Captain Albion - Life On Yesterday
Captain Albion has 4 members; drums, bass, lead guitar and lead vocals/rhythm guitars. There are two other good voices in the band so the prospect of 3 part harmonies was enticing if it turned out to be appropriate. Obviously in the studio any number of harmonies and/or backing vocals are possible but again if appropriate it’s always good to aim for a band arrangement that is re-creatable in a live situation….without having to hire a small orchestra and choir.
The first task was to pick a song that everyone agreed on! Although the band had already recorded a full album and a 4 track EP, and had various recorded demos I preferred to listen to all the songs just as they were written – a single guitar and voice.
An acoustic evening was organised at the studio as part of the recording package and around 20 songs were played. A short list was made ands fortunately one I though particularly strong (i.e. commercial, simple, and hooky) was also on the bands’ short list. Great!
Next, we moved venue to the bands’ regular rehearsal room for some pre-production under the ‘Mobile Services’ umbrella. Basically that entailed some exploratory work on my part – how did the drums and bass work together, was the song structure effective, was the chosen key the best for the vocalist, were there any hidden gems shouting to be let free?
We ended up bringing the first chorus in earlier and saying goodbye to an instrumental 4 bar link between verse and chorus which seemed to take away from the impact of getting to the chorus itself.
The only other thing that was changed structurally was adding a brand new section for the guitar solo. The solo itself was already well structured, melodic and dynamic (what more could you want?) but was played over the verse chords and rhythm. It was thought that a radical change of atmosphere would sit effectively in the song and help show off everything else. New chords were tried out to fit under the existing solo and the feel of the new section ended up in ½ time – but not the guitar solo itself – and the new section sounded almost anthemic when we were finished with it. More importantly, everyone was happy!
The drum pattern was changed slightly for a bit more groove and the bass pattern checked to se that it locked in well with the kit. A pedal type staccato verse pattern for guitar was organised to sit in between the vocal rhythm and rhythm section patterns.
Some new inversions were used for the chords in the chorus that worked well with a new arpeggio electric guitar part running alongside. Also, there was a really brilliant chord change from major to minor that only happened once in the song very near the end, so it was introduced into the last choruses too.
Here endeth the pre-production evening, now for the studio….
In the studio everyone was set up so that the band heard everything as they would in a rehearsal or a gig, as far as possible. The plan was to only go for a drums and bass take initially but with everyone playing if we got more down it would be a bonus. It’s incredibly important for the drummer in particular to be and feel involved with what’s being recorded. In other words; yes isolate the drummer acoustically as required but don’t isolate him/her as a musician! Playing – especially drumming – to a click is an art in itself I think and it’s very easy to accept a take that is technically excellent but has little fire or passion. Recording studios are strange, alien environments musically speaking (some stranger than others it has to be said) and it is SO much better for the whole band to play every take as if their careers depended on it – which actually it might! The drummer may be getting bored, tired and/or peed off especially after what could have been a long set up so it’s up to everyone to help dispel that vibe for them.
As it turned out almost all the ideas put forward in pre-production worked aside from some minor rhythm section changes, so the drums and bass went down pretty quickly.
Next, double tracked acoustic rhythm guitars went down, swiftly followed by the staccato verse guitar, double tracked power chords for the pre-chorus and arpeggio guitar line for the chorus.
A reprise of some of the solo was used at the end of the song as it wound down. Tambourine was added for extra jingle in the choruses, plus single hits with snare in the verses and mid/solo.
That was followed by recording lead vocals that were double tracked in the choruses, then harmonies and backing vocals in the chosen places, all double tracked for a thick texture. A separate day was allocated for mixdown, usually a good idea for two reasons: it gives a chance for the band to take away a ‘work in progress’ (often called a monitor mix) version of the work so far to make sure everyone’s happy before the mix proper, plus it gives the producer/engineer time to get fresh with the song again.
Finally the mixed track was mastered at James Hewgill Music – it’s always important to have a different engineer do the mastering regardless of how well the mix has turned out as you just can’t beat an unbiased pair of ears at this stage. Not just any old ears mind, but you get the point.
The first task was to pick a song that everyone agreed on! Although the band had already recorded a full album and a 4 track EP, and had various recorded demos I preferred to listen to all the songs just as they were written – a single guitar and voice.
An acoustic evening was organised at the studio as part of the recording package and around 20 songs were played. A short list was made ands fortunately one I though particularly strong (i.e. commercial, simple, and hooky) was also on the bands’ short list. Great!
Next, we moved venue to the bands’ regular rehearsal room for some pre-production under the ‘Mobile Services’ umbrella. Basically that entailed some exploratory work on my part – how did the drums and bass work together, was the song structure effective, was the chosen key the best for the vocalist, were there any hidden gems shouting to be let free?
We ended up bringing the first chorus in earlier and saying goodbye to an instrumental 4 bar link between verse and chorus which seemed to take away from the impact of getting to the chorus itself.
The only other thing that was changed structurally was adding a brand new section for the guitar solo. The solo itself was already well structured, melodic and dynamic (what more could you want?) but was played over the verse chords and rhythm. It was thought that a radical change of atmosphere would sit effectively in the song and help show off everything else. New chords were tried out to fit under the existing solo and the feel of the new section ended up in ½ time – but not the guitar solo itself – and the new section sounded almost anthemic when we were finished with it. More importantly, everyone was happy!
The drum pattern was changed slightly for a bit more groove and the bass pattern checked to se that it locked in well with the kit. A pedal type staccato verse pattern for guitar was organised to sit in between the vocal rhythm and rhythm section patterns.
Some new inversions were used for the chords in the chorus that worked well with a new arpeggio electric guitar part running alongside. Also, there was a really brilliant chord change from major to minor that only happened once in the song very near the end, so it was introduced into the last choruses too.
Here endeth the pre-production evening, now for the studio….
In the studio everyone was set up so that the band heard everything as they would in a rehearsal or a gig, as far as possible. The plan was to only go for a drums and bass take initially but with everyone playing if we got more down it would be a bonus. It’s incredibly important for the drummer in particular to be and feel involved with what’s being recorded. In other words; yes isolate the drummer acoustically as required but don’t isolate him/her as a musician! Playing – especially drumming – to a click is an art in itself I think and it’s very easy to accept a take that is technically excellent but has little fire or passion. Recording studios are strange, alien environments musically speaking (some stranger than others it has to be said) and it is SO much better for the whole band to play every take as if their careers depended on it – which actually it might! The drummer may be getting bored, tired and/or peed off especially after what could have been a long set up so it’s up to everyone to help dispel that vibe for them.
As it turned out almost all the ideas put forward in pre-production worked aside from some minor rhythm section changes, so the drums and bass went down pretty quickly.
Next, double tracked acoustic rhythm guitars went down, swiftly followed by the staccato verse guitar, double tracked power chords for the pre-chorus and arpeggio guitar line for the chorus.
A reprise of some of the solo was used at the end of the song as it wound down. Tambourine was added for extra jingle in the choruses, plus single hits with snare in the verses and mid/solo.
That was followed by recording lead vocals that were double tracked in the choruses, then harmonies and backing vocals in the chosen places, all double tracked for a thick texture. A separate day was allocated for mixdown, usually a good idea for two reasons: it gives a chance for the band to take away a ‘work in progress’ (often called a monitor mix) version of the work so far to make sure everyone’s happy before the mix proper, plus it gives the producer/engineer time to get fresh with the song again.
Finally the mixed track was mastered at James Hewgill Music – it’s always important to have a different engineer do the mastering regardless of how well the mix has turned out as you just can’t beat an unbiased pair of ears at this stage. Not just any old ears mind, but you get the point.
