Blog newsflash Summer 2014

Newsflash update

Sophronie's EP Eye's Wide is now out....

Available to buy on iTunes, CDbaby soon or in CD format direct from us......

visit Sophronie's website

How I recorded and produced 'Eyes Wide'

Sophronie first ventured into the studio around xmas 2013 bringing her guitar and collection of songs to make a demo recording. This first session was enchanting and on hearing her track "Eye's Wide' my ears pricked up and I had this strong image of Summer festivals, sitting around a campfire with friends and staring into the night sky. After discussions and negotiations the team decided this would be a great debut single. Sophronie's original recording of Eye's Wide is also include on the EP with two further bonus tracks.

I felt this had to be a really organic recording, natural sounds and capturing the essence of Sophronie's lyrics and painting that picture her song conjured up in my head. This arrangement was also going to have to sit in the current market place in the pop/folk genre.

I recruited Paul Boniface to play drums and briefed him that we needed a light summery sound with loads of natural woodiness. I wanted a cycling riff running through the track provided by Cassius Smith Frazer's banjo to give some movement in the arrangement. Sophronie and her brother Rohan played guitar and Sophronie added her Ukelele. The foundation track was recorded live against a carefully set tempo provided by Logic Pro X. Nothing was quantised as I wanted to retain a very human feel with a bit of looseness.

Next I added the vocal parts using our Rode NTK mic though the TL Audio valve channel. I then had the skeleton recording of the arrangement down. Handclaps and tambourine were added as they always help a track to roll, these were recorded live with a Rode NT1a microphone.

I felt that the track needed a little bit more solidity and managed to grab Jazz Pianist Pete Rosser when he was at the studios. He laid down a lovely textural pad of accordion which kept strongly in the organic vain I was after. To add more depth Thol Mason came in and played recorders (big ones and little ones....) to glue the whole track together. Thol then added various parts on Violin again recorded with the Rode NT1a. He played harmonics, suspense sound effects and his lovely melodic solo, picking up on Sophronies vocal melody. I added a very subtle bass part to lend weight to the bass drum and Niks added some Cello parts from our Nord Electro 3 keyboard.

I had all the elements ready to mix but decided to get Sophronie back in just to make some final additions to the vocal tracks. I then mixed and remixed over a few days until the picture I'd originally had was there. Sophronie's vocals had a little post production gloss added and very careful use of reverbs and compression to bring it all together sonically. Niks and I then tinkered with some mastering to the overall stereo mix until the whole track just sounded complete.

Sophronie's follow up single is in the final stages of production and I'm excited to be working on the album this August (and the xmas record....)

Spring/Summer update from the Skyhook hub Part 1

Spring summer 2014 Part 1

A Blogger's Apology

I can't believe it's July already and this is a long overdue update to the control room blog..so sorry to our followers.... I'm embarrassed to admit the last update was in March. Thanks to some prompting from friends and colleagues here it is.  I will argue that my blogging tardiness is a hugely positive reflection on Skyhook Studios as we have literally been running flat out with all sorts of exciting stuff happening: Bands, demos, project work and music coming from all directions. Tony Davies, our long suffering builder has even been back for a stint....he loves Stroud and Skyhook, he just can't stay away...

Otis Mack and the Tubby Bluesters

Mark and Lee of the Tubby Bluesters

A live weekend session in the Skyspace with Otis Mack's fine band was a sound engineer's dream. Well rehearsed, great instruments and awesome musicianship made my job an easy one. A good conversation  with Drummer Paul Barrett was the starting point. He described the drum sound he was after, that solid and punchy Stax sound. His drum kit already had this tone and his flawless tight  playing throughout the session was just stunning. I carefully mic'd the kit in my usual setup but with some ambient room mics to keep the liveliness. Bass player Lee Hunter ( hope your plaster cast comes off soon Lee) had a mic on the bass cab and a DI feed which blends to a great sound in the mix. In an experimental kind of way Mark Boughton's valve guitar amps were set up in the Skyspace dressing room ( we had to remove all the Diva make up accessories, hairdryers and wigs that normally reside in there) to achieve some separation from the drum kit and I mic'd the stereo cabs with our AKG 241's. Mark's playing is that of a seasoned professional...a youth spent in session work around London's 1980s music scene... serious blues but did I detect a hint of...errr...Bananrama?? Otis delivered fine vocal and harmonica performances captured with our U87 mic and TL Audio valve channel. The mix session for this album project is imminent and is promising to be an outstanding recording. Catch Otis and the guys live on their busy, very busy, gig schedule.....

Awesome drummer Paul Barrett

http://www.tubbybluesters.co.uk

Paul Barrett's Awesome drum sounds will also be available on the forthcoming Skyhook Studios Sample collection CD... thanks Paul!

The Tin Shakers

April began with media chaos as the Tin Shakers descended to record their charity CD. Inspired by Malcolm McDonald (Drums) and Jim Fogden (vocal and guitar) the Tin Shakers were formed to raise money for the Barchester Healthcare's Charitable Foundation. With Ollie McDonald providing bass guitar and vocals with additional singing from Helen Maiello and Mike Parsons the Tin Shakers set to on a marathon session which lasted non stop for three days.

Beginning on Friday morning the pressure was on; Amongst the sea of visitors, singers and reporters from BBC radio and the press the pressure was on to set up the band, test the mic's and have a 'backing track' ready for the huge vocal ensemble on classic song 'Lilly the Pink'. I quickly pulled out all the stops in Logic Pro X, looping drums with bass and guitars into a usable arrangement. With the buzz and excitement going on in the background a major dose of caffeine was needed to focus on the job in hand. By lunchtime we were ready for the vocal chorus from Barchester's finest vocalists which sounded tremendous in the Skyspace. The Tin Shaker's broke the record for the most people squeezed into the control room in one go.....beating the previous record from David Ireland's A good old fashioned Christmas video last October.

Tin Shakers chorus setting the
 Control Room record

Saturday was filled with more tracking and a visit from Tholly Mason to add his magical touches of violin and piano. Tholly is quickly becoming a Skyhook regular having played the main violin and recorders on Sophronie Edward's forthcoming single Eye's Wide (Skyhook Publishing)

Malcolm came armed with loads of percussion instruments including the nicest sounding bell tree I've ever recorded, although he wouldn't leave behind his 'bell tree' he did donate a rather nice Cabasa to Skyhook Studios collection of useful toys.

By Sunday night all the recording was done, all food consumed and a very tired looking bunch of musicians packing away their instruments,  I was finally allowed to go home and rest my eyes and ears. Thank you to Malcolm and the band for a brilliant and totally fun weekend, the CD 'Barch on the Run' is now out on sale.

Tin Shakers with Mike Cooling on our rainbow stairway

To find out more from the Tin Shakers charity work drop an email to

info@bhcfoundation.org.uk

or find them on Facebook.

David Ireland - Boy in the attic album

Work has been steadily progressing on David's forthcoming album which is promising to be stunning, There has been a huge buzz of activity and many recording sessions in the marathon task of assembling this anthology of unique songs. We have been crafting some deep and interesting arrangements and sonic textures with a diverse range of sounds from Chris Egan's amazing Ewi to David's own vintage tambourine and 'Cosmic boot sample'. Here's a little bit about a couple of the tracks

Immortals

David's Euphoric song 'Immortals' captures the 'spirit' of now which beautifully compliments 'Poison Pen' a solid funk number recorded across a generation. Immortals is likely to be released as the first single in time for this summer...Watch this space.

Poison Pen

The Original drum and bass tracks for 'Poison Pen' were imported from an analogue multitrack tape  made in a high end Dutch studio in the 1970s. Playing funky guitars and modern instruments along 40years later have resulted in something really special both in arrangement and audio perspectives. David had the original analogue tape 'baked' at Real World studios near Bath so the recordings could be safely played back and converted into digital files. From a sound engineers perspective those Dutch guys really knew their stuff as the sounds were  just fantastic with that lovely warm and chunky sound beloved of the 70s era. Sax player Chris Egan added probably the most cutting edge sound with his Akai EWI a wind controller instrument which completely 'blew' us away. Chris's control and articulation of the particular analogue synth sound we chose was a joy to hear. I felt privileged to be continuing the work on Poison Pen over a generation after its embryonic beginnings. To hear the results wait for the release of David's 'Boy in the attic' album.

Expansive times at Skyhook Studios

Niks Patel

We have been joined recently by a new engineer and musician Niks Patel. He called in for a visit one day and I found that I quickly struck up a huge rapport with Niks. I was impressed by his recordings and his knowledge. Having been running his own studio (Quercus studio) and being heavily involved in the southwest's Folk scene along with his own act the 'Alchemist's Wardrobe', Niks brings along a huge amount of enthusiasm and experience with distinctly different musical roots and flavour to my own. Niks is an accomplished musician on both Didgeridoo and Tablas and also has a great ear for timing and textures. Niks is also going to be working on the promotions and publishing side of Skyhook and helping our 'artists' to get themselves out there too.

Apart from the relief of having another pair of hands in the control room, I think the diverse perspectives of the Skyhook Studios 'sonic team' are going to enhance and accelerate our progress towards my goal of placing Skyhook firmly on the music industry map. Niks and I are determined to promote the quality of output from the studios as far as we can take it and make some great records on the way.

New Edit Suite

As work has been steadily growing at Skyhook we realised we needed a second audio work area. A quick call to our long suffering builder Tony Davies and hey presto an new room was created... The new edit suite is somewhere we can do fine editing of our recordings, program instruments and loops, check mixes all while the main studio is in use. We have identical software to the control room running on an iMac with Adam A7x monitors. Already it's proving to be a fantastic asset.....thank you Tony!!

Neumann U87

at last our new microphone is delivered. The industry standard recording mic favoured by singers and stars across the globe..... now in Stroud too. It's clarity and detail are legendary, I'm loving it.

Sunday sessions

The end of April saw a young Jazz band from the Ross-on-Wye area perform in the studio. Sax player Oliver Stanton is accompanied by Aiden Pope, Tom Sladen and James Owston. They play atmospheric original Jazz with influences from hiphop quoted too. We mic'd up the drums in the drum booth and the others played together in the Longroom. Sunday sessions recorded 7tracks in a chilled out but highly focused session. Their tracks have become a favourite in my car for late night drives....

Cool Jazz with Sunday Sessions

Find Sunday Sessions on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sunday-Sessions/501245673251192?fref=ts

Jon Ouin -  filmscore strings recording

Stornoway with Jon Ouin

Early in may we had the pleasure of recording a string quartet with Oboe. Directed by Jon Ouin they performed 'Origami Bird' for use in a forthcoming film. Jon is well known for his work with the band Stornoway. Accompanied by producer Rob Harbron this was an inspiring session making use of the natural acoustics of the Skyspace. Playing cello was Barney Morse Brown who's stunning playing was just captivating.

Barney Morse Brown

Cellist Barney Morse Brown returned to Skyhook Studios shortly after to perform vocally with his family on a track called Our Lands at Highmere. Barney's whole family are incredibly musical and the harmony performances were fantastic. This was a lovely day for us all at Skyhook Studios.

As so much is happening here this blog update will be released in parts....in true 'Lord of the Rings' style!!!

Spring summer update Part 2 coming soon......

hear more about

David Ireland

Work continues on David's forthcoming album "The Boy in the Attic" and the mixing and mastering of his stunning new single Immortals

Sophronie Edwards

Sophronie's summer single Eye's Wide is now finished and ready for release....

so come back and find out more about;

Strike Back

The Longshots

Southside

Samantha Hudson

The Garden Festival

The Skytones

and more more more.........