Thomas Brenneck

Used on Charles Bradley's No Time for Dreaming (as mentioned by Brenneck in this March 15, 2011 Electronic Musician interview) and with The Budos Band, as is visible in this Dec 13, 2011 documentary by Daptone Records. A photo of Brenneck with the guitar can also be seen in this Reverb.com feature about Daptone's House of Soul at 3:00.

“Some of these tracks have the crunchiest organ and Rhodes sounds,” Brenneck explains, “because they were getting bounced with the guitar [a ’66 Harmony H74 through a ’68 Ampeg Gemini amp], and of course every time you bounce, you get another generation of tape compression. You don’t really need outboard gear when you do that, and you can end up with some really tough-sounding shit. Then you’ve got Bradley and the horn players just pinning the needles with tape distortion; there’s no way I’m gonna record it again if what they just did is magic. It’s all about commitment and hard work beforehand, and I think the sound just comes naturally as a result of that.”

Featured in this August 27, 2013 Instagram post.

The in-house G-12 at Daptone's House of Soul was used for Charles Bradley's No Time for Dreaming, as mentioned by Brenneck in this March 15, 2011 Electronic Musician interview.

“Some of these tracks have the crunchiest organ and Rhodes sounds,” Brenneck explains, “because they were getting bounced with the guitar [a ’66 Harmony H74 through a ’68 Ampeg Gemini amp], and of course every time you bounce, you get another generation of tape compression. You don’t really need outboard gear when you do that, and you can end up with some really tough-sounding shit. Then you’ve got Bradley and the horn players just pinning the needles with tape distortion; there’s no way I’m gonna record it again if what they just did is magic. It’s all about commitment and hard work beforehand, and I think the sound just comes naturally as a result of that.”

The specification of a G-12 is made in this November 1, 2007 Electronic Musician article by Daptone founder Gabriel Roth (a.k.a Bosco Mann), who describes how he acquired it.

Ampeg Gemini G-12 guitar amp: “About 10 years ago, I was walking down the street on my way to the studio,” Roth says, “and as I passed a building that was being demolished, I felt a bang against my leg. They were gutting the building and one guy was throwing all the garbage out the door over the sidewalk to another guy on the street who was tossing it into a dumpster. That Gemini is what hit me in the leg on its way to the dumpster. How's that for fate? Didn't even need to repair it.”

Used for practically everything on Charles Bradley's No Time For Dreaming and Menahan Street Band's Make the Road by Walking, as mentioned by producer Thomas Brenneck in this October 11, 2016 Electronic Musician article.

“When I first started making records, all I had was a Shure 565—an older version of the SM57. I made two records using only that microphone: Charles Bradley’s first record, No Time for Dreaming, and Menahan Street Band’s first record, Make the Road by Walking. I had literally bought these microphones really cheap on tour, and went home and made those records on an 8-track in my apartment. And then I mixed them at Daptone [Studios]. People like Mark Ronson would ask me, ‘Man, how did you get those drum sounds?’ I was like, ‘Well... [Laughs] one mic and a half-inch 8-track.’ With the limited gear that we had, we couldn’t do anything fancy. So it was really about capturing a great performance.”

Featured in this July 20, 2012 Instagram post.

63' super jag! Thanks @kishalady

Used with The Budos Band, as featured in this September 18, 2012 Instagram post.

Setting up for a Budos recording session.

Used with The Budos Band, as featured in this December 7, 2013 Instagram post.

Return of #thebudosband

Used on Charles Bradley's No Time for Dreaming, as mentioned in this March 15, 2011 Electronic Musician article.

High-octane performances are at the heart of Bradley’s long-overdue debut album, No Time For Dreaming (Dunham, 2011). Started in 2005 in Brenneck’s former bedroom studio, the album is a reverent throwback to the days of Muscle Shoals, Stax, and Studio One, when entire bands would cram into a room with just a couple of microphones—in this case, Brenneck’s own six-piece Menahan Street Band, with only a Shure SM54 and an SM57 going into a TASCAM 12-channel mixer—and lay down a barrage of rhythm tracks that were bounced, squeezed, and compressed to make room on the tape for the wailing lead and background vocals.

”While the aforementioned technique was used on about a fourth of LP's tracks, one element Brenneck kept consistent was recording in analog. With songs like the dub-leaning “Montego Sunset,” you can hear the raw, lo-fi resonance that he was shooting for by recording straight to an Otari MX-5050 ½-inch 8-track without any compressors.”

Visible in this photo of Brenneck.

Used on Charles Bradley's Changes, as mentioned in this April 7, 2016 Mix Online article.

“I use an Electro-Voice 664 on my guitar, and an EV RE15 on Leslie, the same mic I use for Charles’ vocals on the whole record,” says Brenneck.

Mentioned in this October 11, 2016 Electronic Musician article.

Brenneck takes a “less is more” approach when it comes to miking. Interestingly, his retro-sounding productions get their sound, in part, through the almost exclusive use of dynamic and ribbon mics, rather than condensers. “We use a lot of Electro-Voice RE15s and RE16s,” he says. “We also have an Electro-Voice 636. If we were cutting a large rhythm section, we got to this point where we would use the ribbons on the drums, use the same ribbon to overdub the horns, and everything else that’s live, just mike it up with similar-sounding dynamic mics.

Mentioned in this October 11, 2016 Electronic Musician article.

Brenneck takes a “less is more” approach when it comes to miking. Interestingly, his retro-sounding productions get their sound, in part, through the almost exclusive use of dynamic and ribbon mics, rather than condensers. “We use a lot of Electro-Voice RE15s and RE16s,” he says. “We also have an Electro-Voice 636. If we were cutting a large rhythm section, we got to this point where we would use the ribbons on the drums, use the same ribbon to overdub the horns, and everything else that’s live, just mike it up with similar-sounding dynamic mics.

Used with The Budos Band, as featured in this August 10, 2012 Instagram post.

dunhamrecords More toys for psychedelic music

budosband Next Budos record just got a lot cooler

Used with The Budos Band, as featured in this September 18, 2012 Instagram post.

Setting up for a Budos recording session.

Used with The Budos Band, as featured in this September 10, 2013 Instagram post.

Featured in this June 8, 2013 Instagram post. This September 10, 2013 Instagram post shows that it was used with The Budos Band.

the original fuzz tone @rico_reese @homer808 @budosbat

Used on Charles Bradley's Changes, as mentioned in this April 7, 2016 Mix Online article.

“I use an Electro-Voice 664 on my guitar, and an EV RE15 on Leslie, the same mic I use for Charles’ vocals on the whole record,” says Brenneck.

Mentioned in this October 11, 2016 Electronic Musician article.

These days he uses three mics on the drums, which, most people would still think of as a pretty minimalist setup. “We usually have an RCA 77DX or an Altec 639 pretty far overhead,” he says. “About three feet or so above the kit, kind of going for a Motown type of sound. And then a kick and a snare mic. We have a small ribbon mic that we put on the kick. It’s an Altec, like the little brother to the 639B, the 671B. We call it the “Mini Bird Cage.” We don’t put it right in front of the kick, but we’ll put it in that spot off to the side of the kick where you might get a little from the bottom of the snare drum and an indirect kick drum sound. Then also an overhead, and a mic pretty much on the snare drum—on top, to blend in, kind of facing away from the hi-hat, just facing the snare, and trying to only get the crack from the snare. And the cymbals and tom toms are kind of in focus because of the overhead, and we have control over the kick and snare.”

It was used on Charles Bradley's Changes, as mentioned in this April 7, 2016 Mix Online article.

Brenneck captured drums with two Altec birdcage mics: a 639a overhead and a 671 ribbon on the kick. “Very little EQ, very little compression, and then I’d just check the phase and sum them to one track,” he says.

It was also used for Brenneck's guitar with The Budos Band, as featured in this September 18, 2012 Instagram post.

Setting up for a Budos recording session.

Mentioned in this October 11, 2016 Electronic Musician article.

These days he uses three mics on the drums, which, most people would still think of as a pretty minimalist setup. “We usually have an RCA 77DX or an Altec 639 pretty far overhead,” he says. “About three feet or so above the kit, kind of going for a Motown type of sound. And then a kick and a snare mic. We have a small ribbon mic that we put on the kick. It’s an Altec, like the little brother to the 639B, the 671B. We call it the “Mini Bird Cage.” We don’t put it right in front of the kick, but we’ll put it in that spot off to the side of the kick where you might get a little from the bottom of the snare drum and an indirect kick drum sound. Then also an overhead, and a mic pretty much on the snare drum—on top, to blend in, kind of facing away from the hi-hat, just facing the snare, and trying to only get the crack from the snare. And the cymbals and tom toms are kind of in focus because of the overhead, and we have control over the kick and snare.”

Mentioned in this October 11, 2016 Electronic Musician article.

These days he uses three mics on the drums, which, most people would still think of as a pretty minimalist setup. “We usually have an RCA 77DX or an Altec 639 pretty far overhead,” he says. “About three feet or so above the kit, kind of going for a Motown type of sound. And then a kick and a snare mic. We have a small ribbon mic that we put on the kick. It’s an Altec, like the little brother to the 639B, the 671B. We call it the “Mini Bird Cage.” We don’t put it right in front of the kick, but we’ll put it in that spot off to the side of the kick where you might get a little from the bottom of the snare drum and an indirect kick drum sound. Then also an overhead, and a mic pretty much on the snare drum—on top, to blend in, kind of facing away from the hi-hat, just facing the snare, and trying to only get the crack from the snare. And the cymbals and tom toms are kind of in focus because of the overhead, and we have control over the kick and snare.”

It was used on Charles Bradley's Changes, as mentioned in this April 7, 2016 Mix Online article.

Brenneck captured drums with two Altec birdcage mics: a 639a overhead and a 671 ribbon on the kick. “Very little EQ, very little compression, and then I’d just check the phase and sum them to one track,” he says.

Used on Charles Bradley's No Time for Dreaming, as mentioned in this March 15, 2011 Electronic Musician article.

High-octane performances are at the heart of Bradley’s long-overdue debut album, No Time For Dreaming (Dunham, 2011). Started in 2005 in Brenneck’s former bedroom studio, the album is a reverent throwback to the days of Muscle Shoals, Stax, and Studio One, when entire bands would cram into a room with just a couple of microphones—in this case, Brenneck’s own six-piece Menahan Street Band, with only a Shure SM54 and an SM57 going into a TASCAM 12-channel mixer—and lay down a barrage of rhythm tracks that were bounced, squeezed, and compressed to make room on the tape for the wailing lead and background vocals.

Used with The Budos Band, as featured in this September 18, 2012 Instagram post.

Setting up for a Budos recording session.

Used with The Budos Band, as featured in this September 10, 2013 Instagram post.

Mentioned and visible in this January 26, 2021 Instagram post.

It was nothing short of magic recording what would become Charles Bradley’s debut album No Time For Dreaming in a bedroom on 250 Menahan street many years ago. It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years since it’s release. I had set up a humble recording situation consisting of a 1/2” 8 track tape machine and an sm58. For years in between tours with Sharon, Budos, El Michels, Lee, Amy, etc I would record as much music as possible at the crib. At some point I invited Charles over and played him what would become Menahan Street Bands debut Make The Road By Walking. He loved the music which meant the world to me and instantly asked if he could sing on it.

True story: The first time he came to that apartment i played him the instrumental of The World Going Up In Flames. He immediately asked for a mic and started singing. Within the hour we recorded the vocals to it. After that he would come back once or twice a month to share stories of his life which we would turn into songs.

2023 KEXP performance, Orpheum branded Thin Twin.