Tag: refuge

Posted on

Abbey Road

Attended a recording session at Abbey Road studios today

I got in with the Rethink Your Mind organisation over the last year and one of our students where the day job is won the chance to record with a choir on a charity single…so away we went.

All round good egg Adam Ellis from Deadline Studios was there signing off takes, Mark Morriss (Bluetones) and folk singer Lucy Ward were doing lead lines, and there was a healthy volume of people tape-opping, note taking and engineering in a very organised ‘out of the way’ way.

Studio One is absolutely massive…used for orchestral recordings on film scores, and impressively, 160 pairs of working headphones.

Loads of lovely mics and stands floating around

Anyway, a very efficient choir fixer, Pippa Gearing was a highlight for me….super ‘on it’ making use of only 2 hours to do all the choir bits.

The engineer, assistant and note taking assistant all read music from the score provided.. I thought that was pretty interesting, as was the unspoken efficiency between all three.

A day to remember, for sure.

 

..in a corridor
Mark Morriss
Tape Op, Assistant Engineer
Adam Ellis pondering
Just hanging around on a desk

 

Posted on

Such a Purfleet Day

Have been in Purfleet for a couple of days at the National Skills Academy’s new Backstage Centre : a massive purpose built production house for bands to use before they tour…. absolutely astounding in terms of scale.

Had a tour round the Royal Opera House Production facility, too: also, amazing.

Mid way through mixing the Refuge album.. single’s gone to be pressed (vinyl). Another week or two, then done.

I need a heater in the studio !

Oh, yes, and lovely Clive tuned the piano…. he’ll need to come back in a couple of months to raise it a little more, but it sounds lovely.

Posted on

Oh dear

Ben mixing a single for a band called Refuge. It’s for a World Mental Health awareness campaign, apparently. Anyways, that’s in the bag: just got to master it. Pretty big mix: 14 brass tracks, same for string section, bass, drums, guitars x a million (ish) and vocals. Its the first time I’ve used an Exciter for ages… it counteracted the fact there was no under-snare mic, to to get the ghost note rattle popping through. Album mix to follow over next three weeks……and weirdly, am mixing everything then the drums ‘go on’ last… intrigued as to how that’ll work.

The soul/blues album I’ve been mastering’s now done: hats off to James from One Cure For Man for recording and mixing it ; sounds really good.. dead gutsy.
Mrs Ears bought a dear for the studio: like it?

 

In March I was asked to do a remix of I Am In Love’s single… it’s only just been released though. I knocked up a video for it, to.