North - Session 4 - 3rd January 2013

Session times: 8pm-10:30pm

North wanted to record 3 non-drum based songs for their new album, so this session was used to record Wayne's acoustic guitar and a guide vocal by Rebecca.

We started with a couple of run throughs to get the click tempo correct, and then recorded a 'guide-take' of guitar and vocal together.  During this time I set up 3 microphones around Wayne's acoustic guitar (2xCS02 and a sE2200) and also took a line out from the acoustic pickup.  I can blend together these 4 tracks in the final mix to make the best sound.  I then deleted the guitar track, and, listening on head-phones, Wayne could play along with the vocal track playing in his ears.

Hmm..what is the first chord?

Repeating this technique, we recorded the 3 songs: A Short Story About Love, Smile and In Denial.

Vamika - Session 6 - 17th October 2012

Session times: 8pm-10pm

The plan was for Amy, Damien and Dave (Guitar) to come on this session, but in the end only Dave came down.

Hmm, it's a bit dark in 'ere

Long Way To Venus

Last time we recorded the guitar parts for the choruses, so tonight we needed to do the verse guitar and the solo. It took about 15 minutes for Dave to find a sound he was happy with for the verses, which was really just a chuggy filler in the background to keep things moving.  Although Dave sort of knew what he wanted to do in the solo, he wasn't able to play it all in one go, so after about 5 takes, we split it up into 4 and 8 bar sections to take the pressure off (slightly).  In the end we got a seamless solo that fits together very well.

Billy McBolan - Session 6 - 18th September 2012

Session times: 7:30pm-10:30pm

Love Was Born (On Xmas Day)

Billy brought along a Christmas song he wants to record in time for the Christmas rush.  It's quite a soft tune with a Christmassy feel.  We added a few seasonal instruments just to make sure.

Part of the lyrics are a list of the 12 disciples (it is Christmas after all!) and it's amazing how many I didn't know (Nathaniel and Thaddeus for starters!).

He played through the song a couple of times so I could get the feel and tempo.  The 12-string acoustic part is very picky and Billy had quite a few problems keeping in time with a click track. Eventually, we decided to record it without a click.  It means we can't do any copy and pasting between parts of the song (because they wouldn't line up properly), but as it's a fairly simple song, it shouldn't be too difficult.

Billy then did a quick guide vocal part so we knew where we were in the song.  He then decided the ending should be more of a Christmas chant, so I copied and pasted the ending a couple of times (fortunately, this bit did line up), which we can use as a fade out.

We then added some strings and the Theramin sound we created for the previous song over the intro and the choruses.

While we were doing these parts, Billy kept mentioning things he could hear in the song, one of which was bells.  I tried a few of the bell instruments I've got but none really sounded the part.  We ended up with tubular bells with lots of eq to cut through properly.  Initially, Billy had put down quite complicated bell parts, but I reminded him that most church towers only have 4 bells, so we cut it down to a simple 4 note motif which is really quite nice.

Billy's daughter (Dael) will sing the main vocal part with at least one child on the choruses, but we'll do that on another session. I made a quick mix for Billy to take away so the vocalists can start to learn the song.

Billy McBolan - Session 4 - 20th August 2012

Session times: 7:45pm-11:00pm

Billy brought his wife (Jacqueline) and daughter (Dael).  I think we've nearly had all of Billy's family at the studio now :-)

Strange Love

Dael was going to lay down the main vocal on this track over the backing we recorded in the previous sessions. I set up the mic and reduced the stand height a little (she's a bit shorter than her dad's 6ft6!) and started playing the track so I could get the levels.   I had heard her voice on a track recorded at another studio, so knew what she sounded like, but I still wasn't ready for the masterpiece she sang.  I could see Billy in the background grinning and nodding his head.

Billy had told me previously that he wrote the song in a key that was good for him to play and sing with, but we had to change the key for  Dael to sing it.  Unfortunately, the key he chose to record it in was just a little too low and the first line of each verse were right at the bottom of her range.  Now I thought she had a really sexy lower register, but  Dael wasn't happy with it.  She sang through the song a few times and we got some really good takes except for the first lines.

Although Dael has a really good voice, she doesn't seem to understand musical terms at all.  She's just one of those talented people who can sing but doesn't know when you say 'sing it an octave up', that that means the notes should be higher.  Billy joked, "she doesn't know a B flat from a flat tire" and I'm inclined to agree, but who cares when you've got a voice that sounds like that !

It is not really feasible to re-record the song in a slightly higher key, so we decided that we would use the guide vocal Billy recorded and turn it into a duet.

After a couple of hours, we agreed that  Dael's parts were as good as we were going to get, so she went home with her mum whilst Billy and I carried on with a few other guitar parts he wanted to put down.  Basically, the parts were a couple of guitar strums in each verse, that you probably wouldn't miss if you didn't hear them, but they really added to the sound of the song.

It was getting late when Billy left, so I didn't have time to make a mix and CD for him to take away.  Billy got in his car and took off.  About 20 minutes later, I got a call from Billy's wife saying he had left his prized guitar on the path outside the studio and could I go and retrieve it.  I rushed out of the studio and looked up and down the roadside but couldn't find the guitar anywhere!  Panic!  As I was outside looking, Billy turned up in a frantic state but I had to tell him his guitar was gone.  He drove off looking very dejected and I wandered back up to the studio and noticed, in the corner, was Billy's guitar.  He hadn't even taken it out of the room!

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.

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.

Face It - 10 May 2012 - Final Recording Session?

Intro

The guys turned up (beers in hand) as normal at 8pm to put some finishing touches to their album. This might be the last session where they actually record anything.  It wasn't going to be a long session, as Chris needed to be up at 5am the next morning.

We were only going to record a few guitar parts and some extra backing vocals, so we weren't planning for a long night.  Things didn't quite turn out as they should have.

Chris brought along his trusty Marshall amp, which we mic'ed up in stereo as usual.

Technical Issues

After a quick level check, we started adding some guitar parts to 'Everything Turns To Blue', then things just went a bit wierd.

There was a 'click' on the recording.  Now this happens more than you might imagine, but most of the time, the click is only heard once and is usually attributed to someone switching on a light, or the heater in the studio coming on, or a mic is still switched on during playback and it picks up something, or some other electrical interference and is not actually on the recording.  So we listened again.  There it was, same place.  So I set about finding which track the click was on.  Solo'd the track we'd just recorded and it was on there, so I muted that track and had another listen.  The click was still there, so I solo'd the drums (which had been recorded in January and definitely didn't have any clicks on), and the click was there, at the same place in the song.  Sometimes the gear I use (a Tascam 1804) is a bit temperamental (it certainly doesn't like being cold!), so I rebooted the computer and the recording box.  Same click, same place.  So I loaded another song and no clicks anywhere.  Very odd.  Rebooted a few more times, same result.  Only on this particular song, at this particular place was there a click that hadn't existed before.  To get things moving, I quickly mixed down what we had, and created a new project and imported the mix down.  This meant we could record the guitar parts and I'll put them back in the original project on another day.  The rest of the recording went off without any more clicks.  I guarantee that next time I load that project, it'll be fine.

Maybe it was just 'wierd Thursday'.

UPDATE:  The problem was 'mixing latency'.  My PC just wasn't up to the task of mixing 24 audio tracks with loads of effects in real-time.  After 'pre-mixing' a few tracks, the click went away. Phew.

Recordings

Cheer up Mike.  You get to  record something tonight.

On 'A Minor Incident' there is a particularly good bass part which we decided to double up on guitar.  Who's the best person to play it?  Well, of course, Mike played it in the first place, so, for the first time in a couple of months, he gets to record something.  We also wanted to make the chorus backing vocals sound fuller. Chris and Jack doubled each others parts, but it was still missing something.  Adding in the 3rd of the chord did the trick.

Sometimes during recording we'll add something that we aren't sure about, so we'll put in a demonstration version and take it away from the session to see if we like it.  This was the case with a backing vocal part in 'Living On A Shoestring'.  We'd only recorded a harmony part on the first chorus and needed to put it on the other 2 choruses.  With the miracle of digital editing (cut & paste), this was added to all the other choruses in a few seconds.

Chris and Jack added some ooohs to 'Thunder and Lightening' and we re-introduced a ride cymbal roll that was recorded when the drums were done, but never seemed to fit the song.  It's a good job we kept that track because it now fits the song!  It adds a little bit of lift to the song just before the chorus. Nice.

The song starts with the sound of thunder, but the sample we are currently using is a bit naff.  My job this week is to find something that sounds like, well, thunder and lightening :-)

Jack put down some backing vocals ideas on 'These Days', but his voice didn't really suit some of the parts.  Chris did a much gentler vocal on a couple of the ideas which fitted the laid-back feel of the song. The other ideas will go on the session mixes so we can decide which ones work and which to drop.

Something I missed when recording the main vocal, was a couple of lines in the first verse. Chris didn't pronounce one or two of the words clearly in the original take, so we punched a new vocal for those lines.
It was also decided to get rid of the guitar during the solo and just leave the harmonica.

We had a listen back to 'Let Go'.  The band are still divided about whether the 'Paul McCartney' ooohs fit the song.  I don't think we made a decision in the end, but we'll need to make one soon!

We wrapped up the session at about 11:20pm.  So much for Chris' early night :-)  Was this the last recording session?  Hmmm.  Maybe.

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