Recording Diary - Day One
MONDAY 15th MAY 2006
So here we are. After almost 2 years together as a group we are finally taking the plunge and laying down the 'best' work of those 2 years to tape (or computer as it were) for prosperity and for public consumption. It's seemed like an awful long journey getting to this morning but we're glad it's finally here and are hoping we can do these cheeky little songs proud for their official unveiling later this year.
Last night (Sunday 14th May) we trekked down to the marvellous Catalyst Studios in St.Helens with our less than glamorous (ie. cheap) instruments and set up the drums in the hope of an early start this morning.
Our label Akoustik Anarkhy have promised transport to and from the studio for the 2 weeks we are booked in but much to our dismay only 2 limos were available. One for the 'working class' end and one the 'middle class'. Our limo driver's name was Purcell. I did'nt ask but at a guess I'd say he was approximately 50. He wears glasses and mounted the kerb outside WTL Towers when he arrived this morning. I've decided to give him the benefit of the doubt though as he seems like a nice enough chap and, more importantly, he was on time. More of a Dean Martin man himself, Purcell's daughter went to a 'rock' concert in 1996 and never returned. Still, he did'nt seem to hold it against us and wished myself, JTL, GTL and PTL well as he dropped us outside Catalyst again mounting the kerb. I can't be sure but I'm sure I heard him mutter something under his breath as I closed the door of the limo.
Andy Bowes is a wonderful chap whose only bugbear is the fact that his flatulence becomes more frequent as the day progresses, a fact that he seems to use as a guage of a songs recorded potential. He is our guide for the first section of our recordings. If there are to be any more sections remains to be seen and much rests on how well these 2 weeks progress. Last night I had told myself that I would be happy with 5 or 6 song 'skeletons' for our first days recording at the same time warning myself that we could come away with 3 and various song 'bones'.
After an hour or so of mic tweaking and amp positioning and 3 episodes of 'Police Squad' we begin with our instrumental opener 'Clancy's Stomp'. The idea behind the recorded version of 'Clancy's' is to mess it up royally and form a nice little calling card for the rest of the album. As with the other songs we plan to record, the finished version will probably differ massively from what we have in mind at the moment. It may not even be used, who knows, but we polish Clancy's bass and drums off in half an hour and this leaves us cocky for the rest of the songs of which we have 12 more to record.
We crack on through two more songs with almost no glitches and then the problems begin to kick in a little. This is'nt helped by the small lady who knocks on the door of the studio and is selling pirate copies of the latest dvds cheaply. We invite her in and look at what dvds are to offer but I am put off by the fact that her bag contains a copy of Harry Potter 6. NTL buys a copy of 'Happy Gilmore' on VHS and we set about our business.
Some songs require a click track, others don't but the clicks don't provide as much trouble as we originally though they might. I'm not going to tell you which ones we did use a click on . Maybe you can buy the album when it is out and have fun trying to guess. The guitars are sounding marvellous in these infant stages mainly due to us borrowing them from top St.Helens music emporium 'The Axe Factor' who don't tend to open exactly when they should but are well worth visiting. They are also helped by Andy's lovely amp. JTL's amps is ok but has some stickly stuff under it's handle that you forget about every time you pick it up.
A new(ish) song called 'Googly Moogly' causes the most rumpus towards the end of the day until a microphone is thrust in front of JTL and he sings along which helps things a little. By this time DTL has joined us in the control room because he has grown tired of playing the guitar. The recording process is not helped by the fact that he continually blows a small child's toy trumpet throughout the recording of 'Googly Moogly'. I ask him to stop but he just gets louder. Eventually he stops and puts the trumpet down. He eyes up a set of marraccas menacingly but seems to think better of them.
NTL's wrists have becaome a little sore but we don't talk about the reasons behind this. PTL sings a bit and I say "1-2-3-4" sometimes in the correct place. As JTL has been left in a studio of his own at the far end of the building we begin to worry that he may have trashed the room out of boredom but thankfully he keeps himself amused by playing 'licks' as they are known in the business. JTL will be selling a small piece of his guitar on Ebay in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.
We think we nailed 'Googly Moogly' in the end but won't be sure until the cold light of day tomorrow when we will begin to tackle the more taxing songs in our set. Oh God indeed. Andy has rented an extremely expensive vocal mic off The Beatles so I hope we have nailed today's songs as Macca wants it back by the end of the week.
And so to the Zoo Bar. I have two pints, borrow £10 off DTL and win £50 pound on the bandit which I then proceed to spend in the Bell And Barrell with PTL and GTL. Before we spend up we leave and buy some butties from Asda. Mmmmm.
I'm having an early night as I would'nt want to keep Purcell waiting in the morning.
Nightnight.
WTL x
So here we are. After almost 2 years together as a group we are finally taking the plunge and laying down the 'best' work of those 2 years to tape (or computer as it were) for prosperity and for public consumption. It's seemed like an awful long journey getting to this morning but we're glad it's finally here and are hoping we can do these cheeky little songs proud for their official unveiling later this year.
Last night (Sunday 14th May) we trekked down to the marvellous Catalyst Studios in St.Helens with our less than glamorous (ie. cheap) instruments and set up the drums in the hope of an early start this morning.
Our label Akoustik Anarkhy have promised transport to and from the studio for the 2 weeks we are booked in but much to our dismay only 2 limos were available. One for the 'working class' end and one the 'middle class'. Our limo driver's name was Purcell. I did'nt ask but at a guess I'd say he was approximately 50. He wears glasses and mounted the kerb outside WTL Towers when he arrived this morning. I've decided to give him the benefit of the doubt though as he seems like a nice enough chap and, more importantly, he was on time. More of a Dean Martin man himself, Purcell's daughter went to a 'rock' concert in 1996 and never returned. Still, he did'nt seem to hold it against us and wished myself, JTL, GTL and PTL well as he dropped us outside Catalyst again mounting the kerb. I can't be sure but I'm sure I heard him mutter something under his breath as I closed the door of the limo.
Andy Bowes is a wonderful chap whose only bugbear is the fact that his flatulence becomes more frequent as the day progresses, a fact that he seems to use as a guage of a songs recorded potential. He is our guide for the first section of our recordings. If there are to be any more sections remains to be seen and much rests on how well these 2 weeks progress. Last night I had told myself that I would be happy with 5 or 6 song 'skeletons' for our first days recording at the same time warning myself that we could come away with 3 and various song 'bones'.
After an hour or so of mic tweaking and amp positioning and 3 episodes of 'Police Squad' we begin with our instrumental opener 'Clancy's Stomp'. The idea behind the recorded version of 'Clancy's' is to mess it up royally and form a nice little calling card for the rest of the album. As with the other songs we plan to record, the finished version will probably differ massively from what we have in mind at the moment. It may not even be used, who knows, but we polish Clancy's bass and drums off in half an hour and this leaves us cocky for the rest of the songs of which we have 12 more to record.
We crack on through two more songs with almost no glitches and then the problems begin to kick in a little. This is'nt helped by the small lady who knocks on the door of the studio and is selling pirate copies of the latest dvds cheaply. We invite her in and look at what dvds are to offer but I am put off by the fact that her bag contains a copy of Harry Potter 6. NTL buys a copy of 'Happy Gilmore' on VHS and we set about our business.
Some songs require a click track, others don't but the clicks don't provide as much trouble as we originally though they might. I'm not going to tell you which ones we did use a click on . Maybe you can buy the album when it is out and have fun trying to guess. The guitars are sounding marvellous in these infant stages mainly due to us borrowing them from top St.Helens music emporium 'The Axe Factor' who don't tend to open exactly when they should but are well worth visiting. They are also helped by Andy's lovely amp. JTL's amps is ok but has some stickly stuff under it's handle that you forget about every time you pick it up.
A new(ish) song called 'Googly Moogly' causes the most rumpus towards the end of the day until a microphone is thrust in front of JTL and he sings along which helps things a little. By this time DTL has joined us in the control room because he has grown tired of playing the guitar. The recording process is not helped by the fact that he continually blows a small child's toy trumpet throughout the recording of 'Googly Moogly'. I ask him to stop but he just gets louder. Eventually he stops and puts the trumpet down. He eyes up a set of marraccas menacingly but seems to think better of them.
NTL's wrists have becaome a little sore but we don't talk about the reasons behind this. PTL sings a bit and I say "1-2-3-4" sometimes in the correct place. As JTL has been left in a studio of his own at the far end of the building we begin to worry that he may have trashed the room out of boredom but thankfully he keeps himself amused by playing 'licks' as they are known in the business. JTL will be selling a small piece of his guitar on Ebay in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.
We think we nailed 'Googly Moogly' in the end but won't be sure until the cold light of day tomorrow when we will begin to tackle the more taxing songs in our set. Oh God indeed. Andy has rented an extremely expensive vocal mic off The Beatles so I hope we have nailed today's songs as Macca wants it back by the end of the week.
And so to the Zoo Bar. I have two pints, borrow £10 off DTL and win £50 pound on the bandit which I then proceed to spend in the Bell And Barrell with PTL and GTL. Before we spend up we leave and buy some butties from Asda. Mmmmm.
I'm having an early night as I would'nt want to keep Purcell waiting in the morning.
Nightnight.
WTL x
posted by the loungs at 2:01 PM
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