Saturday, 15 September 2018
Band on a budget - the recording process part 23
Ok, you might reasonably have thought that the last blog would be the end of the series, and it could have been, but this afternoon I made this:
Saturday, 11 August 2018
Band on a budget - the recording process part 22
Well, here we are then, the EP:
About 13.5 months from start to finish.
It's been educational...
Not bad for a total budget of £50.
More seriously, I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out but I've had a lot of help along the way, for which I am hugely grateful.
About 13.5 months from start to finish.
It's been educational...
Not bad for a total budget of £50.
More seriously, I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out but I've had a lot of help along the way, for which I am hugely grateful.
Sunday, 5 August 2018
Band on a budget - the recording process part 21
Been quiet from me again recently, mostly because there's not been a great deal to say. Lots of listening and tweaking for the most part but we have added some additional percussion parts to the tracks and also had a listen through to see where there were things we could strip out.
I'm pretty certain a decent producer would do more of the latter but having been so close to this stuff for so long it's hard to have any kind of objectivity.
Anyway, last weekend I spent a few hours mastering the tracks. Mixing and mastering the material isn't a recommended approach but we're a bunch of cheapskates and couldn't afford a proper mastering engineer. So I fired up some reference tracks, massaged some levels, and lo I was happy with the sounds.
Then I listened to them over the week, compared them to some more modern stuff, and lo I was not happy.
Fundamentally the low end wasn't there compared to the reference material (it would have been fine in the 80s!), I'd overdone the brightness slightly, and I also identified some issues in the individual mixes that somehow I'd missed over the last year.
So today I am mastering again. Multi-band compressor acting below 100Hz to give a bit of that modern bass response, reduced the high-shelf EQ by half a dB, and then some mix fixes on specific issues within the tracks.
I'm not going to be sharing any links this time I'm afraid, because hopefully the next time you'll hear these will be as the finished article.
I'm pretty certain a decent producer would do more of the latter but having been so close to this stuff for so long it's hard to have any kind of objectivity.
Anyway, last weekend I spent a few hours mastering the tracks. Mixing and mastering the material isn't a recommended approach but we're a bunch of cheapskates and couldn't afford a proper mastering engineer. So I fired up some reference tracks, massaged some levels, and lo I was happy with the sounds.
Then I listened to them over the week, compared them to some more modern stuff, and lo I was not happy.
Fundamentally the low end wasn't there compared to the reference material (it would have been fine in the 80s!), I'd overdone the brightness slightly, and I also identified some issues in the individual mixes that somehow I'd missed over the last year.
So today I am mastering again. Multi-band compressor acting below 100Hz to give a bit of that modern bass response, reduced the high-shelf EQ by half a dB, and then some mix fixes on specific issues within the tracks.
I'm not going to be sharing any links this time I'm afraid, because hopefully the next time you'll hear these will be as the finished article.
Sunday, 22 July 2018
Gigs! Gigs! Get your gigs here!
A number of you have asked about what gigs we've got coming up (no really, literally more than one has asked!), so here's the current plan:
18 August - The Barbican, York. B-Fest, opening the afternoon session. Beer and music, what's not to like? http://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/b-fest-18/
8 September - Norton Indoor Bowling Club, Malton. Malton/Norton Charity Musicfest. Solo set from Drew. Bit of bass work supporting this charity event.
26 September - Can't tell you yet, it's a secret, Central York. Whole band set @6pm. Make it your business to be in town.
TBC - The Mended Drum, Huby. A full evening with The Southern Wild, who could say no? https://www.themendeddrum.com/
2 December - The Winning Post, York. Full band set with Dan Webster. More details nearer the time. http://winningpostyork.co.uk/
Thursday, 21 June 2018
Wednesday, 13 June 2018
New single out
Looking back over my posts it appears I have become so excited by International Hawaiian Shirt Day that I've forgotten to mention that I have a single out.
Doh!
It's called Road Song, and it even has a video:
As well as youtube you can also listen to it on:
Spotify: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zOcXAxVZZk
Amazon Music: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07DNZVQVB/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1528918275&sr=8-2&keywords=drew+stephenson+road+song
Apple Music: I don't have itunes so I don't have a link yet, sorry.
And apparently on Deezer as well, but no-one uses that so it's not really important.
But the BEST place to listen to it (and cheapest place to buy it) is on Bandcamp, where you can get an uncompressed download if that's your thing:
https://drewstephenson.bandcamp.com/track/road-song
I'll sort that apple link out in due course.
I would say, "Enjoy" but it's not really that kind of song...
Doh!
It's called Road Song, and it even has a video:
Spotify: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zOcXAxVZZk
Amazon Music: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07DNZVQVB/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1528918275&sr=8-2&keywords=drew+stephenson+road+song
Apple Music: I don't have itunes so I don't have a link yet, sorry.
And apparently on Deezer as well, but no-one uses that so it's not really important.
But the BEST place to listen to it (and cheapest place to buy it) is on Bandcamp, where you can get an uncompressed download if that's your thing:
https://drewstephenson.bandcamp.com/track/road-song
I'll sort that apple link out in due course.
I would say, "Enjoy" but it's not really that kind of song...
Thursday, 7 June 2018
International Hawaiian Shirt Day - 29 June 2018
Last friday of June is international hawaiian shirt day. It's not complicated, you know what to do...
Tuesday, 29 May 2018
This week I have been mostly...
Working on building a new guitar:
And starting on the next solo EP - this one will be called The Dead Detectives Club:
As you can probably guess, this one's going to be a right barrel of frolics...
And starting on the next solo EP - this one will be called The Dead Detectives Club:
As you can probably guess, this one's going to be a right barrel of frolics...
Thursday, 3 May 2018
Band on a budget - the recording process part 20
Hello strangers...
A quick note to say that tonight, just 10 months after we started, we have recorded the final guitar parts for the EP.
fanfare.mp3
We laid down the electric guitar parts for Building for the Flood tonight so all that's left to do is edit and mix them in and then we're ready to have a bit of a listening party. We'll listen to all the tracks on a variety of different devices and decide if there's anything missing, anything that can be cut or anything that needs tweaking.
Then we'll agree on what we're going to do about mastering and distribution.
Then we'll get drunk.
A quick note to say that tonight, just 10 months after we started, we have recorded the final guitar parts for the EP.
fanfare.mp3
We laid down the electric guitar parts for Building for the Flood tonight so all that's left to do is edit and mix them in and then we're ready to have a bit of a listening party. We'll listen to all the tracks on a variety of different devices and decide if there's anything missing, anything that can be cut or anything that needs tweaking.
Then we'll agree on what we're going to do about mastering and distribution.
Then we'll get drunk.
Sunday, 28 January 2018
Band on a budget - the recording process part 19
Ok, this is well overdue. Stuff has happened, like Christmas, and other things, that have delayed progress, but there has been some progress.
Here's an early listen to the third track I've been working on, Northshoremen:
https://soundcloud.com/the-southern-wild/northshoremen-20180121/s-kN8Re
It still needs the lead guitar parts adding and the backing vocals. There may yet be space for some banjo and or mandolin. If these do go in we'll make space for them by cutting bits from the accordion and existing guitar parts.
I've also made a bit of progress with a solo thing I've been working on for a while:
https://soundcloud.com/blinddrew/road-song-20180121/s-GVItz
This isn't the latest version, but it's the last one I've got downloaded.
Today though I went back to the band stuff and had a look at Denmark Street. The bass part is full of glitches and needs completely re-recording, but this should be straightforward. In the meantime I've been fixing all the glitches in the drum track and sorting out the odd timing issue with my guitar part. Sadly the other guitar part is also going to need rerecording. Add it to the list...
On the positive side, this should be a simpler mix as we're going for a much more stripped back vibe on this track - I think.
Here's an early listen to the third track I've been working on, Northshoremen:
https://soundcloud.com/the-southern-wild/northshoremen-20180121/s-kN8Re
It still needs the lead guitar parts adding and the backing vocals. There may yet be space for some banjo and or mandolin. If these do go in we'll make space for them by cutting bits from the accordion and existing guitar parts.
I've also made a bit of progress with a solo thing I've been working on for a while:
https://soundcloud.com/blinddrew/road-song-20180121/s-GVItz
This isn't the latest version, but it's the last one I've got downloaded.
Today though I went back to the band stuff and had a look at Denmark Street. The bass part is full of glitches and needs completely re-recording, but this should be straightforward. In the meantime I've been fixing all the glitches in the drum track and sorting out the odd timing issue with my guitar part. Sadly the other guitar part is also going to need rerecording. Add it to the list...
On the positive side, this should be a simpler mix as we're going for a much more stripped back vibe on this track - I think.
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