Joss — Billy Hwang's Roadside Con — Joss is Ambrose Liu, a singer/songwriter/home-recordist from West Windsor, NJ, who counts Tom Waits, Daniel Lanois, and REM as influences. Liu has been doing solo-acoustic shows for the last several years and in 1998 he decided wanted to record. He went into a "proper studio with decent gear and an engineer," spent $600 to record one song, and ended up being less than satisfied with the results. It was then that he decided that it would be better to record on his own with his 4-track. Liu, despite being a solo-acoustic artist live, wanted to make a rock album — something more in line with his listening tastes. To record, he would take his Yamaha MT4X 4-track over to drummer Tom Kale's house to record the drums. This was done by setting up three mics — on the kick, snare, and one overhead — and recording to tracks 1-3. Liu's scratch vocal and guitar would go onto track 4. He'd then go home and bounce tracks 1-3 to track 4. The first three tracks were now free for guitars, bass, vocals, and other assorted instruments (accordion, tampura, Chinese hammered dulcimer) played by Liu and various guests. Next, he'd transfer the tracks to ADAT and add some additional instrumentation at John Bailey's SS Sound studio (Hamilton, NJ). Some of the tracks were mixed by Bailey to DAT through the studio's board, while others were mixed by Greg Frey (who also mastered the album) on Pro Tools at his Graphic Sound studio in Ringoes, NJ. Liu says he found that mixing on Pro Tools was definitely more flexible. Billy Hwang's Roadside Con has a complexity and depth that grows more apparent upon each listening as well as an accessibility that makes it easy to enjoy the first time around. The CD can be ordered for $10 through Liu at Paper Scissor Music, 25 Birchwood Ct., West Windsor, NJ 08550, or through www.cdfreedom.com/joss. Check out the Joss website at www.houseofjoss.com. Email: liuambrose@juno.com.
