We had booked 3 hours in an equipped rehearsal room with the facility of recording the final hour. Usual good run over to Norwich in light traffic on a warm sunny evening. I navigated to the location easily enough but had a bit of trouble finding the actual business unit. When I got there, I met up with David the manager (an old rocker by the looks of him) and he showed me the room. Its about 10 foot square, well soundproofed and equipped with Crate and Ashdown guitar amps, a Pearl drum kit and a Crate PA. There is a red light near the door which comes on for the final hour’s recording. I got David to put up an extra mic for Dave and then Dave and Nigel arrived. Nigel and I spent some time trying to get a decent sound from the Wharfdale mics but still ended up with a bass heavy sound. I was using both my PRS guitars and ended up with a brittle middley sound, adequate enough for practice but not recording quality! Nigel also had a bit of trouble getting the bass listenable but eventually we settled and ran through “Hotel California” Then we got down to a long spell of work on the Beatle medley. It started getting a bit hot in the room and Dave found it difficult to concentrate, but we did get it sorted - only trouble is remembering it for the next outing. Next we played “Something” a few times, then “Can’t Get Enough” before spending a big chunk of time on the Status Quo medley. Although we were able to improve it in places, it was clear Dave and I needed to listen to the originals to make real progress. Nigel kindly volunteered to try and edit the Mogerized song sheets for this and the Beatles to clarify the changeovers. We wrapped up with a run through of “Can’t Help Fallin In Love”. The red light hadn’t come on but they had recorded the last hour ‘warts and all’. Pack up was easy, but as I came out Dave pointed out Nigel’s car disappearing down the road. Apparently he had tripped over a kerb and dislocated his finger as he fell against a wall; and he was driving off to get it sorted as soon as possible. As I drove home I listened to the CD, the sound quality was very boomy and the performance was a bit rough for any commercial use, but I suppose we sang in tune and played together OK ish; so I’ll keep it in the trophy room! Next day Nige’s finger was strapped up. It looks like he’ll be OK for next weekend. We agreed that this session had not been a success. Dave gets overheated easily and we need a bigger room with better aircon. But the experience was useful and we might try a different place.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Practice at Live Wire Rehearsal Studios Norwich
We had booked 3 hours in an equipped rehearsal room with the facility of recording the final hour. Usual good run over to Norwich in light traffic on a warm sunny evening. I navigated to the location easily enough but had a bit of trouble finding the actual business unit. When I got there, I met up with David the manager (an old rocker by the looks of him) and he showed me the room. Its about 10 foot square, well soundproofed and equipped with Crate and Ashdown guitar amps, a Pearl drum kit and a Crate PA. There is a red light near the door which comes on for the final hour’s recording. I got David to put up an extra mic for Dave and then Dave and Nigel arrived. Nigel and I spent some time trying to get a decent sound from the Wharfdale mics but still ended up with a bass heavy sound. I was using both my PRS guitars and ended up with a brittle middley sound, adequate enough for practice but not recording quality! Nigel also had a bit of trouble getting the bass listenable but eventually we settled and ran through “Hotel California” Then we got down to a long spell of work on the Beatle medley. It started getting a bit hot in the room and Dave found it difficult to concentrate, but we did get it sorted - only trouble is remembering it for the next outing. Next we played “Something” a few times, then “Can’t Get Enough” before spending a big chunk of time on the Status Quo medley. Although we were able to improve it in places, it was clear Dave and I needed to listen to the originals to make real progress. Nigel kindly volunteered to try and edit the Mogerized song sheets for this and the Beatles to clarify the changeovers. We wrapped up with a run through of “Can’t Help Fallin In Love”. The red light hadn’t come on but they had recorded the last hour ‘warts and all’. Pack up was easy, but as I came out Dave pointed out Nigel’s car disappearing down the road. Apparently he had tripped over a kerb and dislocated his finger as he fell against a wall; and he was driving off to get it sorted as soon as possible. As I drove home I listened to the CD, the sound quality was very boomy and the performance was a bit rough for any commercial use, but I suppose we sang in tune and played together OK ish; so I’ll keep it in the trophy room! Next day Nige’s finger was strapped up. It looks like he’ll be OK for next weekend. We agreed that this session had not been a success. Dave gets overheated easily and we need a bigger room with better aircon. But the experience was useful and we might try a different place.
