Getting in touch with the 80's
Picking up from where I last left off, things have been certainly warming up as 2012 progresses onwards.
The start of March brought visits from great friends of mine Clint Murphy and Greg Haver. Clint is an Audio Engineer, and Greg is a Record Producer, and I have been on numerous sessions with them both in New Zealand and in the United Kingdom. From these two I adopted vast majority of their work ethic, recording techniques and various other traits that have helped shape me into the engineer I am today. They had popped back to New Zealand begin work with a few kiwi bands, so I caught up with them as much as possible during their stay.
On the weekend of the 31st of March and 1st of April, I headed back into York Street with Greg Haver to track drums for Wellington artist Junica. Without giving too much away about the album, Junica’s tracks are all very 80′s and 90′s, so we really embraced recording techniques from that era. Due to Greg’s extensive background in both producing and drumming, dating right back through the 80′s, I was introduced to a range of techniques I had never used before. I learned a lot more about the 80′s sound in general, have never used so much gated reverb before! I’m currently just working on a few tidy ups and session preparation for when we continue with the rest of the album later this month, where we’ll begin on guitars, synths and vocals before the tracks are taken back to the UK for Clint to mix. It’s going to be a lot of fun, and will be sure to let you know when the tracks are out. Rumour also has it that a great 90′s singer will be making a guest appearance on the album! I know you’re busting to hear some of it, so for now just scroll to the bottom to check out another track from Junica featuring Pip Brown (Ladyhawke).
I attended an SAE Producer Seminar that featured both Clint Murphy and Greg Haver talking to SAE students and alumni members about record production and sharing their experiences. Mid way through the chat I was also invited up on stage to join in and also share some of my experiences. It was great to be a part of it, and really enjoying chatting and reminiscing over projects passed. We’ve all worked together on a number of projects, but also have plenty of our own stories so had plenty to talk about.
As mentioned in the previous post, I’ve been having a number of meetings with artists, managers, fellow engineers and producers, and have some great ideas that will be beneficial to the NZ music industry – covering right from the quality of the recordings to the album budgets. I’ve been gaining a lot of interest from the few concepts I’ve discussed with others, so I’m working overtime to put these into play as soon as possible. I have a large whiteboard divided into seven sections and jam packed full of ideas, so am structuring out business plans and already have a clearer picture of how to accomplish it.
I’m feeling extremely organised and really inspired. Check back soon for an update on how things are progressing, for now I’ll leave you with Junica and Pip Brown.
Junica – ‘Living In My House’ Ft. Pip Brown
