Rabble Media

*Intro jam: "Campaign" by Funk Trek

by Chance Solem-Pfeifer | photo by Clay Lomneth

Doug Van Sloun remembers the oddity of being on the phone with a potential client.

The out-of-state artist was asking Van Sloun to master his next record. Only the musician had no idea that the Omaha-based mastering engineer was currently treating the album of the band with whom he was currently on tour. The bands were from different cities and neither was Omaha.

“There was no connection at all between the three groups of us,” Van Sloun says. “That sort of stuff happens more frequently than one might think.”

Coincidence, maybe. But Van Sloun is working on those odds all the time. The clients page on his website details more than a hundred artists, and it’s not even an exhaustive list of all the people who have trusted Van Sloun’s expertise on their albums the last 10 years.

It’s not an exaggeration to say you’ll find the words “mastered by Doug Van Sloun” in the liner notes of the majority of well-produced Nebraska albums. From the bulk of Saddle Creek releases to nationally recognized artists like Damien Jurado and She & Him to Hear Nebraska’s forthcoming compilation — Hear Nebraska: Vol. 2 — Van Sloun’s ears and his state-of-the-art listening room at Focus Mastering have grown to become a hotter and hotter commodity since he moved there in 2005.

You can hear Van Sloun’s work firsthand after the release of Hear Nebraska Vol. 2 at The Waiting Room on Dec. 27. Featured artists Simon Joyner, Conchance and Universe Contest will perform. Pre-order the record on vinyl, and RSVP here.

For this the eighth installment of Sessions, I sat down with Doug Van Sloun in his west Omaha mastering studio to chat about his unique reputation among Nebraska musicians, what happens when a band asks him to move mountains and measuring perfection on a sliding scale.

Jared Dietz, Tom Murnan and Jake Reisdorff of Funk Trek join us on Hear Nebraska FM for a feature interview and a listen through their new album "Purify."

Chance Solem-Pfeifer and Jacob Zlomke review See Through Dresses' self-titled debut.

Buy it here:

https://seethroughdresses.bandcamp.com/

01:30 - Low-flying Guitars that Sing and Howl

03:28 - A Faithful '90s Throwback

04:34 - Looking Through Song Fabric

06:51 - See Through Dresses vs. Millions of Boys

09:15 - Boredom and Selfishness

10:50- Saying "I Love You" is Gross

12:35 - No Cash/Carter Duets Here

produced by Dan Scheuerman

See Talking Mountain on Black Friday at O'Leaver's in Omaha: https://www.facebook.com/events/250723695083869/.

"This Guitar" by David Dondero | On The Record by Rabble Media

Chance Solem-Pfeifer and Jacob Zlomke review "Episodes" by Luke Polipnick Group.

Buy the record here:

http://www.lukepolipnick.com/music/

Hear Nebraska's Jacob Zlomke and Chance Solem-Pfeifer review "Daddy Told Me" by Shawn Holt and The Teardrops.

Hear Nebraska's Jacob Zlomke and Chance Solem-Pfeifer review "Grown-Ups," the new EP from The Routine Escorts.

The concept is simple: One artist talks about one song that changed him or her. For the inaugural "Under the Influence," the new podcast from Hear Nebraska created and hosted by Dan Scheuerman, Dustin Wong discusses Terry Riley's "A Rainbow in Curved Air."

Wong, the Chinese-American guitar and pedal virtuoso who cut his teeth in Baltimore and now lives in Japan, is on tour with the Japanese singer Takako Minekawa, playing songs from their collaborative album, Toropical Circle. They play at the Zoo Bar in Lincoln on Thursday.

Scheuerman caught up with Wong on the phone, as he was riding north on the Pacific Coast Highway, driving from southern California to Portland. The wind and road noise you hear is the sound of a scenic coastal view.

Cut it some slack, and enjoy Wong's thoughts on Terry Riley's "A Rainbow in Curved Air."