Vamika - Session 1 - 21 July 2012

Session times: 12:00-16:30

Vamika are a 4-piece band from Preston.  We had met once before to discuss recordings, but I hadn't heard any of the songs they want to record, so everything was brand new.

Damien, Amy, Dave, Kev

Kev, the drummer, arrived first and as we unloaded his kit, Amy (vocal), Damien (bass) & Dave (guitar) turned up.

Kev uses a (rather dusty) 5-piece purple Mapex kit, with 3 toms, Sabian crash, ride and hi-hat cymbals.  It was mic'd up with the Samson 7 mic kit.  Kev's drums were a bit boomy and the snare rings for ages.  Lots of sticky tape was applied which reduced the ring a bit, but I'll have to sort out what is left with some eq and gating.

Damien's bass amp was set up in the stairwell and the line out brought up to the desk.  


Dave's Line6 guitar amp had a headphone/line out which also went into the desk.

Amy was set up outside the live room at the top of the stairs with the sE2200 mic.

We managed to record the drums for 4 songs this session: I Escaped You; Long Way To Venus; Vampire Nights and Heading To Something.  As this is the first session, we concentrated on getting good drum takes. The guitar, bass and vocals being used as a guide and will be replaced in subsequent sessions.

I Escaped You starts with guitar, so after we agreed the tempo, I put down a click track for the first few bars until the drums come in. This will help later on when we record the guitar part proper.

Long Way To Venus is an up tempo, fairly quick, rock track.  Kev struggled to get a take that he was happy with, so, after a few attempts, we decided to move on and come back to it later in the day.

Vampire Nights also starts with just guitar, so another click track was set up. This is a more laid back and moody track.  I can hear lots of atmospheric sound-scapes in my head, but I'm not really sure what the band are after yet.

Heading To Something starts with guitar (there is a pattern emerging here).  I suspect Dave is having problems remembering this one as the chords in the chorus and the ending are all over the place :-)  At least he didn't put anyone else off; it's a good job we won't be keeping his parts.  Kev managed to click his sticks as the cymbals faded out at the end of the song so we had to re-do the final 10 seconds just to get the last beat.  He played a few times along with the previous take until we got one that matched closely enough that the cut wasn't obvious.  I can fix that properly with some judicious editing.

It is important to remember that, when recording, everyone should be silent at the beginning and ending until the recording has stopped.  Fortunately, this time it didn't take too long to sort out, but you don't want to have to re-record a 10 minute song just because someone dropped a stick or a chair squeaked when the final fade out is happening!

We had another go with Long Way To Venus which Kev nailed in one take.  Perhaps he just needed to loosen up a bit.

It was a very hot day, so we called the session at about 4:30, I made some quick mixes and the band took away a CD of the day's work to listen to.

They are due back in the studio next Sunday, so Kev left his drums set up, which should mean we can get more tracks done next time.  If I get a chance, I'll try putting more tape on the toms to reduce the ring, but I'm not going to dust them!

Skye Ladder - 19th July 2012

Session times: 8pm-10:30pm

Janie and Paul Britton from Skye Ladder have been to Starring Studio many times before, but haven't been recently due to ill health.  This is the first time they've been since I started blogging.

Skye Ladder currently have 7 tracks recorded, but the vocals on 3 of the tracks weren't complete, so the task for tonight was to get one of them finished off.

As we hadn't met up for a while, we firstly had a chat about things they'd been doing since we last got together.  My wife and I have been out with Janie and Paul socially, so she came up to say hi and have a bit of a chin-wag.  They mentioned a 'secret diners' club in Rawtenstall where they had a fabulous Greek meal and also that they had booked a 3 week! summer holiday on the Isle of Skye. 

Just Before The Dawn

I normally record vocals with a Vocal Booth, which is OK but rather bulky. I can't see the singer to give directions, and they struggle to position the lyric sheet so they can see it.  Tonight we tried without the vocal booth.  Janie hadn't sung properly since she was last here, so it took a few warm up takes to get the vocal juices flowing.  She also spends most of the sessions giggling, and this one was no exception.

I usually record verses on a separate track to the choruses as songs generally need a slightly louder vocal for the chorus and I find it easier to set the level on each track and then leave it alone, rather than constantly altering it between verse and chorus.  The faders are motorised, so any level changes are recorded and played back as part of each track, but I find it easier just to record everything separately, set it once and then leave it along until mix time.

As well as the main vocal line Janie wanted to put on some backing vocals, so we ran through the song a couple of times just jamming and listening back to what she came up with.  One part on the chorus was particularly good, so we put that down, along with a chanting section under the instrumental break.  We decided it sounded like a saxophone solo so Janie played a melody part on the keyboard.  We really need a proper saxophone player to do this solo (and perhaps in another song too), so their task is to find someone.  When laying down the instrument tracks, we left room for a 3rd verse, but there weren't any lyrics, so Janie had just sung the 1st verse again.  Paul (who writes most of the lyrics) quickly had to write another verse, but he'd not done much else this evening so it was good to get him involved more.

We wrapped up the session at about 10:30, I mixed down and MP3'd the track and immediately emailed it to them so it was there when they got home.

Billy McBolan - Session 3 - 19th July 2012

Session times: 11am - 4pm

Billy arrived a few minutes early along with his wife Jacqueline (or roadie as he called her!). He brought his digital piano and his Martin 12-string acoustic.  Although I do have a keyboard at the studio, it doesn't have the feel of a real piano.  At the last session, Billy tried playing a piano part on it, but he preferred to play his own.  He also brought his own supply of Earl Grey tea bags. 

We spent a few minutes connecting the piano to the recording equipment.  The only signal out was for headphones, so I used a splitter to get the left and right signals. Unfortunately there was a lot of noise, so we ended up just using a mono signal.  When recording keyboards, I usually connect to the MIDI port and record both the audio and MIDI during a performance.  This means that any simple mistakes on the recording can be fixed with some MIDI editing and then play back the MIDI and record it the audio again.


I normally have a jar of sweets on the 'talent' table, which this week is Licorice All-Sorts.  Billy tucked into these with gusto.

Part 1 - Strange Love

The first part of this session (about 90 minutes) was to add some of piano flourishes to the song from the previous session.  His daughter was really impressed with the instrumental version he took away last time but she wasn't quite ready to record the vocal yet and, as we were going to record another song she was to sing, Billy thought it better to bring her along when we had both ready.

Part 2 - I Just Can't Fall

The rest of the session was used to re-record a song Billy had recorded at another studio.  He wanted to make some changes to the song, but unfortunately, the master tapes had been destroyed, so we had to start again!
Billy had sent me a CD of the track a couple of weeks ago.  I had imported it, worked out the tempo and laid down the bass and drums the previous day, so there was enough to work with before Billy had arrived.
He put down a straight piano part, just chords, and then overdubbed some 'twiddly bits' afterwards.  Then we added some string parts, mostly long chords and a few melodies.  Billy is the first to admit he's not a pianist, but he was able to play a pretty good version and because we recorded the MIDI, I was able to straighten up (or quantize) the notes that had been played, fix a few mistakes, then play back the MIDI and record the corrected audio from the piano.

We were going to add a few acoustic guitar parts, but we were both getting a bit of a 'studio headache', so we agreed a quick mix, I put both the songs on a CD and we finished the session just before 4pm. 

Billy McBolan - Sessions 1&2 - 1st & 2nd July 2012

Billy was booked in for Sunday afternoon and Monday evening.  I had never met Billy before Sunday's session.  Introductions and bookings were done by email.  You never know what to expect. It was a surprise to meet a well over 6 foot tall smiling chap with 12 string acoustic guitar in hand knocking on the door.


Billy had a brand new song to record and the plan was to get the backing tracks down in the two sessions and for him to take away a mix and then come back in a few weeks with daughter to lay down the vocals.  Of course, I hadn't heard the song, so we spent a few minutes discussing the feel and style that Billy wanted. He had described the song as in a Country and Western style waltz.


He brought out his famous 12 string Martin acoustic guitar, which I must admit sounded wonderful.  We agreed on a tempo, and I put down a click track for him to follow.  Once he was comfortable in the sofa, I mic'd up his guitar with the sE2200a, sorted out his headphones and off we went for a take.  The first few chords drag you into a dreamy waltz....  After a once through, and then re-doing the key change and final chorus, Billy put down a guide vocal.  He claimed to have a cold, but his first vocal was spot on, until we got to the key change.  The song key was chosen for a female voice, and was a bit too high for Billy, but he gave a great performance anyway.  We added a few other guitar licks and discussed which other parts to do.  Billy left about 5pm.  


After the session, I had my tea, and set about putting down bass and drums.  The chord structure is quite simple, so the bass line didn't take time, just emulating an upright double bass really.  The drums took about 10 takes to get right.  I'm not a pro drummer, but I can manage a fairly reasonable beat as long as it's not too fast.  For this song, the simpler the better.

Monday Evening

Billy and his son, Kurt, turned up just before 8pm.  From what Billy said, Kurt is a bit of a shredder, so he was tasked with the guitar solo for this song and a few licks in between.  Kurt brought along a Gibson Les Paul, a Marshall amp and a Takamine acoustic.  The amp was mic'd with a Samson C02 condenser which worked well with the tone Kurt had selected.  We tried a few takes of the guitar solo, but Kurt was struggling to get it down in one go.  It's hard enough getting a take when it needs to be perfect, and it's even harder when your Dad is watching you, adding to the pressure :-)  Fortunately, he nailed it on the 7th take.  Kurt added a few other electric licks in the verses and the ending before putting in a few acoustic bits.  Then Billy and I started adding strings.  It's very easy to add more and more strings which sound great and then one more and it's too much.  We ended up with 2 string tracks throughout the song, and 4 other string tracks  emphasizing various parts here and there.  After a quick mix, I made a CD, which Billy and Kurt took away, ready for the vocal session at a later date.  The session finished about 11pm.