A Bleeding Deacon’s Sonic Adventures
Indie artists and singer/songwriters of all genres have relied on Daniell Holcomb’s expertise as a producer, engineer for over 20 years because, as frontman and guitarist of hard rockers Bleeding Deacons, he’s truly one of them. When he’s not rockin’ the clubs, cruising in a ’79 Cadillac DeVille hearse with his bandmates or writing comedic tunes for Howard Stern or “The Frosty, Heidi and Frank” show on KLOS, he’s at the boards, helping take artists to the next level.
“In addition to working with indie bands,” Holcomb says, “I have helped develop and produce material for many vocalists who come with great songs in their head, but don’t play an instrument. I’m kind of an all-in-one package so they don’t need to bring in outside engineers and producers.” Named after The Buggles’ 1981 album (follow-up to the one featuring “Video Killed the Radio Star”), Holcomb’s Adventures in Modern Recording was a popular indie institution on the West Side of Los Angeles for 20 years until a recent move to the Valley.
Continuing Adventures in West Hills
This past spring, Holcomb opened his dynamic, state of the art new studio space in West Hills after spending $100,000 in gutting three bedrooms of his house. Besides dynamic sounding control and iso rooms, one of the funkier selling points is that all the doors and glass come from the famed Rumbo Recorders, where the likes of Tom Petty, Celine Dion, Paula Abdul and KISS did sessions and Guns N’ Roses tracked Appetite for Destruction.
“I told a guitar player who did a session here that for all we know, Axl Rose might have thrown up on one of these doors,” Holcomb laughs. His trademark phrase “Let’s Have an Adventure” is driven not only by his hands-on approach but state of the art equipment like a Pro Tools HDX card system, Pro Tools HD 2018, a Raven Core Station, high-end conversion gear (including Apogee Rosetta 800), and vintage mics, amps, drums and guitars.
Live Recording
Holcomb is also adept at remote live recording. In addition to doing regular live sound engineering at the Venice Beach Bar on the Venice boardwalk and subbing often for the regular engineer at Sagebrush Cantina in Calabasas, he has used his mobile Pro Tools rig to do multi-track recording of artists and bands in live performance various settings. He then takes those tracks back into his studio for overdubs and “sweetening.”
“Everything I do in helping young musicians achieve their goals is motivated by one thought: What would I tell my 25-year-old self to do?”
Contact Adventures in Modern Recording, 310-709-9645
