I remember many years ago, I was producing a band from Liverpool called "The Cherry Boys".
We were recording in London and I had a pretty bad cold at the time of recording. We were staying at one of the band members flat somewhere in the city.
I must have woken up some of the band members during the night with my snoring, and the drummer from the band decided to conduct an interview with me whilst I was asleep, which he recorded on his portable cassette machine (remember those?).
I was totally asleep during the "interview" and completely oblivious to the proceedings.
The next day, at the recording studio, they played back the interview over the studio monitors......to much guffawing and myrth.
It's moments like these that really help to lighten the pressure of recording..and I thank them for that.
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Friday, 22 October 2010
Friday, 15 October 2010
Favourite Recording Session?
I am often asked what my favourite recording studio session has been over the years...and I do have a few!
Probably at the top of my choice would be a recording session for the band "Echo and the Bunnymen".
They were recording a single which would be featured in the film "Lost Boys" and were asked to do a cover version of The Doors "People are Strange".
The record producer on this session was none other than Ray Manzarek the keyboard player from The Doors, who flew over to the UK especially for the session.
Magic moments during the session included a jam session with the band and Ray doing a version of "Light My Fire".
I particularly remember Ian McCulloch getting Ray to try a different type of English beer each day and he sure seemed to enjoy the experience!
Ray was a very nice laid-back sort of guy, with a good sense of humour, and we struck up an instant rapport. Unfortunately, a lot of the stories that Ray entertained us with during the recording session have been forgotten by me with the mists of time....but he certainly kept us amused.
I still wince a bit when I hear the finished song...because the piano tuner had not been available on the day of the recording and is slightly out of tune...varispeeding the track couldn't provide a cure, because the grand piano was out of tune with itself, but this didn't stop it being a top twenty hit.
Never have managed to see the film though...........
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Probably at the top of my choice would be a recording session for the band "Echo and the Bunnymen".
They were recording a single which would be featured in the film "Lost Boys" and were asked to do a cover version of The Doors "People are Strange".
The record producer on this session was none other than Ray Manzarek the keyboard player from The Doors, who flew over to the UK especially for the session.
Magic moments during the session included a jam session with the band and Ray doing a version of "Light My Fire".
I particularly remember Ian McCulloch getting Ray to try a different type of English beer each day and he sure seemed to enjoy the experience!
Ray was a very nice laid-back sort of guy, with a good sense of humour, and we struck up an instant rapport. Unfortunately, a lot of the stories that Ray entertained us with during the recording session have been forgotten by me with the mists of time....but he certainly kept us amused.
I still wince a bit when I hear the finished song...because the piano tuner had not been available on the day of the recording and is slightly out of tune...varispeeding the track couldn't provide a cure, because the grand piano was out of tune with itself, but this didn't stop it being a top twenty hit.
Never have managed to see the film though...........
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Thursday, 14 October 2010
Why Drinking Wine Can Be Hazardous To Your Wealth
Another story from the same recording studio complex as my last posting.
This was a 3 studio complex in the U.K and they had just completed the building and equipment installation of their third room...total cost around £500,000.
It came to the day of the Grand Opening with assorted V.I.P's and drink flowing freely...the owner of the business was justifiably very proud of his new 60 channel SSL 'E' series monster of a console, and was showing off his new baby whilst swigging red wine.
He placed his glass near the faders to make some point and waved his arms around enthusiastically. The obvious thing happened.....
He spilt the whole glass of red wine over at least 8 of the channels of the pristine console faders, much to the horror of the ageing maintenance employee.
Although they tried to mop it up...as soon as the sticky nectar dried..the 8 or so channels were perceptibly stiff for many weeks until they could replace said faders at a high cost.
There's a lesson to be learned here and god knows what would have happened if it had been one of the staff engineers that did it instead of the owner!
As a side note...I remember doing another session in a different studio with the same owner who was 'producing' the session...he sat down in the very comfy reclining recording studio chairs and.......immediately did a backward somersault..he had leaned too far back!
Hilarious!
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This was a 3 studio complex in the U.K and they had just completed the building and equipment installation of their third room...total cost around £500,000.
It came to the day of the Grand Opening with assorted V.I.P's and drink flowing freely...the owner of the business was justifiably very proud of his new 60 channel SSL 'E' series monster of a console, and was showing off his new baby whilst swigging red wine.
He placed his glass near the faders to make some point and waved his arms around enthusiastically. The obvious thing happened.....
He spilt the whole glass of red wine over at least 8 of the channels of the pristine console faders, much to the horror of the ageing maintenance employee.
Although they tried to mop it up...as soon as the sticky nectar dried..the 8 or so channels were perceptibly stiff for many weeks until they could replace said faders at a high cost.
There's a lesson to be learned here and god knows what would have happened if it had been one of the staff engineers that did it instead of the owner!
As a side note...I remember doing another session in a different studio with the same owner who was 'producing' the session...he sat down in the very comfy reclining recording studio chairs and.......immediately did a backward somersault..he had leaned too far back!
Hilarious!
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One Thing Engineers Hate
One of the things that engineers hate...I know I certainly do...is when you're in the recording studio and a musician says "I want my guitar to sound like........." ( insert their favourite guitar hero).
It's not just guitarists that are guilty of this, it applies to many other instruments too!
The thing is.... A very large percentage of a persons 'sound' comes from the person themselves and not the instrument or instrument amplification.
I can give a couple of examples of this....
On one session many years ago, in a well equipped and quite expensive multiple-studio complex, I was recording an 'indie' band who were recording their debut album. It came to the time to record the guitarist, no names mentioned in this blog, and it was taking a long, long time to get a decent sound. Various combinations of guitar and amps and cabs were tried...but it just wasn't sounding very good.
I spent time making sure that what came out of the cab in the studio was representative of what we were hearing on the studio monitors, moving microphones around, trying different mics and checking phase etc.
The producer (who was a reasonable guitarist) eventually got a bit tired of this and snatched the guitar out of the wilting guitarists hands and started to play.
As soon as he started playing.....the sound was good for the first time that day..he handed the guitar back to the guitarist and as soon as he started playing the not so good sound returned to everyones bemusement!
It was his 'style' of scratchy playing that was the problem and not the instrument, equipment or indeed the engineer (me).
More recently and not in a recording environment...I was giving a workshop on English bagpipe playing and one of the participants mentioned that my pipes sounded particularly mellow and tuneful, whereas his pipes were not so good....I got him to swop instruments with me...hey presto!,, his pipes were fine and sounded mellow and tuneful..whereas my pipes sounded raunchy and tuneless in his hands....I repeat my point...
The sound of an instrument comes mainly from the player him/herself.
Please remember this next time you start wasting recording studio time..and by the way...the same applies to drummers as well!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
It's not just guitarists that are guilty of this, it applies to many other instruments too!
The thing is.... A very large percentage of a persons 'sound' comes from the person themselves and not the instrument or instrument amplification.
I can give a couple of examples of this....
On one session many years ago, in a well equipped and quite expensive multiple-studio complex, I was recording an 'indie' band who were recording their debut album. It came to the time to record the guitarist, no names mentioned in this blog, and it was taking a long, long time to get a decent sound. Various combinations of guitar and amps and cabs were tried...but it just wasn't sounding very good.
I spent time making sure that what came out of the cab in the studio was representative of what we were hearing on the studio monitors, moving microphones around, trying different mics and checking phase etc.
The producer (who was a reasonable guitarist) eventually got a bit tired of this and snatched the guitar out of the wilting guitarists hands and started to play.
As soon as he started playing.....the sound was good for the first time that day..he handed the guitar back to the guitarist and as soon as he started playing the not so good sound returned to everyones bemusement!
It was his 'style' of scratchy playing that was the problem and not the instrument, equipment or indeed the engineer (me).
More recently and not in a recording environment...I was giving a workshop on English bagpipe playing and one of the participants mentioned that my pipes sounded particularly mellow and tuneful, whereas his pipes were not so good....I got him to swop instruments with me...hey presto!,, his pipes were fine and sounded mellow and tuneful..whereas my pipes sounded raunchy and tuneless in his hands....I repeat my point...
The sound of an instrument comes mainly from the player him/herself.
Please remember this next time you start wasting recording studio time..and by the way...the same applies to drummers as well!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Wednesday, 13 October 2010
Keeping an eye on studio refurbishment
I have been keeping tabs on developments at the recording studio where I do most of my work, because they are expanding the facilities and spending megabucks on new equipment.
The major expense is in the building of a new control room and the purchase of a large frame Neve 88rs console. The console alone costs around £350,000 and will be delivered in January 2011.
By the time it is finished, it will be one of the best equipped studios in the U.K.
They have also been buying Studer multitrack (2x24 tracks) to use with one of my favourite new innovations CLASP.
I won't go into detail here about what CLASP does, but you should certainly check out their videos on Youtube.
The studio started life as an all digital studio quite a few years ago but is certainly blossoming into something BIG!
Will keep an eye on all new developments.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
The major expense is in the building of a new control room and the purchase of a large frame Neve 88rs console. The console alone costs around £350,000 and will be delivered in January 2011.
By the time it is finished, it will be one of the best equipped studios in the U.K.
They have also been buying Studer multitrack (2x24 tracks) to use with one of my favourite new innovations CLASP.
I won't go into detail here about what CLASP does, but you should certainly check out their videos on Youtube.
The studio started life as an all digital studio quite a few years ago but is certainly blossoming into something BIG!
Will keep an eye on all new developments.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Home studio nightmare
My dedicated recording PC recently decided to go on holiday.
It wouldn't even run it's bios, until I removed and re-seated the video board, but then it decided not to look for either of my hard drives and just sat there waiting to be booted from CD drive.
After a few tries, I decided to return the computer to its maker, which involved a midnight meeting at a service station where he picked it up and took it back up north.
All this sounds a bit mundane....but I am in the middle of recording an album (CD) of one of my bands and the interruption to the creative flow is most annoying!
It has been a few weeks now and the longer it takes to repair...the harder it will be to get back into 'the groove'.
Bummer !
It wouldn't even run it's bios, until I removed and re-seated the video board, but then it decided not to look for either of my hard drives and just sat there waiting to be booted from CD drive.
After a few tries, I decided to return the computer to its maker, which involved a midnight meeting at a service station where he picked it up and took it back up north.
All this sounds a bit mundane....but I am in the middle of recording an album (CD) of one of my bands and the interruption to the creative flow is most annoying!
It has been a few weeks now and the longer it takes to repair...the harder it will be to get back into 'the groove'.
Bummer !
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
Peewee to publish ebook
The other thing I have in the pipeline is to write an 'Ebook' of my experiences as a Recording Engineer/Producer over the last 30 years.
I have quite a lot of stories from sessions over the years, with some big 'name' artists which should make interesting reading.
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iPad feedback
Only been using my iPad for a few weeks...but am getting to enjoy the experience more and more.
It certainly makes browsing fun and connection to email accounts is blisteringly fast!
It will also allow me to start proper blogging, as I will be able to blog from any location.
I am in the process of setting up another blog on my own domain and this will be all about my long career as a recording engineer/producer. It will contain some fond memories of sessions and also some tips for budding sound engineers.
I will post location of the new specialised blog website very soon!
It certainly makes browsing fun and connection to email accounts is blisteringly fast!
It will also allow me to start proper blogging, as I will be able to blog from any location.
I am in the process of setting up another blog on my own domain and this will be all about my long career as a recording engineer/producer. It will contain some fond memories of sessions and also some tips for budding sound engineers.
I will post location of the new specialised blog website very soon!
Posting from ipad
Hi all,
Just posting this from my new ipad..
I am setting up a blog website on my own domain.
Details to follow
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Just posting this from my new ipad..
I am setting up a blog website on my own domain.
Details to follow
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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