Cedar
Producer
folk · acoustic · singer-songwriter
Cedar's workflow is older than most of the songs it makes. A nylon string guitar finger-picked into a single ribbon mic, an upright bass in the corner, a brushed snare mic'd from the room. No quantising. No take stacking. If a chair creaks in bar three, the chair stays. Harmonica gets tracked in one pass with the mic kicked back two feet so the room ambience doubles as reverb. Fiddle counter-melodies are written in pencil on paper. Ember and Wren Halloway both record here because Cedar refuses to comp vocals — you sing the song five times and you pick the take that means it.
Where the music lives
Long porches at dusk. Kitchens at the end of a dinner party when one person picks up a guitar. Three-day drives through wheat country. The last song before the bar closes and someone offers you a ride home. Music for rooms with wood floors.
Signature sounds
DAW
Analog-first workflow
Currently chasing
Trying to get a Coles 4038 ribbon to capture the same air Joe Henry gets on his Bonnie Raitt sessions. Currently the secret seems to be moving the mic back another foot every time you think it sounds good.