When I was little , I always thought studio recording was for musicians who had 'made it'. As it was the '90s, this was probably an accurate truth (or you had to have a very rich parent/spouse/cousin/bandmate). I would sing into my little hairbrush pretending I was Sporty Spice (like every other tween girl in the late 90s) and dream about the day I would set foot in a professional recording studio. Granted, that was as part of a Spice Girls rip off girl group and not the drummer of a garage rock band, but nonetheless. Twas a dream I never thought possible.
Fast forward to 2008, I got my first taste of 'professional' recording with my first band in Dunedin 'Captain Dave and The Pirate Hookers'. We did a spot of recording at Otago University's Albany Street Studios, and from there on in I developed a love/hate relationship with recording.
Since then I have been lucky enough to experience many hours recording music. For Honeybone's first EP 'Soul On Fire', we packed up Drew's recording gear and set off for his parents holiday house in Moeraki. Five days later we had the drums and bass tracks down. We finished all the guitar and vocal overdubs back in Dunedin in various practice spaces and bedrooms.
Then in 2011, we decided the time was ripe for a full length Honeybone album (yes, the same one we are working on 2 years later). Drew and I were doing our honours year at Otago University, and both had to record/produce an album. I decided to do my solo stuff, and Drew took on the immensity that is our album. Two years later and we have aaaaalmost reached the end of the recording process.
Why the hell has it taken so long, I hear you ask? Well, first of all, our second guitarist Josh left the band near the end of 2011. Then we moved to Melbourne (and spent all our money). Then we had to get jobs to pay for recording (and the van and rent etc). Finally, two years later we had enough time and money to book in two days at Toyland Recording Studios in Northcote, run by engineer Adam Calaitzis. And what a two days they were! As we weren't completely new to the recording process, we had rehearsed almost every day in the two weeks previous to the booking, so we were tight.
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| Listening back. Photo by Paul Emery |
Still, the Honeybone kids are only human (hard to believe ain't it), and we all made a few mistakes. And this is where having a seasoned, professional studio engineer on hand saves SO MUCH TIME. Back in Dunedin with Drew at the helm, if we ever wanted to redo a drum fill or guitar lick, it would take Drew a while to find the part and splice the new part in, since he was fairly new to Protools. This time, Adam would be all 'we can fix that' and get it done in ten seconds. He does this stuff everyday. He knows all about it.
We got all of the base tracks (drums, bass and rhythm guitar) all done in the first day. We decided to do it live, to save time and sanity, plus some songs just had to be live. We were stoked we did it all in one day, considering one of the songs we were doing was our 10 minute long epic of wankery, 'Espionage', and the first time we attempted to record it, it took a whole afternoon. We got it down in one and a half takes. Our chins were floor level.
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| Bass tastic. Photo by Paul Emery |
I mentioned at the beginning that I have a love/hate relationship with recording. Let me explain ya this. On one hand, I love the atmosphere, smell and feel of recording studios. I love the static buzz and heat that eminates from the preamps. Seeing my drumkit rigged up with a shit tonne of mics sends shivers down my spine. Listening to Drew and Peter decide what amp, guitar, or pedal to use for each song isn't as tedious as it normally is (just kidding fellas). What I do not love is that moment where you sit down in the control room to listen to your take and you hear yourself play. You thought you nailed it. You thought you were the best fucking drummer in the world. Then all those mics rigged to your kit pick up EVERYTHING, and kicks you in the crotch. Ghost notes you thought sounded kickass on the snare now sound like nails in a glass jar being shaken by a toddler. That fill you thought was awesome was slightly out of time, and screwed your face up for you as protools tells you how much you suck.
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| Drew fixing one part or another. Photo by Paul Emery |
Well, usually it's not that bad. I am my worst critic, and an extreme perfectionist when it comes to my work. It's a good way to be, but being this way also makes you want to die a little inside when you hear your takes up-close-and-personal-like. I liken it to one of those little curvy mirrors that make your pores look like sink holes and make you want to rip your skin off. You know. THOSE mirrors. They show you up right close and personal. And these days that's what recording is about. We want to be right next to the singers mouth, we want to feel their breath on our face. We want to hear all of the intricacies that you wouldn't hear in a crowded room. Because when you're on your morning commute on a dreary weekday you want to feel close to someone. You want that intimacy. Unfortunately, like the curvy mirror, you will also get all of the imperfections. You will get the blackheads and the blocked pores. The chin hairs and pimples. And that's what rock 'n' roll is about.
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| DRUUUUMS. Photo by Paul Emery |
I had a hard time remembering that while listening back to our takes. In a world where everything is polished and perfect, it's hard to accept being human. Nonetheless, we got takes we were all happy with and finished the first day.
The first half of the second day was Drew doing guitar overdubs. He is whizkid on that guitar, lemme tell ya. He already knew what he was going to do, more or less, so that didn't take too long. Then onto the vocals. Drew got his scream on and I tried to make my girly voice into something a bit grittier. What resulted was getting stuff caught in my throat and my eyes watering while I tried not to cough onto the very expensive vocal mike. It sounded good though, and that's all that counts. We laid down some keys on 'Touch The Sky' too, which is going to sound badass.
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| Drew recording vocals. |
We got the majority of everything done. This weekend Drew and I will be finishing off the vocals and keys parts for the rest of the tracks, and tweaking things that need redone. Then the recording process will be finished.
And then we get to mix, master, sort out album artwork, etc. There is light at the end of the tunnel. Album shaped light. Maybe in the form of vinyl. WHO KNOWS WHAT WE'LL DO.
Keep an eye out on Facebook and Twitter, and the handy ol' blog. We know this has taken ages, and we thank you for your patience.
Xxx
