STUDIO SUCCESS
January 23, 2014
So, we just had an amazing four days in the studio. We loaded in on Friday with two vehicles full of instruments and gear, boxes of provisions, five band mates, a producer, an engineer and his in-house crew…we came out late Monday night with a lot of great sounds put to tape!
And I know that anyone born before 1985 is saying to themselves, “Tape! Nice figure of speech. I remember when it really was tape.” Haha, but the kicker is we really did record to 2-inch tape, through a beautiful vintage Neve console, with some great vintage mics. (That whole last paragraph was for anyone who likes to geek out on that sort of thing).
What I really came to tell you is that we went in there with a very ambitious plan and we somehow came out with more than we planned. It was a magical 4 days. Everyone’s playing was on point, and some beautiful mistakes happened that opened new ideas…we just really got into the flow of the whole thing – making an album in a way that is not done very often in these days of high-tech/low cost recording equipment.
We went into the studio as a band. Played songs as a band. And experienced all the energy of the space as a band. I know you’ll be able to feel the difference when you hear it! I couldn’t have asked for a better crew of people to work with!
So, what’s next? Well, we captured all of the “basic tracks,” which are all the core parts of the songs that we can build on. We recorded all of the main vocals. We also did a lot of overdubs that we needed, added horns (yeah horns!!), electric guitars, shakers, whatever. Next, we’ll move over to our producer, Mychal Cohen’s place for a couple days of listening through, making edits and doing any additional overdubs that need doing. Then, it will be on to mixing…more on that when the time comes.
The journey continues! But, we are so grateful for a harmonious, inspiring, and successful four-day run at London Bridge Studios! Many thanks to our engineer on the project and owner of the studio, Jonathan Plum and his amazing crew. We really were given the rock star treatment, they are amazing, and it allowed us to focus on the work and really create!
I’ll keep you updated as we move along towards a record! For now, I’ll leave you with this gem (the image below). On the studio wall when you enter is a photo of a very young and relatively unknown (at the time), Pearl Jam c. 1990, during the making of their groundbreaking debut album “Ten,” which was made in the very studio we had the pleasure of spending 4 days last week. We decided to be nerdy fans and remake the photo, St. Paul de Vence style. Haha…we’re so silly! Enjoy!
-Benjamin Doerr
St. Paul de Vence 2013 / Pearl Jam 1990 - London Bridge Studio