Your Mind” alone there are 200 tracks if one opens up the session files on that song to take a listen and an arsenal of drum mics were used. (Snare bottom and top, rack, ride, overheads etc etc.) “I’m happy with a lot of the drum sounds we have on Positive Mental Trip albums. Especcially considering we have recorded on very little budget for many many years. Those 5 songs at applehead on “Change Your Mind” definitely are the best drum sounds that will ever be on a Positive Mental Trip album. They sound amazing.” PMT Luke

Positive Mental Trip has used the Electro-Voice RE 20 dynamic mic on vocals and bass drum tracks.