ninehertz

1. • Ollie
   • Can anyone recommend a decent recording studio. We're looking to record an album next year and thought we may as well do a good job of it for a change instead of blagging it!!! Looking at 1in12 in Bradford or maybe Chuckalumba as they're analogue, have a nice collection of amps and the Trippy Wicked album sounds pretty sweet. I'm guessing Toerag in London will be well expensive!!!
   • [15:14 on 02/11/09]
2. • Tim Holehouse
   • Yeah John at Chucklumba is great... not really that expensive for the fact its vintage gear he's got down there.
     I'm using digital studios these days... but John hannon's no recording studio where I am currently is great and John really knows his stuff. Also Rob Silent city in Leeds is basically amazing... again digital.
     I've heard purple in Norwich is good... Don can say more on that.
   • [15:27 on 02/11/09]
3. • WickedWesticle
   • Chuckalumba was good. There's not much separation between the instruments but we didn't mind that. It's a first album and sounds big and heavy enough for us so we're happy with it. John is an ace guy to work with and is very relaxed. My only criticism would be that he's too relaxed - if you're looking for someone to really push you Bob Rock style then John's not your man. The location is amazing for soaking up a good natural vibe and atmosphere though.
     
     Pombagira hated Chuckalumba. Pete thought the stuff they were getting was only demo quality.
     
     I have heard good things about Purple but I don't know what they're like.
     
     There's Foel studios in Wales as well. Some mates just recorded there and it sounds awesome.
   • [15:43 on 02/11/09]
4. • Donny
   • Recorded at Purple last week.
     
     Lovely place, in a quiet village. Studio is in the old parish hall which has been nicely converted. It's in the middle of a graveyard and next to an active church! Nice pub down the street, a morrisons not too far away. Studio has accomodation onsite which is dirt cheap, also has a nice kitchen. Great instrument separation.
     
     In terms of how good the studio is... that's difficult.
     
     Recorded there with Pombagira and the recording sounded gigantic (but that may have something to do with Pete tracking his guitars 12 times).
     
     But I was there last week with Crumbling Ghost. We have an unmixed recording which sounds a bit thin and like a demo at present. Not sure how much of that is down to us having no idea what we're doing half the time, or Purple not knowing what to do with a slighty twee psych folk band. I need to reserve judgement until the mixing is done.
   • [15:58 on 02/11/09]
5. • -ZX-
   • These guys are good. I haven't used them myself but some friends have and sing nothing but praises about them - www.stuckonaname.co.uk/
   • [16:17 on 02/11/09]
6. • WickedWesticle
   • I think for our next album we may look somewhere other than Chuckalumba.
     
     We'd probably base our choice mostly on the sound of other recordings made by whatever studio we're looking at. Foel and Purple are the 2 highest on the list at the mo.
   • [16:31 on 02/11/09]
7. • bad admiral
   • i will always recommend the sickroom in swaffham.
   • [17:25 on 02/11/09]
8. • noone
   • stuck on a name are great and very friendly.
     They'll remaster and mix as many times as you like till you're happy at no extra charge.
     My friends have recorded with Bri Doom at the 1in12 several times and the results are even more impressive with each occasion.
     You get a BIG guitar sound and punchy drums, you can feel the bass drum clearly on every beat in the mix which is where many crust recordings fall down.
     I think it helps if he's actually interested and enthusiastic about what you're recording i.e. crust , punk , d-beat or sludge/doom.
   • [17:32 on 02/11/09]
9. • Podge
   • Stuck on a name is / are ace
     
     I feel the urge to go on an analogue / digital rant but i don't have the time
   • [19:31 on 02/11/09]
10. • Tim Holehouse
    • Yeah stuck on a name gets my vote for too he did a great job on the naked shit album.
    • [19:45 on 02/11/09]
11. • MORRELL
    • WickedWesticle says:

      There's Foel studios in Wales as well. Some mates just recorded there and it sounds awesome.
      
      
      Just got back from there. Cannot speak highly enough of the place and the people.
    • [10:26 on 03/11/09]
12. • WickedWesticle
    • Podge says:

      Stuck on a name is / are ace
      
      I feel the urge to go on an analogue / digital rant but i don't have the time
      
      
      Go for it. Chuckalumba was analogue but I chose it purely cos I knew he'd 'get' our music not cos it's analogue. 16 tracks was slightly limiting though.
      
      I like the idea of doing some vinyl and keeping the whole process analogue.
    • [10:34 on 03/11/09]
13. • Tim Holehouse
    • That's what I did kept the whole thing analogue on dawn chorus... but i've come round to the way of digital. Especially when drummers cars blow up and I'm the only one to make it to the studio.
    • [11:20 on 03/11/09]
14. • Jack
    • yeah bring on the rant
    • [11:24 on 03/11/09]
15. • Tim Holehouse
    • I am podge here me roar!
    • [11:36 on 03/11/09]
16. • Ollie
    • I think analogue is a nice romantic ideal and maybe it does sound warmer but analogue won't help you polish a turd.The basic sounds coming from the amps and kit still have to sound good. Digital gives greater flexibility in terms of mixing...etc. I'm happy to look at all options really as a lot of other variables need to be taken into account such as the quality of the engineer and whether they know how to mic stuff up to get the best out of it and whether they understand how the band should sound in the mix.
      
      For us 16 tracks would work. Although we want it to sound nice and fat we don't want to mess too much with the 3 piece format so a maximum of 8 tracks for the drums, one for the bass, 2 rhythm guitars, possibly one track for lead guitar if need be and a couple fot eh vocals...still leaves a couple of tracks if we need anything else in there. Ideally we need someone that can get us a lovely fta bass sound as we've never quite nailed that properly.
      
      Foel does look nice. Another option is to maybe go somewhere decent but reasonably priced locally and look to getting someone good to mix it down. Our new EP that's coming out was done live in the studio, we did one track of backing vocals, took it away and mixedit at a mate's then gave it to Bri Doom to master and it's come out lovely so it can be done.
    • [11:37 on 03/11/09]
17. • WickedWesticle
    • The drums on ours was 2 overheads, 2 on the kick, 1 between the 2 rack toms and 1 on the snare. They're not very prominent in the mix at all though.
      
      You're right Ollie - decent micing + decent mixing = good recording. Mastering is less importent providing the first 2 are done well.
    • [11:42 on 03/11/09]
18. • Ollie
    • Hmm, one mic between the rack toms doesn't give so much scope to mix between them. Our drummer uses a very basic one rack tom set up so I'm thinking one on the bass drum, one on the rack, one on the floor tom, one on the snare, one on the hi-hat and 2 overheads...that's 7 so in my original estimate leaves room to put an extra one on either the bass drum or the snare...but now I'm getting a bit technical.
      
      It's true the mastering won't do shit if the mix is poor but if you have a good, basic and even mix the mastering can definitely bring it out. Bri Doom managed to get us a bit more weight in the bottom end and make it sound fatter when he mastered our EP.
      
      I think recording live in the studio we did end up compromising the bass a bit as we had it in the same room as the guitar amps so had to be a little careful of bleeding through too much. That's why we're going to multi track next time.
      
      Ou first demo was done at the drummer's house on an 8 track digital machine then mixed on pro tools in an evening by a mate and it came out sounding ok so it is possible to get good sounds on the cheap if you know what you're doing.
    • [12:07 on 03/11/09]
19. • WickedWesticle
    • Yeah there's something to be said for the scrappy home recorded sound. As long as it doesn't sound too shit then it can really work.
      
      I also don't like really over polished mixing/mastering that really flattens the music. I've got a mate that has a production company but the stuff I've heard him do is far too polished and clinical. Separation is amazing but it all sounds the same to me.
      
      and yeah 1 mic on the toms wasn't enough. I'll definitly be looking to get more out of the drums next time we record.
      
      You could also check out Criterion (Mark Williams). He's a good guy and one of my previous bands recorded with him. He know's his stuff.
    • [12:25 on 03/11/09]
20. • Jack
    • Both ways of recording are great if done well, both can be fucked up easily if people don't know what they're doing. I'd agree that its more the technique involved in recording that makes the sound what it is. Analog gives a lovely warm sound but a similar effect can be achieved by using valve preamps etc. If I was recording something specifically for vinyl I would record in analog as it makes more sense to keep everything in the right format from the start.
    • [12:34 on 03/11/09]

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