On Location
Recording on location has become a real passion of mine. I have worked with a number of different artists on location, and nothing beats capturing the natural ambiance of a real acoustic space.
When I take an artist or band out of the studio, what I'm constantly provided with is a real performance, unique to that space and moment in time.
St Mary's Holy Trinity, Guildford.
Recording in this spectacular venue had a massive impact on the recording, both on the sound and performance. The natural acoustics of the room truly imprints itself on the recording.
The instruments and vocals were recorded separately, and the instruments were mixed almost exclusively with natural reverb, which really added a sense of width to the recording. For the vocals I have blended both natural and convolution reverb to achieve a much smoother ambience.
The Star Back Room , Guildford.
Max Barrett bought a group of excellent musicians, and when they performed together in the room there was a real energy present, and this is something I wanted to capture in the recording. This being the case the band recorded everything live.
Recording in this way meant sacrificing isolation between instruments, but achieves an authentic live vibe. The mix is a true representation of the natural balance of the instruments in the room.
St Saviours Church, Guildford.
The live ambiance of the venue made it ideal for a recording of this kind, as I wanted to capture the sound of an instrument interacting with a room. Therefore, it was essential to capture a good live performance.
After 3 or 4 live, we took time to listen recordings together to ensure we had captured a sound a performance we were happy with; I feel it important to make decisions with the artist.
In the mix I wanted to stay true to the organic live sound I had captured, and so, the majority reverb on the track is that of the church itself.