Jamie lives in what can only really be described as a tower. Inside it’s littered with old amplifiers and strange looking pieces of recording equipment.
In the lounge is a beautiful piano, piles of vinyl and comical memorabilia from his days in local band Little Japanese Toy (the band he used to share with James Mabbutt, aka Napoleon IIIrd, who lives two doors down). The kitchen is a complete shambles but is beautifully wallpapered in pages from Reader’s Digest.
Upstairs in the attic is the actual studio. Everything is based around a giant 3M reel-to-reel tape machine and a giant handmade mixing desk which should have at one point in its life gone on tour with Dire Straits.
In the lounge is a beautiful piano, piles of vinyl and comical memorabilia from his days in local band Little Japanese Toy (the band he used to share with James Mabbutt, aka Napoleon IIIrd, who lives two doors down). The kitchen is a complete shambles but is beautifully wallpapered in pages from Reader’s Digest.
Upstairs in the attic is the actual studio. Everything is based around a giant 3M reel-to-reel tape machine and a giant handmade mixing desk which should have at one point in its life gone on tour with Dire Straits.
Day 1 – Saturday 11th August ‘07
The tracks we set about recording on the Saturday were Lucky Jack and Build Around Me. We wanted to record these songs in as ‘live’ an environment as possible so the four of us spent most of the day in a cramped tiny little room, rocking out together but at the same time trying not to knock each other out with our guitars. Saturday was also really warm so our little room became very hot and sweaty. Yum.
We didn't want the red hot valve amps in the room with us so Tim’s amp was stuck in a closed cupboard next to the ironing board two floors below whereas Chris’ amp was in the corridor near the bathroom. The occasional friend wandering in and out to see Bob (Bob Taylor, photographer extraordinaire and Jamie’s patient flatmate) must have wondered what was going on, especially as Chris’ amp was connected to a strange looking giant Sunn o)))) bass amp with a stupid amount of speakers.
Despite Chris and Toby turning up with a hangover and Jim making everyone late by demanding that a rather ill looking Toby cooked him breakfast, the morning’s takes of Lucky Jack went pretty well thanks to a relaxed recording environment and random conversations about unusual recording techniques.Following two string breakages in as many strums lunch was called. This involved a swift Greggs banquet, a couple of Malboro and a few cold cans of Grolsch before we crack on with Build Around Me. Again everything went top notch. In fact Jamie thought it sounded like Godspeed so I guess it must have been good.
We shut up shop on Saturday with a quick reminisce about old bands and a homage to the wonder of The National. Apparently tomorrow Jamie’s going to make our guitars sound like they do on ‘All The Wine’. Ace!Day 2 – Sunday 12th August ‘07
Hungover. Well Chris and Toby are (again!) although Toby won’t be at the studio for another three hours as Sunday is all about the guitars. Same goes for Jim.
So a delicate start to the morning sees Tim laying down some guitar lines for Lucky Jack while Chris takes a nap on the sofa.
However some extra strong Guatemalan coffee and a play with some retro amplification wakes Chris up and the conversations about off-the-wall recording techniques are going again.
This time Jamie’s using three different mics on the guitar amps to get individual tracks for the high, mid and low frequencies. It’s all mad technical stuff but it seems to be doing the trick. Jim and Toby arrive at the studio just in time to hear the almost finished version of Lucky Jack. It’s sounding HUGE.
After a quick trip out in the rain for pasties we set about putting down the guitar tracks for Build Around Me. Tim had clearly been hammering the Wilco when he wrote his parts for this one and a the occasional twang on his new Jaguar’s tremolo means everything sounding a little Twin Peaks. Which, obviously, is ace.After Chris finally nails his one guitar line on take 28 we sit back and take a listen to what we've done. It’s early days yet, these tracks still need vocals, mixing and mastering, but it’s all starting to sound rather good.
We come back in three weeks to finish the job off. Can’t wait.
