Back in the Studio
Working hard behind the kit (Photo: Anna Lavigne)
It’s been a busy time recently as i’m sure you’ve gathered from the ole’ socials! But for 2 days last month, and 1 more this, i’ve been in Blank Studios in Newcastle working on the upcoming Martin Stephenson & the Daintees album. With great support and assistance from John Martindale, Anna Lavigne, Lisa Murphy and of course Martin, we laid tracks down for about 15 different tunes over the 3 sessions, using 2 kits, 3 snares, a slew of cymbals and a fair bit of percussion to get the job done, in amongst many cups of tea and a few sandwiches consumed! I suppose you could call this ‘Daintees Diaries 4.5!‘
I won’t go into too much detail (you’ll have to wait and hear the album once it’s completed!) but I will say theres nothing much better than going into a great studio to make some new music with great creatives around you. Going in with no preparation or plan, as a player you never know quite what will be thrown your way, and everything with Martin is so organic and on the fly, that we were quite literally building the songs from the ground upwards, listening through any rough demos or sussing a vague arrangement, jamming to get a feel and sound for a couple of minutes and then firing straight into 2 or 3 takes at most, making sure we capture it while it’s fresh and loose. For me its all about getting the groove right, everything else is just on what feels good, not what’s most complex or how any notes I can fit in, especially with Daintees work, the feel and groove is paramount.
The Natal Cafe Racer kit set and mic’d in the live room at Blank Studios
What I will say is we recorded everything from 60’s Ringo style sounds to thrashing Keith Moon moments and even some knee tapping ala Buddy Holly. Throw into the mix some latin, soft ballad, shuffles and every possible in-between. A musical melting pot of ideas, genres and styles of playing all blended into one project, theres really nothing like variation! And lots of variation of course means lots of drum sounds to capture, and for me I really like to try and get everything right for the song sound wise, from the way I play, to changing up snare and cymbals (which we did a LOT on these sessions) auditioning from a trio of snares I brought in, and 2 cases full of cymbals to throw onto the kit, i’ll try and put a drum gear list below of everything I remember using (not necessarily everything I took)! No doubt i’ll miss something or other though…
Kits:
Natal Cafe Racer kit (British racing green sparkle) 20x14”, 12x8”, 14x14”
Natal Originals Maple kit (Black sparkle) 20x12”, 12x7”, 14x12”
Snares:
DW Craviotto 14x5.5” Solid Shell Maple
1973/4 Slingerland Artist 14x5.5” (Copper over Wood) 3ply Mahogany/Poplar/Maple
1963 Ludwig Acrolite 14x5” Aluminium
Cymbals:
Sabian 13” AA Regular Hi Hats (1980’s)
Zildjian 18” Avedis heavy ride (1960’s), 22” Avedis Sizzle Ride (1960’s)
Zildjian 19” A Armand ‘Beautiful Baby‘ ride, 16” & 18” Armand Thin Crashes
Zildjian 16” & 18” K Custom Session Crashes
To hear a bit of the magic, I put a couple of sneaky snippets on my Instagram a couple of weeks back, so go and check those out!
Paul McCartney, feat. the 2 tambourine trick
Congas primed for some latin fun!
Now if drum tracks weren’t enough, I also layered up a fair amount of percussion too for good measure. From conga grooves and thigh slaps (yup you read that right! A little homage to Jerry Allison on Buddy Holly’s tune ‘Everyday’) to shaker and tambourine takes on a few things, making particular usage of the old trick of bashing 2 tambourines together to get a stronger backbeat, which I first saw years ago on some old video reel of Paul McCartney laying tambourines down on Hey Bulldog, and i’ve used it a fair few times on sessions ever since. Like many other musicians, i’ve picked up so much of what I do and put into things now from places just like this, tried and tested ideas that just absolutely work, It’d be criminal not to incorporate them! Whatever adds to a track to make it sound even better is what you want to do, even if it takes a few different takes to find something that sticks. Case in point with the conga pattern on one of the tunes, we went to the trouble of tuning said congas to just the right interval to match the key of the track, just to make them blend with the sound even more, would the passing listener notice? No, but the point is that the care was taken to do it, and sonically when we were laying it down, it worked and made absolute sense to take the time with a tuning wrench at the piano to do it.
On the subject of such things its really hard to stop perfectionism taking over in the studio, for me at least. Wanting every note to be perfect and sound consistent, which is really aiming for the impossible, and of course the subtleties you hear when playing it in the room seldom translate once its in a mix, but theres always the line to walk, of getting it as close as you can, and knowing you can always go back and do it again, or do a drop in for a few bars to change a little section. But for the most part you learn to accept that perfection stops somewhere, and a good take with a few human-isms to it has far more life than a machine perfect take ever would. For me, that acceptance has made working in the studio far more relaxed than I was when I started doing sessions years ago. Its the same as the realisation that drifting slightly away from the click is okay on occasion too, if it brings the right push and pull into the track, the fact is when you’re laying bed tracks down live, theres always going to be a bit of that if you’re listening to the music as well as the click, whichever way you lean from it. The click isn’t so much the rule of a constant beat, more the guide to stay close to, not necessarily right on top of all of the time. Thats just my view on it anyway, in this kind of session situation.
RIP Pedal spring…
As I said earlier, theres nothing like a relaxed recording session in a great studio with great folks, and its what brings the results, getting through a lot of tunes in a single session is a testament to how Martin works, and how open he is (and we all are) to each others ideas, making little suggestions and getting the most out of each track we did.
I must mention the one casualty of the last session though, my poor bass drum pedal spring giving up right at the end of the final session (typical - good job the studio had plenty of spare pedals!), swiftly replaced when I got home, poor old thing!
Wrapping this little blog post up, I can’t not give a quick tour plug to the upcoming MS & Daintees tour, i’ll be on most dates (excluding 19th-29th November - but don’t let that put you off, you’re always guaranteed a great line up!) All the information is on the poster below, it'd be great to see some familiar faces in the crowds as we gig about. I’ll share any more news on the album as I receive it but for now, i’ll hopefully see you out on the road!