New KANSAS album, The Abscence of Presence, recorded using Fractal Axe-Fx 3

viggy58

Member
Kansas released their newest album, The Absence of Presence, Friday. One guitar (Richard Williams), and the Violin (David Ragsdale) were recorded through an axefx3. the other guitar (Zak Rizvi) was an ax8. I was in the studio everyday, when this was recorded last summer/fall, and incredibly proud to have been a part of this album. I did all of the fractal programming for the guitars and violin. 100% fractal. Not a single mic was used on any of these parts! This band has been around for over 45 years, and they aren't quitting anytime soon. They are an amazing group of people to work for!!!

Working in the studio was amazing. We had an Axefx3 sitting on the desk, in the mix room. We used the SPDIF `in/out straight in to a Protools rig. Rich recorded all of his parts standing / sitting right next to the mix console, listening and playing along to the rest of the tracks. Using the Axefx3 exclusively made it soooo much easier to dial in specific sounds, on the fly, as well as made it easier to communicate between engineer, producer, tech, and musician. He could play a part, we could discuss it, play it back, and decide if we were ready to move on, or do it again.

For the first time ever, instead of putting David Ragsdale (violin player) in an ISO room with a handful of different mics, he sat in the mix room, with his music stand and sheet music, and played live, straight into the Axefx3. Being in the mix room, instead of alone in an ISO booth took a ton of pressure off for him. It was easier for him to say, "I screwed up, do it again." It also made him more comfortable being there with all of us.

The last time we were in the studio, we used the Fractal, but there was also a lot of random amps, and ISO booths (mostly violin) used. This time around, we kept everything as close to our touring setup as possible. We even brought in our 18 inch drum riser, and used all of the drum mics we use out on the road! These studio sessions, were incredibly productive, which I believe can be heard in the album. For the band guys, we tried to keep the feel of a live gig, instead of the pressure of the studio world. I think it worked!

A little, background on me, I've worked for Kansas for 12 years. I've been the guitar/violin/bass tech for the last 7. I take care of all of the fractal programming for both guitar players, and the violin player (who also plays guitar). I was the tech that oversaw the transition from amps and pedals, to Fractals, for everyone.

I spend most of my time on the Facebook groups, so I don't think it will allow me to post a link to the album, but it is available for free streaming on YouTube, and Spotify, I believe.
 
Very cool story, thanks for sharing! Kansas is one of my all time favorite. Is it rude to ask how you approached the beginning of the throwing mountains in regards of the guitar tone? Great example of kansas song beginning and transition to a soothing verse.

Also would be interesting to know how the transition decision to fractal products went down, was there a strong connection to familiar amps that required years or persuasion and trials or was it more like we are open to trying new things all the time and fx3 worked perfectly quite quickly.
 
Very cool story, thanks for sharing! Kansas is one of my all time favorite. Is it rude to ask how you approached the beginning of the throwing mountains in regards of the guitar tone? Great example of kansas song beginning and transition to a soothing verse.

Also would be interesting to know how the transition decision to fractal products went down, was there a strong connection to familiar amps that required years or persuasion and trials or was it more like we are open to trying new things all the time and fx3 worked perfectly quite quickly.

If you are strictly talking about the Flangey part of the intro to Throwing Mountains, that was played back Zak Rizvi, using an Ax8. He took some inspiration from Rush.

The main riff uses everybody's main tones (which are almost the exact same as the presets they use touring). I did a little bit of modding to the cab blocks to better fit the studio scenario, and get some better feedback/response from the studio monitors. (editing room size, etc).

Richard's main tones from the album (and live) are built around the Cameron CCV2B. Most of Zak's sounds are derived from the 50w Plexi Jump.

Btw, I haven't poked around on these forums a lot (haha it still says I'm a new member, but I've been around for a while!) I'm happy to answer any questions, any time I can!!!!
 
Very cool story, thanks for sharing! Kansas is one of my all time favorite. Is it rude to ask how you approached the beginning of the throwing mountains in regards of the guitar tone? Great example of kansas song beginning and transition to a soothing verse.

Also would be interesting to know how the transition decision to fractal products went down, was there a strong connection to familiar amps that required years or persuasion and trials or was it more like we are open to trying new things all the time and fx3 worked perfectly quite quickly.

Rich was a big fan of the ADA processors for a long time, then Peavey XXX heads. After that, it was GuitarRig. He had a full pedal board, along with a mac laptop on the floor! He found and bought is first fractal (AxeFx II mark I) about a month before I took over as his tech. We learned together, how to use it for all it could do, and haven't looked back since! He found out about Ceriatone heads, and bought a couple. we integrated them in to the axefx2. then the 3 came out, and that was even easier. I a/b'd the ceriatone with the cameron CCV2b one day, during rehersals, and the fractal cameron CCV2b smoked the actual amp. The amp was a Ceriatone King Kong 100, which was a near exact copy of the real Cameron CCV. We haven't used an amp (other than the matrix, pushing matrix FRFR cabs) in a few years!

I should add, on the violin side of things, the violin player (David Ragsdale) used a couple of different preamps for his violin, including LR Baggs, and Presonus. He used a Line 6 pod for his guitar. Changing between the instruments was really awkward for him. when the ax8 came out, i suggested it, he bought one, and that's been his violin/guitar rig since!
 
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Thanks for sharing your tale, Viggy! I saw Kansas back around the early 80s in a great double bill with Todd’s Utopia..( at the infamous Alpine Valley venue((RIP SRV...was at that one too)) ) and the Sound of the mix of that show was
the best I had Yet heard ..nice to hear that your quest for quality tone continues with the best.
 
Kansas released their newest album, The Absence of Presence, Friday. One guitar (Richard Williams), and the Violin (David Ragsdale) were recorded through an axefx3. the other guitar (Zak Rizvi) was an ax8. I was in the studio everyday, when this was recorded last summer/fall, and incredibly proud to have been a part of this album. I did all of the fractal programming for the guitars and violin. 100% fractal. Not a single mic was used on any of these parts! This band has been around for over 45 years, and they aren't quitting anytime soon. They are an amazing group of people to work for!!!

Working in the studio was amazing. We had an Axefx3 sitting on the desk, in the mix room. We used the SPDIF `in/out straight in to a Protools rig. Rich recorded all of his parts standing / sitting right next to the mix console, listening and playing along to the rest of the tracks. Using the Axefx3 exclusively made it soooo much easier to dial in specific sounds, on the fly, as well as made it easier to communicate between engineer, producer, tech, and musician. He could play a part, we could discuss it, play it back, and decide if we were ready to move on, or do it again.

For the first time ever, instead of putting David Ragsdale (violin player) in an ISO room with a handful of different mics, he sat in the mix room, with his music stand and sheet music, and played live, straight into the Axefx3. Being in the mix room, instead of alone in an ISO booth took a ton of pressure off for him. It was easier for him to say, "I screwed up, do it again." It also made him more comfortable being there with all of us.

The last time we were in the studio, we used the Fractal, but there was also a lot of random amps, and ISO booths (mostly violin) used. This time around, we kept everything as close to our touring setup as possible. We even brought in our 18 inch drum riser, and used all of the drum mics we use out on the road! These studio sessions, were incredibly productive, which I believe can be heard in the album. For the band guys, we tried to keep the feel of a live gig, instead of the pressure of the studio world. I think it worked!

A little, background on me, I've worked for Kansas for 12 years. I've been the guitar/violin/bass tech for the last 7. I take care of all of the fractal programming for both guitar players, and the violin player (who also plays guitar). I was the tech that oversaw the transition from amps and pedals, to Fractals, for everyone.

I spend most of my time on the Facebook groups, so I don't think it will allow me to post a link to the album, but it is available for free streaming on YouTube, and Spotify, I believe.

Thanks for this! I've been listening to and following Kansas for 42 years now and they're just spectacular. This is such good news :)
 
Wow! So great to have you join the forum and give us this inside look at how the guys from Kansas are using their Fractal gear. I'm a big Kansas from way back. I always loved Kerry Livgren's playing and tones. Good stuff.
 
i can’t tell you how many awesome bands i’ve discovered over the last decade on this forum, now i guess i’m rediscovering one!
 
YAY, new Kansas music! Been streaming the new album this morning, killer! The guitars still sound like classic Kansas, great work.
 
The tracks that they have released so far are excellent. Kansas is my all time favorite band and the fact that they're continuing to release new and inspiring material brings me a lot of joy.
 
Another long-time Kansas fan here. (Since the Masque album.) Thanks for sharing the behind-the-scenes peek at the process. The new music sounds killer...classic Kansas sound!
 
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