You’d have thought that once a band was in the studio, the roadie would get some time off, wouldn’t you? Ha! Not in this band! Well at least words are nice and light, and easy to move around!
Z’s asked me to do a bit of an insiders/outsiders perspective for you on the mixing process, so [...]
The favourite thing of mine that anyone has said upon hearing our new album:
It sounds like the bastard child of Motley Crue & Motorhead
Although us playing at the Wacken Festival isn’t anything to do with the making-of “Normalityville Horror”, I think it will become part of it’s overall story. I wanted to get down all the details in blog form anyway so, where better place to put my Wacken Diary than right here.
Our adventure begins on Tuesday [...]
Wow where to start I am covered in little bruises from every time I have pinched myself over the last few months (is this really happening?!). I am in the coolest band on the planet and things are taking off. Guess I joined at the right time eh!
When I heard we were doing the [...]
Saturday 31st July
I’m writing this the day after completion, a bit overwhelmed that it’s all finished. Of course, that isn’t entirely true. For a start, it has to be mastered (this adds the extra sprinkle of fairy dust onto the whole thing and levels the sound out from song to song, it also [...]
I’ve been waiting a while to do this, but here they are, the first MP3 samples. These are unmastered clips of 3 tunes: “Sick”, “Zero To Sixty” & “Very Very Good At Being Bad”.
“Sick” [2010, Unmastered Promo Clip]
“Zero To Sixty” [2010, Unmastered Promo Clip]
“Very Very Good At Being Bad” [2010, Unmastered Promo Clip]
Any labels or agents interested in working with SPiT LiKE THiS can request a sample CD
You’d have thought that once a band was in the studio, the roadie would get some time off, wouldn’t you? Ha! Not in this band! Well at least words are nice and light, and easy to move around!
Z’s asked me to do a bit of an insiders/outsiders perspective for you on the mixing process, so I got my arse down to Dover on Thursday 29th July 2010 to see what was going on. I would’ve loved to be able to sit in on the recording of the album, but due to work commitments (even roadies need to eat) it just hasn’t been possible.
I met up with Z in the glamorous surroundings of Sainsbury’s car park (don’t ask) while we raided for supplies. The studio is way out in the wilds, miles from any shops, and so I snatch enough food and drink to keep me alive until tomorrow lunch time, when I’ll have to bomb home and go back to work. Z, meanwhile, buys enough Pepsi Max to float a small boat. Oh, and some bananas.
Z tells me that I’ve arrived in the midst of a crisis – while mixing ‘Suicide Kid’ it turns out that Vikki’s backing vocals are posing a problem. On the one day that the studio schedule allowed for the BVs to be recorded for the album, poor Vikki was struggling through a pretty evil cold, and as a result her usually bright and actually pretty good singing voice (ask her for a tune from Chicago if you don’t believe me) was sounding a bit weak. Even if Vikki was able to get down to the studio to redo them, the sound desk had to be reconfigured for the mixing process, and swapping it back would be a pain in the arse.
When we arrive at the studio, first job is to dump our stuff at the lodge. I know Z has already said – lots of times – that this is the same studio, the same lodge, and the same producer that you see in the Anvil movie, but let me just cover this in a bit more detail in case you haven’t seen the film (I haven’t seen it either). If you’re anything like me, you connect the words ’studio’, ‘rock band’, and ‘lodge’ in your mind and create an image of glamorous, plush, split-level living with widescreen TVs, big leather sofas and Jacuzzis. Let me just pull that image into focus for you. Before CT got use of the lodge, it was part of a scout camp, and you could say that the changes he’s made to it were ‘in keeping with its architectural heritage’. Or you could say it’s still a scout camp hut. There’s a big living room which is mostly filled with pub-type dining tables and chairs, and some old but comfy floral sofas, old pub-type carpet (you all know what that means, right?) and an old CRT TV. How charming! The kitchen is quite big too and looks like it means business, the bathroom looks like it was designed for small boys not to use on a camping trip when there were more interesting things to do (perfect for rock bands then), and there are four or five (I forget now) bedrooms with lots of bunk beds in. Not quite what I was expecting…
Then we’re off next door to the unassuming studio – bloody hell, look at the view!!! It’s a bright sunny day, and beyond the rolling green fields, the view drops away to the English Channel, and beyond that, the French coast and what I am told is a nuclear power station. That’s good, we’re well within the ‘well-done’ zone if it goes up… But bloody hell, look at the view!!!
Eventually Z drags me away to the studio. My only other visit to a recording studio was Paul Tipler’s Unit 13 studio, where ‘Sweet Transvestite’ was recorded, and I’d forgotten how small recording studios tend to be. We go in through what would probably be reception if CT was more formal, and eventually pass the kitchen once CT ensures we have caffeine, and cram into the studio itself. With the three of us and CT’s massive Towers of Power (I see now why Z described it as being like the Millennium Falcon) there’s barely room to close the door, and it’s a good job there’s air conditioning, because the room is of course pretty much sealed to stop noise getting in. Aside from the equipment that actually does the recording, all CT’s gear is analogue, and so it bears more resemblance to my image of a recording studio than Mr Tips’ Next-Gen Enterprise set-up which was all screens and keyboards. There are buttons and sliders and switches and dials and meters and stuff that just invites you muck about with it just to see what it does. It really is quite tempting just to sit there all day asking what these things do, but there is of course a purpose to all this.
Check out CT's rack!
Where was I? Ah, ‘Suicide Kid’. Right, well, CT has been hard at work while we were stocking up on goodies, and reckons he has sort of found a solution. There isn’t anything that can be done to liven the backing vocals up, but where they sound a little weak he brings the guitar track up a little to create a slight swell in the music, turning the problem into an opportunity to add some extra texture to the song. This is why he gets the big bucks.
It makes things sound cooler. Somehow.
For the next couple of hours Z & CT play about with the backing vocals and the various effects applied to the vocal tracks and guitars, fine-tuning them until Z is happy that the song rises and falls in all the right places. The result is truly awesome, especially played back through the desk monitors! The monitors are very powerful, very accurate speakers which are designed to play audio with the minimum possible amount of incidental distortion and unwanted noise. I want them. After a final end-to-end play of the song, Z shakes his head and for all the work, Vikki’s BVs don’t make the final cut. He reluctantly phones her to let her know.
CT's mixing desk. I like this. A lot.
‘Zero To Sixty’ is next to get a tune up. Unlike ‘Suicide Kid’, which was already started when I arrived, we’re starting from the beginning with this one. CT starts with the drum track, and adding in bass and guitar. This is put to one side as an instrumental mix. Z’s lead vocals go on next, then his BVs are added over the lead track, and Vikki’s BVs finish the full mix. Once everything is in place, it’s time to start tidying up the final mix. Z’s daily blogs cover the detail of the changes and alterations that get made during the recording day, I don’t want to duplicate all that, but I do want to mention the phase effect that was applied to Rob’s guitar solo. As I have repeatedly said, I don’t know exactly what a lot of the technical stuff does, but with this phase effect, the guitar sound seemed to actually come out of the desk, wrap around my head, and them disappear back into the desk again. It’s a fucking trippy effect, listen out for it. Not sure how it’ll sound through headphones, or what the rubbish MP3 format will do to it, so be sure to get a CD when the time comes and blast it LOUD to get the best effect.
As Z joked, CT is a talker, and talks at length about, well, just about anything given the chance! Subjects covered during the course of today include nuclear power, zombie movies, five reasons why Gordon Ramsey is a wanker (I’m sure there are more than five, CT!), and Native American culture. During a quick tea break, I take some pics of the insane racks of gear and the snake’s nest of cables under the mixing desk. And you think it looks bad behind your telly!
CT's cabling nightmare.
Things were going well at this point, no more technical snags, so it was on to Teen Angel. Again, the tracks were assembled into an instrumental mix and a full mix. This time there was very little in the way of tweaking, other than a nudge to increase the bass track in the mix.
During another break, CT showed me the recording room ‘where the magic happens…’ and the Blackstar amp and cab that Rob used for all the guitar parts. The nice people at Blackstar have given Rob an endorsement deal – isn’t that nice of them? Now being the roadie, my first question is ‘What does it sound like?’ and my second question is ‘How heavy is it?’ to which the answers are a) VERY LOUD, and b) VERY HEAVY. Balls. Back to the gym then…
Bastard-heavy Blackstar gear.
CT also showed me his babies. Aren’t they pretty?
CT's babies
CT decided to go ahead and load up ‘Very Very Good At Being Bad’, but by the time it had been put together, it was 10:30 and after 12-odd hours of ear-bashing, he and Z agreed that it was best to call it a night.
Z and I adjourn to the lodge and I attempt to cook a pizza in the world’s worst oven, while he breaks his exercise bike and writes his blog for the day. Inbetween these things, we chat a bit and this becomes something that isn’t an interview. Instead it becomes:
FiVE MiNUTES IN A CORNER WiTH LORD ZiON
So now all the actual recording is finished, how was it?
“It went really well. I can’t believe we got so much done in so little time. CT’s a rock producer, he really understands how bands work and his approach is geared to capturing that sound as quickly and easily as possible. And of course it helped that we were awesome, we nailed pretty much everything in two or three takes so there was no need to compile tracks like we did on the last album.”
Given that the deadline for recording and mixing the album is Saturday, have you felt the pressure?
“Actually no, it’s only been this week that I’ve become aware that time is moving on. Recording with CT has been so relaxing that I haven’t really been worried at all, but this time next week we’ll be playing at the Wacken festival, and we need demo copies of the album ready by then to hand out to the European press. Wacken is HUGE, and we’re playing a set there for the Press & VIP guests, as well as public show, so having a disc with CT’s name on it could really attract some attention – especially as Anvil are playing there too!”
Exciting about playing at Wacken?
“To be honest, I haven’t had time to think about it. That’s probably just as well. I’m looking forward to getting out on the stage there, but there’s a LOT of driving between my house and Wacken, and I can’t say I’m really looking forward to that part too much. I wish I could just click my fingers and be there!”
You’ve hardly been home since recording started three weeks ago – is it strange being camped here when you’ve worked from home for so long?
“I’ve almost forgotten what home is! I have been getting back home at the weekends, but most of that time is used up on things that I should’ve been doing during the week. It’s all rather chaotic. After playing Ibiza (the Hard Rock Hell Roadtrip), and Guernsey (Chaos Festival), and being down here all the time, I actually feel like a stranger in my own home! One weekend Vikki and I were at Collectormania (convention, at Earls Court) too, raising some money to pay for this monster.”
You’ve said in your blog that ‘Normalityville Horror’ is a much angrier album than ‘We Won’t Hurt You’. Who is that anger directed at? Are they going to get named and shamed?
“The song ‘Sick’ is about all the music industry bullshit we’ve had to put up with since recording ‘We Won’t Hurt You’. Our current team are pretty straight-up, they don’t over-promise and under-deliver, but that seems to be rare within the industry. We don’t name any names on the album but… *laughs* …let’s say there are certain people we’ve dealt with, who might recognise themselves from descriptions of their conduct. I’d like expose these people for the vermin they are, so maybe when we’re famous international rockstars we’ll have a ‘fuck you very much’ list on a future album!”
There’s a couple of old friends on this album alongside the new ones – ‘Teen Angel’ and ‘Dragged Kicking & Screaming’, and both have been part of the live set for years and years. Is it hard to decide on a final form for these songs when they come out a little differently every time?
“In my mind there were already final forms of those songs, you just can’t reproduce them exactly every time, and there’s no point in trying. A live set needs energy and pace, you have to put on a show and engage with the crowd, that’s what they come out for. If they wanted high fidelity music, they could put on a CD at home!”
‘Dragged’ was originally a party song about your fans, so of course it goes down well live. But you’ve rewritten the lyrics for this album. Why?
“‘Dragged’ was a cool song to start with. But with this album I’ve spent a lot more time on writing the lyrics, trying to make them more meaningful instead of just making them sound pretty. When we were writing and rehearsing the new songs it was obvious that the lyrics of ‘Dragged’ didn’t fit the feel of the rest of the material. So now we’re serial killers instead of being a band, and you’re our next victim instead of being a fan. Isn’t that nice?”
What about ‘Teen Angel’?
“This wasn’t going to be on the album. It was only up for consideration because someone pointed out to me that we always play it live and we’ve never recorded it. Originally another new song ‘Out With The Old’ was going to take this slot, but every time we rehearsed it I just found myself getting bored! There was nothing wrong with it, it was a perfectly good song, but it was medium-paced and it didn’t seem to do anything for the album. So I callously booted it out into the cold to fend for itself, and we recorded ‘Teen Angel’ instead to see how it turned out. And it turned out pretty damn well, once Gilez managed to play it SIMPLY and SLOWLY…We let him go nuts when we play it live, so I suppose we have only ourselves to blame!”
Final question, I promise… Now you’ve recorded and mixed this album, is there anything you wish you could change about ‘We Won’t Hurt You’?
“Um…the cost? Kidding. No, nothing. It was a product of our experience to that point, and we put our hearts and souls into that album, just the same as we have with this one, and just the same as we do with everything. I’m damn proud of that album. After all, if we hadn’t made that album, we probably wouldn’t be where we are now. And when I see what we’ve achieved because of that, it makes me wonder where ‘Normalityville Horror’ will take us!”
So there you have it. Hopefully very shortly, you’ll have the opportunity to get your hands on another ten thick-cut slices of musical craziness from SPiT LiKE THiS, to enjoy at your leisure. You lucky people!
Until next time, make sure you know where your towel is and keep an eye on your drummer…
Mike.
The favourite thing of mine that anyone has said upon hearing our new album:
It sounds like the bastard child of Motley Crue & Motorhead
Although us playing at the Wacken Festival isn’t anything to do with the making-of “Normalityville Horror”, I think it will become part of it’s overall story. I wanted to get down all the details in blog form anyway so, where better place to put my Wacken Diary than right here.
Our adventure begins on Tuesday August 3rd. As you know, I was in the studio until Saturday. Sunday was spent trying to catch up on emails etc, Monday was spent preparing for Wacken, getting supplies and rehearsing. To say I was pretty knackered by Tuesday was an understatement. But the rock doesn’t stop so I was up at 9am getting ready to leave at 11 for Dover.
On the bus (re-christened The ReTardis) were: me, Vikki, Gilez, Rob, Mike (Roadie) and our guests, KT, Sam & Toni. I was driving so me & V in the front, the others in the middle. Was really glad to have the decent sound system in the front as I got to listen to our new album over and over and over again. And again!
Ferry from Dover to Calais was at 2.30pm. That was quite good fun. It was whilst on the ferry over that the enormity of what we were about to do hit me. KT had printed out his own personal schedule from the Wacken website and showed me it. There we were nestled between Alice Cooper & Motley Crue – two bands I grew up listening to a LOT. We have come a long way since our humble first gig at the Metro in London!
Wacken Band List
Looks good, no?! Once we arrived in Calais, I got Rob in the front with me. I was a bit concerned about driving on the “wrong” side of the road so wanted someone with experience in that up front (Rob has lived in Italy, Germany & Canada). He wasn’t too much help though and kept obscuring my mirror with maps and things and, as I wasn’t crashing into anything, we put him back in the middle with the others!
I took to driving on the wrong side pretty well. No dramas. I was quite proud of myself although wish the journey was a bit shorter. Our first stop was Dortmund and it took us until midnight to get there. We were staying at the Tryp hotel and, once we found it, were very pleased with it. Was like a posher Travelodge. It was the last bit of luxury we were going to have but I was so tired, I couldn’t really enjoy it.
Weds 4th August – Up at 9.30-ish, left at 11.30-ish. Rob had to scare some noisy cunts into silence during the night, which we were all grateful for. Not much to report, journey-wise. I drove for a few hundred miles, AKA, 9 hours! We thought we arrived at 7.30 and was quite surprised by the suburban surroundings. Of course, our Sat Nav had directed us to the OFFICES of Wacken, not the actual site. Thanks for that! Added another hour or so onto the journey.
Once we did arrive, we were all astonished by the sheer scale of it. It makes Download look like a garden party. It is beyond massive. It is – literally – a whole town. Wacken gets taken over by us Metalheads and everyone gets involved. Every house had flags, some opened their doors and all were part of it, whether they liked it or not.
First stop was Artist Sign-In. This should have been easy but our manager had gone there 2 hours previous to sign us in, collecting all our passes and info in the process. Of course, we couldn’t get hold of him! So we were a bit stuck. Luckily, the receptionists took pity on us and issued us with new Artist/VIP passes, car passes and we could go on our way. We were shown where to park and where to set up camp, which we duly did.
Artist Pass
I’m not a natural born camper so, thankfully, one of our guests had offered to loan us a massive tent. This was the first to go up and it took ages. I was doing as little as I could get away with, just trying to recover from all the driving. Once the camp was up, I was in no mood for anything other than sleep. I think some of the others went to explore a bit, I chilled out in the tent with Vikki, ate Maltesers and tried to get some kip. We had, potentially, one of the biggest days of our lives ahead and I wanted to be well rested.
Alas, the Rock Gods were not with me in the rest department and had accorded me the company of Two Noisy Gits in the shape of KT & Toni. To say I was unimpressed was an understatement – after all the driving and with such a big day looming, you’d have thought they’d have been quiet so I could sleep but, nope, they were rambunctious buggers. Vikki tried shutting them up and, at about 4am, I could finally get some sleep. Drunken hi-jinx, I know, but not best appreciated at that moment in time.
Thurs 5th August. Up too early to some bad news: we couldn’t camp where we had been told to camp. I am afraid that all nerves were a bit frayed this morning and the grumps were going around the whole camp. I snapped at the Noisy Ones and everyone snapped at eachother as the frustration of the situation evolved. Ralph (our manager) tried to resolve the issue with security but, to no avail. We had to move, that was that. So we did, to an entirely different part of Wacken, beyond the VIP bit to a bonus VIP bit. Next to a sewer!! Nice. We had shit to do though so got the new camp up & ready in record time and, once it was up, everyone seemed happy again. KT & Toni had given me some Haribo Smurfs, so they were forgiven and we all had smiles on our faces again.
Of course, this was gig day and we had work to do. At 4.30 we drove to the part of the festival that we were playing (the Bullhead Stage) and loaded in. The dressing room was a nice tent with a fridge full of goodies (including Wacken Beer – EVERYTHING at Wacken is branded!) and we made ourselves at home. The stage was bizarre and had a wrestling ring in front of it. Wow, we were playing at Wacken so we were going to make the most of this stellar event!
Bullhead Tent Poster
Set up, soundchecked and then got ready for the show. Alice Cooper’s set had started late, which was a shame as it meant numbers would be lower but, we were there to do a job and a fine one we did! At one point, I found myself actually in the wrestling ring showing off – they are surprisingly bouncy!
And it was all over all too soon. The sound on stage was good, off-stage I’ve been told it was less good. But I remember seeing Motley Crue in a tent a few years back and they aren’t designed for decent sound. Spoke with Ralph after – he was blown away. It was actually his first time seeing us perform so he was very pleasantly surprised – especially as he had invited a friend of his from a German label along for the show.
Had to pack up and move along pretty quick as we had a signing session to get to. Managed to get our stuff together in record time, got back to camp to dump the bus off then got a Wacken VIP Shuttle Bus to the signing area. Someone had got the time wrong, so we had a period of just sitting around watching Motley perform on a big TV whilst hearing them just to our left (we were kind of behind the main stage now). Got to do some signing, have our photos taken with fans etc and then grabbed our coats (was freezing at night) and made our way to VIP catering. We only had food vouchers for one day, so we were gonna make the most of this!
Vikki In Food Hall
Not sure what time we eventually went to bed but the day had really taken it out of me. Actually, the last couple of months has! Been non-stop with festivals, writing, recording, travel all whilst keeping up with SMELLYOURMUM.COM stuff. To think I used to be such a lazy bastard!
Fri 6th August. Today was a good day. I slept, so felt human again and was probably far more pleasant to be around. Ralph had arranged for us to play the press/VIP area. This was really important as, essentially, it was introducing us to the European press. Normally, bands pay a fortune for this priviledge but, as we are signed to Enorm Publishing (part of the ICS/Wacken group), we got the gig. Warmed up etc and made our way to the press bit. We’d checked it out the night before so knew what to expect. We were playing on the floor, with the press on benches in front of us. Only Gilez would be on a riser. Would be using their supplied backline (which was fairly decent, to be fair) and we weren’t prepared to get much of a reaction. This was the press, after all, who have seen it all before.
Fuck it though, right? We set up and set off putting in one HELL of a performance. Even by our own standards, it was really good. So much so that the press ASKED for an encore! Quite unexpected. Enjoyed this show more than the one the night before and, the second we were off-stage, we were swamped with photo/interview requests and were having to fend people off, practically.
The rest of the day was spent basking in that glory, hanging out in VIP and generally being proud of ourselves. Ralph told us that the label guy had been back for seconds, so that bodes well for our future and, having impressed the press, I hope that we will be able to generate more column inches when this second album is released.
Schmoozing With Andre In VIP
Popped back to the camp later than evening, endulging in what seemed like an endless supply of Haribo in Mike’s tent (ta Mike!). Watched some Slayer, got bored, came back. It’s very surreal being here. The countryside and climate is very much like the UK so, apart from people speaking funny, it doesn’t much feel like we’re in a foreign country.
Sat 7th August and I didn’t sleep so good. Excitement from the day before, probably. It was also beyond freezing overnight. And then the sun comes out and we were back to 80-degrees! Didn’t have any “work” to do today, so Vikki and I had a good wander around Wacken (the Festival) and Wacken (the Village). I said before about how huge this place is and it really is. We spent hours wandering around and I’m sure we only saw the half of it. The Viking Village was crazy mental. Where do they find these people to sit around making shields and swords and baking bread in stoves that are hundreds of years old? Is this their job? Who cares! It was great. There was even a long boat in the middle of it all:
Long Boat
See? Crazy bonkers, in the best possible way! Once we had explored a bit, we spent a lot of time in the VIP bit, just trying to be seen and schmooz. We aren’t particularly good at it, it must be said. I guess we aren’t arrogant enough to force ourselves on people and prefer a more laid-back approach. Seems to be working so far so, if it ain’t broke…
Sun 8th August. Woke up to clouds, which was a bit of relief as we had to pack up our camp. This took a few hours and, after loading it into the bus, it was time to leave. It was 12.30 and I think we were all genuinely sad to be leaving Wacken behind (although the dust, dirt and tents can fuck right off!). It was going really well, got out of the festival site with ease and I thought we were on for a good journey back. But, time after time after time we hit traffic. I mean, I guess it is to be expected but, after an exhausting week with a long journey ahead, it is the last thing you want. I kept taking detours, which was actually cool as it meant I got to see more of Germany, which, I have to say, is very pretty. Very neat, too. Would love to come back and have a proper explore.
The journey to Dortmund took forever. 9 hours, to be precise. I was ready to murder everyone and everything in site by the time we got to the hotel, so I fucked off upstairs to avoid any unpleasantness. I am normally a decent, patient chap but, if I am tired and hungry, I will have zero tollerence for anything and, basically, will kill all with little provocation!
I had actually dreamt about the moment I stepped into the shower and cleaned the dirt off me. It was a good moment and, once I was sparkly and fed, I enjoyed an evening luxuriating in the hotel eating sweets and watching American sitcoms on the laptop.
Mon 9th August. Last day of travel, up at 9.30, left at 11 and had a fairly easy drive to Calais. Well, I say easy, we did have an hour in traffic (in The Netherlands) but we got to the ferry terminal a few hours before our scheduled sailing. I forgot to mention it earlier but, during this leg of the journey, we travel through Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, France and the UK. 5 countries in about the same amount of hours. Mad!
They put us on an earlier sailing back to Blighty and it all went without hitch. We landed back in the UK at about 10, avoided customs (thankfully!) and drove home, stopping off at Tesco to get some grub! I must say, I have missed chicken. They don’t seem to eat it in Germany.
Had to unload the bus when we got back as Rob was headed back early the next day. Spent a couple of hours unpacking and then, after almost a week and the most incredible adventure, I found myself in my own bed, eating ice cream watching “Samantha Who” quietly congratulating myself on a very good job well done.
I don’t know what is next for us but the last few months has been a surreal roller coaster ride. I’m glad to have a bit of time at home now to a) reflect on it and b) recouperate a bit. I keep listening to the album and, when I think how our current one has got us this far, I can only imagine where the next one will get us to. It is a phenomenal sounding record and it’s going to make a big difference to our careers. I feel it in my bones…
Wacken Poster
PS For those that might be interested, this is the approximate route we took!
Wow where to start I am covered in little bruises from every time I have pinched myself over the last few months (is this really happening?!). I am in the coolest band on the planet and things are taking off. Guess I joined at the right time eh!
When I heard we were doing the album with CT I was ecstatic as he has produced many of my favorite albums. I was a bit nervous and, if you know me, this is a rarity but, upon meeting CT, all was well we hit it off almost immediately. He is a very laid back dude and this made for a very relaxed environment for recording an epic album.
Having rehearsed and played some awesome gigs in both Ibiza and Guernsey with SLT I was fully aware of what a great band I had joined. Vikki rocks the fuck out of her bass, Gilez is a monster on the drums and Zion is the best vocalist, songwriter and frontman you could ever wish for so, enter the studio master producer extraordinaire Chris Tsangarides!!! Once we had the drums tuned and set up Vikki and I were DI’d into the desk via some of CT’s toys, headphones on and away we went. Vikki, Gilez and I were in the same room while Zion was in another singing so that he wouldn’t get picked up on the drum mics. The bass, vocals and guitar were only guide tracks for Gilez and would all be re-done later but, even so, after recording a couple of songs and then listening back in the mixing room, it was quite clear that we were getting into something very special – IT SOUNDED FUCKING HUGE!!
The remainder of the week was spent getting the drums down which Gilez didn’t waste any time in doing, innit!
The second and third weeks’ blog will have to wait I’m afraid cuz I must get my tea, practice the set and get some sleep before my 200 mile drive to SLT HQ in the morning. Then, on Tuesday, it’s off to Germany for the Wacken festival – did I mention we are playing?!!
Time to pinch myself again!!!
Hope to see all of you dudes and dudettes there – till then, Rock Like Fuck from the new guy, ROB RiOT!!!
Saturday 31st July
I’m writing this the day after completion, a bit overwhelmed that it’s all finished. Of course, that isn’t entirely true. For a start, it has to be mastered (this adds the extra sprinkle of fairy dust onto the whole thing and levels the sound out from song to song, it also is where the songs are put in their final order and things like the gaps between tracks are sorted out). But we aren’t going to do that until we have a release date etc sorted for it. There is the artwork and other creative things to do – Paul is already on the artwork side of things and I’ll get on with the rest once Wacken is done. All the recording and mixing is done though so, for all intents and purposes, we are done!
Got into the studio at 11.30 after packing up the lodge. Was quite an emotional farewell – it’s been my home on-and-off for over 3 weeks now. I’d got quite used to the place and the amazing surroundings. Never mind. Did the usual routine: tea, upload blog, more tea then we continued work on “Dragged”. Sounded good but, as per usual, I had notes:
* Shorten handclaps
* Scary guitar in bridge
* Dragged in ch under “more” bit up
* Do It’s up
* More fx on ch vox
* Reduce fx on “Do It”’s
This is such a fun sounding song, totally belies the lyrical content which is about moider! When it came to actually committing the song, there were a couple of bits CT had to do manually, but nothing he couldn’t ably handle. So, at 1.03pm, “Dragged” was committed to the Hard Drive and we have a great fun 3 1/2 minutes of fine rock n’ roll.
“Dead To Me Now” had the honour of being the very last track to get mixed. On previous listens, I had heard something in the sound that had triggered an idea. I wanted the opening gong sound from the “A Clockwork Orange” soundtrack on the outra. And, with a little jiggery-pokery, this was soon achieved. It appears three times and makes the outro sound positively eerie. Funerial and quite fitting.
CT cleaned some of the tracks, but not too much was needed, so the mix came together fairly fast. This was good news as I was itching to get back at this point.
It’s weird, all the time I’ve been in the studio, I have relished it. I was even saying to CT that I enjoy it as much as live performance. It’s another creative outlet and, after all, the work that gets done lasts for ever. No bad thing. But, as the end was in sight, my brain was whirring and thinking about the next adventures: Wacken, the aftermath from that and getting this album released for you lot to hear.
I was thinking all this when I was brought back down to earth with some cool backing vocals that I had totally forgotten about. Good old me coming up with spontaneous BV’s which, 9 times out of 10 sound great on playback. If only I could remember I had done them, it would be great! My notes from the almost ready mix:
* Single vox on melodic part of V
* Sort out “Dead To Me Now”’s at end
* Last toms HUGE
* “Bubbubs” down, “aaah-aaah”’s up
* Make gongs gradually quieter
* Click on last “your dead”
* Hi-hats brighter
* Dead gang up
The above – and all my notes – it’s just me being picky. We could have left every single mix CT did as-is and they would sound awesome – it’s just certain things I hear a bit differently and I need them to match what I heard in my head. Thankfully, CT seems to agree with me (or is at least happy to make the changes).
At 4.28, the very last song to mix – and the last song on the album – was committed to hard disc. A monumentous occasion, if ever there was one. The karaoke version was then stuck on and that was that. Done.
Well, almost. CT then compiled the 20 tracks into two separate playlists – one with vox, one without. I got scared at one point as he was deleting tracks, but it was only deleting from a playlist they shouldn’t have been in, if that makes sense. Still sent shivers up my spine! We put them in the order I mentioned yesterday and flicked through the beginnings and endings to see how they flowed. All-in-all, pretty good. Some gap lengths would have to be fiddled with – some songs need to come in fast, others need a bit more space around them, but I am liking the general vibe. But not sure. The volumes of each track were then balanced by nudging the DB up or down and then a Redbook Compliant disc was made. This means that the CD’s generated can be played on ANY machine. The album is approx 41 minutes long – almost as long as the current album, except with 3 less tracks. The songs are more in-depth on this disc, the longest being about 5 minutes. Told ya, prog punk!
Listening to the playback of one disc whilst CD burnt off some others and I am well impressed. It’s weird though; 6 months of work (from the start of writing through to the end of mixing) is consolodated onto one shiny disc. Doesn’t seem enough, somehow! I want to drag all that hard work behind me in some kind of monster truck to demonstrate how much of my life has gone into it. And some people won’t even digest it like that, it’ll just be some horribly compressed MP3 file that doesn’t do us – or the work – justice. Ah well, even one of those little files sounds fucking awesome, so I’m not really complaining.
Last few chats, last few cuppas. CT has said he’ll be in our music video when we make it, doing a cameo. Kind of like Jon Kolodner did in all the Aerosmith videos. Funny. I thought it would be odder than it was leaving that place at 6.30pm for the last time (for now) but, like I said, I think I had mentally moved on to the next chapter so, as I saw Dover and CT’s Thunderbird get smaller in my rear view mirror, I looked toward the road ahead instead. Lucky, as I was about to crash into a tree 
Got home at 8 to a very jubilent Vikki who, by all accounts, has really missed me this last week. Which is nice. I have, of course, missed her too but, being engrossed with the album stuff, the time flew whereas she’s been stuck at home printing to make sure we can afford to do this! Hats off to her, without her, we couldn’t do this. Simple as.
Rather disappointingly, almost immediately we had to go to bloody Tesco to get food and supplies for the next few days and then Wacken. We did listen to the album at full tilt later that evening and it really does sound phenomenal. We found ourselves singing along very loudly, which is a good sign. Since then, I’ve done some major website updates (check it out at www.spitlikethis.com) and am currently in the process of burning a bunch of CD’s to take to Wacken with us. Found out today that, as well as our set on the Thursday night, we will be playing in the Press/VIP tent. This is awesome as we’ll be playing in front of the movers and shakers in the rock world. No bad thing and, with a new album, it could be essential to our future successes!
Just because the album is finished, doesn’t mean this blog is. OK, there will be no daily updates but, whenever anything album related happens, it will go on here. So bookmark it and check back often. Also, once the album is out, we will monitor it’s progress on this site too. Ultimately, this digital document will remain live for as long as we do.
Thanks for the companionship over the last few weeks. Now tell the world.
Zion x
Friday 30th July
Hard to believe how close we are to the finishing line. When CT sent through the schedule, I wasn’t convinced we’d manage to fit so much in to such a short period of time. After all, on our debut album, by day 18 we were exactly half way through the making process. Here we are, day 18 and, in 24 hours or so, it’ll all be done and dusted! Well, apart from the mastering, artwork, sleeve stuff, release schedule et cetera. But that is a different blog for a different day.
First thing I had to do was drop Mike off. Chatting with him, I was pleased to hear that he had liked what he had heard. He thinks, from what he has heard, that what we have recorded is more cohesive and, as a result, more commercial (I ain’t talking Bon Jovi, I just mean that it will be an easier record for people to “get” on first listen – finally, we sound like you would expect a band called SPiT LiKE THiS to sound). He dug the guitars, too, which is important to me as it was the first time he had heard the new SLT vibe.
Listened to the mix we put up last night and it was sounding pretty good. I have a theory that magic pixies come in and mix it overnight – similar to that story about the cobbler who had things come in and make shoes – because last night all I could hear was a bit of a mess. That’s tired ears for you. Luckily, CT knows what the fuck he is doing so, even with tired ears himself, he was able to create the magic (either that or it IS magic pixies).
Didn’t sleep so good last night. Tired during the day so had 4 litres of Pepsi Max to keep me going, along with as much tea as an English man can bare (a LOT!) and approximately 20 caffeine tablets. All of these things are great for keeping you alert during the day, but are less conducive to sleep as one might like! Of course, this meant that I was knackered today. The solution: 4 litres of Pepsi Max, as much tea as an English man care bare and 20 caffeine tablets. Ah well, only one more day to go!
CT was looking resplendent today in his SLT-Shirt – with his matching gig bag, I felt I should get a picture of the man, the legend…drum roll please for Mr Chris Tsangarides
CT In His SLTee
On with the show. The harmonies in “Very Very Good At Being Bad” are pretty magnificent, even if I do say so myself. And no pitch correction here, Siree! It sounds so good, I have decided that it needs to come earlier in the album track listing. No later than Track 4. I’ve had a jiggle and here is how I see it at the moment:
1. Sick
2. Normalityville Horror
3. Zero To Sixty
4. Very Very Good At Being Bad
5. Dragged Kicking & Screaming
6. Teen Angel
7. Suicide Kid
8. Oh No! Here We Go!
9. The Dumb Song
10. Dead To Me Now
Naturally, the above means nothing to you – yet – but, trust me, it’s awesome. We’ll see how close this is to how it ends up. Notes of mine that changed how “Very Very Good At Being Bad” will sound forever include:
* Guitars one side then the other
* Longer vocal delays, wetter
* Fade “indeed” harmonies
* Bring out “yeah”’s a bita
So, when you get the album and compare the end result with my notes and decide that you wish the guitars didn’t come in stages, you have me to blame, not CT. But you won’t, because it sounds fucking great. Recorded the versions with and without vox to hard drive.
NEXT! “The Dumb Song”. Dumb in name, not in nature. In fact, this proved to be the longest mix and the most technical. This is a favourite of mine and includes a track called the “low robot”. More on that later.
The usual track tidying of guitars, bass and vox began. And then continued. And went on for a bit more. This song has a very choppy groove – great stuff – but the odd millisecond chop here and there tightens things up even more and makes them sound fabulous. It isn’t the most exciting thing in the world, but it does make a huge difference. It totally done my head in, and I wasn’t the poor bloke sat in front of a screen having to edit it all.
Floor Stuff
Bass guitar on this song is the hugest bass guitar I have heard in any song ever. Imagine standing on a fault line when an earthquake goes off. That doesn’t even come close to the rumble on this bad boy. In fact, the whole rhythm track sounds immense.
All the editing caused my brain to wander. At one point, I thought I saw a space man. Turned out to be a bee keeper (naturally). That lead me to think about the TV show “30 Rock” and the doctor in it, called Dr Spaceman. Except it is pronounced “spa-chem-un” – hysterical. Honest! Oh, and then I realised that I’d not had stomach acid here like I normally get. Worked out it is because we are on chalk and the alkaline from the cliffs gets into the water that, in turn, gets into me neautralising the acid. Interesting, eh?!
I used the editing time to tidy away some of my bits from the studio – my throat sweets, teas, headphones etc. Damn, I’m leaving tomorrow. It’s a double-edged sword. On one hand, I get to go back home to Vikki and the pets and prepare for Wacken with a brand new album in tow but, on the other, I’m going to miss the recording process, Dover, the lodge and, of course, CT. It’s only been a few weeks but I feel close to the guy – and I’m not normally one of those people that easily forms bonds.
Speaking of CT, I was listening to how punchy the kick drum was sounding and I thought it sounded proper heavy metal like, when I realised that it was CT that basically invented that sound for the kick. Before him, kick drums were annoying little bassy thuds that you could barely make out at the bottom of the mix. So, I asked him about this and he designed the sound for it out of necessity – ie, he wanted to hear the bloody thing. The trick to getting that clicky bass drum sound is to take out the low mids and keep the bass and add treble. You then get a bassy thump but with an audible click. Seeing as every single rock and metal album since the late ’70’s has featured this sound, a lot of people have a lot to thank CT for. Indeed, whenever I have recorded in the past, I always requested a “clicky kick” – why I waited so long to go to the man that invented it is quite beyond me!
Finally, a mix was happening and I had a ton of notes. I mentioned this was a complicated track, so I practically had a page full of notes. These are the ones that made the final edit:
* Remove Gilez’s stick count between intro and verse 1
* Hot space must be a DEAD stop, remove drum reverb
* Fix bent out-of-tune guitar chord at 2m11s
* Robot FX on robot bit
* Single voice on intro
* FX up on verses
* Robot – V down, low Z up
* Swop first drums
* Take ooh-shah’s out of V1
and on and on and on I went. Well, not that bad – as usual, CT had already adjusted most of my notes before I had the chance to read them out.
There are lots of cool bits in this song. The backing track for the verses is mad – good mad. I defy anyone to work out exactly how we created it – all the different parts. It will all be able to be replicated live, as well, it’s just us being clever. Some of the adjustments lead to more improvements. For example, when Gilez’s stick count was removed, I thought of putting a guitar swell in. Five minutes later, we had a new part which sounds great!
My favourite part of the day though was when I asked CT to try and put a robot effect on the robot voice in the robot part. This will make sense when you hear it, I promise, and it isn’t as naff as it sounds! In response to this, CT disappeared into a cupboard and emerged with two effects boxes made by Lovetone: a Meatball and a Big Cheese. One is an envelope filter, the other a fuzzbox. You combine them to, effectively, create an analogue synth and this is what we put my “low robot” vocal through to make me sound like a robot. We’ve gone totally C-3PO on yo’ ass – and it sounds cool, man!! CT commented that he only gets those toys out for “special” people…
Once we’d finished playing, AKA, making stuff sound crazy bonkers, we committed “The Dumb Song” to hard drive, forever, at 7.48pm. Except it was a false start as, three beats in, CT forgot to push the reverb on a drum and we had to start again. And then the robot was too loud but then it all went perfect and, you know what, I reckon this is our best sounding song on the album. So far – got two left to do.
Opened up “Dragged Kicking & Screaming”, did a bit of editing then balanced out the drums, guitars, bass, handclaps etc and then called it a night. It was 10pm, CT had taunted me with the nicest smelling chips in the world (made DIY using potatoes dug up that afternoon by his mate Bazza), so my belly was giving me a right telling off and, as I mentioned at the beginning, I was pretty zonked. With my blog to write, food to eat, cardio to do – and with dead ears – it made sense to stop whilst we were ahead.
Before I go, I must mention the end of this song. It’s so funny, makes me laugh every time I hear it. It is us giving ourself a rousing round of applause for a job well done on the handclaps. It was a spontaneous reaction to the four of us having a bunch of fun in the studio doing something daft like handclaps (daft to do, sound great in the right song). Those and the gang vocals really make us sound like a band of friends – which we are. Can’t wait for you dudes to hear it.
G’Night!
Thursday 29th July
I swear there is some kind of vehicular curse on us at the moment. First off, the fan belt busted on the bus on the way home the second week then, last week, both rear lights went out on our car when we drove home Friday night and I have just had a text from Rob to say that the clutch has gone on his car. Bad times. Not only that but, the exercise machine I use at night (a clycling thing) has handy handlebars that I rest the laptop on so I can write this blog. Except it has decided to break. So, I am having to write this resting the laptop on a chair on the table, twisting my torso 90 degrees to do it. Not the most comfy thing in the world but, needs must!
Enough whinging – all the bad luck must be the Universe’s way of balancing out the fact that we are getting awesome mix after awesome mix. Right then, what happened today?
Listened to the playback of the “Normalityville Horror” mix from last night. It sounded fantastic. The change from the chorus into the middle 8 always puts a big grin on my face! CT had a couple of ideas to change a couple of bits but, when he tried them, it didn’t sound as good: “Nope, that’s all bollocks, it’s better the way it was. That’s how it was meant to be!”. Wrote a note in my book – “Punk Prog” – an oxymoron but, it would seem, that is exactly the genre this song falls in to!
We tackled “Suicide Kid” next. I’d been a bit worried about this one because, when Vikki came in to do BV’s last week, she was suffering from a bad cold. On this tune, she did a lot of BV’s but, when I listened to them today, it was clear that she had a cold. Her voice was weak and shaky and, regardless of what we did with it, it would not sit well in the mix. I called her to tell her and she was really upset (it’s a fun song to sing) but, at the 11th hour, after CT had tried various fixes, I took the decision to remove all her vocal tracks from the song. So, it’s not quite the song that I imagined in my head, but a cool version of it.
Don’t get me wrong, the song doesn’t suffer through her BV’s not being there. After all, it is a song about a woman sung by a man so, perhaps, logically, it shouldn’t have had a female voice on the track anyway. But that’s the way we’ve been used to playing it live, so it’s the way we are used to hearing it. In fact, apart from a really quiet bit of BV’s in the bridge, I got all the backing vocals removed and stripped the lead back from double-tracked vocals in the verses to just single tracked. This bare version of the song does work really well, so I don’t think it lacks and am happy with the end result. Thank fuck!
Half-way through this crisis, I had a text from our roadie and friend, Mike Bishop, to come and collect him from Deal station. He was coming down to observe so he can later write a guest blog for your enjoyment. He witnessed some earlier writing rehearsals, so his take on the before and after will be interesting. Especially as we swopped guitarists since. In fact, thinking about it, this is the first time he’s heard Rob in action. As soon as we get back from Wacken, I’m sure he’ll write it up and I’ll get it posted.
Roadie Mike
At 3.40pm, “Suicide Kid” was committed to the Hard Drive. The song you guys are going to listen to and love has been put to rest…
“Zero To Sixty” next. I’ve been looking forward to this as it’s one of my favourites on this album. First job to be done was to tidy the gaps in the vocals. There are also tom drum overdubs on the verses, so the mix of the drums was a little trickier than usual. The odd bit of guitar and bass was edited, just to make the ending even tighter and the “Van Halen” bits were turned up. They sound amazing, panning in the stereo, purely down to the Vortex rather than any specific knob twiddling.
I love my backing vocals on this. Really bratty. Mike said they are the vocals I should use when I want my own way. I liked them so much, I put down in my notes to turn them up. Here they are:
* Nasal whines louder
* FX on vox
* Blend of harmonies, R down, Z up. Boost “ty” of sixty
* Octave on motor on solo
* Phase on solo
* Kill solo guitar in V4
* Bass up
Some of those changes made it, some didn’t. My whiny BV’s actually ended up at the same volume. OK, I love them, but they can’t take over the whole song!
6.30, “Zero To Sixty” was done and both versions (album & Karaoke) were put to hard drive. CT did a 1960’s dance whilst doing the final mix, said he could see it in his mind. I think it’s because the bridge has a whiff of “American Woman” to it which, subconciously, reminded him of the Austin Powers movies!
And on to “Teen Angel”. Mike is used to hearing this live – in fact, he’s one of the main reasons we’re recording it – but this version needed to be quite different from the cocophony it had slowly become over the years (“a charming mess”, I said, “the sonic equivalent of Russel Brand’s hair then?”, Mike added). On stage, it is the fastest song in the set, a real punk-a-thon with the drums going crazy. Fine in a live situation but a million miles from my original demo and, thankfully, a million miles to what we’ve recorded.
You see, I was quite prepared to dump this song if the recording didn’t work. It had to be strong, just like the others, so we needed to get the hooks in. Thankfully we did and the song is a beaut! I can barely believe that we have made a cohesive tune out of the rabble we create on stage. I’m glad of it though and very happy to have it on the album – it’s going to be more than just a very expensive Thank You to Mr Mike!
I love my lead vocals in this song. Might well be my favourite on the album. I sing them in a totaly different place to the rest (quite low in the throat and forward in the mouth). Punk Elvis. Notes from the rough mix:
* One voice in gaps
* 2nd G in ch up
* Scratches in post-chorus riff up
* Push vocal FX in gaps
All those changes made it and improve matters so, at 8.30, it went to the HD. Wow, that was a fast one!
My ears were pretty tired at this point, and I thought CT must be suffering similarly so, I was surprised when he opened up “Very Very Good At Being Bad”. Was glad though as I wanted Mike to hear it (he goes back tomorrow). Sounds epic. CT cleaned up the vocal tracks and put a mix together. By the time this was all done though, it was 10.30 and we were pretty shattered so we’ve left it up to look at tomorrow. I have a few notes but I suspect they’ll change when I listen tomorrow on fresh ears.
For today, that was it then. Time to go back to the lodge, grab some scoff, discover broken clutches and exercise machines, do my cardio and get on with writing this. I’m glad to say that I am done, all this twisty turny typing is doing me in!
Until tomorrow, friends!
What a day! Rob left early and I got to the studio at 11. Checked last night’s mix of “Sick” to see how it stood up with fresh ears. Sounded good to me, but I ain’t the producer… CT is, however, and the next move was to add the vocals, backing vocals, solos and overdubs to the mix and then re-balance/EQ. Sounded magic, although it is weird when he solos the backing vocals – sound distinctly odd on their own. We ain’t exactly Queen!
Some of the BV’s don’t work, so they get scrapped. I thought I would be a wreck by this point – after all, this is IT – but I feel in very safe hands. Which makes a change for me, being a major control freak and all.
The little guitar melody at the end sounds a bit like the theme to Amytiville Horror. I like that, seeing as our album title is a play on that title. I make notes whilst CT is mixing, jotting down little things in the mix I notice and might want to look at. Most of the time, they get changed before I have a chance to voice them – it’s great that we’re both on the same page when it comes to the kind of mix wanted. Makes life easier and much more pleasant! All the suggestions I made were agreed upon and, I am happy to say, did improve the end result, so it’s all good in the hood.
CT particularly liked the bass sound on this song: “but it’s a girlie!”, he cried. Indeed, but Vikki is louder than ALL!!
At 1.30pm, a historic moment was reached as the very first final mix was committed to hard drive. A version without vocals was then recorded (for potential use in synchronisation – movies, TV, that kind of thing) and then we moved on to “Oh No! Here We Go!”.
We had a discussion about the beginning of the song and decided that it should start with one guitar and build – it’s the right kind of riff to do that with. CT grabbed a guitar and put it in the centre with a phase on it. Sounded great and, when the main guitars then came in left and right, the track expanded before our ears. However, when we put the solo back in place that Rob recorded yesterday, all the impact was lost. So, I had a decision to make. I thought about us playing the song live and just pictured Rob stomping between channels on his amp to create a similar effect so the decision was made to scrap the solo and go with the one phased guitar into two massive stereo ones. Works a treat. I expect Rob to sulk when he reads this but, dude, just wait ’til you hear it!!
Decided also to add an explosion sound to the beginning. Not as daft as it might sound and the end result is like being at a live show, with a huge pyro going off. Fabulous.
During a break from mixing, I exchanged a couple of messages with one of my favourite authors, Seb Hunter. Some of you might have read his “Hell Bent For Leather” book. Well, Seb has very kindly agreed to write a short biography to go with this album on the website and the promotional material. Today, he also offered to write some CD sleeve notes for the album. It’s an offer I leapt upon and he’ll be receiving a white label of the album next week!
Back to the mix. Some phase got added to the guitar in the refrain and I saved the hi-hat that runs into the chorus. Other notes I made are:
* Woooo in the refrain up a bit
* Bring out laugh in M8
* Longer delay on M8
* Solo – more delay on Kiss bit
* Kill last delay in solo
And that was that, the second full mix was committed for ever for the world to one day hear (hope ya likes it!).
“Normalityville Horror” was next. Title track, the one people will listen to extra hard, the one the video will be for. Also the most complicated song in terms of parts. We’d been talking during the recording process about adding sound FX to the “Alice Cooper” bit after the intro. The area is sparce, just a staccatto drum and bass pattern. At first, we spoke about spooky kind of noises (probably because we referred to the area as the “Alice Cooper” bit) but, in the context of the song, it didn’t make logical sense, so we moved towards something that did: industrial, cold war, big brother, 1984 kinds of sounds. Over the weekend, I searched foley sites and got various big mechanical noises, machines, hammers, sirens etc and we started to edit together a soundscape. However, whilst CT was getting on with this, I kept playing the part in my head, imagining them with the noises I could hear and, suddenly, the idea didn’t seem so hot.
Well, rather than waste an hour or so editing sounds to create an atmosphere, we moved on to the mix with the notion to get back to the FX once the mix was done. Already though, by this stage, I had pretty much come to the conclusion that the song would be better without it. As the mix went on, I was determined that the part didn’t need the FX. I was a bit concerned about mentioning this to CT – after all, he’d already spent time editing them – but, thankfully, he was in full agreement and had come to the same conclusion.
I was making loads of notes for this song. Not that the mix was bad but, because the song has loads of character, I had already a strong idea in my mind as to how certain parts would go. Here are some of my notes:
* BV’s in bridge too loud
* “oooowubs” bassier
* Breaking glass effect
* Kill delay on guitar at end
* More delay on intro vox, especially the word “horror”
* Timing of delay on intro guitars are off
* “another (way)” dry
I appreciate that the notes above will make NO sense to you at this stage but, once the album is released and you hear it, you’ll be able to match the parts to the notes above and get an idea of how we reached the end result.
Some of the above changes are a bit tricky as they involve manually manipulating effects during the actual live mix. Of course, this is the old school way of working so CT is totally untroubled by this and, when we later do the commitment, he remembers all the parts he has to manipulate – and I resisted the urge to remind him!
This tune has my favourite part of the whole album in it. The intro has a cool drum pattern, doubled with de-tuned toms with a scratchy guitar playing over the top. I swear, it sounds like Adam And The Ants “Kings Of The Wild Frontier”. If that doesn’t excite you, you must be dead.
We had a giggle at the expense of our Japanese fans when we pondered how they might pronounce our album title. The Japanese famously pronounce “L” as “R” and “R” as “L” so, “Normalityville Horror” could cause all sorts of potential problems!
One of the changes I requested (the delay time on the guitar) caused a small problem, as the delay unit was already in use on a vocal track. As the tempo between the two parts was different, we couldn’t use the same timing (the timing of a delay is determined by the track’s bpm). So CT had to crawl round the back of the mixing desk to reconfigure it to record. When he did this, he recorded the guitars, with the correct effect on them, onto a new track. He was then free to use the delay unit on the vocals and we had the correct delay on the guitars. A bit of a hassle, but the end result makes it worth it.
At 10pm, we went for the final mix. As it is late, we left off the “Karaoke” version (the version with no vocals) until tomorrow. CT left the song and mixing desk as is, just in case we get in tomorrow to find something not quite right with the mix committed. CT did mention that he wondered if the “dry” vocal part might need to be pushed a bit more; shall see tomorrow.
Back to the lodge at about 10.30. Vikki gave blood today and I’ve been waiting to hear from her but no reception in the studio. I was getting a bit worried, but I’ve heard from her and she’s OK. Good old Vikki! Got our roadie, Mike, coming tomorrow so he can write a guest blog – keep an eye out for that. Was pretty shattered by the time I got back – didn’t sleep so well last night. Awoke at 6.30am and started worrying about the amount of time left vs the amount of mixes left. Getting a 3rd done is a weight off my mind as it means we only have to complete just over 2 a day from now until the end!
Tuesday 27th July
Uploaded yesterday’s blog whilst CT edited the last of the drums (“Very Very Good At Being Bad”). This was one of the easier tracks as the toms roll along so there wasn’t as much silence to remove.
The plan for today is to go through every song to make sure there are no guitar parts we need to deal with, as Rob is going home tomorrow. We knew of a couple of songs we’d not done, and Rob wanted another pass at the “Dumb” solo so we got busy.
Before we began though, CT educated us in the ever-so-slightly crazy world of Captain Beefheart, specifically a song called “Big Eyed Beans From Venus”. The song is 50 times more bonkers than the name would suggest. Try and find it online to see what I mean!
A Song, A Canvas Bag & The Radar 24
In no particular order, this is what we added:
“Oh No” got a little solo bit on the intro. We taped Rob when he didn’t know we were taping him and that is the solo that has made the album. Everything he tried later sounded too thought out. I tell ya, all guitarists and drummers should be lobotomised the second they have learnt their instrument; they always overplay and overthink everything. If you have a drummer or a guitarist near you, you’ll know what I mean. They’re always keen to show off and go “hey, look what I can do” and often forget they’re actually playing a song. Lucky (??!) for Gilez and Rob, I am on hand to tell them to shut up a bit more. Also added to this song was some guitar “woooos” on the refrain.
“Dumb Song”. Rob complained that he didn’t like the current solo so had constructed a new one. It didn’t work, the old one was better so that’s the one we kept.
“Sick” got intro harmonics and more harmonics after the first pre-chorus.
“Dead To Me Now” got what I call “Crue bends” on the choruses. They are punctuated notes that bend up, like those in “Take Me To The Top”. Sound wicked.
“Dragged” got some Chuck Berry-isms on the outro. Again, it was made way more complicated than it needed to be, but we got there in the end!
“Suicide Kid” was perfect as it was.
“Very Very Good At Being Bad” just had a third, centre guitar track added to the intro, to make it more intense. It sounds like a train heading toward you now. Freakin’ AWESOME!!
And that was that. At 16:51 precisely, everything that was to be recorded was recorded. In that respect, the album was done. Vikki, Gilez, Rob and I have completed all our recorded parts so we are now onto the mix. For this, it’ll just be me and CT present. However, before the mix could begin, the whole album needed to be backed up. The last thing we want at this stage is some hard-drive having a hissy fit and losing all our hard work! This took approx 90 minutes.
The SLT Album!
The ritual begins: CT cleans and dusts the mixing desk, speakers etc before every mix down. He does this for several reasons – for a start, the leads at the back are in a different configuration and, secondly, it would be the only time the desk got cleaned! And a tidy desk produces a tidy sound. Dust makes noise! I took a photo of the zillions of mad leads round the back of the desk (the main pic with this blog) – you’d just hate for someone to come along and pull them all out. Nightmare. He showed me several knick-knacks – or “vibes” as CT calls them – from around his desk. Good luck trinkets, I guess they are. One was called Gary and was made out of expanding foam whilst CT was recording the Gillan album. This “vibe” goes all around the world with him.
Nearly time to mix! This is the bit I have been most looking forward to, aside from finishing. This is when all our hard work gets to really come alive. The sounds are already brilliantly engineered (tech term for recorded and how they are recorded) but now it is time for them to be produced. This is all to do with EQ’s, compressions, effects and levels.
Before he could begin though on the first song (“Sick”), CT cleaned the vocal tracks. Like with the drums, the vocal track picks up all other external noise. As compression is used as part of the overall vocal sound (it makes the vocals stand out in the track, even at low volumes – music nerds might like to know the vocals were recorded with a Chiswick Reach Stereo Valve Compressor with dials that really DO go all the way up to 11), all other sounds are picked up. Mastication, me dancing around, my jewellery. Some sounds are wanted (breath intakes before a line, for instance), others are not. So the unwanted sounds get removed.
Up To 11
At last, CT was ready to begin. It took him about 30 minutes from scratch to build an incredible drum and bass sound. Every nuance of every part of the kit is examined and the EQ tweaked. The results speak for themselves: every drum sounds huge, bright, massive, deep, clear, punchy. CT monitors through an Alesis Masterline 9600 (the machine that will ultimately record the final mix). All machines add their own sound onto a mix, even in this digital era so, by monitoring through the machine that will record the final mix, there are no nasty surprises on playback.
Whilst mixing, the volume goes up (my favourite bit) and down. Listening to the mix at very quiet volumes ensures that everything is audible. Most things sound impressive loud but, if something sounds impressive when it is quiet, you know it is going to sound incredible when the volume is cranked! This is a tip that was learnt from Mutt Lange, producer of Def Leppard.
Gilez’s kit sounds amazing. The boy done good with his playing too. The guitars sound rich, wide and crunchy, but don’t hurt your ears. The bass sounds thick and punchy. Everything is audible, everything is clear, everything has space around it.
We finished at 8.45. Tomorrow, the vocals will be added to the mix and, once the sound is properly established, a final mix will take place before we move on to the next bunch of tracks. This all has to be finished by Saturday so there is a lot of work ahead. Roll on tomorrow. And the next day. And the one after that. And the one after that!!
