North - Session 2 - 30th September 2012

Session times: 12:30pm - 5:00pm

After listening to the takes we did at the last session during the week, it became clear that the tempos drifted too much and, as Wayne thought they were a bit slow to start with, we decided to re-record three of the four songs from last time.

The band had rehearsed them at the new tempos and were able to get them recorded quickly.  In fact it took about an hour to record all three compared to the 4 hours last week.  That left us enough time to record 5 more tracks, Mr Big Man, The Promise (video here), All A Lie, Runaway, and I Need You.

Runaway

This was my favourite track from the demos I was sent before we started the first session.  During a listen back George noticed an odd sound on the snare drum track.  It seemed to phase in and out during the take.  Initially I thought it was a dodgy cable or a failing channel on the desk, but it turned out the mic casing had come loose.  It must have unscrewed itself slowly from being in close proximity to different drummers.  Unfortunately, the take was really good except for the snare, so George replayed the few bars where the drop outs occurred and I'll line them up before the next session.

I Need You

George played this track with soft beaters, which gave an entirely different sound and feeling to the other tracks.  We tried a couple of run throughs, but it became apparent that the subtleties of this track meant we would have to try different micing than the other songs. It was decided to re-visit this track on another session.


We left the drums set up again so we could continue quickly on the next session.

North - Session #3 - 14th October 2012

Session times: 12:00pm-5:30pm

This was supposed to be the final drum session for North's album.  It remains to be seen if we need another one.  This was the first full session with my new desk, the Behringer X32 and it performed very well, even though there were a few times where I couldn't quite remember which buttons to press.

There were a couple of songs that needed a few bits to add to the previous sessions recordings and one which required a completely new take (Mr Big Man) due to a microphone malfunction which wasn't noticed until after we had finished last time, and one we just weren't happy with last time (Your Hand).  In addition, we also recorded  I Won't Listen, Footprints in the Snow (A christmas song !), Slide Away and The One.

Your Hand

This was the third attempt at this song.  Jack had to leave early, so Wayne, Rebecca and George played this song without bass to a click.  The drums are played with soft beaters and to try and get the levels right, George had to play the snare (without snare on), and toms on one take, then we added the cymbals on another take and then the bass drum on another.  In places the drums aren't quite in time, but I'll try and sort them out before the next session.  The third chorus is the climax of this song and George tried to follow the click track while playing with proper sticks, but we couldn't get the take required, so after trying for about an 90 minutes, we decided it was getting too late, we were getting tired and we'd have to revisit this track on another occasion.

Wayne mentioned they had a couple of acoustic numbers they also wanted to record on subsequent sessions, and in total should be about an hours worth of music.  After the band had gone, I added up all the track times and it came to ....41 minutes.  Unless the last 2 tunes are about 10 minutes each, I think we're a bit short of the our target.

North - Session 1 - 23rd September 2012

Session times: 11:00am - 4:30pm.

Today is the first day in the studio for North, who are recording a new album over the next few months.

George (drums) had arranged to come to the studio early so we could set up and soundcheck his drums before the rest of the band arrived around 12:30pm.  By the time Rebecca (vocals), Wayne (guitar) and Jack (bass) turned up, we had most of the drum levels set and we managed to fairly quickly get everyone else plugged in and warmed up.

New Toy

This track is a mid-tempo pop song with a haunting chorus melody, which I think is about seducing someone (that's my take on the lyric anyway).  There were a couple of fills where a cymbal was missed off a the end, so we recorded a couple of hits of the cymbals on their own, which I will be able to line up in the correct place of an otherwise good take.   It is possible in the studio to make a not-quite correct take into something that sounds really good, it just takes a bit of digital magic and enough parts to re-arrange into the correct order.  It doesn't have to be perfect every time.

In His Way

A fairly up-tempo pop song.  Jack plays some great bass lines on his Fender Precision.  This song has a one bar stop after each chorus, I suggested a 'false ending' where the stop was two bars.  We tried it a couple of times and it sounded great, so we left that in.

Hmmm.  What is the next chord?

Gravity

Another track that runs along at a fair lick.  We had a little trouble with this song, getting the tempo right and keeping to it.  We kept two takes, and the band will decide which one to keep during the week.

Cuppa time for George

Your Hand

This song was a complete change in style.  A slowish song; George playing his drums with soft beaters which gave a more subtle beat.  We tried several different approaches with this one, trying to get the right drum sound.  As this song is so different to the others, we decided to re-visit this on another session as it will need a different drum setup and mic placement.

George greasing his pole!

It's easy to tell the band play these songs a lot as Rebecca didn't need a vocal crib sheet for any song we did today and everyone was very together and there were very few obvious mistakes.

Rebecca 

We finished the session about 4:30 with a quick mix to take away.  George left his drums set up to make it quicker to get up and running at the next session in a week's time.

Vamika - Session 2 - 29th July 2012

Session times: 12:30pm - 4:00pm

We installed Damien's bass amp & cab in the stairwell and set up Amy's mic outside the live room. Dave hadn't brought his amp as he wasn't happy with the sounds he got out of it, as we weren't going to keep any guitar takes we did today he could use my effects pedal, and we would replace his sounds later on.  Kev had left his drums set up last week so there was very little we had to do to continue from the previous session.  As per the last session, we were only interested in getting the drums down correctly; vocals and guitars will be replaced at subsequent sessions.

Weak To The Beat

This initially is a very laid back, swing style track (imagine a smoky jazz club with scantily clad dancers, a bit like Cabaret), but get's a bit more rocky in the choruses.  On the level check run through, Kev didn't hit any toms, so I was a bit surprised when, on the take, he hit the toms a couple of times.  It's a good job I was recording them!

Red Butterflies

By this track the band seemed to be in their stride and managed it in one take.  Unfortunately, on the listen back we noticed a bar where Kev had stayed on hi-hat rather than going to ride cymbal.  As that was the only problem with the take, we decided to keep it and I'll fix the problem with a bit of editing.

Dirty Disgrace

This track starts with a fairly complex finger picking guitar part and Dave took a couple of goes to get the timing right - not that it matters really as it will be replaced.

Beauty Violation

This one starts with a heavy bass guitar riff that reminds me a little of Peter Gunn.  By the end of this track it seemed Kev wasn't quite as happy with it as others, and although the drums are good, there wasn't as much energy as some of the other tracks.  Perhaps this one needs more work outside the studio.

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!

The Final Betrayal - Session 1 - 29 April 2012

This weekend, we started recording a new band called 'The Final Betrayal'.  Similar in style to classic metal bands such as Iron Maiden.  Facebook page here.

What interested me was their demo tracks, which feature fantastic musical hooks, great vocal harmonies, intricate guitar work and machine gun drumming.

The session was booked from noon until 5pm on Sunday.  Due to other commitments, only the drummer and guitarist were able to attend, but as we were only going to record some drum tracks, that wasn't a problem.

Before coming to the session, Jamie (drums) had packed his bass drum with a duvet to try and dampen the sound a little, but we found the resulting sound wasn't quite right, so had to remove the drum front, and put in a slightly less bulky towel.  This gave a much better recorded sound, but we had trouble with bleed from the bass drum being picked up by tom mics.

We ended up covering the bass drum and mic with the duvet cover, which you will be able to see in the photos from this session.  This also helped with my ears, as my control desk was almost directly in line of the drum, so I was getting the full force of Jamie's machine gun double bass drum work.  It's a good job it was raining, as the neighbours might not like what they were hearing as much as we did.  The studio is not completely sound-proof, so I'm sure there was some leakage :-)

Darren (guitar/vocal), was providing guide tracks for vocal and guitars, so we set him up at the top of the stairs, just outside the live room, to prevent his tracks bleeding onto the drum tracks.  For those of you who haven't been to the studio, there is a small landing at the top of the stairs, just outside the studio door, where we put the naughty children, and also the vocalist, for tracking sessions.  There isn't much room there, so after his amp, pedal board, vocal mic and amp mic, there wasn't enough room for Darren!  Fortunately, he managed to remove most of his pedal board, which gave him enough room to stand next to the vocal mic :-)  It's a glass door to the studio, which makes communication with whoever is in the studio easier and of course he had a mic, so we could all hear him OK.

It took nearly 3 hours to get the gear set up and sounding great, which didn't leave a great deal of time to lay down some tracks, but we took enough photos of mic positions and desk settings to make it quicker for the next session.

Jamie had never used a click track, so we tried that on the second track, but unless you are used to it, a click can be quite distracting, so we dropped that idea.  There are a couple of places where a fill isn't quite in rigid time, but hopefully I'll be able to fix that with a bit of editing.

Thinking time?

How do you count in when you start a song?  Does the drummer clicks his sticks: 1,2,3,4 and off you go?  In a recording situation, it's possible, a tiny bit of the final click would be caught on the recording, so we have to count the 4 silently.  1,2,3 doesn't really give you enough tempo warning, so we went for 7 (1,2,3,4,1,2,3,- ).  I think Jamie has trouble counting in his head, as I can hear him say 4 quietly on the recording.  Might leave that bit in ;-)

The 3rd track we recorded, was 'World Of Lonely'.  This starts with a guitar arpeggio and no drums, so I set up a click to follow just for the introduction, which then drops out when the drums came in.  The no-drums-arpeggio feature also returns in the middle and at the end, so I ended up copying and moving the click around to give us something to work against when laying down the guitars proper in later sessions.

So, what did we get done?  We managed to get the drum tracks for 'We Are Electric', 'Distance' and 'World Of Lonely'.  We kept 2 takes for Electric, as we weren't sure which was the best.  I'm going to provide a reasonable mix for the band to listen to and we'll decide for the next session which to keep.

You can see more photos from the session here