Is this thing on....?

Me, thinking about lunch

Nice. The first sentence in my first ever blog is a rubbish sound joke. If you expect it to get any better, I strongly advise you bail right now. My plan is that this blog will document some of the projects I am working on as I am working on them, as well a platform to discuss some ideas and techniques I am exploring. We will see how I get on with that.

So, 2011 so far.... This year has been an amazing journey in terms of the work I have been doing. Some of the projects I have been involved in are unquestionably my best work to date and I am super excited about them getting out there. At the back end of 2010 I went 100% full time freelance as an engineer and it has turned out to be one of the best things I have ever done, not only in terms of commitment but also my attitude towards this job. I hear myself saying to myself 'I am a professional, there is no room for anything less than excellence' and 'I am good, but I need to be better' which has wound up in a never ending quest for what I consider to be perfection in my recordings. That great vocal performance, the super exciting mix and the perfect drum sound are but a few of the common topics I obsess over to make my recordings more musical, exciting and better sounding than the other options out there. I feel that as long as I have this attitude, of 'it could always be better' I will always be getting better as an engineer.

In short, 2011 been dominated by 5 big records. These are:

Kat Healy's debut record (with Producer Graeme Steel)
Kat is a super talented singer who writes very well crafted folky flavoured pop songs. One track 'Broken Bones' is out now in the form of a single released November last year. Check her out. More about this one when it is closer to done.

Michael MacLennan's debut album (Co-produced with Craig Ross)
I first met Michael on an album I recorded with The Easy Tigers last year. He is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet and an outstanding piano based songwriter. I just finished mixing this record last week and I am super excited about it. I will dedicate a whole blog to it very soon but in the meantime, check him out here.

The Banana Sessions MIXTAPE
The Banana Sessions are mental. Simple. They write bipolar music for crazy people. I have been lucky enough to have grown as an engineer along side this bunch (Banana pun...) since way back when we were all at Napier University and have recorded every one of their releases to date. They are some of my closest musical friends. And, if you missed it earlier, they are clinically insane. The album is a conceptual album based around the idea of a Mixtape and is being produced by Dave 'Solareye' Hook of Stanley Odd fame.

The Mike Kearney Ka-Tet 'Philosophika' Album
Recorded pretty much live at my studio down at The Depot, The Ka-Tet is an 8 piece funk / soul group fronted by Mike Kearney. I am very proud of this album and think it is one I will come back too lots. Mike is one of the most focused and trusting people I have ever worked with and knows exactly what he wants in his music in a way that allows every one of the musicians involved to have their own individual personality shine through. His album is out now and can be found here.

Stanley Odd 'Pure Anti-Hero' EP
In honesty, this was actually in 2010 but it was such a cool project I can't really justify missing it out. Without a doubt my favourite Scottish live act, Stanley Odd were foolish enough to let me loose of their EP 'Pure Anti-Hero Material'. Check them out here.


Stuff I am working on just now...
- Das Contras' second album (Funky / Latin / Jazzy)
- The Sunshine Delay album (Country)
- 'Project DSB' album (Prog Rock)
- Augustalia 'Stiletto' Single
- Black Cat EP (Balkan / Klezmer instrumental group)
- 2011 CP YMI Project (5 young up and coming bands)


Techy Geek Corner.... 
I think it would also be cool to add in some techy geeky nerd recording chat into these blogs too. Some of this is going to be stuff that is working for me, some may be ideas that I am playing with and some may be concept I am struggling with. All you engineer nerds, dive in and lemme know what you make of it all. Musicians, I advise you all sign off here.  

This week I have been playing about with the Universal Audio UAD 670 plug-in in a mid-side setup. This thing has been a godsend on some mastering I have been doing recently where the vocal was mixed super hot in the track and I needed to find a way of just flattening it out without thrashing the whole mix. Set up in Lat/Vert mode (instead of the usual stereo) the compressor can be used to compress the centre of the mix (where the offending vocal was poking out) and leave the outside of the mix untouched. A wicked trick and one I am going to mess about with on the mix bus. More info here.

How do you end a blog?! Hmmm...

Garry Boyle - CP Productions