- Next »
- Previous
Recording an album ('Stir Crazy' from start to finish)!
OK! So I've been recording my debut album - Stir Crazy. And it has driven me stir crazy indeed. It has been a beautiful experience though, as well as being a pain in the arse! So here is the story. If you wanna know what it took to record the album, read on brave reader.
Project: Recording 'Ship Is Sinking', 'So Long Jenny J', 'Thin Bits' with The Scarves and building towards a completed album.
This is what it's all about - I am SO EXCITED. I spend most of my days doing boring admin and business trying to make something happen so going into the studio to begin new recordings is like visiting a music bizz oasis! We got a budget together and need to make these recordings in order to shape up for a release early next year.
Let me tell you a quick bit about The Scarves (my band). I've had the luck of bringing in and playing with a number of great musicians over the last year, largely through meeting them on the scene or through producer Steve Honest. The Scarves line-up has varied between Will Spurling (drums), Darren Ormsby (bass), Rick Walsh (drums), Max Zastiera (drums), Vinzenz Benjamin (bass), Rich Barnard (electric guitar), Pete Duddles (bass) and Steve Honest (electric guitar).
Darren and Will were the first boys I jammed with when putting a band together, and a great unit at that so I am heading in with them for these sessions as they know the songs well and we have played them together a lot - they are amazing players and I know they'll come up with something very special.
Day 1 (Sept 21st, Thursday) is pencilled in as a rehearsal and live takes day at the studio (Steve Honests NewMusicProduction, or NMP for short). But even before day 1 begins some very special preparation has taken place courtesy of my lovely mother. 'Fool Madamas', an Arabic dish made from gently cooked broad beans mixed with garlic, parsley and olive oil is the key to keeping me and the boys going during these sessions. It's made of slightly mashed up and slow cooked broad beans, garlic and some other secret ingredients. What you do is mash up a boiled egg, and pour the beans over it once they are warmed up, and then scoop it all up with pitta bread. Throw in some spring onions and falafels for good measure and you are on your way to food heaven. I think this dish is the only reason Steve lets me back into his studio.
Ok back to the first session.....
We are gonna spend time playing the songs, and choosing tempos and instrument tones/sounds, as well as hearing the arrangements back and making changes to the flow of the songs if necessary. It's a great day! Will has just come back from touring and the banter is flowing freely, I haven't seen Darren in a while and there is a good vibe. We do our business and also come away with a good live recording of Jenny J which is posted on the myspace player... I am really excited by the vibe and energy of these guys' playing!
Day 2 (Sept 22nd, Friday) We've got Will in today to put down his drum tracks. We could have gone for bass and drum takes together (played at the same time), but I wanted a bit more freedom to play with the arrangements, so the boys are going to play separately to backing tracks and a click track for their final takes. We ended up choosing a Ludwig snare drum which Will brought in for yesterdays rehearsals and worked really well. Also some really 'soft' and 'smooth' cymbals which give a really nice and lingering splash - this is gonna suit the songs in these sessions well. I planned to use a different, thicker snare for Ship is Sinking, to drive the groove along more and give it some weight. This doesn't work though, it doesn't cut through the mix as well so we stick with the Ludwig which is really tight and snappy but seems to have some good weight too. We take some time to work on the kick drum sound, I want a tight but deep and pounding sound, which I am worried will be tricky to get as tightness is usually supplied by the lighter and higher pitched click of the pedal against skin - I hate clicky click drum sounds at the moment. Steve Honest comes up with more than the goods yet again, and tries a new mic technique which I am keeping a secret but let's just say it works WAY GOOD! He also gives up some more of his recording knowledge gems - I don't wanna give away too much but let's just say we spent a lot of time tuning the whole drum kit and made a huge impact on the songs.
Will has just come off tour and is suffering from the tour shakes a bit combined with a nasty cold - he's sweating like a crazed beast! His playing/energy in the face of this is stunning! He stamps his character all over the songs and what a great character it is. As each take comes down the excitement starts to build in me as I realise what an amazing bed we are sitting on.
Everything goes very smoothly and we get each song done in about two takes - I am going for it major old school in the way I am approaching tracking and mixing for these sessions. I don't want to rely on compiling different takes together too much ('compiling' or 'comping' is cutting together different bits from different takes into one final take for the song) - just want to use the bulk of one or two takes at most for each song. This way the energy and feel of the player really comes through as he works his way through each song and there is a natural build and release in different sections. But you need great players to come up with the goods and Will does today. We try Ship is Sinking at two tempos, as we're not sure I'll be able get down my vocals to the faster tempo even though it has a greater feel. Live you can swing the tempo a bit to cope but you can't get away with this as much on record (or tape or probably disk or whatever it should be called nowadays!) Did I say Will did a great job? Will did a great job!!!
Day 3 (23rd September, Saturday) I go in for a short session to listen through to all the drum takes and make some decisions about which takes to use and which adjustments to make. The decisions are easy today as we are sitting on great and complete takes - the most we have to do is cut between two takes for a couple of the songs and make one or two tiny timing adjustments.
Day 4 (24th September, Sunday). Darren is coming in today and is gonna rip it up! He brings a couple of different bass guitars in. We used his Sadowsky previously on the Superbug sessions and its smooth and slightly more subtle tones really suited Superbug and Sometimes. This time though I want punchy, driving rhythms and a really forward bass line so Darren suggests his Stingray might do the right job. And oh yes it really does! I love Stingray basses - they look sexy and definitely sound sexy in the right hands! Darren is simply brilliant today and we witness some really special playing. We spend two or three takes going over each song and directing the bass take more specifically (looking for different grooves, pinpointing little moments of expression/phrasing etc.) Darren reacts brilliantly and can handle adjustments and different lines without flinching or taking any time to practice. It's all right there, immediately and right on the money. It makes the session a real pleasure and joy. A great session - once Darren has left me and Steve remark at how 'ordinary' he made such great playing seem! It was so natural to him that we almost didn't realise just how special it was until after it had happened. I'll never forget this session. By this stage in the recording process my excitement is becoming hard to contain - I know we are sitting on some really hot stuff. This is when the tension and anxiety starts to build - no more hiding behind great players, it's time for me to do my thing and do the songs and backing tracks justice.
27th September (Wednesday)
Short session at NMP to compile the bass takes and see how they sit with the drum takes. As with Will, Darren's takes are spot on and mostly complete, so there is only a little bit of cross-take editing necessary. Mostly the tough bit is listening to each complete take and feeling which one gels better and will be better to groove/sing over. I tend to go for the fresher takes as they seem more free. I like the excitement of the first take if possible, as the player is 'in at the deep end' and the feel is more exciting as he pushes and pulls with the beat - it's as if you can hear him thinking before the flow of his own part and the drum part he's playing over is imprinted hard in his mind after doing loads of takes. I much prefer this kind of feel - it is more exciting. But different approaches suit different people and some prefer the tightest most 'spot on' sound possible. I think sometimes this is the wrong way to approach things, I think it's a mistake to assume that if every note of the bass and drums are completely correct and spot on with the metronome click it will lead to a better result. I think and have learned that this can make this the music sound so dull. It's moving too far away from the sound of having musicians in the same room together playing live. It's too scientific and not spontaneous enough. This is something that I seem to have learned and accepted with experience. Modern recording techniques have allowed this kind of precision if desired, but should it be desired?
I take the drum and bass tracks home. It's time for me to get to work in my own writing studio and flesh out the guitar arrangements and get used to the vocal parts.
It also gives me valuable time to make sure my guitars are ready. You are under the microscope in the studio and things you wouldn't usually pick up on become so important, like the finer points of intonation - you would be surprised how much more out of tune a guitar can sound when you are hearing it through the mics or during playback. I am a bit of a brusque player - I like to dig in hard and really go for it when playing, but this means I tend to throw my guitars out of tune pretty quickly. I need to give myself the best chance to relax during my takes knowing that my guitars have been set up well and ready to cope with the task. A couple of trips to my trusted techie sort that out! I also vary my tunings alot, not with fancy open tunings, but with lower than usual standard tuning. I tune my trusted baritone to C sharp at the root because I like the chord voicings it allows me to play with my vocal range. But for recording I bring in different guitars tuned at different pitches to suit the parts I and sounds I want them for.... Am I rambling???
13th October (Friday)
I've had some other projects and loads of gigs on so haven't been able to get back in until today. It's time to get down acoustic guitars. For me preparation is so important (i.e. thinking about and preparing guitars, getting used to the parts, and knowing exactly what I want to do), but only so that I can completely let go and relax when doing the takes. And today it works. I get Sinbad (my old and beaten up simon and patrick) out for Ship is Sinking and he works a treat - his mellow, but meaty and strummable tone sitting down really well. Maribelle (my gorgeous but temperamental Martin) is in Nashville/Angel tuning and sounds so sweet! Sits nicely on top to give a really big and bright guitar sound. Biloo comes out for Jenny J and Thin Bits and gives a great hard boshing sound with Maribelle sitting on top again. I've learned the long way that there is only one way to track well in the studio - turn it up and let rip. It is important to look after your hearing generally, but you just have to go for a bit of volume in the headphones to get into it and feel it in the studio. After all it's just a few moments that may last a life time so that makes it worth it. The trick is to work quickly and well otherwise you loose your reference at loud volumes, and damage your hearing.
At the end of the day it's time to start experimenting with vocal sounds and singing over what we've got. I have never been quite comfortable with the sound of my recorded vocals and me and Steve are always getting into arm wrestles over what direction to go in. We try a new (MXL) mic and new settings on the hardware that Steve has recently developed and it works a treat. The mic is so cheap compared to others but it sounds so good! Comes very close to the in your face, and full on vocal sound that I have been imagining would suit these big boshing uptempo songs. I don't care what anyone says about Liam Gallagher, he is one of my favourite singers, because of the power in his delivery. His sound - particularly on the 'What's The Story Morning Glory' album is something I've always admired. So I want to try and find that sound or a way to get close to it. And Steve's new settings are getting there. I wonder if the sound is still a bit thin on warmth, but it is sitting so well in the mix without any sort of extra eq or further compression and that is too good a sign to ignore. From now on I've got to work up to 'match fitness' with my vocals.... loads of little vocal sessions until I am completely on it and it comes down right.
I come out of the acoustic guitar session shining. It couldn't have gone better - couple of fluffs and tuning issues, but we can deal with these later, and the feel of the parts is really good. And the vocals are sounding good and sitting nicely... so far.
Now I gotta get the electric guitar parts sorted.
19th October (Thursday)
This is a really tough day. I've been practising pretty hard and the work and gig schedule is starting catching up with me. I've got to get everything wrapped up before I go on hol at the end of the month. Had a flu jab a couple of days before and feel absolutely terrible. Sniffles and lethargy. Not gonna be doing much singing today. Also not the feeling you want when you are gonna hit an electric guitar session loud and hard. But it's when your back is against the wall and you have to come up with the goods that you prove your worth so I take a deep breath and go for it. I'm relatively 'new' to the electric thing, having only bought my darling red telecaster last year and never having to really think as an electric guitarist before. It's a whole different world of tones and playing style. Luckily Steve is a complete guru and has a range of home made amps to use as well! I've figured out roughly where I want to be tone-wise on my trusty pod (an electronic amp modeller), but Steve is quick to point out and show me that however good a pod is, it doesn't have the touch sensitivy and dynamic range that a classy tube amplifier will have cranked up and running hot. He's right, oh dear, my playing is gonna be shown up even more by using the amps!
It's a tough, long day as I play in and we refine parts, making up some as we go along. I never quite relax as I am having to keep up with the way we are shaping things and have to constantly think ahead and adjust the parts. But in a way, this kind of session can be the most rewarding, as you look back in time and are happy with the sounds and takes. My telecaster does a stirling job. I spent weeks trawling round London looking for the right one and found it. It's a gorgeous red one, just the right weight, and the wood is pretty good - it has a great 'tele' tone and it has been set up well so that I can dig into the strings up the neck nicely as well. I don't like razor close light set ups, you just can't beast the things and the tone can sound weak. Many people say that you can get pretty much any tone you want out of a telecaster - it is the 'working man's' electric. It's true to an extent but a guitar is still a guitar and every one has it's own character. So when we come to the melody lines on Jenny J we do try a couple of different guitars. Steve has a guitar at NMP called the 'Homing Pigeon', because he's always selling it and re-buying it. It is a great piece - an Ibanez George Benson model made in the 70's - very similar to a Gibson ES 355 but he would say better (and I would agree but I've never tried a top notch 355)! We match it up against his Gibson Les Paul (another great, classic guitar) and it comes out on top. It has a lovely earthy, woody tone that will sit well in the mix and carry the melody nicely. OOOOOh yes, I haven't told you about my pedals yet. I have been looking into and collecting some boutique guitar pedals over the last year. It's true, you just can't beat a good analogue tone. So I am playing these guitars through a great compressor, tremolo and modified tube screamer. Combined with Steve's Class A and Class A/B tube amps we are pretty satisfied with a great tone. (If you don't understand what any of this stuff is look it up on wikipedia.org - type in compressor, tremolo or amplifier in for e.g.)
I come out of this session wasted. Has it gone well? Time will tell. It's taken much longer than planned so there is still work to be done on Ship Is Sinking before we can nail the vocals/harmonies and then start mixing. Update soon....
22nd October (Sunday)
In on a Sunday to catch up as we're a bit behind. Work starts on the electric guitar line to Ship is Sinking. We try a face off between my treasured red Tele and the Pigeon. I'm happy that my little beauty wins this time, with a bit of volume and tone nob twiddling to help. The part comes down quick and easy, and we get a really fresh feel as I get it down quick today. Then we spend time on the solo. I hate listening to myself play lead lines or solo's... Today I am in a looser mood than Keith Richards, but we go for a take which has a good feel. Good tone and good feel. Feel is more important than precision. We balance up the mixes in my headphones in preparation for vocal takes. Listening back to the tracks they are all shaping up well, but I'm slightly overwhelmed by the all the parts and layers.
I warm up and we get into the vocals. Start off on Jenny J and after three takes Steve stops me. My voice is pretty closed and suddenly I'm prettty tired. I can't get comfortable in the headphones or used to the new mixes and there is no point pushing and straining too much as I'm playing two gigs this week and have three more sessions. It's the right decision. I can't help feeling dissapointed. Suddenly I am exhausted. I drive home feeling wasted, fallible and pretty down. The drive back from NMP can be brilliant - today I choose to go by the river to cheer up and pick it up from the millenium bridge all the way down the embankment. I forget how amazing London is and make a mental note to drive this route at least once a month! Still down, I will find solace in Chinese takeway and ice cream! I worry that I won't be up to it tomorrow, and also on Wednesday as I will have played a gig Tuesday arvo - these are my last two tracking sessions before we plan to start mixing at the end of the week. The pressure is on, will we make it?
23rd October (Monday)
Wow I managed to sleep 10 and a half hours without even flinching. Last night I was so down! Scoffed down a Take away and combo of midnight cookies and cookies and cream (more vanilla than usual but was good ya'll) Full of so much doubt. Shall I cancel today's session or not. Will my vox be up to it. Well after so much sleep and focus I hope so. Spent the day working on another project which my label has taken on. Also spent some time breaking in my secret weapon for the solo on thin bits... Gonna have a cuppa now and head to NMP. Fingers crossed. It's been raining all day. Pouring wet and it's getting darker early. I love London in the rain. It feels like home (funny, seeing as I was born in the desert!). There's something so nice about looking out of a window onto the wet streets. Poetic. And it seems to bring on a kind of happy melancholy (is that possible? perhaps just a depth of emotion) which helps open me up to music and feeling. It's an odd thing. Maybe I'm just tired...
Evening. Session time. Finish a great little novella on the way in (Chess by Stefan Zweig) and am feeling good and lively. Let me at it, put me in the booth! Some act of crazed madness leads me to follow my instinct and try a different mic even though we have a great sound set up already. Steve has a really good Neuman KM147 (a classic mic with a load of pedigree) which I have a volatile relationship with - I don't like using it but it has granted me my best vocal sound ever so far (on Perfume) and something is telling me to try it. Sometimes it is too warm for me, and the low end is too muddy, but I'm still feeling the urge to try it. We switch to it and after a few takes agree that surprisingly it has a good sound. Steve is worried that it doesn't have a quick enough attack to register the 'bosh' in my up-tempo delivery. It seems to work for us though and takes a rough edge off the voice. I'm still not convinced but Steve is so I trust him and we get into it.
My voice takes quite a while to loosen. I don't push it and try my best to warm it up and coax it. It takes a good fourty minutes to get it ripping (a long worm up, lots of takes at lower intensity and Steve constantly ribbing me to 'sing proper') but it is worth the slow approach as otherwise it would have gone after about half an hour at full pelt. I take a while to lock into the beat of Ship Is Sinking and start to worry that it is a bit fast - every take has the intensity of a combined 100 metre sprint and bench press session and I'm physically shaking after three or four. This is what it's about though - I have to get there.
We move straight onto Jenny J and things go well - the demons from the last session haven't resurfaced and I am hitting everything nice and open, no hoarseness. Steve has made me a top secret hot drink and that combined with my trusty supply of organic apple/pear juice keeps me up for it. I have to take all the electric guitars down in my tracking mix so that I can focus on the acoustics for pitching, but I worry that when we bring the electrics back later my voice will be a bit out of sync, or more out of feel really. I try a different approach at the end of the song, no more softly softly on the long notes - seems to sound nice but I can't the 'golden' take. It's just one of those things, we'll have to move on and see how it pans out. The most important thing is not to stay going over one bit a million times, it goes against the 'one take' approach and if you're not going to get it in three or four takes you're probably not going to get it this time round.
My voice has been wide open for an hour and a half - let's bosh through Thin Bits and see what gives. I LOVE IT. It's like I've been caged up and finally released. Have a great time and do a couple of huge takes, or at least I think so at the time. Are the electric guitars out of tune? Am I gonna have to re-do them? Am I singing sharp because of it? It's funny how this song is turning out to be the easiest to sing - it's usually the other way round, but I've sped up the intensity of the others, and there is more space to muck around with the vocal in this one.
We stop after two hours and I am washed out. In a good way though - I've got over my vocal doubts - I think. I let it slip that maybe I am having trouble because of the flu jab I had last week and Steve hurls funny abuse at me and calls me an absolute plonk for keeping that one a secret. We listen back briefly. I can't stand hearing myself sing in the studio. Don't have a decent reference point anymore and can't tell if it's good or bad. The Neuman and me need 'reigning in' as well with a bit of mixing. Grab a lift home from Steve and we take the scenic route discussing property and investment along the river - I hope that I can buy something here one day.
Back home, knackered and agitated. It's late and I have a gig tomorrow. Scoff some chocolate, think about having a beer but then feel sick, watch a recorded episode of Spooks (love it). Go to bed and can't sleep for an hour or two - I'm too wired. Begin to doubt everything we've done today, was it all terrible? Will any of it prove to be good enough to be the final mix? Gonna have to wait till comping on Wednesday to find out.
25th October (Wednesday)
Yesterday's gig ripped it! Was feeling kind of awkward about it, but when in doubt you just have to have a good time and give it your all! Was in Hornsey, took me an hour and a half to get there when it should have taken half of that! A little detour around Highgate High Street (seems like a nice area actually) - I got comedy lost on the way. Went on first and the people in the venue were awesome. No pretence, very welcoming and just wanted to have a good time. So it turned out to be one of the most fun gigs in ages! Voice very tired now, just gotta get through the week and then I'm off to New Zealand. It'll be the first time I'll be away for three weeks since I can't remember. Also Biloo (my baritone) is being a bit naughty and went quiet during one of the songs. I think it's my pedals, will have to check them all and the leads now. At last a day off! From singing/playing at least. Going in to NMP tonight to sort out the vocal takes we did the other day. How on earth is that gonna go?
...... It goes ok. I'm feeling sluggish but happy, the last few days have got to me a bit. But that's cool I got time to rest. Get into a new book on the way there - Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel - seems pretty good! Stop at my favourite pit stop in town on the way to have a look for some other books. I love sitting in the cafe of Borders Book Shop overlooking Tottenham Court Road. It is a quiet place where you can dreamily look out into the bustle. Get to NMP and it's nice to see my friends Rich Barnard and Tessa Ware there - they have been recording today. Some quick catching up and banter takes place, and they order their takeaway and leave... We get into compiling the vocal takes. I am really nervous before we start. Rich has left an absolutely terribly made paper plane on the couch and I plan to rib him later.
We get into Ship Is Sinking and my nerves subside a bit - the takes aren't too bad. Glad to see that on playback and comparison the Neuman seems like the right choice, sitting in the mix and bouncing along much more nicely. We go back to the MXL mic for one crucial line though - Steve thinks it is worth aligning the two different sounds because the delivery of that line is so good. He says it should be fine with a bit of EQ to match them up. We manage to get the vocal compiled from two of the takes and I am happy, I haven't had to stray too much from the 'one take' approach yet and it is not a bad delivery at all. We can't find an intro with enough impact so we cut and paste from somewhere else in the song. I shouldn't really tell you that - but I don't mind. I am happy to be judged on my complete performances and will stand up to the judgement, but I see no harm in using technology to help sometimes, when it can make such an important difference and it's use is not over the top.
Onto Jenny J. Wow this is gonna be tough, we've got five or six takes. Going over them it becomes clear very quickly that the MXL mic sound fits much better than all the Neuman takes - gosh that makes getting rid of three of the takes pretty easy! These Neuman takes would have turned out to be lost causes anyway. As I listen back I remember that I turned down the electric guitars when singing so that I could pitch better - big mistake it seems. When I bring them back the pitching and timing seems all over the place! Wow, a whole session out of the window just like that. I'm nervous, it means I have to comp the vocal from the first runs which were meant to be for exploration of sound only. I'm relieved half an hour later to be sitting on something that is surprisingly ok! We go between two takes from the first session, and a bit of one from the session where my voice shut down - it stayed open for half the song! One lesson has become clear to me from using some of the first takes on both songs so far - whenever you do any take in the studio you must approach it as being a possible keeper, with the utmost commitment, whatever stage you do it at. For me anyway. There are one or two minor problem points with the resulting vocal comp, small pitching errors that need to be fixed. I am uncomfortable, I promised myself I would stay away from the 'autotuner' tools completely - it's important to me. Maybe we're gonna have to use them - I know I can sing these lines properly but it's a case of retaining the nice raw feel of what we have, and meeting a deadline and budget. Maybe we can still avoid using pitch fixers (pitch fixers/autotuners are tools that take a slightly out of tune voice and adjust it so that it is in tune, without affecting the sound too much. You can still hear them work, but they are getting very subtle!)
Onto Thin Bits - I am anxious as I remember some of these takes were pretty hot, but maybe too ragged. It proves the most difficult comp - all of the later takes are pretty close, so how do I choose the best while sticking to the 'one take' approach. I go for the main vocal (the 'hanger') from a take where I seem to nearly 'fall off' out of control for most of the take - it's exciting to listen to. But I pepper this with bits of other takes where it falls off too much. DONE! I'm sitting on three usable takes for these songs! I think I will go back and comp Thin Bits again with fresh ears on Saturday, as I might not have done it justice. But the nice thing and relief is that all of these takes are usable. We still have all the harmonies to do on Saturday, and solos and further instruments on Thin Bits. I know I will want to do some more singing. These are good keeper vocals, but I still might try and go for a 'golden take' on each song - This will only take an hour anyway so we can fit it in and my voice may just be up to it after all this training. We've slotted an extra day in on Sunday for mixing to buy us some more time.
Have a quick chat with Steve before we close up - the tracks are shaping up nicely and we think these are the best songs we have recorded at NMP for me so far. Simple really, it just sounds like me and has a good raw feel (which people always say they miss on my recorded material in comparison with the live shows). Hold on, does that mean I sound ragged and raw! OI!
Go home tired but ok. Crack open a beer and have a sandwich. I seem to be eating four meals a day at the moment I'm so hungry. Shoulder is sore, I've let it go - I have injuries to both my shoulders from rugby which I have to keep in check with regular physio excercises. I have let them go the past couple of weeks while my life has been happily upside down, and felt my shoulder threaten to go a few times, most recently earlier when aiming for the goodbye high five at NMP. What happens is the shoulder is unstable and threatens to pop out or 'sublux' regularly. Gotta reign it in. Go to sleep, it's 130am, I'm going in early for a meeting with the crew tomorrow, to show them what we've done so far and make plans. It's time I brought our product to the table! Sleep quick but then have really vivid nightmares that no one likes what they hear and that it sounds terrible. Wake up loads. I'm gonna be tired tomorrow....
28/10/06 Saturday
Well it was good to have Thursday off - ate loads of food and could enjoy my favourite sprinklings of tobasco sauce (i love the stuff) which I can't really have on singing days. Meeting went ok as well, tunes are going down ok but with the usual reservations of 'not sure about this sound or that' or 'sounds a bit messy'. The way I look at it is at the moment it is like a building site. An architect or contractor might be able to see brilliance in the foundations, but it would be harder for anyone else to. But someone else can still grasp that there is something good going on and the general opinion is pretty ok. People like the vocals which is the most important thing. I'm not too unhappy either on playback, it all sounds quite raw but not too ragged. Just like me ? Maybe...
Yestarday's gig was odd. Pretty messy until the off as there were alot of bands for soundcheck and everything ran a bit late, and then I had a few sound issues during my set, but that spiced things up a bit. I took a long time just flowing at the beginning trying to relax into the set and try some new hooks, people seemed to react to it well - my newest game is to see how long I can go without playing a guitar in my set. I managed three songs two gigs ago and yesterday I probably got near about ten minutes... Started getting into my flow and then it was end of set time, I was fired up and found it hard to stop. When can I play hour and a half sets please? Had a blast afterwards with the crew and some new friends - ended up at my favourite late night pit stop (Maroush - lamb shawarma please) in some great company. Oh yes! Sir Bongo Bob came to the gig, he's just got back from Australia. It was so good to see him again, we were in a band for a couple of years and had some great times. So yesterday we drank a whole shed load. Drifted off to sleep at 3am thinking whoops big session tomorrow! No worries though, it's the home stretch.
Get into to NMP today to find Steve and Ben Larson from the 'Bad Robots' chilling in the kitchen - Steve is helping Ben install some RAM on his laptop - and it's nice to see Ben again. He's just finishing up his album and I want a copy! Chat about guitars and celebrities in OK magazine and then me and Steve get to work. There is a big hole in the solo to Thin Bits and I've been thinking about it for a few days - I've not been ableo to concoct a jaw dropping solo so have decided to 'construct' a little section of rock and roll noise instead! It really all formed in my mind as I woke up this morning still a tad drunk. It's initially a tribute to Hendrix's sound but with a bit of 'noise like this AC/DC track' and a little bit of me in the form of my secret weapon Herbie the Harp. I'm nervous to see what Steve will think as I track the ideas - but surprisingly he likes it! I've got his Stratocaster out for two reasons - the whammy bar and range of tones, but also because I want that Hendrix like neck pickup warmth for the main lick. It's a great Strat. It has a lovely neck - a much wider neck than most strats which makes it much more easy to play for me and my thick fingers. We've rigged it through my Keeley compressor, modded Tube Screamer and Steve has stuck his ocataver into the signal path (this we use to create an octave underneath what I am playing to thicken the tone). It adds a great vibe, a lot of beef down the low end which initially I was sceptical about but it turns out to be just right. All this through his homemode amps and it's sounding good. Steve thinks it isn't quite there - we need a wah wah pedal. I reply with the fact that I am ok with playing funk rythms on a wah, but haven't got a clue to use it as a form of expression for soloing. Steve has the perfect solution - he's gonna be the pedal operator! Classic, and we have some great fun, me playing the guitar and Steve playing the pedal. We even stick the harmonica through the wah wah as well! The section comes together really nicely and this is a really good start to the session, we're both pretty tired and it lifts us.
A bit of tea and toast later and we're onto backing vocals on Ship Is Sinking. Steve rips me apart. I sound like a 'fog horn'. I always find it difficult to think out of the box when it comes to my songs as I am so involved. I am also feeling pretty tired and lethargic now and a big low is coming on. Plus my voice is pretty tired and closed, and I'm having trouble drawing it out after the last few weeks (and last night!) A bit of tension develops in the air and and I'm getting edgy and cranky. With a bit of nurturing though we find the right lines and a few 'sing it like you mean it', 'pop not croon' and 'put some welly into it' jibes later I'm getting into the flow. After a bit of alignment (a modern secret weapon - think Destiny's Child backing parts) we are on it. Move on, I need to give Jenny J a chance. We've been using the MXL mic (not the Neuman) as it has that shiny sheen for backing vocals, and we stick to it on Jenny J as I preferred it over the Neuman for this song. Three takes later I've given it everything and we think we are sitting on the final comp. Do a quick demo of a new song for the November sessions and it's time for a cup o' tea. One hour left to comp the vocal and it comes together quickly. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the vocal sound - my voice sounds on it and raw but a bit tired and I've always felt Jenny J needs a really clean, bright and smooth delivery. Steve has stuck two pop shields in front of the mic so that us 'young' vocalists can throw mic technique out of the window and just give it some welly close up. I start to wonder if this takes away the closeness in the vocal (I can't get as close to the mic) and some of the top end. We discuss it - Steve doesn't think so. It's probably just the sound of my voice today. But the takes are good so maybe it'll work out. Go home feeling ok - we have done all the tracking we need to do which leaves tomorrow clear for mixing and editing. Nick nacked! It's seven thirty on a Saturday night. I'm going home to do some mixing and mastering on another project. When am I gonna be able to pack (or sleep)!!!??
29/10/06 Sunday
It's 10:30 am on Sunday morning. I'm exhausted. I've been up for a few hours already getting some boring admin done and ready for setting off to Fiji tomorrow. My eyes are half shut. Leaving in half an hour to go in and get into the mixes at NMP. We've got roughly two hours per song which isn't much but that is ok -pressure is good and hopefully we won't overcook the tracks as a result.
31/10/06 Tuesday
I'm sitting here in LA airport writing on the most awkward internet terminal imaginable!First chance I've had to write since i went in for mixing. everything went a bit crazy. excuse the bad typing ... Me and steve boshed our way throgh the mix of jenny j. Me and the baroeter's of truth had decided that the first vocals of jenny j sounded better than the recent stuff.... I decie to use the original vocals but then chuck a chorus in from the new takes which had a good feel. It workds and the mix shapes up nicely. I love mixing, it's really the point where, as long as the hard work has been done beforehand, i just get to sit back and watch steve do his magic with a little input and disussion here and there. we get into ship is sinking but a crisis strikes as baby neo is in a bad way tummy wise and has to go to hospital to get checked out. tht's the end of the session. no proper closure but i go home knowing that steve is gonna get me the mixes at midnight or later so i can listen before i go and send some special previews ot to the right people. Feel..deflated and go home to get the mountain of organising/admin done before i go away. The holiday mood starts to kick in though when i hit the pub with some friends to say bye for now. get the mixes this morning and have a listen while i have a mad panic packing session. it ll sounds good and i know..that with some touching up on return they all gonna be big bad and boshing! mad rush to the airport with my family who ae giving me a lift. me and..brendan sit down to.. beer and a burger only to hae to take it..away in tin foil and run to the gate cos they hae called the flight early! Start to settle don and come to earth with a thud on the plane. it all hits after watching a film when i suddeny feel mad happy and super sad all at once and then completely empty. is this closure? IT has been..intense and brilliant! Time or a holiday! See you when I get back!!!!.
21/11/06
Woohoo I'm back! Holiday was awesome. Jumping out of a plane at 12000 feet was mad but what a rush. Managed to limit my listening to the tracks to a couple of passes. On the IPOD a few times but also more usefully on the crappy stereo of the Suzuki Jimny which me and the boys drove around Fiji! The things you learn and hear in noisy listening environments when you're away from the studio are real 'ear openers' - Jenny J and Thin Bits now seem a bit too muddy/messy and don't jump out away from studio monitors, whereas Ship Is Sinking did the business in the jeep but I was least pleased with it initially. I thought it was a bit too 'bare bones' and lacking in mid range punch, but this is what helped it stick out in the jeep. It made me realise I have been a bit too laid back about mixing so far and that I have to tighten up the approach a bit on the next passes. We've been focussing on getting great sounds at source on the way in during recording, and I thought this would be enough to carry the mixes and arrangements, but I just don't think it will be now - we'll have to have a much closer look and get some more eq's and compressors out! Gonna try and squeeze some mixing time in with Steve before the next sessions with the Scarves start next week. A lot to do! Looking forward to seeing Steve, Tonia and Neo again and getting back into the studio - I wonder how big Neo is now?
Project: Track 'Stir Crazy' (SC), 'Easy Come Easy Go' (ECEG), 'Clichés and Candlelight' (CC), 'Top of The World' (TOTW), 'Drama Queen' (DQ), 'Where Has Your Light Gone' (WHYLG) and mix 'Jenny J', 'Ship is Sinking' and 'Thin Bits'.
WOOOOOW SLOW DOWN CAN SOMEBODY GET ME OUT OF SIXTH GEAR PLEASE.
Actually no don't bother, I love it! Things are...... happening, really happening at the moment which is nice. I'm not really over jet lag but I find myself in the studio again with the Scarves and there is a buzz and nervous anticipation building inside. Since I've got back I have been so bad at playing guitar, my fingers have gone soft and my voice is out of shape..... But, well rested is more important than all of that. It's great to see Max Zastiera (drums) and Vinzenz Benjamin (bass) again, our last gig was a while back now and these boys are great musical rascals. And yup - Neo, is looking a little bit...... well slightly older I suppose, but not really if you know what I mean? He's still pretty small! He is starting to use his eyes and is focusing on things and 'tracking' life a little bit more which is a big change and nice to notice...
Great to be back at NMP and see Steve and Tonia but feels like the last time was yesterday, have I really been to Fiji and New Zealand in between?!
Let's get down to business then. It's early morning on a Sunday. Max has come from a gig in Southampton so me Vin and Steve settle down to some good banter while he has a shower and wakes up... We've got a lot to do in two days of tracking and I have prioritised just in case. We are going for a live feel on all of the songs and that means at least using the same drum and bass takes (i.e. played at the same time). Max uses the house kit (Steve's premier kit) but has brought an alternate snare and a stunning range of metal (cymbals and high hats). Sadly his dual action, rubber banded together shaker didn't make it and broke en route leaving little balls of metal or plastic (I think) everywhere in his bag. His snare is made of maple - I have never used a maple snare before and have heard that they sound great but can be difficult to get down properly and operate in the wrong frequency spaces of the mix, and can crowd other instruments out. I'm glad to say things turn out differently, and my informants were very wrong. MAPLE IS MY FRIEND! The snare sounds great and I know that we won't even have to try another one. I learn a big and important lesson over these two days - drumming really isn't about hitting as hard as you can for the whole time. It really isn't, at least not while recording, and at least if that's not what the songs have to have (well, you know, some songs need hard hitting the whole way through!). When you hit the snare skin hard it tightens up, and the decay shortens. This changes the timbre to a 'whack' rather than a 'bish' (make any sense???). What I mean is that Max drives the lesson home that drums have a whole range of tones to explore and use rather than 'bosh' the whole way through. It also means that when you don't use the 'thwack' all out big boshing hard hits all the time it really makes a difference. Drumming, at least in the studio, can really be made beautiful by balance. I also find that the compressors in the snare pre-amp that Steve has set and is using work beautifully with the drum when Max uses softer hits and they combine with the instrument to give this wonderful splashy percussive feel. It's gorgeous. Max also has a great range of cymbals and high hats and we have a great time choosing what to use (more later). The kick and snare seem to be tuned to C sharp which actually suits the keys of most of these songs (I can tell this by referring to my wonderfully prepared scribbled scales in my note book!) so we don't have to worry too much about tuning. Steve's floor tom is threatening to become unruly and the skin probably needs changing and tightening soon but I like it during these sessions - it's just on the edge of overboard and that's cool with me, actually what I mean is: that suits me...
Vin has brought in three bass guitars - a really nice 5 string Fender Jazz (the classic electric bass that started it all - look it up on wikipedia) and another lovely 5 string Music Man Stingray (see the last blog about Darren - these are gorgeous instruments). He's also brought in a fretless bass and I'm interested to see if we can use that without falling into the stereotype 80's pop sound. His strings on the Jazz and Stingray are old, that's the way he likes it, and this gives a woody and earthy tone to these instruments that is warm and a bit 'classic' and 'beatlesy'. It's gonna sound great!
We get to work on Easy Come Easy Go, a nice bit of laid back groove to start the session off, after all, Max's hair is still drying! Try a couple of different tempo's till we are comfortable then get tracking. Max is in the drum booth, me and Vinz are in the control room. Vin's bass is routed without an amp straight into pro tools via Steve's old Focusrite Tone Factory preamp (these are great and under-rated units, and they were cheap too! I have been looking for decent one's on ebay at a good price for ages! I don't like the new ones so much). I am singing into the Neuman KM141 and my baritone guitar (Biloo) is routed through my compressor pedal into pro tools. We are all linked by headphones with a metronome click. We try Vinz's Jazz bass first but on the second take go for the Stingray as it has a deeper and more 'subby' tone which will nicely complement the groove and feel of this song (it's all reggae groove baby).
The drums are sounding great. The kick is huge - we have micced it up closer than the last sessions, as we need an 'all round' sound for these tracks as opposed to the specific deep thuds I wanted last time. Still, it sounds great and there is a whole load of range to the sound (definitely depth as well). We don't put any sound gates on the rest of the kit while tracking (as processing on the way in can affect the way you hear things and lead to timing and latency issues) and this gives a really 'big' sound as the toms ring alot when the snare and especially the kick is hit. Sound gates, depending on how they are set, 'close' after the main part of the sound happens, and this 'trimming' helps define and add punch to the sound of each drum, as it stops sound leaking through when the drum is not being hit, or it just shaves off an 'unnecessary' part of the sound in the decay. Leaving the gates off gives a great big and warm sound on this song. I don't think I'm going to want to gate the kit at all! Max also has a really cool five inch 'mini' cymbal which adds a really nice sound to the kit.
We nail it on the second or third take and hey presto the first track is done! We spend a little bit of time overdubbing a lovely little 'feature' that Vinz plays on the bass at the breakdown after the middle eight, but apart from this I know we can use the whole simultaneous bass and drum takes. This day is gonna be tough but definitely a real pleasure.
We move on to Stir Crazy. This is a straightforward pop-rocker, and needs a really vibey and gutsy driving rhythm track to make it work. We head in and choose drum sounds. Max tries a heavier high hat and we all have a nice little argument about it. I just like the feel and sound of light high hat's and cymbals. They are easier on the ear and make the track feel lighter. I also dont want this to be a driving, heavy rock number, light is where I want it. The heavy hat is a classic British rock 'Bonham' (as in Led Zeppelin John Bonham) sound and I want to avoid it. We try half a take with the heavier hat and unfortunately for me the decision makes itself. There is no way we can avoid using the heavy hat, it's a no brainer, a must. Max's playing relaxes my concerns though and he tempers the heaviness of the hat by not over-hitting it (over-driving is more appropriate). Steve puts a lovely great big room reverb on the sound to show us where he thinks it should go - he's spot on and the drums sound big and great - he calls it an eighties drum sound and I wince (80's! euggggh). 80's or not he's spot on with the sound. Vince goes with the Fender Jazz for these takes as it has a lighter, rounder tone. We spend some time choosing between the Jazz and Stingray (may fav!) but the Jazz in Steve's opinion has a less weighty, radio friendly sound which will suit this track. I'm a bit worried it's too light but Steve drives the case home: We need the bass going on as a feature, not just as a subby/deep instrument. We need it to hang forward in the track. On playback I agree and relax, and we can always add depth later with EQ if we really need it.
The boys have the song down and it's nailed on the third take. We try two middle sections - one the way I have been playing it live, and another the way we have been taking it in rehearsals. It is a real contrast to the feel I initially imagined for a 'free/gliding' middle 8 - in fact the complete opposite: it's committed and hard pounding 'many kicks in the beat' rock and roll. It works though and I go for it as it provides a great contrast to the rest of the song. Not completely comfortable, I make sure we do an alternative 8 the old way so I have the option. Options and comfort eh - always seem like a good idea at the time but in retrospect are always unnecessary. Go with your gut, it's the only way. And if you do make a mistake you'll learn how never to do it again. But if you've got 4 million options at the choices stage, you probably won't make the right one.
Two tracks done and we're ok - we break for lunch and munch on some fabulous 'Foul Madams', see pictures. It's definitely heavy fuel and gorgeous at that.
Steve contemplates the same question...
Straight back in after lunch, I'm nervous, we're into Clichés and Candlelight which many people are saying is now my best song. Whatever, who knows, but it certainly puts the pressure on. I've never even played this song in the band context. Max and Vinz do it real proud though, and the structure is there from the beginning. We take our time with choices, Max changes to some lighter cymbals so as to avoid a car crash over the chorus, and to give a different bell sound (the bell is the middle bit of the cymbal that you can hit for a bell sound). He's also playing tight and solid on the beat, but I need a free-flowing, emotional dynamic to the rythmn track - so I ask for a looser take and he plays and absolute beauty. Vinz starts off with the Stingray, as I would like a deep and mellow tone for this one. There is just something missing in the tone though that we can't put our finger on. I am lost, but Steve pushes to try the Jazz Bass on the second live take - I don't see how it will work. Somehow he's right though. Mixing/comping later on will show this tone as a beauty and it is the take we keep. In retrospect I don't really understand how it turned out sounding so appropriate, and how he knew it would, I'm baffled. But that is part of Steve's wonderful voodoo. We also try Vinz's fretless bass. I love the sound during the take as I've never had a fretless sound on my tracks (think Paul Simon, Graceland for an easy reference), but instantly I realise that going for this take might pigeon hole us in slightly stereotyped 80's shiny ballad territory. Song done. Wow that was easy.
The boys are off to play on the same bill in different bands tonight (bizarre but cool). We don't have much time so we decide to bash through and get to know Top Of The World as we've never played it together before. Something magical but bloody scary happens. Frankly I'm a bit bored of trying to record this song right and I have never managed to get the feel right. I dread going through it 'plod plod ballad' style as I have been singing this song for years and don't know how to inject some new enthusiasm into it. The boys do this for me. After the usual intro they launch into an awesome, loungy and beaty groove that has me loving playing through it. Even as we are finishing the first run I am doubting that we could ever record the song this way. A bit unsure of myself, Steve informs us that we have just had a moment of magic. Really? Wow, bloomin' bollocks maybe, but it is all happening too fast for me. Steve pushes us to go for an immediate second take to capture the fresh vibe, but get the dynamics of the song tighter. Magic indeed - I am starting to feel it, but somehow I doubt that it will be possible to do the song this way. Anyway, whatever happens it's a gorgeous end to a good day.
Monday 27th November 2006
Start the day off with a run through Top Of The World. Know we probably won't get it as good as the second take from yesterday but I need to have some cover up options to fix parts of the second take with. Get a good take done, and yup the feel is not as exciting as yesterday - we know it too well now! But I get what I need from it.
Let the hard work start. I'm nervous, we are about to play through 'Where Has Your Light Gone' for the first time. It's a new song that I"ve only just finished but it's got real promise and I want to rush it into these sessions as it is very different from everything else and will help balance up the record nicely. We run through it a few times together and get the structure down. Now we have to find the most important bit - the groove which the whole song hangs on. I instruct Max with what I've got in my head. I'm imagining some kind of groove/shuffle where the kick is the main feature and the snare/toms tease and play over it. This should complement the groove of the lead guitar melody really well. It just doesn't work out though and we get a bit stuck. Steve jumps in with one of his trademark moments of magic and suggests a more 'trip hop'/laid back kick and snare groove. With lots of swing in it to complement the melody line. It works a treat and we're onto it. Vinz is grooving and copying the main melody line on the bass. It is working, but I'm not sure if it's ideal. I decide to push on with it as the song is coming together and it is better to jam on the fresh feeling and we can always come back to it. We don't really spend much time on sounds and cymbals and which basses to use, we just jam on from top of the world. Bit of a slip in quality control, but it is just really nice to grab the moment. And it works. The boys get down an awesome backing track. Steve is making great suggestions over how to play the vocal in and hold the main hook off until the end of the song and tease it the rest of the way through. Nice. Four hours of playing/constructing later we are sitting on a great rythmn track. Time for some lunch!
After we lunch we rampage straight into Drama Queen.. The Queen has been a big of a bogey song with me and I've already done a version with Darren and Will. They played great but I think I chose a tempo that was too slow and the whole track ended up being a bit too much rock and not enough pop (is this a crazy thing to say????!!!!!!) What I mean is it became too heavy guitar, not enough groove, and not enough cheekiness. Me and the boys work on quicker paces and settle on a good one and what can I say I am very happy that we get a great backing track! Max and Vinz are naturally pushing into the main chorus line on different beats which is something Max questions - is it right and shall we tighten it up? Vinz agrees that they are doing something different but says that it seems to work and I agree absolutely, it complements the vocal really nicely and seems to give the song something it was missing. It seems to set up a missing space where the main line can jump into and announce itself really nicely. Max grooves the beat really nicely over the first verses and I know I am gonna have a great time singing over it. They play a very naughtly little bass and drums cheeky funk break over the second verse, something we worked on in a rehearsal ages ago, and this also adds some nice edge to the song which complements the feel and lyrics. Steve jumps in with another magic suggestion- that Vinz doubles some of the bass lines over the chorus an octave higher and then launches into a higher octave part over the outro choruse. Vinz plays a blinder, the outro ending up sounding a bit beatlesy which is no bad thing, and the doubled lines giving the song punch. I want as much punch in all the parts without it having to rely on the electric guitars and between the great bass parts, wikid drum groove and a jamming band it is certainly there!
Tuesday 28th November 2006
Today is a listening day! Voice tired after jet lag and the last two days live tracking and I couldn't really do it loud and proud anyway while tracking with the boys so looking forward to giving it a bit of time to rest now. First things first we look at the mixs of Jenny, Ship and Thin Bits. I did some great listening in a beat up old Suzuki Jimny jeep while careering around terrible roads in Fiji and it told me a lot about the mixes. In fact Steve's favourite jibe today is that he is going to have to buy a suzuki jimny to proof all his mixes in from now on (plus evil stare), his other phrase of the day is : ' what do you want now I'm trying to buy a house!' while I take my time to make decisions.
Jenny J: Spend the most time on this - it's time to clean it up and make space for all the instruments and to take out the mud. It sounded heavy and badly defined in the car. So we spend a while scooping out lower mids from the acoustic and electric guitars and focussing heavily on the electrics. We also take down the bass volume a little bit to free up some space for the other instruments. I want the detail to stand out more in the picking and double tracked electric guitar lines (see the first recording blog for more on these) so we scoop mid and boost treble and volume, until they are sitting just right. It is tricky as we have to make sure we don't drown out the voice, but get it working in a nice bed of elecky noise! I also want to bring out the lovely thud of the kick drum and it's depth alongside the bass so we throw a limiter over it to even out the level and detail. Allright time to move on!
Ship was sounding great in the jeep, which means that the treble is all working fine and the soundscape is not crowded. In fact we spend hardly any time on it at all, just listen a bit.
Thin Bits sounded ok in the jeep but I'm still not happy with the arrangement. I am worried that the electric guitars over the whole song are too dominant and walk all over it's original character. I also wonder if the distorted sound of the electrics and lazy playing takes away from the punch. We lower the bass volume to free up a bit of energy and it works well, giving more definition to everything else but not loosing the bass too much. Pity because Darren played an AWESOME track, but sacrifice is sometimes necessary and you can still hear it well, it just doesn't punch you in the face. Everything is sitting ok so we decide to leave it and I can make my mind up over time. Lunch time!
After lunch we get into some really heavy listening through the last two days' work. It is so important to get things right. Vinz and Max have been playing brilliantly and it is the first time I've gone for live bass and drum takes. There is also no point in going through all that hard work and not picking the right takes or edits to play over. I take a while working through each song. Easy Come Easy Go sounds great and the take we settled on has the best vibe. I take one lovely bit of spontaneity from Max's 1st drum take though and throw it in over the verse - it is a little cheeky feature in the kick and snare which will complement the vocal line really nice ('my heart goes boom boom boom, please slow down now man...'). Stir Crazy is working well but I spend time listening over all the alternative middle sections. Also fix a couple of edits in the drum and bass parts. I pick the new style as it will be a really nice change of dynamics. Clichés and Candlelight sounds luverly as it is. Spend a bit of time making the important playing edits to Top of The World using the 3rd take to cover up some mistakes we made. Drama Queen sounds brill as it is.
Where Has Your Light Gone sounds great as a bare track, but we take loads of time trying to shape and develop it a bit. Steve conjures up some more of his magic. I forgot to do some more work on the bass groove with Vinz and am feeling a bit uneasy. No matter - Steve wants to cut all the notes down so that they just work on the 1st beat of each bar and come in hard with the kick drum and guitar stab. This is a brilliant and naughty trick, and Steve informs me that it is basically the key to most of James Brown's awesome grooves - 'get everything happening on the 1 brother'! We argue and have a few headlocks for a while because I am as stubborn as a mule and don't want to edit so much out, but he is right in the end and the edits sound great. The guitar and voice will have a great time gliding over this groove. I think he is secretly quite excited by this song and it shows because he is already jibing me that it is going to need a great vocal (i.e. 'are you up to it homeboy, or shall I go buy a house?') We also take out the tom tom mics from the drum kit over the chorus groove and this focusses the sound really nicely, giving it a very modern 'hip hop' feel without having to resort to any eq's or compression. It is a good thing if you can avoid plug in's or processing by playing with mics and volume/balance because it keeps the sound pure. I remember observing a session once for a pop song which was going on a film soundtrack. Geoff Foster was due to mix it (chief engineer at Air Lyndhurst) and he requested that the engineer on the session used as many mics as possible for ambience and close miking options at the mixing stage. I think the guy used fifteen mics in the end or something! Ok, an intense but great day, I go home armed with some really exciting tracks to practice over.
Monday 11th December 2006
Bish bash bosh i've had an action packed week. Been sorting out electric guitar lines and sounds on my pod in my writing studio. Also had a massive time at an end of year gig I put on with The Scarves and Jayson Norris at The Spice. We sold the place out and had nice hour long sets to play and it was an awesome night. Me, Vinz and Max had a brilliant time. We knew the songs so well from all the studio time, it was like we had been studying really hard and intense for an exam and then breezing through it because the event is easier than the preparation. It was nice to let go and let rip, and we did. The year is winding down and i've got one week left in London to finish tracking before I go away for Christmas hols. The tiredness and pressure of the year are beginning to tell and I have a terrible few days in the studio. Today starts well enough - we start by focussing on the mixes of JJ, TB and SS and I try a load of different things. I am trying to make them sound 'bigger' and more single like, so we try bigger reverbs and touch ups. Also JJ is struggling for air a bit and the character of the song is suffering. The culprit is the heavy cymbal action, which we tone down in the mix, and too much electric guitars and not enough space. I learn an interesting lesson - by turning the guitars/crash cymbal down and creating a bit more space, turning the bass down actually makes it more clear! Awesome. We go for a heavier reverb on ship - I'm not sure but i'll sit with it for a while. I give TB a bit of a re-design. It had got too rock and distorted guitars, so I want to take out the electric guitars until the solo section and use the acoustic guitar takes to focus the song and build up. It works but sounds a bit bare. Also when the electric guitars come in for the solo break it is nuts massive suddenly which is a bit crazy but I like crazy. New arrangement feels a bit strange but probably because I'm used to the old one. Time to grab lunch and get recording.
I sit down to Drama Queen, and use a heavy metal pick to make Biloo (my baritone guitar) sound huge and energetic. It sounds really good - the thing about using metal picks is that you only have a couple of passes before the strings are knackered. Even after the first pass I have lost the g string and it is worn and dull. We get it on the 2nd take and it sounds good.
Then everything goes down hill and pretty much stays that way. I am knackered and wasted, but Steve points out that it is really the bad phone call I have just had that has screwed me over (business b*llocks, HQ and me are in a tight situation with a partnership that is not really working). He's right. I go through Stir Crazy four or five times and still can't get the part down. True, I have focussed too much on electric guitar parts over the last week and am not comfortable with the acoustic guitar parts which I thought would be natural to me (how wrong was that - everything changes in the studio). Mojo gone, mood gone. Steve suggests I go for a walk to clear my head. When he does that it means I am truly doing pants. We move on and look at electric guitars sounds for tomorrow and I go home. For the first time in my life I am dreading going back in to the studio tomorrow morning. I'm behind schedule, my budget is stretched and I'm feeling it hard. Supposed to be going to a gig but I fall apart, throw a mega 'toys everywhere' strop (quite funny in retrospect). Cancel gig plans and have a great dinner and go to the pub for a drink with a friend which sorts me out.
Tuesday 12th December
Today goes a bit better. Easy Come Easy Go goes ok, but it is difficult to get the acoustic part right under the microscope. I do what I think is a good couple of takes and we cut something together. Deep down I know that I'm just not there and will probably have to end up doing this all again. But I need to move and and make use of the time/money. Pressure pressure horrible horrible I need to run away. Go back to SC and get a good acoustic part done, well at least a better than yesterday part. Means I can move these songs on. Quick lunch and then onto Clichés and Candlelight. Try two types of acoustic part - one with tighter percussive stabs and an open one. I prefer the open one as it sits with the drums well and open is the way this song seems to be going. Spin through Top Of The World quickly and get down what I think is a good part. But I'm rushing, and not listening back heavily. My quality control is slipping and I can't even see it.
The day ends on Where Has Your Light Gone and at least something goes well. This is largely because Steve is pushing me to play hard and let rip, and I am so angry and frustrated that I have no problem doing this. It's hard work though, especially when I do a rocking take and think I have given it everything and Steve comes up with his customary, 'right, good but do it again and put some welly into it this time' line. WHAT!?!?!?!!? Never one to back down, I give it everything, knacker my strings, scratch my guitar, break my last bits of this years energy, and totally destroy my picking nails and fingers (one is hanging half off at the end of the take - battle scars ;) ). Go home feeling a bit better. Can I handle one last day tomorrow?
Wednesday 13th December 2006
Man I've had enough. My nose is bleeding every five minutes for no reason whatsover, I can't play proper, I am not doing anything right, and I don't even have the energy to write this blog anymore. We have an ok day - focus on getting great electric guitar tones for SC and ECEG. We try double tracking electric guitars on SC, using my beloved tele and one of Steve's Hybrids. A thinline tele with a neck humbucker, but an adapted pedal steel pickup at the bridge. Thinlines can sound great and mellow, but often too mellow and undefined. The pedal steel pickup seems to balance this and the guitar is shaping up to be a real beauty with Steve's alterations (it also has a lovely neck with beautiful inlays, which I think he pimped off a PRS number sometime back). But it's not quite ready yet and I find keeping it in tune difficult. I'm not sure about the double tracked sound either but will sit on it.
We get a great tone on ECEG, I have been rolling off the tone on my tele completely to go for a laid back jazzy/afrobeat sound which suits the line nicely. I have a double tracked melody line written for the guitar part, a dominant higher part with a low octave below to give it thickness. It's interesting though when we get it down in the studio through steve's great rig and amps. The tone is so full that there is no space for the lower octave line, which was sounding fine when played on my pod. There is nothing like high quality recording! It drives a point home though, I need to get a decent practice rig sorted and a great quality tube head. Everything changes at this resolution. Little details become huge details. I need to practice at the same resolution. The pod is a great sketch pad for ideas, but it doesn't quite match up to a proper rig for recording (and it shouldn't really, because it is a digital modeller, not a pure analogue rig. Two completely different animals). Getting the parts to groove is difficult and again I feel like they are usable takes but reckon deep down that I will probably not end up using them. This is all tough. Steve comes up with a ray of light though and has an idea for a lovely little second electric part on ECEG. Oh dear, this now means I have to credit him as a player on my record...... I'll never hear the end of that.
Lunch time and then I re-string Maribelle (my lovely Martin) for a fresh set in Nashville tuning and lay it over TOTW. There are lots of layers now and it is sounding lush, but I'm really gonna have to take it apart and get to know the core so as not to lose it. Then I bosh through drama queen with Maribelle and end the year on a nice high. She is sounding great through steve's magic rig and gives something beautiful to Drama Queen - an awesome layer and this song is sounding bish bash bosh without even one electric guitar on it so far. As Vinz would say: 'It's a beautiful thing'. A nice end to a briliant, but tricky and difficult year. I'm behind schedule, tired, worn out and without direction. The usual end of year stuff. But somehow it all feels ok........ A great friend of mine is coming in to NMP this afternoon do some work on his album (Pete Duddles from Via Satellite myspace.com/viasatelliteuk). It's so nice to see him and refresing to hear how well his album is going (and hear it!). Some hugs, a good cup of tea and a nosebleed later I go home and forget about it all. I'm on a plane the day after tomorrow to spend time with my family and chill on a beach and remember what sunlight, truth and beauty are.
Is it a good day at the office when you spend all day concentrating on two parts and finally get them? Considering they were parts that I had really big problems with before the end of Christmas I suppose I have to say 'job done' and smile although to spend a whole day on two rhythm guitar parts seems like a lot of time!
I've come back from holiday reeling a bit from the fact that I lost my head at the end of last year. It is all about getting back into the zone now and I've been practising and working on simple things like posture and scales etc. Sounds and is a bit dull but it really has helped. It's nice to see Steve and NMP again and as usual it feels like I was here yesterday. Kate from KKN Records is in today to watch (Kate is helping me with the 'get my record out there' masterplan) and remarks that it is surprising how much the little details matter and how much time we spend paying attention to them and going over them. The fact is they really do and recording can be a very 'step by step' or tedious process as a result. Getting it right isn't necessarily as glamorous as it could be perceived. We are working on the acoustic guitar parts to Stir Crazy and Easy Come Easy Go. I just couldn't get them down with the right vibe last year.
After the first few takes of Easy Come Easy Go it's obvious I'm gonna be on this for the long haul and I take a few depths and accept that it's just going to take however long it takes. It's ok, I've got my England Rugby Beanie and my artic slippers on so I feel comfortable (and look very stupid)! It's a balance between getting a take that sounds too ragged at the front or that develops nicely as the song goes. After three hours I finally get a group of acceptable takes. I am resigned to the fact that I won't get this in 'one golden take' either like on the other songs last year. Accepting these facts makes it much easier! We spend time comping the best takes together and break for lunch.
Stir Crazy is much the same a tough one to get right. It's tricky to get it properly in time and to get the fiddly middle eight bit right while putting some emotion into it. It takes a long time and I even manage to pull a great one on Steve because I just can't get my playing together on some of the takes. He is making a hybrid guitar out of parts of other guitars (in fact the one of the guitars I used to track electric on stir crazy last year no longer 'exists'). I catch him beautifully red handed as I break down in the middle of one take. I say 'yeah let's stop it there and start again' and when nothing happens turn around to see Steve hilariously grabbing on to the neck he has just glued on to a guitar body. The glueing process should take roughly four minutes (the length of one take), and he thinks he has timed it perfectly. But when I stop one minute into the take he gives me a look and I laugh knowing I have pulled a proper one on him for a change! Guitar neck put down, rewind and we start again. It's suddenly five thirty and we have just managed to finish comping a part for Stir Crazy. I go home thinking 'well at least we've got over those parts' and feel frustrated but satisfied.
Wednesday 10th
What am I doing here I'm so tired and I've been talking all day?????!!!!!!! We have put some deals in place and certain people need to hear the rough mixes so I have sneaked in a vocal session to finish the roughs of Easy Come, Stir Crazy, Clichés, Top Of The World, Where Has Your Light Gone and Drama Queen. The bad news is I sound terrible and feel pretty rotten. For some reason I've got a ringing in my left ear and I don't know what caused it and it is bothering me. My voice sounds closed and tired and tight. Despite all this I actually go in to the session optimistic that I still will get the job done but Steve packs me off saying it just doesn't sound any good and we reschedule for Friday. The good news is we find a great new mic setup! I have been wanting to try Steve's MXL 2001 having heard it on someone else's voice and it was luverrrly. It is supposed to sound similair to a Neuman U87 (a classic and historic mic) which has an unmatched pedigree but I usually feel this Neuman is too muddy for my voice. But having heard this MXL on someone else I want to try it. It works a real treat with Steve's vintage Neve pre amp patch on the Liquid Channel. I sound like me!!!!! Yipppeeee! Or at least I sound like I think I should sound. It is deep and has presence but also has a very sparkly and lively character. It is doing the job that I thought his V67 would do (the one that is supposed to sound like an AKG C12 - it sounded great but was too lacking in low end and dynamics, it was too smooth). So I go home feeling good that we've at least found the right mic set up to use.
Friday 12th
Steve packed me off on Wednesday and told me to go get some rest or there was no point coming back today. I suppose it's true. The thing I don't do right is give myself time off. I just want to work hard all the time and get everything right, but when playing and singing are such physical activities I always overlook the fact that with me, healthy body, equals healthy playing/singing, equals good sound and good takes! So I promise I'm going to rest more. I took Thursday morning off, and most of today so I am ready to dig in and get the right takes. We get to work and plough through everything taking the attitude that we should go for acceptable takes and get through all we need to do instead of spending all our time getting one or two golden takes. I love this attitude - I never realise it at the time but it always makes me take pressure off myself and I always end up with better stuff than I think I do. It's too much to go into details, let's just say we spend a good three hours recording and get some good takes. In fact one or two (especially Drama Queen and Where Has Your Light Gone) could be the final keepers. I'm happy, I'm off on a rebel stag do this weekend and I can now relax knowing that the rough mixes are ready for my meeting on Monday. The biggest problem today is Easy Come Easy Go. Just like Superbug was, it is a groove like no other I've tried before and that means I am not used to relaxing into the vocal delivery. It takes a different feel and one I haven't got yet. I can't get the choruses sounding right. As well as not being used to the song, the backing track feels slightly off and I decide to have another look at the acoustic guitar takes, especially on the choruses. Something is not sitting right. This is obvious to me when I find it easier to sing over the second chorus than the first. Right, I've got to get home, have a beer and get my sleep in for some stag do fun.
Tuesday 16th January
Well the rebel stag do was good fun and I had a pretty good run at go-karting (it was damn good fun)! I was quite surprised to find myself second in the final until I behaved like an absolute mong and spun and got lapped. I ended up fifth which is pretty good considering... It was great to see my mates and have no mission but to have a good time and catch up proper and drink beer and feast proper. It was nice to forget everything and get out of London. I love London to bits but if you don't get away sometimes it eats you.
I'm in today to concentrate on electric guitar parts but we revisit the old mixes first. I need to re-shape jenny j completely. I have been getting in so many opinions and am so confused over what to do. Feedback is so important but you also have to know how to handle it. E.g. when someone says 'there's too much going on or there are too many electric guitars', what they may really may mean is 'this track is too fast'. So I have learned to always approach feedback from a certain angle and to try and understand what people are really getting at. But you know it doesn't mean that if someone says 'that's utter bollocks', that it isn't...
Anyway, I want to sit the electric guitars further back in the track and try a few different edits. We EQ'd the rhythm electric so bright that now it is too dominant, so I let that go and we arrive at a more natural and warm sound with a bit less definition which works well. We also lower it in the track. Then we cut out the electric guitars until the first bridge and this has a huge impact. I have learned and thought so much about electric guitars and tones recently that I sometimes lose sight of where my songs come from and how I originally imagined and wrote a lot of them, and how the arrangements should be. That is, on an acoustic guitar but with driving rhythm from bass and drums, with electrics over the top to add layers. That's how the songs that I have written so far are best suited. So, bearing this in mind, stripping down Jenny J to acoustic guitars and drums and bass until the first bridge works really well and helps the vocal shine more.
We hit Thin Bits with the aim of making the vocal more clear as all the processing has robbed it of some of it's conviction and delivery. We put less reverb on the voice and spread the acoustic guitars a bit wider as well in the mix. And we move the snare drum much more off centre too. Doing these tweaks has an awesome affect. The track feels so alive! The output compressor is now hitting the track and voice differently and it sounds really vibrant. And it is amazing the impact it has on the song. Many people are now saying it's their favourite song and it is all because of these tiny tweaks! Hard to take in.
We raise the vocal level by 1.5 decibels on Ship is Sinking and this changes the song too with the anticipated effect. I wanted the vocal to be clearer in the mix and felt it was too far back. But now I don't like the results as the music is not exciting. Listen to the original edition of Free's 'Fire and Water' album and you will hear what I mean. The vocal (and a really great vocal it is) is so far down in the mix for many of the songs, but that makes them all so vibrant as the brilliantly played guitars, bass and drums really shine through, and you can hear enough of the vocal to carry the song just lovely. What's more, the vocal is really free in level, so when it rises and dips you can really hear it and this has a beautiful effect. The vocal is used as an instrument on par with everything else. You wouldn't hear anything mixed like that now (I dare you to find me something like that) and it is a shame. So, the ouput compressor is hitting the mix differently and letting the voice dominate completely. Am I going to be strong enough and go for what I want in my heart and tuck the vocal in when it comes to mixdown or am I going to stay with the 'rational' call of how I think a single should sound. But that's all tripe isn't it. As long as a song sounds good it can be a single however the vocal is mixed.... N'est-ce pas?
So I feel positive getting Cassie (my beautiful red Fender Telecaster) out as things are sounding so good. We've got a lot to do but I have taken the pressure off myself today. Just trying to relax and play good. Whatever happens happens.
And you know what .. it turns out that nothing I do today afternoon will be used in the final mixes (I'm adding this note looking back now)... I think so hard about what and how I am playing that I take my mind off the 'tone' ball and hearing what I've done later know that most of it will not do. Really what today amounts to is a development day, honing the lines and parts for another time. And these days are valuable. You can practice as much as you like at home, but I feel that until now nothing has prepared me for the intensity and differences in sound detail in the studio. You need to practice in this environment as well. And Steve's pricing at NMP is so good for us unsigned artists, that you can afford to relax and do this sometimes without thinking that you are wasting a fortune. And this leads to better records..
Another valuable part of the day is looking at the acoustic guitar parts on Easy Come Easy Go and getting it to groove better. We end up doing something quite naughty and copying the second chorus over to the first as it has a lovely feel. And it just about sits too!!! Time to go home. Not so much 'completed' today but I feel good that we are moving forward. I've got some time to practice guitaring and singing now and look forward to it.
Monday 5th February
Well you know what I'm really looking forward to this week and feeling quite peaceful too which is a change. I've had a great time over the last two weeks, the highlight of which was attending and singing during two of my best friends wedding ceremony! Yup, during the ceremony itself, I was so honoured when they asked me to do it and it is definitely up there with the most nervous I have ever been playing live anywhere. It was such a beautiful moment watching them get married, and the evening that followed was simply awesome.
It is the last big week of recording before I have to hit deadlines. The album has to be finished and mixed in 2/3 weeks time and the studio is busy so I've only got one or two days bagsied in the next two weeks. This week I have today's full day session, tomorrow's evening session, Wednesday's half day, Thursday's evening session and Friday's full day. It may be just enough time but we'll have to work well and not get bogged down. I can't agonise over decisions anymore and I think this is probably a good thing and will help me make some good calls.
I've spent a week practicing my electric lines on Cassie (my beautiful red Fender Telecaster) and I feel that we've really bonded which is a nice feeling. I have been mucking around with different strap positions to help my left hand get around the fret board. The guitar is thin and the neck is a tiny bit small for me so I always have a hard time getting in the right comfort zone to play it. With the strap tight and the guitar riding high on my body I have no problem making the trickiest of moves with my left hand, but my right hand is higher and less relaxed than usual. I'm wondering what is more important, the left or right hand? And what is gonna sound better? I know that it will be more precise like this, but will the feeling in my playing be the same? I've been playing more precisely but with less 'emotion' as a result of practicing like this. Is the position affecting my feel? I would always give more importance to feel than precision. We'll see. Without trying you never know eh?
It's great to go back in to NMP and see Steve, Tonia and Neo. I've had a good but heavy weekend between work, watching rugby (yes I'm a happy man, the 2007 Six Nations tournament has kicked off and that means three great matches to watch every weekend) and a great night out, but I've slept well and feel relieved to be here.
The day is an interesting one. We end up using hardly any of the new guitar lines. All that time I've put into practice and getting it right, only to track it and compare it with previous takes and think that they are better. So what, if that helps the decision making process that is ok with me!
We start on drama queen and I don't even bother plugging in. What I played in two weeks ago is fine... It's ready for mixing. I can't help thinking something is missing though... Some weight or an instrument in the midrange. But I didn't like the previous recording of drama queen because it was to slow and heavy. Chill. We'll have to wait and see.
We move on to 'Where Has Your Light Gone'. This is a tricky part to play. We are quick to find a really good tone with my compressor pedal and steve's amp. Although the partnership of my guitar and his new speaker cabinet is giving me a slight problem in the form of resonance, which I think is inherent in my guitar as well as the cabinet. The aim of his new cabinet is to give a really big punchy, and boxy sound. But boxy and certain tones with my guitar don't seem to work so well.
His five watt Rock Of London amp sounds pretty fine (I've got one on order) and we slot in my trusty MXR eq pedal to dial out the resonance. It works. My fingers aren't working at this time in the morning though. Bad excuse but it's a fact. So after a few takes we move on. I make a great mistake in chucking the first take away and thinking it will get better. It only got worse and it was probably the right take to use! Doh.
Not happening, we move on to 'Easy Come Easy Go'. Again we can't get my guitar working properly, or at least better than the original line from a few weeks ago. That is ok though, after mucking around with different compression and tone settings we conclude that the original line sounds and works just right. We have a look at the mix and balance the guitars to check and yup it is all swinging nice. We might have to nudge a few bars here and there but that will be ok. So feel is probably more important than precision in this case.
Onwards! We slot some piano into Clich..s and Candlelight. My friend and extremely talented musician James Barclay has been working on a piano line for me and it is a real beauty. We recorded it via a midi piano at his studio and it slots in well at NMP today. Steve has a great 'virtual' piano (a piano software plug in) in the form of 'Ivory' and after choosing between a few different sampled pianos and playing with the attack and velocity settings we have it playing right. I would have liked to get a real piano in on the action but time and budget doesn't allow. Time for lunch!!!!!!!
After lunch (a nice bit of pizza and avocado salad courtesy of Chef Honest) and a little time cooing/chatting with Neo and his little friend we get back into it. We spend some time on a guitar solo for Clich..s, getting the tone right for a 'messy' but intense sound. Steve brings out a favourite secret weapon in the form of his Robert Keeley 'Java Boost' pedal. It works to boost certain frequencies of the guitar (depending on what setting you choose) and adds some really nice bite/drive to the whole signal. We slip in a digital delay pedal and get to work. The boxy sound from the cabinet is working a treat. I worry that the tone is a bit too 'Stadium rock' guitar like, but I've learned to trust Steve on these calls and he is usually right. What matters is that you set up an expressive tone that carries your feeling across for the line you are playing. It doesn't matter how or if the sound is stereotyped, because your feel will come through. I wish I could have got my hands on a really nice analogue delay pedal for a slightly smoother and more old school tone but I didn't have time to find the right one. We get what seems to be a good take, but I'm not sure. I'm not happy with my playing today and I can't tell if I'm being too picky or not. Leave it to simmer.
We move on to Stir Crazy. I wanted to re-do the old electric lines, but we haven't managed to find the right sound/playing combo and the old lines sound better. We clean up the middle section and move on.
Time to hit Where Has Your Light Gone again. We leave the boost pedal in this time and it is giving really nice and much edgier tone. Also up the compression and attack to really bring in a balance between playing hard and having a consistent sound level. It works and we get an ok part, but I am worried the attack on the compressor is too heavy and obvious and my playing is too poor. Time to sit with it and move on. There are only two guitar parts (Clich..s and Light Gone) that I am not sure about now and I have enough time until the end of the week to get them right.
Time for a cup of tea!!!!! We have a chat and watch some clips from my 'Standing on The Shoulders Of Motown' video. There is some great stuff on there!
Back upstairs we play with some of the older mixes. I am trying to find a balance for the vocal on Ship Is Sinking, it sounds great increased in volume over the end section, but for me it doesn't work over the beginning. So we go halfway and keep it up over the end section and have a look at the beginning. Steve suggests we try opening up the compressor threshold setting but keeping the voice at the original volume. It sounds ok, but the voice jumps around more which I think I like. Steve is not convinced and would rather reign it in, but I want live with it for a while.
Jenny J is shaping up nice with the new guitar edits, but the drums are sounding a bit too heavy and pounding now, the song sounding too fast as a result. I want to look at the snare drum sound but Steve suggests we start by eq'ing out the low end of the kit a little (mainly affecting the kick drum and snare). It works really nicely, and then we change the bias of the snare drum mics to favour the top of the drum more, which gives a more 'expressive' and splashy sound. The downside is that you loose the definition of the hit and a really nice cut through the mix. I think it will suit the song though, as the drums should be prominent but not take over.
Last job of the day .. we have hardly spent any time on 'Top Of the World' since we recorded it and I need to get it in shape for singing over tomorrow. We play with the guitar balances. My Baritone acoustic and Martin in Nashville tuning are sounding so nice as a combo!!!!! It's gorgeous to listen too. We bring in both electric parts and something is wrong. One of them is really nice and lush but the other is too cutting and slightly out of tune, which ruins the feel of the track... Time to re do this part! And this is the nicest time of the day for me. After all the heavy and intricate playing and forward guitar tones, we dial in something really lush and strummy and I get to sit back and relax while I play it in... The tone is sounding so lovely and smooth, It's a joy to hear. We layer it over the choruses to give them some impact and I then play all the way out. Sweet, nice, time to go home.
Tuesday 6th February
Woah, starting to feel the pressure a bit and a bit stressed. I'm in for an evening session to do some singing and try and tie up the loose vocal ends. Steve is extremely chirpy and this is very annoying. Whateva, there is actually a really nice vibe in the room as we chat and I warm up my vocal chords. I've got to know Steve quite well over the last couple of years and this gives me a false sense of security and puts me in potentially 'open to tearing apart jibe's situations'. Basically he throws in a cracker. I'm doing my aaaaahs and ooooohs and we are chatting about amps and equipment. 'Can you stop making that unfortunate noise'. You had to be there, it was funny, I had to seriously had to try hard not to kick him in the bollocks. We wouldn't want Neo to have a father with no bollocks now would we.
So I'm feeling lots of pressure but try and forget about it. It's the last few hurdles and I have to deliver, but whatever happens happens, just try to give it my best. Basically I work my ass off, and I don't realise it at the time but it pays off. We start on Easy Come Easy Go... This is my bogey track, the one I haven't been able to get hold of vocally, and with people marking it out as potentially one of the best tracks on the cd I am feeling nervous that I won't do the vocal take justice. We have got a great sound now with Steve's cheap but brilliant MXL 2001 mic and vintage Neve Preamp model on the liquid channel. Now it's about me trying to get the right mic technique and sound from my voice. Usually my songs are quite linear .. i.e. either soft or loud, so I can just get up to the mic, steve can set the level and we're off. But this one has a lot of loud/soft dynamics and different tones, so I am going to have to be careful and make sure I move off the mic slightly in the louder bits. Otherwise I will overload the signal and it will distort and/or compress to heavily. I could do without having to think about this stuff but that's just the way it is. I'm getting really good tones from my voice but I'm not sure about the delivery. Anyway we crack on.
On Top Of the World is next. The best recording I have ever got of this song is on the first demo of it I did with my old band. Recorded through the world's worst mic straight into my old laptop with no fancy preamps or signal path. It was magic! I have never got close since with other versions so am feeling worried again. Anyway, I stop worrying and let rip and learn a lesson. You are yourself, and you sound like yourself. Sometimes yourself sounds slightly different, but you can always come back to it naturally if you don't think about it too hard. And it comes back to me today. I let go 'Liam style' and just paste the mic with the most honest and direct delivery I can give it. It works. The trickiest bit is getting the beginning of the song in tune as I sing it with no backing. The first two takes sound hilariously bad as I am obviously out when the track comes in. But luckily the third take is spot on. My sound is old school and pure again. We have three good takes down and I think it will be there with a bit of unlocking/comping.
Right onto another difficult one. Where Has Your Light Gone. This is going to take some effort, but I have nothing to lose and it is the last song of the day so I'm going to give it everything I have. We blast through two takes and I'm knackered. I think they are good. We do one more to cover our bases and it is raw. I don't realise it at the time but it is possibly one of my best ever vocal takes. I unconsciously relax into it and because I'm tired but still trying to give it everything I get a really awesome delivery down. The first two takes later turn out to be too 'on it' and a bit rushed. I don't realise it at the time but this take is a real corker.
I come out of the vocal booth tired and sweaty and feeling spent. Steve tells me to stop being a moaning premadonna. So I try not to kick him in the bollocks again. One more thing to do today: the guitar part for Where Has Your Light Gone. All my mucking around with guitar positions and playing styles has sterilised my playing a bit and it feels to formal. I've made a conclusion in the last few days. However comfortable or versatile you want to be with your left hand, however quick or amazing you want to play, if you don't have it in your right hand it all means nothing. And by 'it' I mean rhythm and feel. So I have concentrated on making my right hand loose and comfortable again. My strap has been loosened, the guitar hangs lower, and I can really attack the strings again. My left hand is feeling a bit more awkward and sometimes in a bit of pain (I've got to sort this out when I get a break). But the playing is there, or at least the feel is.
Steve throws one over me today which turns out to be a great call on his part. We set up the tone and he keeps turning to me and saying 'this is a great tone isn't it?'. It does sound good indeed and the resonance is not so much of a problem today. I will find out whay tomorrow. Without telling me, Steve has rolled off the lower frequencies of the signal before it hits the cabinet. Apparently he figured out that the resonances were being caused by the lower frequencies mucking with the sounds of the box a bit and causing the higher frequency resonance. Whatever, it works. He has taken a chance with me though because he knows how picky I am about setting up sound and how involved I like to be, and how prone I can be to throwing my toys. But he's got balls (it's a good thing I didn't kick them) and has made a great call. It is an awesome, old shool tone which fits lovely over the whole track. It's gonna sound great on small speakers as it is really 'toppy' and will stick. For some reason it reminds me of the 'Good Morning Vietnam' soundtrack. It's a classic tone.
So we do a couple of takes and I think we have enough to get a comp from. I am very critical of myself at the moment and am really unhappy with my guitar playing. I think I've 'lost it' and can't get the feel or precision anymore. I realise later that this is ok. I've got to a good place generally, where my playing is actually better than I think it is. This means that I am always getting decent takes but am always wanting them to be better. The old sports analogy: A good team is one that can win when it plays badly. It's late. I go home looking forward to a 'Shish Taouk' takeaway sandwich from Ranoush and a couple of beers... And maybe some ice cream too.
Wednesday 7th February
Late last night, early-ish this morning. Although Steve has now learnt that I am always exactly half an hour late in the mornings. Consistency at the highest level, that's what I'm trying to achieve here.
I'm not happy to be in today. I've lost my mojo. It's somewhere on the floor with my confidence. Anyway, push on, keep on keepin' on. Steve is in another good mood today. This is extremely irritating, again. Neo is in good form at the moment, it has been a really nice experience to watch him grow from nothing.
We've got lots of editing jobs to do today. I'm unhappy with the way the Ship Is Sinking mix is sounding, so we tweak it a bit, raising the voice and playing with compressor levels. Steve raises the output on the compressor over my voice, which does a lot for the voice but seems to take away some feel for me in the track. I think I've got a problem in that I'm too attached to the mix we did before Christmas even though it might not be the right one to go with.... I'm lost.
Time to get out Cassie again. We discuss yesterdays electric guitar tone and how good it was for Where Has Your Light Gone. He tells me what he did without telling me (rolling off a lot of the bass to get rid of the resonance). I smile, and understand why he was asking me so much if I liked the tone, he wanted to make sure it was ok! Well done, he took a chance and it paid off for both of us. It's time to focus on the end of the song and get it happening. Again I'm not happy with my guitar playing. I throw in a melody line to go over the bass riff. It's a hook which used to happen all through the song. It was the dominant feature of the song before we began jamming to record it. It has changed a lot since, we have basically stripped it down to nothing but a basic groove with no hook lines, no nothing. It works well. Less is more where a groove is concerned. But it's interesting to see how the song has developed. When you listen to it, imagine the guitar riff over the end going on at the beginning and you'll have an idea of how it started in my head. Steve has to stop me playing in the same line again and again, he says it is fine and will do. I just don't know anymore.
Before lunch we settle into one important job. I have to edit together a vocal line for Easy Come Easy Go, which we recorded yesterday. It goes ok, and something nice comes together after a good hour's worth of editing. It's weird though, somehow I know it's still not good enough. It sounds more like an exploratory take than a complete one. It feels like I was still learning how to sing the song while recording it. I can hear this in particular places where I still haven't managed to groove the vocal properly over the music. So it's a case of 'nearly' again. Time is running out, will I manage to get the right vocal take down? Anyway, forget it, it's time to eat.
After lunch we slow things down and work on Clich..s and Candlelight. My friend Jamie has done a gorgeous piano arrangement and we load it into the song and get it working. We recorded it at Jamie's studio on a midi piano with a 'virtual' piano in Logic Pro (basically it's a pretend piano that the computer synthesises. You play in notes via a midi keyboard). Steve has a different program called 'Ivory' which sounds great and very realistic. But of course it doesn't respond in the same way as the virtual piano we played the line in on. So me and Steve have to spend time tweaking the sound and the way the 'Ivory' plays. We get it going on though. This song is shaping up nicely. While working Steve remarks what a good vocal this is 'even for you'. It gets me thinking.. yeah it is sounding nice. Wow, never realised this take we did on that stressed day ages ago could be the one we settle with.
Last job of the day is to edit together a vocal for Top Of The World. I listen through to the three takes we did yesterday and am happy. They sound committed and passionate, and luckily the third take gives us the tricky intro to the song. There are some problem points, but nothing more than usual. We manage to edit something solid together, and from the majority of one take, so I'm happy that the one take feel is almost there (close enough)!
My mate Pete from Via Satellite is in again to work on his album. He pops up while we are finishing this last comp on Top Of The World. He has a listen and is really positive which makes me feel very relieved. I am too close to the whole project now and have lost perspective. It's good to see such a positive reaction from someone else. It's also very nice to make the tea and sit in on some of Pete's session from the comfort of the studio couch. It makes me feel good to be here and enjoy myself while not thinking about my own stuff. Via Satellite's album is coming together nicely.. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy.
Steve gives me a firm kick out of the door and tells me not to come back. I'm down but not out, looking forward to going home and getting some rest in. I bump into Ben from The Bad Robots on the way out. It's good to see him. He has been back home to Australia for a month and looks really refreshed and has a load of good energy for his music on display. It's nice to feel that positivity.
Thursday 8th February
I am still completely nailed from Tuesday's vocal session. My voice is pretty shredded. For me it's unusual to feel such a vicious impact on my voice, especially because I slept ok yesterday, but at the same time I think I really gave it my all and a bit more on Tuesday night. I think this whole recording thing is catching up with me as well.
IT SNOWED THIS MORNING! It was really nice to hear the excited young voices that accompany flying snowballs while I was waking up - I live in the basement and sleep near a window so it was pretty easy to hear.. It's cool though, I like this kind of noise sometimes.. I remember coming back from New Zealand and pleasantly falling asleep to the noise of taxis driving around the streets outside.. Can you believe it, I actually missed the sound of London taxi cabs!?
The two big jobs of the evening are editing the vocals on Where Has Your Light Gone and Easy Come Easy Go. Easy Come Easy Go is a nightmare! As I listen back, it still feels like I'm getting to know the song and how to sing it.. How am I gonna get this done in time?!?!? The takes from Tuesday are good, but it still feels like I'm not quite in the pocket. The tone of my voice is really warm and open, and I am flowing well with the music, but it feels like I am overdoing my delivery in some parts and not quite linking in with the hi hat rhythms in others... I've never recorded a song like this before and I've had to learn how to deliver vocals differently for it, looking for expression and groove in the way I pronounce words and the way they jam with the hi hat and snare rhythms which swing back and forth a lot. This one is not about gung-ho and huge dynamics. It's certainly upbeat but needs a smoother touch. The choruses are particularly difficult to get right and I'm having a hard time getting the dynamics right between loud and soft singing ... We pull something together that I know I am not completely happy with but will do for the final edits if that is all we can get...
Onto Where Has Your Light Gone. Something pretty groovy has happened. While I was singing on Tuesday I thought I gave the first two takes everything I had energy wise and thought they were right on the money. We did the third take to cover ourselves in case we had to fill holes. My voice was also a bit shredded by that time. I relaxed into it and gave it the rest of everything I had thinking that we'd never use it. If you listen close there's even a visceral howl at one point when I am angry at myself because I thought I was singing badly.... It's a beautiful thing: listening back today it is spot on!!!!! What we got was a completely committed and on the edge take. The first two takes turn out to be too energetic and a bit too sharp in timing, slightly ahead even. This third take has a great feel to it, like I'm about to fall off the edge at any time but never quite do. There are a few issues with it, but after listening through we decide to be ballsy about it and go with the whole take. Yup, absolutely everything from start to finish.. no edits.. nice. I'm glad, because I believe so strongly in the message behind this song, and getting it in one take can only help that come across.
That leaves us with a bit of time. We decide to do a couple of 'final' vocal takes for Easy Come Easy Go. If we get something, great, if not, so what, we've had a go. This is the last bit of lead vocals we are going to record during this project. Fourty minutes to get it done, that leaves me twenty to warm up and consume my secret weapon (my secret weapon is organic pear juice, I always drink it while warming up before gigs it is wikid for energy.. yes I am COMPLETELY rock and roll). I also have to endure Steve's customary vocal warm up jibes ('is that my fire alarm?'... 'My kid sounds bette than that')... it's late, my voice is tired and I wanna go home. BUT, there is no pressure. And when the pressure is off good things happen. My voice is a bit weathered and more closed and than Tuesday but there is a great feel coming down. I know that it's right because when we listen back the vocal sounds 'mixed' already. This means that the tone is right, the expression and timing is right, and that the delivery is right. Of course i'm still not sure about it though. I preferred the quality of my voice on Tuesday's takes and feel that it would suit the track more when it comes to mixing.. We'll just have to wait and see.. This definitely is not a one-take song. And it is definitely time to go home and get rest before tomorrow's all day session. Steve rudely kicks me out as usual, tells me not to come back, and I'm off driving down Embankment again.
Friday 9th February
It’s time to start mixing the rest of the tracks. I arrive thinking that I will be able to relax, enjoy Steve’s company (actually that is probably impossible) and enjoy mixing. I feel dizzy and funny in the head. I’m definitely starting to feel a deeper and growing tiredness that I know nothing but a good rest will fix. But time for that will hopefully come later.
We hit Stir Crazy. I’m determined to stay true to the recording process and the beautiful sounds and great takes that we captured. Organic may be the right way to describe it. I’ve decided that the best way to get the feel of the band and me across is to stay close to how it came down when we were doing it. We start to process things and I stick and relax. Steve is eq’ing and compressing things and I sit back and watch/listen. It seems like we are working through it well but I can’t help feeling a current of panic underneath. Things seem slightly ‘flattened’ by the processing. But I think to myself ‘that’s ok it’s what has to be done to the mix’… It’s one thing to hear it lively on studio monitors and love it, but when it is lively in the studio then out of the studio it might be completely out of control. But still I can’t help feeling uncomfortable. We like to spend blocks of roughly 2 hours on each mix and then move on, so we hit clichés and candlelight. We spend a lot of time in our usual but necessary tug of war – too much bass steve, too much kick… I rarely give Steve a chance to get things done before I comment and I need to give him a bit more space. Still, I think I’m right though, as things get processed to sound more ‘present’ and ‘big’ sometimes they need turning down. Clichés is a delicate track and I want to keep it like that. We spend a while looking at different bass sounds and pushing it to a very retro and mellow/plucky feel. It doesn’t sit right though and we go the other way and focus it on sounding strong and deep. It ends up sitting like this with the kick drum really nicely. We then spend some more time on the piano notes and getting it to play ‘right’. Some of the timing is a bit loose when the piano comes in with the high notes, and I like this. So me and Steve begin to have another tug of war about tightening it up. We stop fighting about it eventually and go for lunch.
We end the day by hitting The Queen, she sounds good and boshing and the drums/groove sound great. Steve puts a Bootsy Collins wah style effect on the bass (long live Bootsy!!!) and it sounds awesome but we have a good tangle about how much to bring it in. ‘That’s just not organic enough’ I say… ‘Meeeeeuuuw meeeeeuuuwww meeeeeeuuuwwwww, piss off’ he says… He takes great delight in kicking me out today.
I go home looking forward to a night out grabbing a Chinese meal with some friends and getting some beer in and then chilling out and watching the rugby tomorrow (a Saturday free of music/studio time, that is unusual!). When I get back and listen to the mixes though and it all goes completely pear shaped. Stir Crazy sounds limp and I the red mist descends over me. I start throwing my toys. It feels like we’ve killed it completely, taken the passion out of it, sucked it’s life, processed it to bollocks. I’m angry and frustrated and have a huge argument with anyone who dares come near me, especially if they dare to offer the same opinion that I know is forming deep down inside me… I am angry. It sounds bollocks.
Funnily enough Steve calls me and let’s me know a slot has opened up tomorrow – someone has cancelled and do I want it? I say no, I need some rest and space from the music. After a bit of time stewing I decide to stop being a pansy. Of course I need the session. I call him back on the way out for dins. Yes please mate see you tomorrow. We are running out of time and don’t have the luxury of spending time getting things right. As well as me having a diminishing budget and our own deadlines looming over my head, the studio is closing down in a few weeks as Steve is taking a job at another studio for a while. It’s getting tight. That means work on a Saturday… again… that means missing the rugby…. again….. that means having no time away from the mixes…again. I am indeed beginning to go Stir Crazy.
Saturday 10th February
Last night was cool. It was good to sit back and relax with friends. It was T Ridge’s birthday and we had a nice Chinese and plenty of Tsing Tao beer. It was a shame to say bye before they hit the club though, but I needed fresh ears for today. I’m annoyed I won’t be able to watch the rugby.
Steve is gobbling a couple of fried eggs and we have a heart to heart chat about the mixes. I tell him that I am very afraid that it is all sounding terrible and that we have to inject the dynamics and energy back into it. As usual he is pretty calm and takes it all in without commenting too much and we go upstairs and get to it. Neo is downstairs in his mini tv chair babbling at the teletubbies… maybe we should get him in to do some backing vocals.
We hit the mix of Stir Crazy and try to get the energy back, but I am still being stubborn and trying to keep everything fresh and unprocessed. We spend a couple of hours tinkering and it’s not working. Onto Top Of the World and the same things happens. Steve is playing a clever card though. All morning he drops hints that it would be good for me to sit in and watch someone mix a chart single to see how they process and use sounds. He’s asking me questions like ‘do you have a plan?’ and ‘what audience do you want to sell this to?’ What is he getting at? I find out later that it is Steve’s gentle way of saying I need some more experience of how it’s really done at the cutting edge so I can be bold in my attitude towards mixing the tracks. The point is I very rarely have a ‘plan’ except to define sounds on the way in and get brilliant performances down. I like to react to things at the mixing stage rather than direct them boldly in one way or the other. I like to think that if the sounds and performances are there at the recording stage, then the track should mix itself. I think this is true to a certain extent, but I am about to find out there is more to it.
Steve puts the new Mica cd on to listen to as a reference to something recent. It’s interesting how they push the tones of the kick drum and other featured instruments. It is really forward, defined and in your face. Very ‘separate’ and very aggressive, without sticking out like a sore thumb. A mile away from the way I am treating these mixes. We also have a listen to Hanson’s ‘Umm Bop’ (yes you can take the piss but you can’t take away from the fact that the mix sounds great and it was a huge radio hit. With both Lord Alge’s in the producing chair you can hear a stunning piece of mixing for radio). It sounds great and ‘straight off the radio’.
Steve has been gradually wearing me down, letting me make my own mistakes. He knows how stubborn minded I am and I have to see for myself and get it wrong by myself. We’re well into the morning now and time pressure is mounting. So with a bit of a quivering lower lip and toy throwing demeanour (I’m feeling pretty damn upset at this point) I give in – I let Steve take control and go for it. I’ve run out of time and ideas. Steve reckons we are not in a bad position though, he has been creeping in this direction with the mixes, but I haven’t been letting him go the whole way. I’ve been reigning it in too much. He explains that it’s all about stages of mixing and processing and we are about half way there.
My main issue is about compressing everything and making it sound flat and lifeless like so many other terrible sounding lifeless pop sheeny records which come out all the time at the moment. But Steve’s point is that you can compress things in the right way… I sit back and learn an interesting lesson. Steve slaps on the processing and gets to work. He starts to really push sounds and reverbs. I cringe a bit while hearing the huge reverbs and effects (it sounds like we’re in Wembley) but it all starts to make sense. The bass end is now sounding huge and there is a massive atmosphere to the song and it is still very passionate. Top Of The World sounds like it should. It sounds huge, and passionate and the groove is running free. I can’t complain and even start to smile (just a little).
We move back to Stir Crazy and he gives it the same treatment. He puts on a mad gated reverb on the snare drum, and because there is a lot of hi hat sound spilling onto the snare channel and also a separate hi hat channel the hi hat is bouncing about the stereo image like some crazed song driving devil. It sounds aggressive and right. Steve remarks that from the start of recording to now we have gone through about five stages of compression. That is nuts, and potentially against everything I stand for. But the point is that we are using the compression in the right way. Everything is pumping and full of energy. It is certainly not flat. Very bold you could say…
We take a break for lunch and slap on the tele to catch a bit of the rugby. Steve humours me by pretending to be interested while I explain some of the moves and tactics. I love rugby, people give it a bad cop as a sport and say it is just a game for stupid thugs. It is so the opposite. The amount of thinking and complexity that goes into strategy and playing patterns and preparation is huge. It is certainly a rough sport, but completely beautiful (yes I would say almost poetic) when you look inside it and understand the ebb and flow…. Anyway, enough non-musical ranting.
After lunch Steve gives the ‘treatment’ to Drama Queen and it is starting to sound large, like it has eaten many pies and downed a few pints of quality ale with some red bull mixed in. I really am sitting back and reacting now, I suppose like it should be. ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to certain effects/levels and basic comments like ‘no I don’t like that, can we make it less brown and a bit more purple please’.
A little bit more touching up on Clichés and it’s home time. It’s Saturday night and I’m wasted and on my way home looking forward to getting to sleep early… how sad does that sound!
February 12th Until Sunday 25th Till Present Sort Of…
Ok this blog form has to change. I am now looking back in time. I have been totally consumed by this project, it has taken over my life and I have lost the time and will to write notes day by day. I have to look back now and summarise it for you. I’m sorry if this is a let down but you are probably getting bored of the detail anyway….
We carry on mixing through the week. Mostly in the evenings as Steve is actually starting to move the studio to the new room at his new job! It’s kind of nuts and this is one of the reasons we have to finish up soon. It’s cool though because I have project deadlines as well… I’ve booked in mastering for March the 1st and am looking forward to it. So we’ve got until then to get it done.
Mixing goes ok. I’ve now lost my objectivity and have surrendered to Steve at the helm. This is cool though – I am in good hands and of course I still have my creative input and sound-shaping decisions to make. Steve has shepherded me away from the mechanics of mixing and is letting me concentrate on how things are actually sounding. Simple and effective. The fatigue is still accumulating but I’m starting to feel relieved that things are working out and we still have a good laugh - there is some good banter about. At one stage I get Steve back at his own game. We are working on sound-gating the drum kit on Easy Come Easy Go. Steve is banging on about how he has to make the sound gate ‘frequency conscious’. He then tells me he has to nip in and edit the ‘comet tail’ on one of the guitar lines as it fades. ‘So Steve’ I say, ‘ are you going to make that comet tail frequency conscious?’ While I am finding it hard to keep the giggles in, Steve looks at me and says: ‘You know what Fanous? I’m going to make you frequently unconscious if you’re not careful’ . Classic. He definitely keeps the jib upper hand throughout the week. He also sings some good songs… ‘I can’t wait till you go home, do da, do da, I can’t wait till you go home, do da do da day’ seems to be his favourite. On top of this he is forthcoming about the difficulties facing musicians and singers in particular: ‘ Singing is difficult – look at yours!’ However, the comment which makes me most proud is when we are listening to Thin Bits one day and I pick out some noise that we have let slip until now : a guitar makes a nasty click before we have faded it out in the middle of the song. ‘Fanous’ he says, ‘You have the ears of a big dog’…. I’ll remember that one with pride…. Somehow.
So what else can I tell you, apart from the fact that it has been emotional and I am spent. Mixing happens very quickly now that we have got over my initial issues. It’s all a bit vague. I can tell you some things though. I love the fact that on Easy Come Easy Go, the guitar which Steve played the right hand rythm part on no longer exists in that form. I like the fact that the sounds were made by something that was in flux anyway (basically not finished as an instrument). It has changed now and we will never get that tone or sound out of it again. I think it’s actually been sold on so I will probably never see it again.
I like the fact that the way we mixed Where Has Your Light Gone is so natural. The only thing we were forward with is a big reverb on the mic underneath the snare drum to give it a huge pounding drum and bass feel. Apart from that we tried so many different compressors (each with it’s own sound character) on the voice, but it was great that the one that most suited the track was the one that was most natural and didn’t colour the sound. The same went with processing the bass and guitars. We didn’t go for precision to separate everything, we let it all hang in there and poke out when it felt like it. A mini wall of sound perhaps? We are run out of time quickly so everything is mixed in a rush, but looking back now I know that this is ok, better than if we had more time in fact. Everything sounds quite fresh and raw.
Perhaps it is that organic feel that I was going for but in a different way. Natural, I hope. I learn an interesting lesson – you have to treat every project/album as a whole. After spending so long mixing Jenny J and Ship Is Sinking, it is interesting how we change them so much in the last few days. We have to, in order to bring them in line with the songs and sounds that come before and after (yes you need to have figured out most of your album order in advance to!) The snare is eq’ed to sound harder on Ship, and Jenny is given more ‘wall of sound’ treatment with bigger drums, and a vocal that sits deeper with the guitars. We try to remix Sometimes, away from how it was mixed for my demo, but after trying for a while and succeeding in making it smoother, we decide that the first mix with the more basic ‘tools’ was the best.
Finally I have a lovely time mixing parting song with Steve. With his new gadgets, we can finally shape it how I have wanted to for so long but never had the chance to on my previous mini acoustic release. It is much smoother and warmer. More melancholy and delicate I hope.
We spend the last evening session chatting while bouncing out the mixes for mastering. We make a typical error and get too carried away chatting and don’t set certain things properly and have to start again (Tim, the mastering engineer has asked for 2 decibels of headroom on each track, so we have to pull the output faders down as we were working at 0 – as loud as possible. Tim needs this space to manoeuvre at the mastering stage) But making a mistake ok, this always happens. It is the end and we are knackered. The important thing is to check and spot and get it right. We do. Time to go home, I’m back tomorrow to archive the project on my hard drive. In the meantime there is an ‘end of project’ shindig party gig to play at the Spice on Friday. I can feel the hangover already. Steve has even talked his way into playing some guitar live for me (yes, I am losing my mind).
Sunday (oh no what am I doing going in on a Sunday… again!) 27 February 2007
BISH BASH BOSH I AM COMPLETELY SPENT! I feel like I’ve got nothing left in me! The gig on Friday night was awesome fun. Basically, we took a departure from my usual set dynamics and ROCKED straight for the whole set. Apart from during Easy Come Easy Go which was almost as slow as one of my ballad’s, but I still caught people grooving so that’s cool. Max ‘The Drum Doctor’ Zastiera was on fine form and it was great to have my mate Pete Duddles from Via Satellite pluckin’ the mighty bass fish once again just like old times. Steve Honest (Bim Bim Salabim Hail the Maestro) on the other hand was a COMPLETE PAIN. He brought along an amp with two controls on it, both of which seemed to be stuck on 11 (I think he used glue so that we couldn’t turn it down). Once we got him to unglue the controls and turn down a little bit we got comfortable with our stage sound and the boys hit the beers (I on the other hand am a consummate professional I’ll have you know). Let it be said that the gig had energy and was very loud. More importantly we raised Hell afterwards. I did muck up though, when I turned around to Pete at the bar afterwards and said ‘Don’t tell anyone but I’m spiking the band’s drinks with Vodka’!......... DOH, He laughed and called me an idiot and said ‘well where’s my drink then?’…. Well at least I think he did as I can’t remember the exact details because I had been spiking my own drinks too…(yes I am stupid). And let it be known that this behaviour carried on for quite a while until we were pretty merry indeed (completely rat-arsed to be more appropriate). Max somehow caught his train home. I died a hangover death at about two o clock the next day (after a very nice breakfast), Pete had an appointment with the toilet for most of it and Steve claims he got up for work at 615 am. It was great fun, and really nice for all of us to just chill, play some good music together and have a good time to celebrate (nearly) finishing the album.
Anyway, yes I am here on a Sunday again. My soul hurts. I am empty. It’s time to finish things up. I know this is definitely the last time I will be here in the studio, because this is the last day it is officially open. In fact Steve is bashing it down already. I leave today with a trophy in hand for memory: a signed bit of floor railing (picture to come). We were working late the other night and made a couple of mistakes while preparing the final files for mastering. We cut off a hi hat hit hit from the beginning of Where Has Your Light Gone, and there is a breath I need to cut out at the beginning of Clichés and Candlelight which I haven’t spotted before, it ruins the impact of the beginning. And of course I need to do a couple of other last minute edits (sorry Steve). I need to raise the vocal in the second chorus of Jenny J and want to have an option of Clichés with a lower electric guitar at the end. I run over my time slot and the Beeches start arriving for their last session. It’s good to chat with them and talk nonsense for a while as we finish up.
A
short goodbye and that is it. I have to fight back the lump in my throat and a
couple of tears as I begin the drive home for the last time. I’m sad to be
leaving. It’s been emotional….
Steve's very lovely parting message to me, written on a bit of the dismantled studio wall.
Thursday 1st March. Mastering with Tim Turan
Oh man one more day to get through. Was up late last night gigging at Ginglik, but it was cool because I bumped into two people I wasn’t expecting to see which made me feel great. One guy, T D Lind I had worked with on a song for a film two years ago and I hadn’t seen him since then. He moved to America, and I hadn’t seen him since! I didn’t know he was on the bill so when I saw him at soundcheck that was mad. Also I keep randomly bumping into Andi Neate and she is really cool. It’s mad though because she is from Scotland and I am London and we keep bumping into each other all over the country. Last time I saw her was when we were on the same bill in Cambridge a couple of months ago! Anyway, it was a warm night and a good feeling but I was on last so it was late too. I’ve forgotten what ‘not tired’ is.
This is it though, this is it. I drive up to Oxford to see Tim Turan who will master the record. Comical start to the day though and I’m a bit late- I have been unleashing my frustration and grumpiness down the phone at the locksmiths who have issued me with a court order because I owe them money for a job they never did (apparently I should be in court this Friday). I sorted this out a month ago and they acknowledged they were wrong and would sort it, and then I see the letter last night as I get in late from the gig looking forward to a munch and a beer. It made me laugh my Do Re Mi’s off! What a bunch of muppets. Why would I change the locks on my new place twice in three days eh chaps? Was your computer system down that day and have we not been through this before? Muppets.
Anyway. Mastering. A somewhat misunderstood and ‘mythical’ process. I’m going to get my record mastered…. Oooooh magic wands. (I’m sounding funny today, I think I’m losing it. I love tea.) I’m just gonna tell you what mastering is to me because everyone thinks different. Basically, a highly skilled and experienced audio engineer takes the tracks you have produced, and puts the finishing touches to them in order to present them as a group of songs that will sound good together, and sound consistent and ‘right’ when played on the huge range of mediums and systems that we have for listening to and playing music on today (cd, tape, minidisk, radio, ipod, budget hi fi’s, hi fi’s that look like space ships, space ships, boom boxes, gramaphones, cinema systems, small PA’s, big PA’s, cheap PA’s, quality PA’s and phonograph record players). Every player and medium sounds slightly different because of the way it is made and the quality and feel it is designed to, so the album and songs have to be shaped to deal with this and sound as consistent as possible.
Crucially it brings a ‘fresh’ set of ears to the project as well. Someone emotionally removed from the whole recording process, who hasn’t heard the songs before and who can put frequencies and sound shapes into the correct perspective.
What does a mastering engineer actually do to the music? Well, that depends on what it needs! They can do crazy stuff like hone in on and remove ugly distortion in certain parts. Tame excessive sibilance (that’s hissing and ‘essing in the voice) or harshness. They can pick out problems that you never got close to hearing and sort them out with EQ or edits. And loads more. But mostly they ‘unlock’ the tracks. They make them sound ‘bigger’, ‘louder’, ‘brighter’, more ‘clear’, more ‘present’, more ‘balanced’, more ‘shiny’. But they (should) do all this without destroying the original feel of the music. They also bring out more detail in the tracks. How do they do this? Usually with a combination of high quality compression, limiting, and EQ. You need to read on to understand more…
…I’m listening to Abbey Road as I type this. What a classic album, I forgot how stunning it was …. “And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make….”
Am I rambling?
Tim
Turan is a great bloke, and a master at what he does (no pun intended). He also
has some very well chosen and awesome bits of kit. His main tools are two great
bits of outboard equipment: An Avalon compressor and Manley Massive Passive
Equaliser, and a computer running Waves Plug-Ins (everything from eq to
limiting and multiband compression). The Massive Passive is a beautiful
sounding piece of kit. I have learned from watching Tim that what is really the
key is not overdoing the compression and more importantly getting the EQ right.
You can accomplish most things with the right use of EQ, without having to use
anything else. EQ is important ok kids! Back to the Massive Passive. It’s a
stunner, an equaliser made from military grade electrical components, it uses
vacuum tubes (think beautiful analogue warmth) for the gain/volume controls. If
I sold my car I still wouldn’t be able to afford this thing, and my car is in
good nick. Basically it sounds beautiful and musical. Some people like to run
records through this thing without adjusting or changing anything because of
the warmth it adds to the sound.
You can see the Manley (bottom) and Avalon (above it) units in the rack on the left of the screen
It’s
good to see Tim and Ro again after so long and we get down to business by
having a good discussion about space shuttles and space research (it’s all rock
and roll). Mastering for me can be a fairly relaxing process. I sit on the
couch eating and drinking tea while Tim does his stuff. I trust him so I don’t
have to be constantly on edge and scrutinising his every move.
It’s always a joy listening to the first steps of the process when he uses his compressor and Manley EQ. The effect is usually gorgeous and slightly magical. After hearing each track Tim immediately knows what needs ‘taming’ and what might be lacking and ‘gives’ it to the track. It’s amazing to see how he works with EQ – for example, I thought the voice in the middle section of Easy Come Easy Go was slightly too loud, and the only way round this would be to use compression now or go back to the original mix. Wrong, Tim sorts it out by taming a slightly boomy frequency across the whole track, and this changes the perception of how the voice sits in the track. BUT, it doesn’t change the character or the way Me and Steve have mixed it. Lovely. The interesting thing is that he wasn’t concentrating on this section, he thought it necessary across the whole track, so a positive change he made to the whole track sorted out the problem I had with a particular section. Double lovely. And let’s remember he is using one eq box over a whole track to do this – he doesn’t have the luxury of manipulating separate instruments/voice tracks.
The day passes in a similar fashion, passes and passes, and passes pleasantly. The work is out of my hands now. I munch a nice halloumi and ham sandwhich (a little something I made earlier) and snack on a nice selection of nuts from our local Arabic shop. I worry about Stir Crazy and Drama Queen… I can’t help thinking these songs sound a little bit bare now and wish I had spent more time mixing them…. It is all drums and voice, and a big energy, but I wish I had had more time to fill the mixes out a little. The only song we really have a to-ing and fro-ing about today is Parting Song. I’ve lived with this one a very long time and know exactly how I want it to sound. Warm and balanced – initially there is too much treble added, so we think and chat and take the treble off, but then there is too little and the voice gets lost so we meet half way and end up in a good place. I’m pleasantly surprised how ‘little’ Tim does to each track, just his crucial first stages, after that they don’t need much fine tuning, which means that me and Steve got the recording and mixing right from a technical point of view.
The most fun part of the day comes at the end when we are deciding on the length of time between each song on the cd. Oooooooh, one second here might make a difference…. Maybe two….. Really? Will it? Probably not….
I leave Tim’s place on a high and glad that I can go home and see my family and have a good munch and a good kip and then finally start catching up with my friends again… I’ve been off the map, doing my thing, doing what needed to be done, but now it’s time to come back.
I have a listening copy in my hands. I have to take a break, rest my ears and head and then ok the copy and Tim will burn the gold master. I know there is going to be some more toing and froing, changing the order and gaps, more listening copies before the master. That’s all part of the process though and first I need a rest.
19th June 2007
Yes, it is the 19th June. No, the album has not been released yet. No, the album is not really ready for release yet. Is this a soap opera? A comedy of errors? Or just a first time independent label release in a difficult business. There are so many different processes that go into making an album and they are all quite difficult to get right! Anyway, photography, album art and design are coming in a different blog. I’m going to tell you about the Gold Master that has been sitting in my possession since the 23rdApril. It is the ‘one’. After consulting with our project manager, and a friend who is a producer we knew we had to cut down the album to 10 or 11 tracks. This proved an adventure. In a crowded market place, their point is that you have to be concise and give yourself the best chance, and that means not overcrowding the album and your image. Apparently.
Anyway, whatever the reasons, it’s good to have a concise and consistent album isn’t it? But choosing what got left off was a nightmare. The lesson learned was simple. Be brutal, it’s the only way. After so many different tack orders, opinions, feedback from friends and family, I had to make my own decision. This meant that Superbug and Drama Queen got left off. I don’t think I quite got the mixes where they needed to be to hold a place on the album. Shame because they are live favourites, but maybe that’s cool, they can stay that way… Maybe one day we’ll get the right live performance down, or find a way to get them recorded with the right intensity. The fact is they are both very difficult songs to get right. So they can stay off the album. It was so difficult to make a choice, and so hard to settle on the final order. I can’t be bothered to put you through the agony and tell you how it came to this order, but it is the natural one. It took weeks of the cd travelling with me, in cars, homes, parties headphones, PA’s and spaceships. Now it feels right. Tim was very patient and sent me new listening copies one after the other, all without complaint. So after the right feedback from industry dudes and pluggers it was time to settle down. So that’s it. If I told you I was waiting on a new copy of the master with an edited version of Top Of The World would that make you nervous? J Time for some other people to hear this now. It feels so old to me and no one has even heard it. But I know it will feel renewed and beautiful soon.
Comments
there's a lot to digest here. not yet finished. meanwhile, any audio posts.