Behind the Burnt Dog: LSD and the Search for God
It’s 9 a.m. on a Saturday as I walk into the KCPR station. I’m greeted by all of the random things people left around during the week and the cable boxes, microphones and mixing console which production director Evan Cork graciously hauled up yesterday to make today easier.
San Francisco shoegaze band LSD and the Search for God is coming in at 11:30 a.m. for their Burnt Dog Session, KCPR’s intimate in-studio recordings of live performances. My friend Kathleen and I, the resident audio engineers, have been tasked with recording them.
I’m nervous. I spent late middle school and early high school zoning out to their ethereal sound, and now I want to do them justice. The stakes feel high because I love this band.
Without further ado, we begin to set up.
While Maya, Cobalt and Evan are taping up blackout curtains to make our artificial light visible, I work with Kathleen and Ana to place microphones and route cables. The setup feels automatic, and each time I come back to self-conscious awareness I’m shocked at how much we’re getting done.
We test the microphones. All good, except one of them seems to be incessantly hissing. Is it the microphone or the cable? We replace the cable, and the hiss is gone.
KCPR photo and video director Bailee is almost done setting up the special colored light we rented for today. Cobalt downloads an app on his phone, and makes the light flash to the beat of a Chief Keef song.
Set up is done and now it’s waiting time. As I snack on last night’s pasta bolognese, I am overcome by excitement and fear in indistinguishable yet equal parts. Evan’s phone rings, and a swarm of people leave the room to help the band carry equipment from their sprinter van.
As I chat with the band: Scarlett, Chris, Andy and Mikey, my nervous anticipation is replaced with calm. Dillan takes the lead on lifting a table to create a makeshift isolation booth for the bass cabinet, and Kathleen begins to work on individualizing the band’s monitor mixes, so each member can hear themselves through the noise.
Guitarist and vocalist Andy sets up his elaborate pedalboard, which surrounds him on three sides with well over two-dozen effects — pedals and rack units, each one enabling a greater infinity of sonic possibilities. Kathleen and I go back and forth with the band during three short sound checks, making sure they’re comfortable and that the recording can go without a hitch.
“Burnt Dog Sessions presents LSD and the Search for God, take one,” Evan says.
They begin playing, and I’m so grateful to be alive.
