GeekDad Music Review: Marc With a C Exposes the Truth in Fidelity

"It's a ten song story about a guy named Brian, a girl named Jenny and a squid named... Squiddy."

That was the description of the latest release from Orlando, FL based Marc With a C. The album is called "Motherf--kers be Bulls--ttin'." It's a strangely obscene title for an album from an independent artist who is probably one of the nicest guys you'd ever meet. Marc is a low-fi guy, from his personality to the tone of his music. He's not overwhelming and always greets you with a smile. His music, and especially this latest album (marking his tenth year performing as Marc With a C,) screams of retro low-fidelity pop with a twist of irreverent humor.

I'm not going to sugarcoat it, if you don't like music that isn't hyper-produced then Marc With a C is not for you. He puts a lot of creative time and energy into recording his music, but it doesn't sound like it's been polished by a major studio with all those effects that the kids seem to love. Instead, Marc takes care to craft a very specific sound with very specific details. There is a particular depth to his brand of designing music that creates an atmosphere of ear canal indulgence. Basically, he creates music that needs to be volume adjusted as it's played to fully experience all the minute ear hole teasers he's put in it.

I was curious about the sound of the album. At first, it sounded like a bad recording. Then I thought about it for a second, well, a couple minutes. I was so used to slickly produced and studio outputs I wasn't prepared for his low fidelity sound. The first listen was tough, it was an adjustment. But Marc does a good job of pulling you in with his lyrics. He's a storyteller, and adept at that. He puts true emotion in the stories he's telling, however fictional they may be. But at the same time, they aren't outrageous affairs and you can easily associate with the characters that he is creating. Then you start to notice all the sounds behind the ever present acoustic guitar, all sounds that Marc created himself, by himself in his home studio.

All artists follow a habitual procedure that is specific to their recording style, and to create his pop-folk sound, Marc's process is much more than just simple recording and writing songs. It's a life tyle for him, to create music, and that is felt within his lyrics with the feeling that is emoted in the lyrics. I asked Marc about his recording process, about the distinct sound he goes for, and how much sleep he got making the album. Not one to mince words, if I had a word requirement here, he'd have helped me meet it.

I don't recommend my style of recording to pretty much anybody, as I know I'm doing things in a vastly more complicated manner than necessary with relatively simple tools. It took about a month to get the general parts recorded, and since I mostly mix as I go along, that time period is possibly a little inflated. The equipment used for the album was: one toy drum kit, one beginner's bass with really old strings, two guitars (one electric, one acoustic), one Boss Super Overdrive pedal and one small Fender practice amp. There was also a small '80s Casio keyboard used for some drum effects on "Try to Just Stop" and a few other teensy places on the album. These instruments were fed into two condenser microphones, recorded into Adobe Audition at 32/96,000. I played and sang everything.

While recording, I didn't do anything else. I either played or sang from the moment I got up until the moment I went to bed - sometimes in 48-hour marathon sessions. The tunnel vision that I sometimes have while working is the culprit, as I get so wrapped up in what I'm doing that I forget that you have to do everyday things like "take the trash out" or "eat something." The sound quality was always on the forefront of my mind: I wanted the instruments to sound like instruments, and I didn't want to take part in the "loudness war." Dynamics were very important in this process, and I tried my best to avoid the current trappings of modern mastering techniques.

In the past decade, people seem to over compress everything, creating a "brick wall" of sound, leaving no room for peaks and valleys. It was important to me that if the listener were to turn up the volume, there would be some details brought out of the mix. I didn't need everything turned up to eleven at all times, with all of the peaks cut off and distorted. Stereos come with a volume knob for a reason, you know. And while "Motherf--kers be Bulls--ttin'" is definitely still pretty far from audiophile territory, I was heavily inspired by the drop-dead gorgeous sound quality of Pete Townshend's "All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes" and most of the Steely Dan catalog. The types of albums where even the hi-hats seem to have their own personality, you know?

Up until this response from Marc, I really hadn't noticed the peaks and valleys in the music. At the base level, it was just catchy acoustic driven pop. Then I went back and listened to the album a second time, and a third time and so on - adjusting the volume each time to flow with the music. Yes, this can be a bit of a process in the day and age of digital music and mp3 players, but those of us who still have a record collection appreciate the detail that goes into making and most importantly - playing - music.

The song selection on "Motherf--kers be Bulls--ttin'" is eclectic to say the least. Marc brings us tales of lust ("You're my Princess"), tales of loss ("Since I Left my Baby, I Can't Stop Flossing"), and even a tribute to Steely Dan. Each with a sardonic and humorous twist on life. To the casual longtime listener (me) it would seem once again that Marc is pulling the lyrics and stories from his life on this planet Earth. However, that's not exactly the case, as Marc told me via email exchange.

The story of "Motherf--kers be Bulls--ttin'" is not based on my life at all. A few things within the lyrics certainly hit home for me, though: I think that freaking out over the Mayan calendar is silly, for example. I would also say that "The Kindergarten Steely Dan" is an accurate depiction of my attitude towards unnecessary drama between musicians, and that I completely agree with the technological paranoia evident in the title track. Beyond that, while certain things on the album were based on things that I had certainly observed in everyday life, they mostly do not represent any of my current attitudes or relationships. Besides the tracks that I pointed out. It's a story, and it's fictitious. Since most of the lyrics on my prior albums had been so personal, I can see where the lines might blur for longtime listeners of mine, but it wouldn't reward you to look for parallels between the lyrics to this record and my personal life: I'm a happily married man with a family.

The best part about being an independent artist *anywhere* is that you can do what you want when you want to do it, and there's no script for what you're "supposed to do" in order to "make it." Today, if you "make it," it seems that you mostly have "Glee" using one of your songs to look forward to. That doesn't sound fun to me. If you're an independent artist, you get to work at your own pace, write the songs that you want to write, play shows when you feel like it, and if anything happens beyond that, you get to be pleasantly surprised. Even if no one ever bought or listened to another one of my albums, I would still make them for fun in my living room because that's what I do. The fact that anyone likes the songs that I make up at all is just a bonus, really.

That's the thing about being an independent artist, there is other stuff going on. Marc managed to not only produce an album with distinct depth, but he did so while holding down a job and raising a family. This wouldn't be as commendable if the album sucked, and it doesn't.

You can get "Motherf--kers be Bulls--ttin'" on Marc's website. I highly suggest you get the vinyl for your collection. Marc With a C will be performing once again in Orlando for this year's Nerdapalooza festival. If you are in the area, be sure to stop by and check him out - as well as the rest of the amazing line-up of artists.

WIRED An interesting venture into a particular blend of music you might not be used to. Peppered with catchy lyrics and interesting story-telling, Marc With a C's "Motherf--kers be Bulls--ttin'" is a rare delight.

TIRED You have to like the intricacies of music and experimental fidelity to really enjoy this album. If you don't see yourself getting past the old timey vinyl sound, then you probably won't like this album.

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Photo credit: Patrick Scott Bell, art layout by Chris Zabriskie.* (Bonus points if you get the joke in the album cover.)
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