Tempermill – Sounding Good

Story By Jack D. Arlan
Photos By Bernie Lamframbiose

“I wanted to make better records”, says Dave Feeny about his moving a recording studio from his parents’ basement to a onetime chiropractor’s building on Hilton Road just off Nine Mile.

There has been progress and many changes since that move in the 1980s, when he was still a teenager cutting his teeth in the business by recording punk rock bands.

Feeny, the founder of Tempermill, has recorded a host of musicians and bands, including Kid Rock and Jack White. He is an accomplished musician himself, well-known for playing the pedal steel
(think guitar, absent the body, horizontal like a xylophone on a stand with sixteen strings instead of wooden bars, the use of a steel slide and the ability to bend strings with not only the knee, but also foot pedals). He played on every cut of Loretta Lynn’s 2005 Grammy Award-winning country album, Van Lear Rose. Additionally, Dave has his own record label, Gangplank Records.

Dave had an ace in the hole when launching Tempermill. It was a deal involving legendary local band the Junk Monkeys and a Warner Bros division; that was a big deal then – and largely unavailable now with the rise of the internet, streaming music and smart phones — because label backing meant the funding of a recording budget.

Feeny maxed out his credit cards, while beginning with two things. First, he bought a twenty-four track analog tape recorder; Tempermill is one of the few studios that can still produce vinyl for those with “old school” or romantic reasons. He also specifically designed the place to create records, literally constructing rooms and small buildings within the existing rooms and structure. The composition of floors, walls and ceilings for the various studios and isolation booths were particularly provided with differing acoustic diffusion and absorption materials.

As to Tempermill’s large studio, one of the largest rooms in Michigan according to Feeny, it was designed with specific acoustic principles in mind. He says, “It’s very open sounding without being echo-ey (like a church or gymnasium), no parallel walls and a blend of diffused hard and absorbent surfaces.” There are relatively few commercial studios left that can accommodate a seven- or eight-piece band. Earlier this year, two bands touring nationally and worldwide spent a few weeks each recording in the large studio; one was Crime & the City Solution, an eight member Australian alternative rock band; the other was the seven-piece Celtic punk band, Flogging Molly.

Many commercial studios and record labels have bit the dust since Pro Tools (a digital audio
workstation) became a “must-have” for home studios over the last few decades. Take a look at Dave Grohl’s (drummer with Nirvana) 2013 documentary about the rise and demise of the legendary Sound City Studios (recording Fleetwood Mac, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Tom Petty to name a few artists) in Los Angeles. Tempermill continues on, adjusting with the times; it’s one of a handful of studios in Ferndale that have become the hub of the metro-Detroit recording industry.

One irony, “There’s now a little recording studio on almost every block in Ferndale. With analog, it used to be that $100 thousand or more was necessary to record. Now for a few grand you can do something in your home that’s at least decent,” says Feeny.

“The Detroit area has many, many world-class musicians,” says Dave, “I love great players coming in, jazz, country, rock or whatever, and me being an audience. Still, most groups here now are self-produced and funded; before, records made money, and a group could get a bump with DJs and the radio, which was at least a filtering system. Now, if someone knew how to market new talent they would be doing it. The main thing Tempermill has to offer is experience, and the ability to create a fantastic recording technically.”

Dave can put on his producer hat and walk an artist through the whole process from material to sound; depending upon what’s envisioned this could involve; for example, bringing in a session drummer. From a recording point of view he wants to get “your sound” right and provide expertise and a myriad of alternatives including that of equipment (take a look at the Tempermill website for available amps, mics, dynamics, effects, etc.).

“Typically, all the work here is obtained through word-of-mouth,” says Dave. He brings insight and contacts to the table; knowing stars, session players and DJs helps with not only what’s done now, but also with what’s next. He regularly records for radio; a couple of months ago he recorded an interview and sounds for airing on Rob Reinhart’s Essential Music segment with WDET radio; the artist was Kenny Wayne Sheppard, a blues guitarist performing to a sold-out Royal Oak Music Theater. Additionally at the Tempermill studios Mr. Feeny hosts a Basic Music Production class for DIME (Detroit Institute of Music Education), elaborating on what’s involved in various musical genres and the set-up and engineering involved. The digital world allows Tempermill to get stuff from all over the country and world. “Send me something, and I can add value,” says Dave.

“Meanwhile, today I’m recording an acoustic duo, tomorrow a jazz combo.” Here in Ferndale, where Dave also resides, one can arrange a tour or book the real deal studio time.

Visit the Tempermill at www.tempermill.com, or contact Dave Feeny via email, info@tempermill.com or dave@tempermill.com, or phone 248-399-0550.

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