Another update from my wee arty cabin in the country.  Making good progress but still slowly.  Perfection takes time – or may be I should learn the rule of diminishing returns (or at least the drums).

The reason I feel the drums have taken so long is because none of my songs have ever been played with kit before, so apart from a couple of tracks I’ve done demos of, I’ve had to think about and write drum parts as well as get good takes down.  I think it’s been worthwhile though as I want this album to sound much fuller than the way my songs are normally heard and this way I’m leaving plenty of scope for bass and other orchestration.

Day 6 – this was taken up with drum takes for Slow me Down and She Loves Sushi.  In between hailstorms where the roof windows were acting like a snare head, I got some more guide tracks done : )

Day 7 – Mat Clements arrived for a day of percussion and we got some great stuff down for 200 Miles, Planet Man and Quicksand.  It’s great hearing the layers going on, like a Rolf Harris painting you can hear the magic happening and start to get a clearer vision of the end result.  I love recording.

Mat Clements with Hang

Day 8 – Realising that time is running very short now I started work on the actual final guitar parts.  Took ages to get some good mic sounds but I’m happy with what I’m getting now and got guitar done for Love Train and Louder than Words.  Did much experimenting with and without click track.  These ones were tricky as the tempo shifts in Love Train and the feel shifts in LtW.  I much prefer recording with other people in real time to capture the feel of interaction as it’s hard to play along with what you’re hearing in your head (that doesn’t exist yet) so this time I’ve found it easier to use click tracks which surprised me.

It’s getting late now so time for me to get out from between these two duvets and get under a different one…

Guitar Booth

Happily beavering away in my artist’s recluse – can’t believe 5 days are almost up already.  Seems like I’m only just getting going but loving every minute.

So here was the plan:  go and record 16 songs in their entirety including allowing plenty of time to get my guest musician’s parts down.  This plan was hatched a few months back, thinking I’d have plenty of time to get prepared, get all the guide tracks sorted and have lots of practices so it would just be a case of going in and doing it.  Unfortunately the world had other plans for me in the last few months and my time away was on me before I realised.  There’s a lot to be said for blanking out some days in your diary for yourself – I’ve never actually done this since I started working 9 to 5 and it feels amazing – definitely going to be a regular thing.

So apart from loving the stress-free solitude, here’s what’s been happening:

Day 1 – packed all my gear and did last minute shopping, set off for recluse.  Arrived (about 6pm), unpacked, set up the drums, cooked some scran, ate scran, set up the computer.

Day 2 – set about learning how to use my new audio software (possibly should have done that earlier…), mic’d up the kit, did a test recording (all good), imported some old guide tracks and had a bit of a drum practice.

Day 3 – realised there’s some work involved as I haven’t played drums in over a year.  Did a lot of practice and eventually got a good take of Ricochet.  Planned out what I’m actually trying to do in terms of songs, orchestration and how I’m going to record each song e.g. click or no-click, guide track or no-guide track.

Day 4 – Conceded drumming isn’t quite as easy as Hugh makes it look.  That said, got a nice take of the Sushi song done and recorded a few more guide tracks.

Day 5 – Spent a long time on the guide for 200 Miles – I’ve got a plan for this one and can’t wait to hear the final result.  Got drum takes down for Glad to See You and Vapour Trails (after a lot of pain) and that brings me to now.  Mat Clements is coming on thursday to do some percussion so I’ve got a few more guides to sort out before I sleep…

Drums - how hard can it be?

It’s so tranquil here… wind chimes, bird song, the wind whispering through the autumn leaves, me drumming : )

Public thanks to Hugh for the loan of his kit and red magic carpet.

So.  I’m finally putting my money where my mouth is and recording a solo album!  I’ve only had rough demos before so a while ago I set aside 10 days in my crazy calendar to work on recording some of my own songs.

As under-prepared as ever, that day has now arrived and I have no choice but to head off to my secret artist’s recluse and get busy!

Some of you know me as ‘moose’ which for some reason has stuck as my stage name in Gecko 3.  So for my first solo album ‘Eponymoose’ is the working title.

I have a few production ideas and will be working with Mat, Tracey, Vicky & Udit to capture some of the live stuff we’ve done this year but beyond acoustic guitar and vocals, I’ve no solid idea how this record is going to end up sounding.  I want it to sound much bigger than just one guitar and one voice but right now, I’m off to have 10 days of fun and immersion!

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