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.

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.