So, it turned out to be either thick sloppy mud and rain, or scorching sunshine - 2011 was a glastonbury of extremes. Which doesn't make it easy when you're carting musical equipment around the site through the throng, but going up on stage at the Avalon Cafe to play to a rammed 600-strong audience definitely makes it worth it! Of our gigs at Glastonbury 2011 this was definitely our highlight - thanks to Lisa at Avalon for giving us the slot, and I suppose we also need to say thanks to the Huckleberries for cancelling as we weren't expecting to play there this year!
We don't have and footage of us playing, but here's a clip of our crowd! http://www.urusen.co.uk/avalon-cafe-glastonbury2011.html
Our slot at the Avalon Cafe took place on the Thursday afternoon and our next official gig was not until Sunday night at The Bandstand, but we managed to fit in a backstage gig at the Acoustic Stage and also do a radio interview with Worthy FM where Ben, Kieran and Pete performed a couple of tracks live on air. We were also played on BBC Radio Bristol as part of their Glastonbury coverage - apparently our songs make people cry! But, in a good way….we hope! technically it was an exclusive too - the first radio play of any of the new tracks done with Steve Osborne.
So, it was a bit of a working weekend, but there was plenty of time to get involved…Highlights: Elbow - for awesome crowd singing (plus the sun had finally decided to show its face), Paul Simon - a total legend (and yes he did play You can call me Al), the Treetop Flyers (definitely a band to watch out for) on after us at the Avalon Cafe, and seeing our good friend Pete Roe playing with Laura Marling, who was excellent on the Pyramid Stage. Oh and Shangri la and Arcadia…still nuts, and still amazing.
Thanks to everyone who made it along to see us - it was awesome too to see lots of familiar faces. And keep an eye out for us if you're at any other festivals this summer as we'll be doing a few more, including Secret garden Party and The Big Chill.
As for Glasto, next year is a fallow year - probably just as well after most of the site this year been trampled into an unrecognisable lake of mud, it deserves a bit of time to recover…as do we ;o) Even so, roll on 2013...
Friday, 1 July 2011
Monday, 4 April 2011
Mixing!
Sorry for the delay in this blog reaching you all but so much has happened since our last entry we are quite not sure where to begin.
Let's start with this. We have a completed, mixed collection of 11 tracks that we are all amazingly proud of. 4 months after we entered the pre production rehearsals with producer Steve we have finished. I think we can confidently say that the album process is incredibly hard to document. It's a complete roller coster of emotions with some beautiful pure moments of euphoria and joy counter balanced by some equally low moments where you feel like your dwelling in the depths of creative despair, wondering if people will like it or not. Powerful stuff for sure!
Anyway...we did it.
Initially we had some rough mixes from Steve back in late Jan/early Feb. These sounded pretty damn good but they were early mixes and designed for us to listen to thoroughly and make notes on what we felt we would want changed. Needless to say, with five pairs of ears and five opinions to match (we are an odd bunch) there was lots of feedback. Again this is quite difficult to explain. Most people would think you just record an album and then someone mixes it and then it's done. It's definitely not that simple. We all knew that we wanted this record to be a 'sound'. We wanted every song to sit well alongside each other. However anybody who has seen us knows that we have varying songs, even though we have a 'Urusen' sound. Basically every song had to deliver the intended message as such. Therefore we had to go through each track with a fine toothed comb. What do we want the drums and bass to be doing on this track? How should the cello be used? Do we want huge vocals at this point or save them for later etc. It was a lot of work to do.
After a few band meetings and relaying lots of individual feedback to each other we were ready to go and do some mixing with Steve. For the first session Pete, Ben, Nick and Jay went back to Realworld to spend a day with Steve and of course Joe (his trusty assistant and all round top bloke). It had been nearly three months since we had seen Steve and Joe and it was great to be back. We all slipped back into the studio vibe very easily . One of the most enjoyable aspects of the month spent with these two was the constant banter we had. We instantly got back into that! It's always great when your'e working in a high pressured environment and it's accompanied by jokes and laughter. After a cup of tea (joe is officially the best tea (and coffee) maker in the west), it was time to get going.
What was interesting was that immediately Steve listened to something and said 'right I'm not happy with that come back in an hour'! The best thing about Steve O is that he is an absolute perfectionist. This was apparent in the recording process where he worked us very hard. Clearly he keeps to this work ethic when mixing too. We returned to find that he had 'tightened' up the track a lot and it was sounding amazing. We then went through other elements of the track and what we wanted from it until we felt it was complete. In fact the entire mixing process took this approach from start to finish with every track, picking them apart. Some required more work then others. We finished this first day of mixing at 2am! A couple of us arrived back in London at 5am!
The second day with Steve was a few days later. Following the same process. However this day started with Jay re-recording the double bass to a track in Steve's room. This was because we wanted a bigger, tighter bass sound and as we had recorded everything live there had been spill from the drums onto the original bass part. This meant that if we turned the bass up a lot we got more drums than we wanted. These are all part of the pros and cons of recording live as a band. Why would there be drums on the recording on the bass mic you may think? Well for this particular track we wanted a nice roomy sound to the drum kit, so we left the drum room door open. We never wanted every track to sound the same so to get the right timbre for this particular track we took this approach. Jay re-recorded the bass which meant we could whack it up on the mix to get the desired effect. The rest of the day was again spent mixing tracks and trying out different effects, reverbs, compressors etc. On one tune for example we wanted the eq of a particular instrument to be quite bright at the start of the track and then become more 'dull' in sound to blend in the mix better later on. To achieve these sort of effects something called automation needs to be used which is actually 'drawing' in the level of whatever you are changing, then the software 'reads' this and automatically adjusts the levels for you. Things like this can be either really quick or take ages. If you read our last blog you will know we dubbed Steve 'ninja ears'. Well he is also 'ninja editor' as well, so actually it was very speedy.
Jay had to head back to London later that day, and Nick later that evening, leaving Pete and Ben to continue with Steve and Joe into the early hours again. The last day of mixing was the next day, where there was one more track that needed a lot of work to it, involving a bit of impromptu guitar and piano recorded that day in Steve's studio, which seemed to make a big difference. Especially with the use of an old 'space echo' unit Steve owned - totally sorted the end of the track out. With the last track done and dusted, there's was time for one last listen through everything, before another long day was over, Steve went home declaring 'I'm taking tomorrow off!', and Joe, Pete and Ben drove into Bath for a late night celebratory drink!
Right now, we don't want to go into more detail regarding the individual tunes as we really don't want to give anything away! But we can safely say that we're all blown away with the results and that we have at last captured the 'Urusen Sound'. We feel that we have created a body of work that all of us are incredibly proud of and one that we hope will connect with people and take them on a whole sonic journey from sparse landscapes to colossal oceans of sound! There's definitely lots of the textures and sounds present that you might know if you are already familiar with us, but there are also some sounds and approaches that venture into new territories for us, with different instrumentation and effects. The main thing is that we feel have completely encapsulated the sound we have been striving to achieve for some time.
So all that remains to be said is a massive huge thank you to the inspiring and dedicated talents of Steve Osborne as well as the indispensable Joe and all the lovely peoples at Realworld studios. Now we just need to get it out there!
We'll be back soon with more...
Let's start with this. We have a completed, mixed collection of 11 tracks that we are all amazingly proud of. 4 months after we entered the pre production rehearsals with producer Steve we have finished. I think we can confidently say that the album process is incredibly hard to document. It's a complete roller coster of emotions with some beautiful pure moments of euphoria and joy counter balanced by some equally low moments where you feel like your dwelling in the depths of creative despair, wondering if people will like it or not. Powerful stuff for sure!
Anyway...we did it.
Initially we had some rough mixes from Steve back in late Jan/early Feb. These sounded pretty damn good but they were early mixes and designed for us to listen to thoroughly and make notes on what we felt we would want changed. Needless to say, with five pairs of ears and five opinions to match (we are an odd bunch) there was lots of feedback. Again this is quite difficult to explain. Most people would think you just record an album and then someone mixes it and then it's done. It's definitely not that simple. We all knew that we wanted this record to be a 'sound'. We wanted every song to sit well alongside each other. However anybody who has seen us knows that we have varying songs, even though we have a 'Urusen' sound. Basically every song had to deliver the intended message as such. Therefore we had to go through each track with a fine toothed comb. What do we want the drums and bass to be doing on this track? How should the cello be used? Do we want huge vocals at this point or save them for later etc. It was a lot of work to do.
After a few band meetings and relaying lots of individual feedback to each other we were ready to go and do some mixing with Steve. For the first session Pete, Ben, Nick and Jay went back to Realworld to spend a day with Steve and of course Joe (his trusty assistant and all round top bloke). It had been nearly three months since we had seen Steve and Joe and it was great to be back. We all slipped back into the studio vibe very easily . One of the most enjoyable aspects of the month spent with these two was the constant banter we had. We instantly got back into that! It's always great when your'e working in a high pressured environment and it's accompanied by jokes and laughter. After a cup of tea (joe is officially the best tea (and coffee) maker in the west), it was time to get going.
What was interesting was that immediately Steve listened to something and said 'right I'm not happy with that come back in an hour'! The best thing about Steve O is that he is an absolute perfectionist. This was apparent in the recording process where he worked us very hard. Clearly he keeps to this work ethic when mixing too. We returned to find that he had 'tightened' up the track a lot and it was sounding amazing. We then went through other elements of the track and what we wanted from it until we felt it was complete. In fact the entire mixing process took this approach from start to finish with every track, picking them apart. Some required more work then others. We finished this first day of mixing at 2am! A couple of us arrived back in London at 5am!
The second day with Steve was a few days later. Following the same process. However this day started with Jay re-recording the double bass to a track in Steve's room. This was because we wanted a bigger, tighter bass sound and as we had recorded everything live there had been spill from the drums onto the original bass part. This meant that if we turned the bass up a lot we got more drums than we wanted. These are all part of the pros and cons of recording live as a band. Why would there be drums on the recording on the bass mic you may think? Well for this particular track we wanted a nice roomy sound to the drum kit, so we left the drum room door open. We never wanted every track to sound the same so to get the right timbre for this particular track we took this approach. Jay re-recorded the bass which meant we could whack it up on the mix to get the desired effect. The rest of the day was again spent mixing tracks and trying out different effects, reverbs, compressors etc. On one tune for example we wanted the eq of a particular instrument to be quite bright at the start of the track and then become more 'dull' in sound to blend in the mix better later on. To achieve these sort of effects something called automation needs to be used which is actually 'drawing' in the level of whatever you are changing, then the software 'reads' this and automatically adjusts the levels for you. Things like this can be either really quick or take ages. If you read our last blog you will know we dubbed Steve 'ninja ears'. Well he is also 'ninja editor' as well, so actually it was very speedy.
Jay had to head back to London later that day, and Nick later that evening, leaving Pete and Ben to continue with Steve and Joe into the early hours again. The last day of mixing was the next day, where there was one more track that needed a lot of work to it, involving a bit of impromptu guitar and piano recorded that day in Steve's studio, which seemed to make a big difference. Especially with the use of an old 'space echo' unit Steve owned - totally sorted the end of the track out. With the last track done and dusted, there's was time for one last listen through everything, before another long day was over, Steve went home declaring 'I'm taking tomorrow off!', and Joe, Pete and Ben drove into Bath for a late night celebratory drink!
Right now, we don't want to go into more detail regarding the individual tunes as we really don't want to give anything away! But we can safely say that we're all blown away with the results and that we have at last captured the 'Urusen Sound'. We feel that we have created a body of work that all of us are incredibly proud of and one that we hope will connect with people and take them on a whole sonic journey from sparse landscapes to colossal oceans of sound! There's definitely lots of the textures and sounds present that you might know if you are already familiar with us, but there are also some sounds and approaches that venture into new territories for us, with different instrumentation and effects. The main thing is that we feel have completely encapsulated the sound we have been striving to achieve for some time.
So all that remains to be said is a massive huge thank you to the inspiring and dedicated talents of Steve Osborne as well as the indispensable Joe and all the lovely peoples at Realworld studios. Now we just need to get it out there!
We'll be back soon with more...
Monday, 10 January 2011
Calling all Urusenettes and Urusenaires!
Lots of exciting things coming up in 2011 for Urusen - and we want you to be a part of them. If you'd be interested in helping us out with some exciting little events and ideas we've got, as well as some general promo and exposure things, then read on!
We're looking to put together a crack commando unit of Urusen die-hards to carry out our evil bidding as we embark on our mission of world domina...not quite. Basically, we'd like to have a group of people who love the band who we could call upon when we have things to promote or when we could do with a bit of buzz around the band on certain sites etc. We always appreciate how much people talk about the band already, so this is just us trying to "organise" a bit for maximum efficiency! In return, you can expect (aside from massive kudos!) some exclusive goodies and Urusen-related fare, plus some freebies!
If you would be interested, please send an email to contact@urusen.co.uk with the words "Promo Team" in the Subject. If you could tell us your name and location that would be great too.
Thanks alot, see you all soon,
Urusen x
We're looking to put together a crack commando unit of Urusen die-hards to carry out our evil bidding as we embark on our mission of world domina...not quite. Basically, we'd like to have a group of people who love the band who we could call upon when we have things to promote or when we could do with a bit of buzz around the band on certain sites etc. We always appreciate how much people talk about the band already, so this is just us trying to "organise" a bit for maximum efficiency! In return, you can expect (aside from massive kudos!) some exclusive goodies and Urusen-related fare, plus some freebies!
If you would be interested, please send an email to contact@urusen.co.uk with the words "Promo Team" in the Subject. If you could tell us your name and location that would be great too.
Thanks alot, see you all soon,
Urusen x
Wednesday, 22 December 2010
Week 4!
On Monday we started the final week of recording. Having wrapped up week 3 by finishing the tracking for at least half the album in 4 days we felt pretty good! However we knew that we still had a load of songs to record plus all the overdubs for them and most of the overdubs for the previous weeks work, the pressure was on.
Steve's approach as a producer is all about the vibe and there could be many takes before he felt he had the best one. As a band we like to feel that we are all about the vibe too so this was great news for us. However, take after take can be an exhausting affair not just physically but emotionally. It's really hard to create an amazing energy when playing the same song, over and over again, in a studio environment. Also the studio can be an unforgiving place for a musician as everything is under the microscope and it can be a very revealing experience as things that you have been playing for ages suddenly don't sound so great when you look at them in detail. Steve kept all our spirits up and was an incredibly positive person to work with, never once letting the energy die. He was forever spurring us on and generally created a wonderfully positive atmosphere for us to create in; the man never stops moving and grooving to the tunes! This inspired everybody to give it their all and dig into their energy reserves and we managed to get all the tracking done by late wednesday night (about 1 am!)
This left us with 2 days to do all the extra bits and pieces that the songs needed. These ranged from backing vocals to more cello lines and a few other surprises that you will have to wait and hear. It was great to have those 2 days at the end as it was a chance to experiment with sounds, layers and any other strange things we wanted to have a go at. It also gave us time for Steve to make some suggestions of things to try and adapt for the songs. By Friday night (just!), everything on the whiteboard had been cleared by about midnight. It was decided that we could have our first real drink in 4 weeks and we headed into Bath to celebrate what can only be described as a truly epic 4 weeks.The celebrating led to some sore heads on Saturday but hey, we had been very good boys for 4 weeks solid!
So all the potential songs for the Album are done and now its up to producer Steve to mix them and see what we all feel makes it onto the actual record. We have had an incredible time and would like to thank everybody at Realworld who made it such a memorable few weeks. They really are a lovely bunch of people and it's a very special place. We all feel incredibly privileged to have had this experience and feel that it has really improved us as a band, both musically and as people. Plus we didn't kill each other; always a bonus !!
We now excitedly look to 2011 and what it may bring. Needless to say we will be gigging and promoting the Album and just trying to raise the profile of the band as much as possible. Thanks for all your support over 2010, it makes doing this worthwhile. There'll be another blog up over Christmas reviewing the year, plus some more photos and hopefully some videos from our time in the studio. But for now have a lovely christmas and a great New Year, and we'll hopefully see you all next year.
Lots of Love,
Pete, Ben, Nick , Jay and Kieran
This left us with 2 days to do all the extra bits and pieces that the songs needed. These ranged from backing vocals to more cello lines and a few other surprises that you will have to wait and hear. It was great to have those 2 days at the end as it was a chance to experiment with sounds, layers and any other strange things we wanted to have a go at. It also gave us time for Steve to make some suggestions of things to try and adapt for the songs. By Friday night (just!), everything on the whiteboard had been cleared by about midnight. It was decided that we could have our first real drink in 4 weeks and we headed into Bath to celebrate what can only be described as a truly epic 4 weeks.The celebrating led to some sore heads on Saturday but hey, we had been very good boys for 4 weeks solid!
So all the potential songs for the Album are done and now its up to producer Steve to mix them and see what we all feel makes it onto the actual record. We have had an incredible time and would like to thank everybody at Realworld who made it such a memorable few weeks. They really are a lovely bunch of people and it's a very special place. We all feel incredibly privileged to have had this experience and feel that it has really improved us as a band, both musically and as people. Plus we didn't kill each other; always a bonus !!
We now excitedly look to 2011 and what it may bring. Needless to say we will be gigging and promoting the Album and just trying to raise the profile of the band as much as possible. Thanks for all your support over 2010, it makes doing this worthwhile. There'll be another blog up over Christmas reviewing the year, plus some more photos and hopefully some videos from our time in the studio. But for now have a lovely christmas and a great New Year, and we'll hopefully see you all next year.
Lots of Love,
Pete, Ben, Nick , Jay and Kieran
Monday, 13 December 2010
Week 3: Recording!
Monday saw us move in to the Wood Room at Real World to begin the recording progress. Pete had been struck down with a cold over the weekend so was left at home to try and get over it whilst Nick finished off some of his parts and Ben, Jay and Kieran came in with all of the equipment for a day of setting up. This initially consisted mainly of building dens (officially 'booths') within the studio for each of us. The Wood Room is a beautiful and intimate space, and certainly a lot cosier than the rehearsal studio we've been cooped up in for the last 2 weeks.
Set up days in studios are always relatively drawn out affairs, and with the mix of instruments we are using on the album, it meant there were a lot to do, from housing the drum kit to microphone placement, building boxes to put amps in and finding somewhere for Nick to sit! The end of the day saw us run through some stuff as a band to get all the levels sorted for Tuesday - when the red light would get turned on for the 1st time.
We knew from the outset that we would have to be working hard over long days to get everything done in the time we had. This means we had to hit the ground running on Tuesday and make the most of every day. With Pete still not at 100% this meant starting without him singing and working on stuff that Ben sings lead on and songs we were planning on doing the vocals for afterwards. As mentioned in previous blogs, Steve's approach to getting the best out of the band is all about getting the vibe right within the band and with each song. This has so far meant everything to dancing sessions in the studio, football analogies and watching belly dancing videos whilst playing; all a bit mad but it seems to get results!
As the week progressed we got into a good groove of doing the basics of two songs a day - the pace we had agreed we would need to work at in order to leave enough time at the end of the final week to do various overdubs and backing vocals etc. Each song is different though, and requires different amounts of time. Sometimes this is because we're trying to capture the live sound in a relatively artificial environment with no crowd and only headphones for company. Sometimes it has been because the recorded versions contain lots of extra parts that we want to do straight after the skeleton of the song has been laid down so that the vibe of the song is still fresh in our minds when we do them. Sometimes, it has been simply because various members of the band needed some whisky.
The week ended really well with everything on schedule and all of us very excited about the way everything was sounding. We all know that the final week is likely to be even more intense as it gets closer to the end of the session, so a weekend off certainly felt deserved, but we're all already excited about getting back in on Monday morning to carry on!
Set up days in studios are always relatively drawn out affairs, and with the mix of instruments we are using on the album, it meant there were a lot to do, from housing the drum kit to microphone placement, building boxes to put amps in and finding somewhere for Nick to sit! The end of the day saw us run through some stuff as a band to get all the levels sorted for Tuesday - when the red light would get turned on for the 1st time.
We knew from the outset that we would have to be working hard over long days to get everything done in the time we had. This means we had to hit the ground running on Tuesday and make the most of every day. With Pete still not at 100% this meant starting without him singing and working on stuff that Ben sings lead on and songs we were planning on doing the vocals for afterwards. As mentioned in previous blogs, Steve's approach to getting the best out of the band is all about getting the vibe right within the band and with each song. This has so far meant everything to dancing sessions in the studio, football analogies and watching belly dancing videos whilst playing; all a bit mad but it seems to get results!
As the week progressed we got into a good groove of doing the basics of two songs a day - the pace we had agreed we would need to work at in order to leave enough time at the end of the final week to do various overdubs and backing vocals etc. Each song is different though, and requires different amounts of time. Sometimes this is because we're trying to capture the live sound in a relatively artificial environment with no crowd and only headphones for company. Sometimes it has been because the recorded versions contain lots of extra parts that we want to do straight after the skeleton of the song has been laid down so that the vibe of the song is still fresh in our minds when we do them. Sometimes, it has been simply because various members of the band needed some whisky.
The week ended really well with everything on schedule and all of us very excited about the way everything was sounding. We all know that the final week is likely to be even more intense as it gets closer to the end of the session, so a weekend off certainly felt deserved, but we're all already excited about getting back in on Monday morning to carry on!
Sunday, 5 December 2010
Week 2!
The week got off to a less than ideal start with Nick returning from a weekend with his family with a stinking cold. He was quickly dispatched into quarantine and the rest of us got back on with getting the 12 songs we have selected for the album into shape.
Some of the songs were pretty much ready to record from the day we walked in but other ones have taken a lot of work. Steve has been very keen to sort out 2 aspects of the sound of the album. Firstly, what was the "urusen sound", and how we wanted to get that across, and secondly to make sure that album has a flow and cohesive feel to it.
Whilst some people may argue that albums are now a thing of the past in the age of itunes etc, we still feel very strongly that we want to be able to produce something that people will want and be able to listen to as a body of work. Having been playing the songs for 2 weeks non-stop now, we are all pretty sure we are achieving this with the, as yet untitled, album.
As far as the "urusen sound" goes - we are definitely clearer on that after this process, and all very excited about how the album is shaping up, but you'll just have to wait for it to come out to find out what it is!
With Nick missing 2 days of the week recovering from man-flu / not infecting the singers with it, we were sad to have to cancel the showcase we had planned for Thursday evening. We were all quite excited about playing some of the tracks to an audience, but producer Steve took the executive decision that we needed to concentrate all our remaining time on the album. So again, an apology to those of you who were planning to come along, rest assured we will be coming back to the South West in the new year to make up for it!
Nick coming back into the studio did signal a change in focus for the week, as we started to separate to concentrate on particular things. Firstly, Nick started on an intensive writing session with Steve and his assistant Joe in order to make sure he had all his parts ready and in place for recording next week. At times, this has run to 3 and 4 parts - sounding rather "epic"!
The last couple of days have been quite stop/start as we've been required to do things like mic tests for Steve. All of a sudden, having spent the best part of a fortnight in old hanger playing music, the prospect of making an album at Real World Studios has become very real. Getting to see Steve and Joe in their "natural environment" also gave us an insight into quite how lucky we are to be working with them. Nothing is being rushed or done half-heartedly with this record and we've all agreed that we've never worked as hard as whilst we've been down here.
Another weekend of relaxation is in store - plus some updates on our online pages so check them out. Then on Monday it all beings in earnest!
Urusen x
Some of the songs were pretty much ready to record from the day we walked in but other ones have taken a lot of work. Steve has been very keen to sort out 2 aspects of the sound of the album. Firstly, what was the "urusen sound", and how we wanted to get that across, and secondly to make sure that album has a flow and cohesive feel to it.
Whilst some people may argue that albums are now a thing of the past in the age of itunes etc, we still feel very strongly that we want to be able to produce something that people will want and be able to listen to as a body of work. Having been playing the songs for 2 weeks non-stop now, we are all pretty sure we are achieving this with the, as yet untitled, album.
As far as the "urusen sound" goes - we are definitely clearer on that after this process, and all very excited about how the album is shaping up, but you'll just have to wait for it to come out to find out what it is!
With Nick missing 2 days of the week recovering from man-flu / not infecting the singers with it, we were sad to have to cancel the showcase we had planned for Thursday evening. We were all quite excited about playing some of the tracks to an audience, but producer Steve took the executive decision that we needed to concentrate all our remaining time on the album. So again, an apology to those of you who were planning to come along, rest assured we will be coming back to the South West in the new year to make up for it!
Nick coming back into the studio did signal a change in focus for the week, as we started to separate to concentrate on particular things. Firstly, Nick started on an intensive writing session with Steve and his assistant Joe in order to make sure he had all his parts ready and in place for recording next week. At times, this has run to 3 and 4 parts - sounding rather "epic"!
The last couple of days have been quite stop/start as we've been required to do things like mic tests for Steve. All of a sudden, having spent the best part of a fortnight in old hanger playing music, the prospect of making an album at Real World Studios has become very real. Getting to see Steve and Joe in their "natural environment" also gave us an insight into quite how lucky we are to be working with them. Nothing is being rushed or done half-heartedly with this record and we've all agreed that we've never worked as hard as whilst we've been down here.
Another weekend of relaxation is in store - plus some updates on our online pages so check them out. Then on Monday it all beings in earnest!
Urusen x
Saturday, 27 November 2010
Hello from snowy Wiltshire!
We've been here for almost a week now so thought we'd do a little blog to let you know what we've been up to. We came down on Monday and moved into our lovely little Cottage for the month on Linleys Farm. And what a great little place, Jay's got his wood burning fire, we've all got our own bed's (Ben and Kieran are in "adult-sized bunk beds"!) and its perfectly placed to allow us to get back and forth to Real World quickly.
Monday afternoon we moved all our music equipment into the Millside where we are doing our 2 weeks of pre-production. Its quite an odd place, a converted agricultural "hanger", but suits us perfectly - especially after the heating had been on for a couple of days! As most of you will know, we have a lot of instruments so to have them all in one room is quite a horde - especially when the plan is to add MORE sounds to the band for recording!
Tuesday was a long day as we were determined to get all 22 songs we were putting forward for the album up to scratch. To break up the days, we are having lunch in the Real World Canteen, lovingly and expertly prepared by the on-site chef, Jerome - our small piece of luxury in what are long and taxing days! It's all worth it though, as we are all adamant that this album will be as special as we can make it.
Wednesday saw the arrival of Steve Osborne, who is producing the album. Having only met him once before, and knowing he had worked with some very well known artists and produced some massive records, the morning was a mixture of excitement, nerves and trepidation as we awaited his arrival.
As it turned out, we had nothing to be worried about. Steve has at times seemed as excited about making this record as we are. To explain the role he has played thus far is difficult, and also the part he plays in the creative process that we go through with every song, but in short he has what we have dubbed "ninja ears". He isn't changing our sound, or making us "un-Urusen", but bringing the best out of us, both in terms of the songs and their arrangements and instrumentation, and each of us as individuals as far as our roles in the band and in each song.
We don't want to give too much away, but the process has thus far yielded electric guitars, a cappella vocal sessions, plus some potential string quartet action! More importantly we're very excited with the way things are beginning to shape up, and we're relishing the fact that we have another full week before we start recording.
On the subject of next week, we're going to be doing a special showcase gig inside the rehearsal studio on Thursday night. The event details are on our facebook page, so let us know if you're local and fancy popping along for a sneak preview of what you might hear on the album!
That's it for now, the weekend promises a bit of relaxation, and so far the odd snowball fight with our neighbours, but we have some homework for Steve due in on Monday so not all rest! Keep in touch through all the usual channels, we're going to try and put some videos up soon so keep an eye out for them!
Urusen x
Monday afternoon we moved all our music equipment into the Millside where we are doing our 2 weeks of pre-production. Its quite an odd place, a converted agricultural "hanger", but suits us perfectly - especially after the heating had been on for a couple of days! As most of you will know, we have a lot of instruments so to have them all in one room is quite a horde - especially when the plan is to add MORE sounds to the band for recording!
Tuesday was a long day as we were determined to get all 22 songs we were putting forward for the album up to scratch. To break up the days, we are having lunch in the Real World Canteen, lovingly and expertly prepared by the on-site chef, Jerome - our small piece of luxury in what are long and taxing days! It's all worth it though, as we are all adamant that this album will be as special as we can make it.
Wednesday saw the arrival of Steve Osborne, who is producing the album. Having only met him once before, and knowing he had worked with some very well known artists and produced some massive records, the morning was a mixture of excitement, nerves and trepidation as we awaited his arrival.
As it turned out, we had nothing to be worried about. Steve has at times seemed as excited about making this record as we are. To explain the role he has played thus far is difficult, and also the part he plays in the creative process that we go through with every song, but in short he has what we have dubbed "ninja ears". He isn't changing our sound, or making us "un-Urusen", but bringing the best out of us, both in terms of the songs and their arrangements and instrumentation, and each of us as individuals as far as our roles in the band and in each song.
We don't want to give too much away, but the process has thus far yielded electric guitars, a cappella vocal sessions, plus some potential string quartet action! More importantly we're very excited with the way things are beginning to shape up, and we're relishing the fact that we have another full week before we start recording.
On the subject of next week, we're going to be doing a special showcase gig inside the rehearsal studio on Thursday night. The event details are on our facebook page, so let us know if you're local and fancy popping along for a sneak preview of what you might hear on the album!
That's it for now, the weekend promises a bit of relaxation, and so far the odd snowball fight with our neighbours, but we have some homework for Steve due in on Monday so not all rest! Keep in touch through all the usual channels, we're going to try and put some videos up soon so keep an eye out for them!
Urusen x
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