In The Studio - Ben Johnstone

Ben popped into the studio last week to record a horn section for an album he is working on at home.

Ben plays in Original Band Bordello and Cover band Sleazy Listening.

In The Studio - Noel McClumpha

Noel returns after a bit of a break to record some new tracks for an EP, we spent last night putting a Vocal / Guitar guide

down to a click track. Shortly we will record the drums and bass and noel will record the final Guitar and vocal parts.

(Update 25/6/10): Noel was back in 3 nights this week. From the guide tracks 5 songs were selected to be in part 1 of the project. We then added Drums, by Andrew Smith (owns VHS rehearsal rooms, free plug), and Bass & Keys, by me, and Noel recording the final acoustic guitar, electric guitar and vocals. All recording has been finished and mixing will start late next week.

(update 1/7/10): We finished mixing / mastering last night and in the end have 4 songs, 1 of the songs will stay in the can for a rework at a later date. Noel will upload the 4 new recordings to Noel's myspace soon.

In The Studio - B.O.R.C

One of my clients from the Beaconsfield era, Drew, returned to Witzend with his new band B.O.R.C. They actually asked what I would classify their music as? Answer, "Metal" (I won't get into all the sub categories). A good old: Vocal (Nick), Guitar (Drew), Bass (Fonga), Drums (Bo) set up. We tracked all the band and vocals for 3 songs Saturday and will be mixing this week. They had some great photos taken during the session by MarrVellous Photography some of which I used above.

(Update 30/4/10): Mixed the 3 songs last night and it come together really good, including the extra Growl! we added. Pizza and Garlic bread was good too.

In The Studio - auAu (Aussie Gold)

auAu (Aussie Gold) return to Witzend this week to record an 8 song demo.

All tracking was done last Thursday and Saturday night and we will be mixing down in a few weeks time.

(update 19/4/10): We mixed last Thursday and Friday nights and the demo is finished, I will post a link when the songs are available for a listen on line.

In The Studio - Jook Joint Band

Last Saturday I recorded a live in the studio demo of the Jook Joint Band, We had a marathon 13 hour session and tracked and mixed 6 songs, with a bit of mastering on the Sunday. We had Peter: Lead Vocal / Drums (stand up), Bill: Lead Vocal / Guitar / Ukulele / washboard, Paul: Bass / backing vocal, Pas: Lead Guitar / backing vocal, Sean: Harmonica / kazoo / whistle, jug / backing vocal.

All went well, a good time had by all and hopefully the tracks will be up on the net soon.

(update 7/5/10): here is a link to the Jook Joint Band myspace and the tracks.

About the band: A potent mix of raw roots and blues jug band music scrubbed up on the washboard, soaked in sour mash whisky, stirred with the dulcet tones of uke, banjo, kazoo and harmonica and served up in a whisky jug.

Out Live - Tinpan Orange

Did some live sound Friday Night at the Fremantle Arts Centre for Melbourne band Tinpan Orange. Great night, not too hot (been hot around here lately) not too cold and a good size appreciative crowd.

Always a pleasure to work with this band and they have their sound worked out, which makes my job easier.

Also got to mix Leah Flanagan, a great performer on her 1st visit to WA from NT.

It is always nice to get out and do some live sound and with great performers at a great venue what more do you need.

In The Studio - The Urban Cowboy Band

The Urban Cowboy Band returned to Witzend this week to record a second single "Runaway Idol" Tracking is complete and mixing will be finished next week end. (Update 6/3/10): all finished mixed and mastered.

The single will be launched on March the 13th at "Hot Cross Rock" Presented by the City of Bayswater at the Maylands Peninsula Golf Course.

From the UCB press release:

The UCB is comprised of vocalist the Urban Cowboy (former solo/special guest vocalist Rod Grljusich), lead and highly respected guitarist Tom Sterle, drummer Andrew Shaw, bass guitarist Jack Sterle (all formerly from Centrefold), Duncan Strachan (Laced Affair) on rhythm guitar and introducing Mitch Tighe on keyboards

Written and composed by Tom Sterle, Runaway Idol creates the perfect rock pulpit for the Urban Cowboy to evangelize to the converted, the committed, the lost, the unredeemed and those who want to rise again.

"Runaway Idol" will be available as an online download email theurbancowboy@bigpond.com for information.

(update 21/4/10): Have a listen at Triple J unearthed.

(update 24/5/10): Video clip.

In The Studio - Dan Kealley

Dan was one of my Clients from years ago, the Beaconsfield era. He popped in this week for a few hours to record a demo.

The recording was done with Dan playing guitar and singing live while running his backing tracks from a zoom drum machine that has the bass line programmed as well.

This demo is of cover songs as Dan plays a one man band show to keep the income alive while he works on original material. I hope to record some original material with him in the future as he is a very talented singer / guitar player.

In The Studio - Ned Robles

Ned was in again this week. We recorded 3 tracks towards his 4th CD.

In The Studio - Mr Faz Music School

The weekend of the 21st Nov I did a project with the Mr Faz School of music. We had over 20 students, some very young, that recorded a compilation CD. The idea was that the students formed bands (we ended up with 5) and rehearsed 2 or 3 songs ready to record. They then came into the studio and we did the recording. All the songs were recorded in 1 day with the bands basically using the same gear.

Enrico (Mr Faz) and I used the second day to mix and master the CD ready for release to the students that week as an end of year souvenir. The day in the studio was a great experience for the students, the musical ability for the age was incredible, and I picked out some future budding audio engineers amongst them as well.

In The Studio - Jamie Maika

My 1st session back and working with a nice guy called Jamie Maika. Jamie was off the New Zealand a few days after the session, to act and sing in a stage play, and wanted a demo to take with him. We did a few covers using backing tracks and some original songs using backing tracks that Jamie made up on his home computer. I really liked the originals and I hope he releases something in the near future. Here is a link to We Coming up.

Bouncing back

Well, back on the 7th of Oct I went into hospital for a simple 1 day knee operation. I scheduled a week off for recovery thinking no problems. The op went well and the knee felt good, until 5 days later when I was rushed to the emergency department with blood clots on the lungs. After nearly kicking the bucket, spending a week in Hospital and a few weeks recovering I am finally starting to get back on track, doing a few gigs (Empire Blues), getting back into the studio and adding to this site.

It does make you realise how fragile life can be.