PLAY GROUND
The journey begins at the end of a very cold January at a well known studio locked in between two one way streets in the middle of down town Champaign. We approach our destination on foot towards the great corner brick building. A large wind-torn awning and huge blinded windows adorn the face of the structure. We walk down the side and enter through the "BIG RED DOOR." ThisThis is POGO Studio. This is also where we are greeted by the genius producer/engineer, Mark Rubel. For those of you hip on the music scene, The Mark-Man has recorded and produced and worked for THOUSANDS of artists including, Allison Krauss, Adrian Belew, Star Castle, Shiner, ODM, and so many other bad-ass musicians that it would take days to name them off. We are very blessed to have had the opportunity to work with him. We get inside and there is a certain SMELL to this place. Its the smell of vintage amplifiers, hardwood walls, racks upon racks of humming outboard processing gear and tons of electricity. This is the smell of where records are born. This is the smell of inspiration (except for where the bathroom was located, cause this is where Colin spent most of his time during the recording.) We pass into the "Live Room" where its slanted and towering walls meet with cathedral ceilings, this where all of the combined inspiration comes to life and is where we begin setting up for the first tracks to PLAYGROUND. After we finish setting up, we walk down a small corridor into the control room and peer out the viewing window located just above the vintage FANTASY mixing console which was actually hand built and used to record many Credence Clearwater Revival songs. AMAZING! As Mark is manning this "spaceship" of knobs and faders and lights and compressors, he pauses and turns to us and softly says "Are you ready to lay down the first tracks to this record?" And after that single moment, AMBIENT GREEN started capturing and creating history in a way that few people truly do. And after that single moment AMBIENT GREEN pooled all resource and influence and spent 21 days, and MASSIVE amounts of patience & listening, candles, incense, nicotine, alcohol, Jimmy Johns, pizza, caffeine provided by the local Coffee Shop, and not to mention many sleepless weekends and tireless hours of painstaking work. Many hardships were endured in creating this album. And yet, as I am writing this, the day after our final session, I am truly sad that it is over. It is in fact an unforgettable experience. I write now to those of you who may be in a band that writes their own material and may have walked into a studio, and spent these kinds of hours or more with your band members, and have worked with amazing engineers and producers and saw your music stand up and speak to you in a timbre never heard before. Bonds are formed between you and your band members that draw you as close to brotherhood as birth and the real artistry exudes from that singular entity, your band. For us, our play ground was this album and is this band -
Gary Robinson and AMBIENT GREEN.