Recordings are finished!!!! Sweet soul music!!!! Bluesboy!!!

This'll take you to the recordings

I'm pretty excited about this.

We recorded the songs on the 4th of November last year and they were finally finished and uploaded to the bands MySpace page yesterday. The entire rhythm section - guitars, drums, bass and keys - was recorded in live takes (all at once) on to half inch tape. All analogue. The horns and vocals were overdubbed later on. Much later on. That night we had the rhythm tracks for 5 songs down in 6 hours, including set up time.

It sounds okay. Not great at all, but it could be a Myspace bandwidth thing making them sound kinda crappy, I dunno. It was recorded in a pub on a night when it was closed, so in a big empty room. The drums are a bit too distant sounding. In the flesh it's the best sounding kit I've ever heard, but sadly the recording doesn't capture it.

The guitar is me playing my semi-hollow Bluesboy into a Ceriatone 5E3 which was mic'ed up with a Shure SM57.


Any comments, suggestions, insults are welcomed and encouraged

Last edited by blargfromouterspace on Thu Mar 17, 2011 4:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Hi Jamie,

These songs sound really, really good in an authentic Motown kind of way. In fact it sounds like the recording engineer has purposely gone for that kind of vibe by favouring distance micing to capture the ambience of the room and the energy of the band playing live. The songs even appear to be in glorious MONO for that 'wall of sound' effect! I can hear very little close micing of the drums at all, but that's how it was done in Hitsville. The levels are a little low compared to other stuff on the net, but that might just reflect lack of a mastering stage during the production process.

BTW, did you see Standing In The Shadows Of Motown on ABC2 on Sunday night? Joan Osborne singing 'What Becomes Of the Broken Hearted?' is one of my favourite covers EVER.

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Thanks Phil. The drums weren't close mic'ed at all, you have a good ear! I'm still a noob when it comes to recording etc, and don't really know what mastering is exactly


I've seen Standing In The Shadows a few times, great film. What a cool bunch of guys. It would have been a great concert to be at! The closet thing you can get is Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings. They're a dynamite live act, and tour pretty much constantly. If you haven't already, you should check 'em out!

I'm still a noob when it comes to recording etc, and don't really know what mastering is exactly

Don't be embarrassed! The definition of 'mastering' has changed over the years. It used to be the process of adjusting the volume and tonal balance of a recording to make sure it would translate well to vinyl and radio. It's the final part of the production process. Too much bass would make the record player needle jump out of the groove. That's still the gist of it, but there's too much emphasis on making recordings listen-to-me LOUD these days, at the expense of the fidelity of the recording.

I was deeply into recording and mixing in the mid-noughties and I've still got some nifty pro-software for bringing up the overall volume of a mix to commercial levels without destroying it (gentle limiting). If you're interested I can run your songs through it. It's pretty straightforward.

Nice work Jamie! I enjoyed this very much. Don't worry much about learning the art of recording, I've been working in A/V for 4 years now and I still have a lot to learn. Some guys can just walk in a room and ring it out so everything sounds perfect, it takes me some time experimenting to figure things out and even then I can't seem to get things just right, or I'll have to adjust on the fly. Give it time, the more you do it the better you'll get

-Dave

Thanks Dave, glad you enjoyed it

While I'd love to master the art of recording I lack the patience. It's lucky that some people have a genuine passion for it (I can totally understand that passion, there are some sweet machines they use!), and I leave it to them!!!

Jamie, I've been trying to listen to these but am having problems. I keep hearing a commercial for bleach. I will try again this evening.--- Darwin

Jamie, I've been trying to listen to these but am having problems. I keep hearing a commercial for bleach. I will try again this evening.--- Darwin

Darwin, there is no reason whatsoever to whitewash technical difficulties I haven't had the opportunity either to listen to it Jamie. But I certainly will.

- Jos

I like it Blarg. Very tight groove for live takes. Righteous. On these recordings we probably don't get the whole wonder of the Bluesboy, but the whole effect is solid and that's what counts most places.

I get frustrated by the equipment recording, have to work on patience....

Jamie, I've been trying to listen to these but am having problems. I keep hearing a commercial for bleach. I will try again this evening.--- Darwin

I just checked the link and it's fine. It takes you to the bands Myspace page. Myspace is in a poor state at the moment. My guess is that the bleach ad you're hearing is being played before it lets you listen to the music. I don't hear it so it must be an American bleach ad.

Jamie, I succeeded in hearing the first song tonight. Your band has a groove and I bet the people are dancing. I think that the recording is just fine. I am not a professional recording engineer. I did purchase Pro Tools LE and sat in front of the computer for a couple of nights with a blank screen. I finally figured out how to open a session and proceeded from there. My thoughts on mastering are, if it sounds good, it is. Most engineers in mastering use compression to level everything out. I think that a lot is lost in that process and I mix to the sound that I like and that is my master. There are stories about Buck Owens and recording. He wanted to hear it through a radio and if it sounded good that is what he wanted. He knew how his audience would be listening. Last CD I brought in for reproduction, they had their sound engineer listen as they wanted to sell me mastering services. He listened to about 10 to 15 seconds of each cut, smiled and said it is good to go. If it sounds good, it generally is. I am going to post our CD at some point soon, as I have mentioned before. Keep up the great work Jamie. You can build them, play them, entertain with them, and there is no doubt in my mind that you could record them if you put your mind to it!!. Jeez , I wish I were your age again! Jos mentioned that whitewash doesn't cover technical difficulties. I was trying to bleach it last night. There was a short commercial tonight but I could not catch what it was ---Darwin

Speaking of recording, if anyone is looking for a decent free recording program I came across Audacity ( http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ ) not too long ago, it has multi-track capability and some editing, nothing too fancy but hey it's free

-Dave

Jamie, very cool playing and recording. Like it has been pointed out, the recordings are not done to create a pristine studio quality but rather a live feel, and that what your band achieved. I enjoy all of it, but I especially like the first one because it reminds me of the band Squeeze (one of my all time favorites.)

Kit

Hi Jamie,

Really liked what I was hearing. As stated above, it does have that ol' Detroit Soul kinda vibe. As it came out of the small speakers of my iMac, the drums sounded just right. Thou art quite the slinger my friend

- (Jealous) Jos

Thanks guys, I'm really glad you enjoyed it.

Like it has been pointed out, the recordings are not done to create a pristine studio quality but rather a live feel, and that what your band achieved.....
Kit

That live feel is exactly what the engineer wanted. He even made me stand up to play my parts like I was on stage!

There are stories about Buck Owens and recording. He wanted to hear it through a radio and if it sounded good that is what he wanted. He knew how his audience would be listening.

Now thats a great idea! Buck's recording all sound amazing, he must have had a very good ear. He's one of my all time favourites.

I like it Blarg. Very tight groove for live takes. Righteous. On these recordings we probably don't get the whole wonder of the Bluesboy, but the whole effect is solid and that's what counts most places.

I get frustrated by the equipment recording, have to work on patience....

Thanks sickbut! You're right (about that bit in bold) - in this music everything has it's place. The guitar needs to be kept very simple because there is so much rhythm going on around it. Plus you've got the keys and a horn section, so any noodling between phrases is taken up by them! The fact that we get to have lead breaks is very unusual in this music.


Again, thanks for taking the time to listen, I really appreciate it