 Roads To Damascus | sitemap | log in
|
 |
||
| This is a free Spanglefish 1 website. | ||
The diary of the making of an album! 04 May 2009 16th May 2009 (Steves contribution) Cammy has asked me to add something to the diary...this is a retrospective piece, as I am not as vigilant as my compadre and have not kept a documented account of the writing / recording process so far. RTD...so when and why did I get involved???... Well the story is that a man called Prod (Mind Gone Blind) told Monsieur Jamieson of a vocalist he knew (moi) and that he (I) would be suitable for his new venture into music. So I got an email in June 2008 (I think it was around then???). It recounted the task in hand e.g. a prog rocky conceptual piece lasting just over an hour, in demo form with a rough vox, and Midi drums. Now me being a cynical kind of fella I thought "oh here we go!" , and fresh from various musical let-downs and disastrous projects,I was not overly keen to get involved, but curiosity overtook me so I said "OK send me a copy". Im glad he did.......... Well blow me down..it was flippin amazing.......just what I was looking for (I was gobsmacked). It ticked all the boxes, a grand journey encompassing all the genres that I love. The hooks were marvelous the vocals dodgy (sorry Cammy) but he had the tunes nailed. I just needed to shape the sound and polish. A wee bit of lyrical topiary, and a swapping of words here and there and it felt comfortable. I really liked Cammys lyrics / melodies and had to change only a few bits. Then I started sending him some rough demos recorded on my Fostex digital 8 track....(a horrible wait...would he like?? Im quite negative sometimes).....he liked, the Man from Delmonte he say yes!!!! I was on a role and worked my way through the album, trying various arrangements and harmonies. There was a patch of about a month where I couldnt get my vocals to do what I wanted, but I did slowly start to customise my vocal sound (20yrs in the business darling...you get a sound!). Its quite refreshing (and weird) singing someone elses songs...especially when you have only sung your own. Problem songs for me where ENVY and BEYOND THE GREY. I cheekily sent Cammy a demo called LIGHTSPEED CHAMPION, originally a short instrumental on the RTD album, which I popped a vocal over. I really thought he would say no......but he was enthusiastic, wanting to have both instrumental and vocal pieces on the final album.....that spurred me on to get the rest of the album sorted. Second stage in this process was going to BAREFOOT Studios....my brothers home studio to record finished vocals to layer on the final mix when completed. So far we have finished LIFE FOR SALE and OTHERSIDE. Time is precious as Cammy has said...work and life commitments just dont allow a regular slot for jamming / writing / recording. Very frustrating....but we shall get there. 27 & 28 April 2009
Meat Bass!!
Back at the end of the last millennium, Prod inherited a couple of bass guitars. Not in the conventional sense though, these things were in bits, so yeah, Prod inherited loads of bits of wood and chrome that were potentially two bass guitars.
I remember the result; he stuck the neck and bridge from one and the body and electrics from the other together. ‘Meat Bass’ was born and it sounded fantastic. Technically, it’s an Aria Pro 2, but to me it’s a piece of musical nostalgia. He used it for a couple of years in the early Mind Gone Blind days before shifting over to 5 strings.
So when it came to writing Roads to Damascus, I remembered the sound of the Meat Bass, I’d loved the thing. I phoned him and asked if he still had it...
‘Aye’
‘Fancy sellin it...thirty quid?’
‘Aye, go on then...’
And so it came to pass that I bought that piece of late 20th Century memorabilia, confident that I had a ‘one off’
After a week off from listening and thinking about the album, I borrowed Prod’s ZOOM 2 bass unit. I knew the sound I wanted, Meat Bass through an AMPEG. The sound modelling on the Zoom was almost like the real thing and I ensconced myself in the Butterfly Room for two days...well four hours one day and one hour the next.
I deliberately muted everything except the drums and went for it. The sound was exactly what I wanted...’That Feeling’ and ‘Wrong Turn’ really rock and groove, whereas ‘Beyond the Grey’ and ‘Light of Day’ drive along nicely before the chording choruses sound like ‘Geddy Lee plays New Order’.
I like...
The rest of the bass lines are of a similar vein. Again I’m not going to compress them until the final mixing, to see if I can get them to lock into the drums. It should work, they’re already shifting a lot of air when I rough mix them together...it’s a bit like getting punched and someone nicking the air out of your lungs when you’re down and reeling...
...Or falling off a horse and landing on your back...I must try that sometime.
Twelve Yards Closer to the Sunset...A recording diary!! (Callum Jamieson)
It had been a long time since I set out my stall, a year since I’d laid the last guitar tracks on the demo version of the Roads to Damascus album. Since that time, I’d approached Steve Simms to provide all the vocals, putting down some vocal sketches for him to embellish and colour in. The results were beyond anything I’ve ever been involved in before.
We were both, of course, very impatient to get the album finished and in an ideal world, would have had a record deal of sorts in place, in order to book and pay for, studio time.
But hey, this is the (very) real world and it doesn’t work like that! Both Steve and I are mature (honest guv, that don’t mean old) family guys with responsibilities...mortgages etc. and careers which fund the payment of those mortgages, whilst ensuring that free time is a precious commodity. We had to content ourselves in the knowledge that the album would get finished...sometime.
So, I started to compile the final takes for the album, starting with the keyboards first. Then came the daunting task of replacing the guitar parts...after about twenty takes of ‘Crossing the Bridge’ I’d finally had enough. The notes were there, but the feel wasn’t. I listened to the acoustic demos again...and again... and came to the conclusion that I could record all the guitars ‘til I was blue in the face, but probably wouldn’t capture the essence of the initial demo takes.
‘Feel’ is the requirement I place right at the top of my essentials list when it comes to music these days, I suppose it always has. I’d rather have a world full of singers like Roger Waters or Fish putting their emotions through the wringer and not quite hitting the note, than pitch perfect divas like Maria Carey or Celine Dion strangling the life out of everything they touch, the result being that it could be a wine list or the ingredients on a pack of corn flakes they’re singing. Cue the key change ‘Oooohhoo, woahhhh...ad nauseum’. I digress...
It was settled, the final acoustic guitars were going to be the originals, not perfect in any sense of the word, but right. Some of the electrics will end up that way too, but only some...or not...Decisive as ever then.
Early in March 2009, I finally got round to approaching Matt Wright to provide the drums on the album. Matt is a stunning drummer from the Keith area and plays in a band called Reset the Sky. I initially asked their guitarist, Calum, if he minded me asking Matt. I’m only too aware, after decades playing in bands, that a simple ‘do you fancy doin some drums for me?’ can be seen as split allegiance or in some cases, infidelity! Calum however was cool and invited me over to hear them rehearse. When I did eventually go round to their rehearsal shed, 4 miles from me, I was blown away...Matt triggering string and choir samples and drumming along without clicks and perfect measure, Calum meddling with expansive delays. Without doubt, the most original sound I’ve heard in a long, long time.
Matt agreed to occupy the drum stool and that is where this diary will kick off.
Thursday 16 April 2009.
I spent an hour or so, around lunchtime, painfully (painfully, because of a miss-timed bareback horse riding incident, or falling off whilst getting on, if you prefer. Badly bruised ribs and shoulder blades in case you’re wondering, don’t ask...) moving the cars out of the garage and filling one half with assorted stuff...lawnmowers, cycles, things that rattle and reverberate. The other side, I swept out and generally tidied up. There was nowhere to put my Ducati motor cycle, so she stayed there, pride of place in the rear of the garage, or as it was now renamed ‘The Drum Room’.
Yes, my ‘Butterfly Room’ studio (loft above the stable) was moving twelve yards west to the garage for a couple of days, in order to have enough space to record Matt.
Friday 17 April 2009.
I was pacing the floor from the time I crawled out of bed...the anticipation! Fiona tried to keep me distracted by filling my day with other, unrelated activities...dog walking and erecting ANOTHER fence to keep the horses in.
I finally got round to setting up some gear in the early evening and got Matt and his kit ensconced in the garage. If it wasn’t for the fact that it had a motor bike in it and an oily floor, the garage could really pass for a drum room.
Saturday 18 April 2009.
Early starts all round...and it was freezing! I hooked up the desk and mics while waiting on Matt to show up. The sound came quite quickly after he arrived, the results from the two overhead condensers was very impressive (to me anyway) and I panned them as wide as possible. The close mics were panned into the stereo spectrum and added a real heavy low end wallop to the sound.
Matt kept warm hitting (playing) the drums, while I kept running back and forth between the Butterfly room and the Drum Room. By the time we had the sound that we both liked, it was lunchtime. Mmmm, a heart attack on a plate!
We kicked off the recording around quarter to two in the afternoon. First up was ‘Life for Sale’, then ‘That Feeling’. There was very little rehearsal or take after take, just playing until it felt right. Feel again...
Next up were the tracks with the least drums in them, but not the least drumming. ‘Contraflow’ had Matt sweating, playing 16s between the hats and ride cymbal, at 136 bpm. ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress ii’ saw him playing left handed to get the ‘one-handed snare rolls’ and ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress iv’ had him in ‘rock ballad big beat’ mode...if only he had a mullet.
The final track recorded was ‘Envy’ and after a few false starts, it really rocked, Matt ad-libbing the fills and cracking snare and china cymbal together as the half open hats locked the tempo tight.
And then it was time to listen...Obviously, no editing, eq-ing or compression at this stage, but a pretty good sound overall. At this early stage, it’s sounding a lot like the drum sound on ‘Ear Candy’ or ‘Tapehead’ by King’s X. Nice...
The day wasn’t all work, work, work, though. We drank enough coffee for a lifetime of caffeine and ate enough chocolate digestives to..., well...enough OK? Calum from Reset the Sky came over and we played with a bow and arrow (while Matt worked) and generally talked crap...
Highlight of the day 1; Fiona’s bacon, sausage and egg rolls at lunchtime. Thank you daahrling...
Highlight of the day 2; Matt playing ‘In the Air Tonight’ whilst wearing my Darth Vader mask a-la the Cadbury’s Gorilla. All caught by yours truly on video camera...coming to computer screen near you soon courtesy of You-Tube.
Ha!
Sunday 19 April 2009.
I was outside with Robyn, down through the horses in the bottom field. The sun was already hot, although it was still only half ten in the morning. As I walked back up to the house, I heard one of those sounds you learn as a child and it never leaves you...a VW van. Within seconds, Steve was leaving a dust storm in his wake as he bounded up the drive.
Matt arrived a cup of coffee and biccies later, as Steve and I were jamming out a new acoustic song. Only four songs still to record today.
Matt tore through ‘Other Side of Me’ and ‘Beyond the Grey’ in no time, adding fills and grooves that really bring the tracks to life. I was already hearing little ‘incidentals’ that I’ll have to remember when recording the final bass parts. Can’t wait.
Question:
What do other band members get up to when the drummer’s working?
Answer:
They play cricket...the singer bloke also dances to the beats he’s hearing, a cross between ‘The Ministry of Silly Walks’ and ‘Walk Like an Egyptian’ and the guitar player does shockingly bad Gene Simmons impersonations, pretending that his cricket bat is, in fact, a ‘Punisher’ bass.
After Fiona spoiled us again with pizza and freshly home made carrot cake, Steve had to leave for a birthday Bar-B-Q (his) with our best wishes for tommorrow...happy birthday dude.
We left the two ‘tuffies’ till last, ‘Wrong Turn’ and ‘Light of Day.’ After some heavy intro stabs, ‘Wrong Turn’ settles into a laid back groove, which builds for a big chorus and mid section, while ‘Light of Day’ has a few different moods and sections which take a lot of getting used to, but Matt nailed it superbly...I deliberately stood next to the kit when he was pulling off the incredible double-bassdrum fills that link the pieces together.
By half five in the evening, we were done...tired, but very happy with the results. Again, a brief listen confirms that, in this raw state, it’s still in the King’s X vein.
Sweet...
I’ve got to thank Matt, big style...he’s been rock solid all weekend and having his talents on the album will be an added bonus.
I’ve also got Steve and Calum to thank for coming over, the distraction and encouragement they brought kept the mood light and fun.
As always, my main man Prod gets a thankyou...he knows what for. Ha!
But my biggest thanks goes to Fiona, she fed us, watered us and has generally put up with my juvenile fantasies of making an album for the last year or so with no (or very little) griping.
This has been a fantastic weekend, the Butterfly Room working the way I always hoped it would, busy and buzzing with musicians and laughter. The way we recorded was relaxed, no ‘meter running’ as soon as the record button was pressed, or the feeling that every take had to count, as the budget was getting blown...
There was, and is, no budget...it’s the way I like it, the way I want it, it’s the way we roll...
It feels right...
|   |
|
 | ||