Dunning Kruger Band recording in the Studio

I am back in the studio this weekend to record my band Dunning Kruger’s EP. We are very happy about the songs that are going on the EP and really looking forward to see the reaction we will get from our fans.

Although the studio is relatively small, we want to pull out all the stops and track most of it as a live performance. We will be rigging Peter on the drums and Paddy on the bass, together in the live room with Blake and myself on the guitars in the control room. All of us on a separate headphone mix and away we will go. We will be arriving at ohrwurm Studio near Pfaffenhofen on Friday evening to have a pre setup and perhaps a jam in the environment of headphone glory and order a couple pizzas before getting some kip on the live room floor. More on this later this week.

Another Ohrwurm Studio bass session

Here's a few photos of a recent bass session I tracked for Josef Falsch in Ohrwurm studio.

Happy new year!

So happy new year to you all. I feel really good about 2011! A year for some great achievements. Some of which I have already achieved today.

Today the lyrics are flowing. I wrote a song called Winter Winter ( name could change in the next coming days ) in 2.5 hours. So far the idea is to have this one freestyle on the guitar and tracked on a 2 track tape machine. Keeping it clean and raw. But we will see how that pans out.

*Note to myself, write it all on the guitar - then throw it in logic and if I want the final piece without guitar, then at least the structure is there.

Recording bass for Honey in Ohrwurmstudio.

Josy from Ohrwurm studio kindly donated some of his time for me last night to record a new bass line for the EP I am working on for Jon. The first track "honey" is finally coming together and sounding less static now that the pre production synthetic baseline has been replaced. The bass was played by myself through a line6 Pod X3 and a soft compression was applied on a Urei compressor before tracking into Logic Pro 8.

I also found an old Jen SX1000 mono analogue synth lying around, so on my next visit I will be sitting on the sofa in the back making some noises to be used on my next production. Thanks again Josy.

Schweden Records listening to Jon Botham

In the picture is Martin Deininger of Schweden Records in Eching, Germany. Having a listen to my mix of "Honey" by Jon Botham on a pair of PMC Studio monitors. Giving some of his valuable input.

Recording Jon Bothams EP Pictures 1 (London)

Recording Jon Bothams EP (London)

So its been a little while and a lot has happened since I last posted. I have been back home and then back to London to record a 4 track EP for Jon Botham. What was first supposed to be a pre-production setup for the first few days before we booked studio time, ended up in being where we stayed for the rest of the tracking. We got such a great sound and atmosphere from hijacking his house near Stratford (Hackney Wick) from Wednesday to Saturday ( 08/09/2010 - 11/09/2010 ) Also with the help of my two favorite engineers Vera and Lil they made the experience so much more enjoyable and smooth running.

Everything was tracked through Jons Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 and into Logic Pro 9 on his i7 27inch iMac. We set up in the gallery while positioning the the listening point so we could all comfortably sit on a sofa and chill while Jon was tracking in his studio room. Pretty much all guitars were recorded with a stereo pair of Shure KSM 141 pencil mics going straight into the built in Focusrite pre's on the Saffire Pro 40. Vocals where recorded through one of my favorites; the original AKG C414 on cardioid pattern and going through what I now believe is a fantastic little tube preamp for the money, the ART Studio V3.

Now I am back in Germany and the real work starts. I have started piling through the tracks to find the right comp.

Neve Studio Photos

Here's some old photos of a brass recording session back in 2008.

SOUND BLASTER

Its been a few weeks and I have 3 new tracks in the making. I am pretty excited about these as I am finally using a bit more guitar in my mix.

I have got hold of some old "Soundblaster" type multimedia speakers and plan to re-mic a series of licks using my Korg M3 through them. I got this idea from a group called Noisia. They run their baselines through a similar computer speaker and create some of the dirtiest baselines I have ever heard. Because these are so small, boxed in plastic and ported for extra bass, it resonates like crazy between a 500 and 100Hz. When I drive it hard, below this I get major rattle as the box wants to crumble and it just spits back at me. Fantastic distortion!

I bounced some pads this morning for track number two.

Clever Girl - No Drum and Bass in the Jazz Room

Here is some old friends of mine that I have worked with in the studio over 4 years ago. They are now back together under a new name and recently released a new EP called NO Drum and Bass in the Jazz Room. There is also a free download (Donations are welcomed.)
These guys bring some great happens to my life, just listen.

http://www.myspace.com/clevergirllovesyou