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Milly, thanks for taking
the time to chat with me about gear and your new recordings.
Let’s start with just how
you approached these recordings for "The Path Is Clear." In what
order did you record the instruments? Did you lay down a click track
first? What were the challenges of recording this way?
I initially recorded
rough demos of all the songs using a drum machine and programmed
bass, all done on a Boss DR-5 (which is an awesome piece of gear
actually). I then played the guitars along to this basic track and
added the keyboard parts afterwards. That was pretty much how the
songs were for a year or two.
When I actually decided
to record some “proper” instruments in a studio, I decided to use
those guitar tracks and the programmed bass as a guide track.
Because it was all recorded digitally and to a programmed beat it
was very simple to create a click track, which was just a straight
hi-hat count along with the music.
I recorded all the drum
parts with the guide track and click in my headphones; to be honest
I don’t particularly like this way of recording because I have to
restrain myself a little bit and it feels un-natural, but it was
necessary because I was playing all the parts myself. Overall I
think it worked because I actually quite like most of the drum parts
I laid down, which is unusual!
Then came the rhythm
guitars and bass, which was really easy by comparison, just playing
along to drums, so no real drama there. After that came the lead
part for “Misconception” which is pretty simple and didn’t take too
long.
I even tried some vocals
at the time of recording the rhythm tracks, but that was a bridge
too far given the limited time I had, so I had to re-record those.
After a few attempts at recording those myself with an SM57 in a
rehearsal room, I realized I needed some help there. So I got my
friend Richard (bass player in Centurions Ghost) to record those at
the studio he works at. We also recorded the lead guitars for “What
Lies Behind;” I played that through a Leslie Speaker, which was
awesome.
I did all the keyboard
parts at home; this made much more sense than going into a studio
given that it’s done digitally with VST instruments anyway. This
way I was comfortable and wasn’t constantly watching the clock when
I was fucking up take after take!
The biggest challenge
recording the rhythm tracks was that I had two days in the studio,
so I had to work fast. In retrospect, I should not have even
attempted vocals because I wasted half a day on that and scrapped
them all. Maybe I could have used that time more wisely tightening
up a few bass or guitar parts. On top of that it’s easy to lose
your perspective on what is a good or bad take when you are on your
own. In a band situation, you have several other people there who
can form a more objective opinion on whether a particular guitar or
bass track should be kept or scrapped.
Did you make arrangement
decisions along the way, or was everything worked out beforehand?
Did you do much editing?
The songs were completely
written and arranged before I recorded anything, so that really
helped, because I knew exactly what I had to do in the studio.
There was some editing. I
can’t remember which tracks specifically, but one of the drum parts
was made up of two takes spliced together and in one case bits were
taken from different takes and spliced together. This was all
recorded in Pro-Tools initially, with all audio being in those
Pro-Tools sound files that aren’t recognized by other software. I
didn’t realize until I tried to re-assemble the tracks in Cubase!
I had to get the
Pro-Tools files converted into standard WAVs; trouble was I wanted
the individual takes and drop-ins separately, not consolidated.
That gave me a headache and required some careful editing to smooth
things out, but really it wasn’t that hard to fix in the end.
Looking back, it seem
ludicrous that it was done that way (since it was ultimately mixed
in Pro-Tools), but at the time I had no other option because I don’t
have Pro-Tools and I was expecting to have to finish everything
myself at home because at the time I had no budget to return to the
studio.
I hear all sorts of
instruments in the mix, especially keyboards. Can you tell me about
the instrumentation and how and why you chose particular instruments
for specific songs?
The basic instrumentation
on each track is drums, guitar left, guitar right and bass guitar.
There is also the odd bit of lead guitar and of course the keyboards
as you mentioned.
Every song has a Hammond
Organ in it (my favourite keyboard)! Well, to be more specific it
has the Native Instruments B4 Hammond Organ VSTI. It’s an awesome
piece of software and on a record you would be very hard pushed to
tell the difference between this and the real thing.
I think it the Hammond
adds so much depth to the sound; even when it isn’t prominent in the
mix, it’s still in the background swirling around. It suited this
music, because my goal wasn’t absolute heaviness but rather to
create a kind of wall of sound or some kind of heavy soundscape.
When talking about
specific songs, “What Lies Behind” has the Cubase A1 synth doubling
the guitar parts just before the solo. The combination of guitar
through chorus pedal, a second through a Leslie speaker and the
simulated analogue synth made a nice spacey sound.
On “Roll The Dice,” I
used the A1 Synth and the Boss-DR5 to play the keyboard part just
before the second verse. I played the Boss first and then doubled
it with the A1 and blended the sounds in the mix. The Boss had a
pure Saw wave and on the A1 I used a patch based on a Saw wave put
through a few filters. I think it’s quite a dark menacing sound
that fitted the mood of the song quite well. In the double time
section I used a really cool VST simulation of the Mini Moog called
Mini-Mogue for the bass notes. This just added some great texture
and bottom end to the sound.
The song with the most
keyboards is probably “Misconception.” It’s quite an atmospheric
piece and has a kind of ebb and flow arrangement. Initially the
only keyboards were in that break towards the end of the song, which
has a saw wave played on the DR-5 and then the Hammond chords over
it. I just added parts over time to change the mood and texture of
certain sections. Over the break with the heavy riff playing over
the tom beat, I felt it sounded a little sparse, so as an experiment
I tried playing a few random Mellotron choir chords over that
section and it just came to life! This section appears twice in the
song, so on the second one I added this really spacey synth into the
mix, just to vary the mood slightly. Another interesting thing on
this song is the Vocoder in the verses. I put the low vocal part
through the Cubase Vocoder and played the same chords as the guitars
were playing. I purposefully didn’t place it too prominently in the
mix so as to avoid obscuring the main vocal. It fills out the sound
really nicely and gives it an unusual texture that I really like.
Finally, there is an 808
bass drum mixed in with the rest of the kit in the half time section
at the end of the last song. There’s quite a lot of “space” in the
bottom end of the song here, so it adds a nice boom to fill out the
sound. This sound was actually produced by the DR-5, so that piece
of equipment was used quite a lot throughout the recording.
What guitars and amps did
you use for the recording?
All the guitars were
recorded on my trusty Gordon Smith Gypsy 1.5, which I guess looks a
little like a Gibson Melody Maker. I am not sure if you guys in the
US will have heard of Gordon Smith; they are a small outfit who hand
make their guitars, based near Manchester in England. I really
love them; they have a great action and are a joy to play and pretty
forgiving to my clumsy fingers!!!
The amp I used was a
Marshall Valvestate combo (8080 I think, although it was a long time
ago). Not exactly the Rolls Royce of amps! However, it was all
that was available to me in the studio at the time and the studio
owner/engineer swore he had used it on many recordings and knew how
to set it up and where to place the mics to get a very heavy sound
out of it. I guess it worked; the result isn’t too bad, although I
think I’ll probably use something a little more “manly” on my future
recordings.
As I mentioned earlier I
used a Leslie speaker to record the lead guitars for “What Lies
Behind.” That was something else! It was the first time I’d played
through a Leslie and really, the first time I had heard one up
close. The sound was beautiful. I don’t really think you can
simulate (or even truly capture on record) that sound you hear when
you are standing next to it.
The bass parts were
played on a bass I borrowed from the studio, and I used the Ashdown
Combo Amp the studio had. Again, not an exotic or flashy amp, but
the result was pretty good. I guess it goes to show that if you
have a good engineer who knows his equipments capabilities and
weaknesses, the acoustics of his studio, what mics to use and where
to position them, it counts for a lot and you can get some great
results that way.
What sort of help did you have in studio?
Can you describe a little about the studio set-up, such as where and
how instruments were recorded, what gear was used for tracking, and
what was used for mixing? Can you relate specifics such as the vocal
chain for tracking?
During the initial
tracking there was only me and the studio owner/engineer, Nino
Errico. Nino did a good job of setting up the mics and all that,
but he did not know these songs. So when the tape was rolling it
was pretty much me on my own.
The kit I used was my
trusty Pearl Export, 22 inch kit, 14 inch tom, 16 inch Floor tom, 15
inch Paiste 2002 Hi-hats, 17 and 19 inch Paiste Rude Crash/Rides, 20
Inch Paiste 2000 ride cymbal and 24 inch 2002 China cymbal. I’ve
also used that setup for the last two CG albums and the LV album.
The drums were set up in
the live room at Autumn Road studios in North Wales, which if you do
a quick Google search it’s easy to find pictures of this (there’s
also info about the equipment). In fact, this is where I did the
drums for “Fear No Pain” as well. We used a total of 12 mics - kick
(D112), snare top, snare bottom (both SM57’s), Hi-Hat, Ride Cymbal
(both Neumann KM-184), two overheard (AKG 414) and three ambient
mics placed in the left, centre and right at the far end of the
room. These may have been AKG 414s, but I can’t remember, to be
honest.
I described the amps used
above which were just set up in the live room after the drums were
removed, but I think Nino used a condenser mic on the amps, a Blue
Cactus if my memory serves. I also have a vague memory that the
Blue Cactus was used on the Toms (if not that then I am sure it was
another type of condenser). At the time it struck me as an odd
choice, being used to AKG 421’s or SM57’s, but I am not an expert!
My first impression was they picked up too much of the other drums
and cymbals (especially the china). However when I listen to the
final mix they sound really good, so the ends justified the means
there!
The mixing was done by
Richard Whittaker at FX in London. I don’t know the specifics of
his set-up, but he used his Pro-Tools rig which has loads of
Plug-ins. As you can hear from the final mix, he did an excellent
job.
As for the music itself, it’s quite a
departure from what most people are probably used to hearing from
you in Lord Vicar and Centurion’s Ghost. Was there a reason you
decided to play everything yourself? Were there unique challenges in
working this way, from which the music benefitted?
Yes, it is very different
to those bands, both in sound and approach to making the music.
It’s definitely important for me to try something a little different
to those other bands. I enjoy playing music that is primarily about
raw heaviness, like CG or about crushing doom like LV, but there is
a big part of me that likes a more textured sound and this is what I
wanted to explore with TPIC.
I guess the main thing
about doing it all yourself is that it is a very pure way of
creating art: for better or for worse there is no one else to throw
in their two cents or dilute your ideas.
In a band situation it
can be great, because other people can offer a different perspective
and take your ideas in directions you haven’t thought of. So the
beauty of a band is that you can create something that you just
can’t create yourself. Also you get that dynamic of jamming along
together if you decide to record “live in the studio.”
However, in a band, often
the path of least resistance will be the one followed by default,
which can stifle creativity. Often the more unusual or experimental
ideas will be rejected because they aren’t “immediate” to the
listener. To get things like this to work in a band context can be
quite a battle.
I wanted to play
everything myself because as I could convey my ideas without them
being diluted or altered in anyway and also because I wanted the
challenge of doing this all myself.
Personally, I think the
music benefited because it is as it should be, at least how I think
it should be. However, I also think it would be very interesting to
hear this same music played (and recorded) by a band too.
How close do you think you’ve come to
realizing your vision for the music?
It’s pretty close, at
least in terms of these five songs. There are always little things
where I could say “maybe I should have played that differently” or
whatever. But I bet most listeners wouldn’t even notice, so it is
just me being picky! I think the overall effect is the one I want.
In terms of overall
vision for this project – there are more things I want to explore.
I have a lot of new material written and I have some strong ideas
about how I want to record and produce it. So really my next goals
are to refine the musical ideas and also to find a suitable studio
with an engineer who is receptive to this. I guess that’s going to
keep me busy for the rest of the year!
Thank you, my friend, for
such in-depth and insightful answers to my questions! Anyone who
enjoys heavy, textured, and unique music should listen to The Path
Is Clear. Cheers!
Contact:
www.myspace.com/thepathisclear
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