Skye Ladder - 11th December 2012

Session times: 8pm-10:30pm

Janie and Paul from Skye Ladder came over tonight to record some vocals.

Skye May Fall

The backing for this track had been done previously, so we just needed the vocals recording.  Because the song is mostly just piano and voice, the vocal had to be spot on and it took quite a while recording  each line a few times to get just the right emphasis or to make sure the words were clear.

Name Of The Game

We recorded most of this track a few weeks ago and just needed to record the main vocal and any backing vocals we could think of.  Unlike the previous track, this song is up-tempo with guitar, bass, drums, piano, strings (and solo cello!), so the main vocal was quite straightforward and only took a couple of takes with the odd replacement of lines here and there.  Then we moved onto some backing vocals.  I recorded Janie riffing over the main vocal and we played it back to decide on any good bits we liked.

The chorus needed a lift so I suggested Janie ahh-ing a 3-part harmony but after we recorded it, it was apparent her voice wasn't quite right for this task.  We tried a few voice patches on Janie's synth, but they all seemed too fake.  Paul suggested some brass instead, so we found a decent trumpet patch on the synth and Janie put down a few stabs which really lifted it.  We will replace it with a proper horn section at a later date, but that gave us a good idea of what it sounded like.

Looking for horn section

If you know anyone who can play trombone or saxophone, who is in the Littleborough area, and might be interested in playing on a few tracks, please drop us a line at: starringstudio@hotmail.com.

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!

Skye Ladder - 26 July 2012

Session times: 8:00pm - 10:30pm

Lost Horizons

Tonight we were going to record the vocals for Lost Horizons.  The backing tracks were recorded a few months ago, so it was supposed to be a simple vocal session.

Janie did a few vocal run-throughs to get warmed up and so I could set the recording levels correctly.   She did the chorus and verse parts in a couple of takes, but there is a bridge section where the lyrics are "It's alright, it's alright, it's alright, it's alright, it's alright".  If you say that quickly enough you end up with "tits alright", so we decided a lyric change was required.

Janie had been toying with the idea of a less structured approach to this section and had been riffing over the instrumental parts; some of which sounded quite good.  So, while Paul dashed off a quick lyric re-write, we played around with different vocal ideas and effects.  With the new lyrics, we ended up with just vocal and drums which added a very different feel to the song.  I also heard a similar, but more complex, multi-vocal in my head, which we recorded and added to the end of the track.

After all these changes, we agreed the song needed re-recording from scratch as several sections now needed to be altered and some of the instrument parts contained subtle mistakes we hadn't noticed before.  That will have to happen on another session as there wasn't enough time to do it tonight.

Skye Ladder - 7th August 2012

Session times: 08:00pm-11:15pm

Million

The backing tracks for this song were done a few months ago, so we just needed to record a good vocal.

Janie did a few warm up takes, but for some reason, the signal kept clipping (distorting).  Looking at the signal onscreen, I couldn't see any reason for it.  The signal wasn't too loud (less than 40%) and the A/D box wasn't showing its clip led.  I changed the mic and cable for different ones with the same result.  After about 20 minutes of panic, I asked if anyone else could hear the noise.  Janie, Paul & I were all listening on headphones but only I could hear the clipping.  It turned out the volume knob on the headphone amp that I was connected to was a bit dodgy, so a bit of twiddling of the knob stopped the crackle.  I'll have to get it fixed.


It took about 45 minutes to get a good take, so I made a rough mix and we moved on to a new song.

It's Time To Go

We were just going to get a demo of this song, so I set up the CS02 on a short stand and aimed it at Paul's acoustic guitar.  Janie used the sE2200 we set up for the previous song, and after we worked out the tempo, we got a quick recording down.

The song sounded like something I heard before but couldn't place.  I kept thinking of Fairport Convention but that wasn't right. Paul sort of knew who I meant but couldn't get the band name.  Eventually he said Eddie Reader which led us to Fairground Attraction.  Phew.

The song sounded vaguely like 'Perfect', which doesn't really fit in with the other songs we've recorded so far, so I suggested we straighten out the swing and make it a bit more rocky.

I powered up my guitar rig and found a rock sound that seemed to fit.  The chords to the song were fairly simple so it didn't take much learning.  We selected a tempo, picked a drum beat and recorded a quick guitar track.  I then put down a simple bass line, played a drum part on the electronic drums, and added a hammond part.  Janie re-sang the vocal and I added a tambourine.  In all, it probably took less than an hour to get a decent sounding demo.

By this time it was getting late, so we packed up.  I did a quick mix to email to Janie & Paul and tidied up the studio a bit after they had left.

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.

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 - 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.