Sans Serif Rec. is a Bright Spot of Music Post-2020
THE DOWNTOWN NEW HAVEN STUDIO IS RECORDING A NEW CROP OF LOCAL ARTISTS
Photos by Zoe Jensen
I know we're all sick of pandemic-related articles. Still, it would be amiss not to acknowledge how Sans Serif Rec. has supported the greater New Haven community after the pandemic birthed a lot – a lot – of bands. The downtown New Haven studio ensured people could have their lockdown-written songs reach their recorded glory.
Co-founder Sam Carlson is not new to building studios. His dad was a nationally syndicated comedian-musician who sang parody songs as a Bob Dylan character. Sam would go to the basement, set up mics, and record his dad on a cassette sound system singing "Bathroom on the Right" instead of "Bad Moon on the Rise." Sam continued recording and making music through middle school, high school, and after moving to New Haven in 2008 to go to Southern. He recorded in more DIY fashions, like out of closets and with a home-built rig he would bring to the bands’ practice spaces. He brought the mini mobile recording studio to Killer Kin's practice space in Shelton and used it to record their first EP. "Gradually, there became enough demand for recording sessions that it didn't make sense to keep packing this stuff into a car every time," said Sam. "It made more sense just to rent something."
Sam worked at Cafe Nine as a booking agent and bartender, the Fairfield Theater Company, and recording bands in his free time, which became less of a hobby and into a career. March 2020's reflective moment pushed Sam to record music beyond home studios and toward a more professional one. Sam and his friend Pat Dalton opened up Sans Serif across from Elm City Market to bring up their and the greater music scene's recording game. The studio opening brought lots of demand. "Everyone wound up with this two-year-long writing period, and it shows. When people started to be able to play again, there were 100 new bands - all of them good. The whole landscape changed."
Sam and Pat have likely recorded your favorite local artist, including but not limited to Killer Kin, Ceschi, The Problem with Kids Today, Stout, Big Fang, Mickey Blurr, Angel Loor (also his intern), Nehway, Stadia, and VVEBS. Sam has seen the local music scene ebb and flow through the almost two decades of living in the city and considers the most recent years familiar to when he first moved here. The dedication of DIY, the popular punk sound, and the abundance of local bands fit the 20-year trend cycle. "The sound is reminiscent of what many bands back then were doing. They have a lot of big loud guitars, oo's, and strong melodies."
As the music scene progresses within the new confines of the developing pandemic, Sam wants the studio to stay the same. "We're not expensive, we're not pretentious, we're not keeping anyone out. I want it to stay like that. I want to be something that is an asset to the neighborhood."
Sam encourages people to check out Sans Serif, even if they want to pop in and look around, or get started on the next new New Haven band.
SPEED ROUND
What's your pet peeve with recording?
Constantly putting out little fires.
What is the best thing that someone can do to prepare for recording?
Listen critically to what everyone else in your band is playing. I've seen so many people come in, and they start hearing what the bass line is, and they're like, "Oh, is that what you've been playing the whole time?"
Thoughts on recording on GarageBand?
Oh, I love GarageBand. I use Logic, which is the stepped-up version. It's one of the best things that's happened to music as an art form in the last 50 years because it democratized the recording process. It also makes my job easier because when people come in, they have a solid frame of reference for what is and is not possible in a studio since they've gotten the chance to play with things at home.
What's your favorite piece of equipment in the studio?
I have this huge kind of dildonic microphone. It's over the drums. It's an AEA R88 stereo ribbon microphone. It gets everything that's around it. It sounds great on everything.
Weirdest thing that's happened in the studio?
I was recording JULAI and the Serotones, and the door between the control and live rooms got locked in the middle of a long-haul session. We could not get back into the live room. Fortunately, Will, who plays guitar in that band, picks locks for fun and got us back into the other room.
What's your recording hot take?
It doesn't take expensive equipment to make a good record. The best thing you can get if you're recording at home is 57's. They're dirt cheap, and if you go on Facebook Marketplace, you can probably find one for under $40. That microphone has been in use for so long, and so many records you've heard have used it. So when you listen to it, it sounds so familiar. If you hear a guitar cabinet recorded with it or a snare drum, your ears are like, Oh, yeah, that's what a snare drum sounds like.
What's your favorite recording studio besides yours?
Ashlawn is a top contender. That's Charlie Dahlke, who's in the Brazen Youth. My studio partner, Pat, just went on tour with Brazen Youth as their touring sound engineer. But they do great work, and they're similar in how we're unpretentious. And they knock it out of the park every time.
I've also had a lot of really good experiences at Tarquin in Bridgeport. That's with Peter Katis and Greg Giorgio. Greg has become my go-to guy. If I have an industry or gear question, despite working at a very famous recording studio, Greg is delightfully unpretentious. And he would agree with my love of the 57's.
