26 posts tagged “i brought you some samosas”
Hello folks,
Been too busy to update this thing, but recording has been taking place. Another vocal is completed, another one has been sketched out. Another has been half completed! Another guitar has been put down... progress is still slow just due to the nature of musicians (hard to get hold of, even harder to get them to turn up on time...) but I am happy that this project probably has just crossed the halfway point in terms of total material needing to be recorded.
and yours truly with the cans.
I will return soon with some sound clips!
Benz.
Hi folks,
a quick update; my friend Jen came over and recorded piano for two of the songs on '...Samosas'.
have yourselves a listen.
Benz.
Hello again.
Long time and no action. But all that got changed when Owen and Gary from Almighty Me came around to record.
Enjoy,
Benz.
Hello folks.
Over a month since the last update! You'd think I'd been slacking off! Well, truth being I have a bit, but work has been done. The main acoustic guitar has been recorded for another of the tracks, along with a will-it-stay-will-it-go take of the accompanying guitar.
There's a bit of news on the personnel front. Newly recruited into the '...Samosas' camp is Mr Robin Pringle of The Kick
Originally, I was intending Robin to sing on the track I mentioned above, which I'd just finished getting the guitar recorded for. However, he was too sure if it was suiting to him. So he dropped by one day and we sifted through some stuff over a couple of beers, a pizza and settled on a different track for him, which has the working title of 'Difficult'. That leaves me with just 3 songs needing singers now...
For a re-cap, here's a list of everyone who has contributed/has agreed to contribute/who are currently working on stuff for the album. I can't thank these people enough for all their enthusiasm which they responded to my invitations with.
Alan McDonald of Afterlives and 99Confessions (vocals)
Michael Bret Klein (vocals, blues harp)
Kevin Stevenson of Silva (bass)
Scott Mitchel of Bends and Boots and Drive A Tractor (vocals, guitar, drums)
Michael McCue of Slient Transmission (vocals)
Owen and Gary of Almighty Me (Brass, Vocals)
Mr Robin Pringle of The Kick (vocals)
Kenny the bassist with the funky green bass (bass)
Michael Thorpe of Dead Fly Buchowski and El Casio Immunitas.
Big thanks also goes to Alan Walsh of Q10 Studios, who recorded all the drums.
Hopefully there'll be more sound clips a month of two down the road,
Steplight,
Benz.
Hello again folks,
There's not really been an update for a while, but I have been busy; more in the organisational way than recording though. Another 5 people have been contacted with regards to taking part in the recording project, and I also sat down with another vocalist and assisted in the writing of lyrics for another one of the tunes. Things are starting to take shape, however there is still the majority of the acoustic numbers without vocalists assigned to perform on them.
In my last post I put up a snippet of Alan singing 'Present Tense'. Well, tomorrow he's coming back to record different verses and a different bridge section! Seems he's up for improving on his previous melodies, and I'm delighted to be able to offer him the chance.
Other than '...Samosas' I've been roped into some other recording duties. Bret, who sings on one of the rockier tracks for the album came around and finished his '...Samosas' vocal, but then knuckled down and recorded three of his own songs; just vocals and acoustic guitar.
I'll post again soon. Laterz!
Benz.
Hello again all,
Well, my self and a Mr Alan McDonald had a very productive recording session. Plenty of lovely vocal got recorded with near mics, far away mics, big mics, little mics...! Vocals were recorded for the pop song on the album (now called Present Tense).
Benz.
You know, you're meant to kick back on bank holidays. Enjoy the day off work. Go to the theatre, or catch a film or something like that.
I have not! I've finally got my arse into gear. Today I've recorded the acoustic guitars for the Pop song (now to be called 'Present Tense') and also for the track with working title 'Was Once'. I started at about 10am, and I finished at about 8.30pm, having taken the appropriate food and ear/finger/patience breaks. There was a fair bit of mixing time added in, so it wasn't all spent playing/recording.
Recording acoustic guitar is quite a different game from recording an electric guitar. I won't bore you with details. Anyway; in the picture up above and to the left you'll see two microphones. A large diaphragm condenser for placing in front of the soundhole, and a small diaphragm condenser to point more at the 12th fret or end of the fretboard (depending how high up the neck you're playing). The small mic picks up the detail of the high frequencies and the big one catches the big midrangey acoustic brag of the guitar. The bit of kit in the picture above and to the right is a mic-preamp. It does a much better job of getting the levels up than the mixer does. In fact that entire bit of kit does the job of just 2 knobs on my mixer. When I shelled out all the cash for it, it seemed like quite an extravagance, however the results that it is helping me get mean that it was well worth it.
The guitars for 'Present Tense' sound big and full - just what I was hoping for. The guitars for 'Was Once' really bring a smile to my face. You can really hear the attack of the hard pick on the strings. In places the high-end sound like knives being dragged across each other.
What this progress means is that I can call on the vocalist for 'Present Tense'. He's booked in for a fortnight this weekend. I'm also very glad of getting the acoustic guitars done for 'Was Once'. That song is going to be quite a construction when it's done, and if feel really good to have broken the back of it, so to speak. I've got a vocalist in mind for 'Was Once'... he hasn't been told yet, but hopefully he'll take up the offer when it comes to him. In the meantime I will get the track sounding the best I can so that the bloke is more likely to come on board. I still have the bass to record for it, and it's one of my favourite basslines that I've written.
Anyways, this is dragging on. The only other thing to report is that I've had an idea to make this blog a bit more 'Web 2.0'. I'm going the get the people who come to record to talk about bit about what they've recorded and the project. I'll upload these recording to this here VOX, like mini-podcasts. Hopefully it'll be interesting.
Hope you're all stepping light,
Benz.
Hello again,
A very nice man came over to my flat and recorded a bassline for me. It was a few weeks ago now. I've been a bit on the busy side and a shade of neglect has crept into the corners of this VOX.
But anyway! A nice man called Kenny came along with his new green bass:
And he recorded this:
Things are busying up. I have Bret coming back this week to finish his vocal. Next week I have another gentleman attending to play bass AND Scott, who did all the drumming, is going to add an extra guitar and bit of squeeze-box onto another track :)
This all makes me rather happy.
Also, shamless plug, but the podcasted audio drama that I've produced is now complete. All 6 episodes are available from www.afterlives.net
Finally, I have to give Kenny the 'Least animated pose after being told to "strike a pose"' award:
Benz.
Hi folks.
Right back in the recording saddle, so I am. The covers gig is out of the way, and now that recording/mixing/mastering duties for Afterlives are winding down. '...Samosas' is back at the top of the priority list.
This afternoon and evening I got an awful lot of work done. I recorded electric guitars for 3 songs. A total of 5 different guitar parts nailed! I'm rather chuffed. This means that apart from a guitar solo that I still have to write and any extra odds and sods I fancy putting in, ALL the electric guitar work is done! I feel this is a big achievement but at the same time I feel a little bit sad that they'll be getting neglected for the rest of the album.
So this is a bit of a scary point to reach. Time to down the electric guitars and bare all with an acoustic and a microphone. This will make it a lot harder to 'cheat' during recording; harder to do drop ins, harder to EQ stuff to sound 'right' without the sound changing so much that it is unnatural. No lush guitar amp models, chorusing or heavy distortion to hide behind. A guitar. A microphone. Totally unforgiving.
Maybe I'll get a few folks around to record their parts next to give me an excuse to delay the inevitable.
A lot of the songs I've finished off just contain guitars and drums as I'm getting other folks to play bass and extra guitars on them, so I'm not putting any sound clips up. They just wouldn't be interesting enough.
Will be back with more when things get interesting again!
Benz.
p.s. I stumbled upon this elsewhere on VOX. I've never really been a Korn fan, but sometimes it takes something just a little bit different to get you sit up and pay attention to a band who are now surely part of the furniture in the halls of the rock aristocracy.
Things have been busy. I had another visit from Bret to do more work on his vocals and I was also visited by this fine fellow:
Mr Kevin Stevenson of Silva. He did a great bassline for instrumental number on the album (see snippet), which I also hope to get a pianist and a trumpet player for. He also recorded the bassline for WASPS which was originally a track that I wrote and performed in a band called No Gazebos.
Keepin' busy!
Benz.
