Greetings from International Anthem Studios

Beginning with IARC’s first release, there was a desire from the label to be involved in the recording process as much as possible. Rob Mazurek’s Alternate Moon Cycles (IARC0001, 2014) was recorded by David Allen (co-founder of IA along with Scottie McNiece), and I recorded IARC0002, the companion limited edition cassette (in a very deluxe carved wooden box). Both were recorded live at a small basement speakeasy in Chicago and presented by Scottie's Trio in Curio series.

The idea of recording live, in bars, restaurants or interesting acoustic spaces, and then returning to a home or professional studio to mix continued with Makaya McCraven's In The Moment, Highly Rare, and Universal Beings (IARC0003, IARC0013, IARC0022), jaimie branch's Fly or Die (IARC0011), Dos Santos' Logos (IARC0019), and Junius Paul's Ism (IARC0028), to name a few.  The method allowed for the capture of more energetic moments, devoid of the sanitized sound sometimes found in modern studio recordings. It also allowed the artists to stretch out, develop material over multiple shows or improvise with different ensembles.

In 2019, in need of more space to house the ever-growing catalog, we moved into a warehouse in the Bridgeport/McKinley Park neighborhood of Chicago and built a small mixing studio inside. The roughly 200 sq/ft mixing room was designed by David Allen and myself and has mic lines running out to the warehouse for the occasional pop up session. Ben LaMar Gay’s Open Arms to Open Us (IARC0051) was the first record almost entirely tracked in that space during the spring of 2021. Drums, tuba, cornet, and cello setup amongst the stacks of boxes and records ready to ship out.

The centerpiece of the mixing room is an MCI JH428 analog console from 1978. For many years it lived in another studio in Chicago and had already been used to mix or record label releases including Bottle Tree (IARC0010), Resavoir (IARC0026), jaimie branch Fly or Die II (IARC0027) and Irreversible Entanglements Who Sent You? (IARC0031). Given our history with the console, and loving its dark and saturated sound, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to install it in our new room. Since acquiring it in the spring of 2020 it’s been used to mix much of the music we've released, including Angel Bat Dawid & Tha Brothahood's LIVE (IMRC0037), Dezron Douglas & Brandee Younger's Force Majeure (IARC0038), jaimie branch's FLY or DIE LIVE (IARC0041), Irreversible Entanglements' Open the Gates (IARC0049), Jeremiah Chiu & Marta Sofia Honer's Recordings from the Åland Islands (IARC0053), Daniel Villarreal's Panamá 77 (IARC0054), Charles Stepney's Step on Step (IARC0055), Makaya McCraven's In These Times (IARC0059), Dezron Douglas's ATALAYA (IARC0058), Rob Mazurek & Exploding Star Orchestra's Lightning Dreamers (IARC0065), and Asher Gamedze's Turbulence and Pulse (IARC0057).