Well, today we are back at ‘No Machine’ in Wokingham with Neil (not our Neil, the Neil who owns No Machine is called Neil too) to record track two for our new EP ("With Something Amiss").
Brassneck are filled with excitement, and I am trying very hard to keep with their enthusiasm. I’m not feeling particularly brilliant, but we don’t get to the studio that often, so I’m going to ignore it and have fun! George was supposed to be coming over with me in the morning to take some photos of us looking rotten in headphones, so when I turn up on my own there are several choruses of ‘Where’s Lurch?’ ‘In bed still, where I should be’ is the, slightly obvious, reply! But no matter, I am up and here and we’re ready to get going.
Mark sets his drums up and starts getting his bit done. There is a slight look of confusion on Neil’s (not our Neil, the Neil who owns No Machine is called Neil too) face as Mark explains he wants no guide at all, just a click,. We reassure Neil (not our Neil, the guy who owns No Machine is called Neil too) that Mark knows the structures really well, and it won’t be a problem, then settle down to listen as Mark plays it too long, then too short, then just right (whilst dressed in a red hood and cloak). Done! In record time!
Now it’s Neil’s (yes, our Neil this time, Neil who plays the bass) turn. He nails (yes, I mean ‘nails’, not ‘neils’) it in two takes, and we are sitting there in slight shock, drowning in a sea of chocolate biscuits, chocolate cornflake cakes and many, many sausage rolls, trying to work out why this is going so smoothly and failing!
It’s now Sid’s turn, and he does a sterling job, just as George turns up with the camera. The problem is that the photographer can’t stay all day, and we are all sitting on the sofa eating chocolate biscuits. Not really the best photo opportunity! George takes a couple of shots, suggests we move from the sofa and go somewhere more interesting, gets no response other than munching, and buggers off! Sid finishes his bit, and then it’s my turn. I’m not looking forward to this. I can never play this in time. I’m feeling slightly sick and very dizzy, and this does not bode well for accurate pizzicato! Fortunately Neil (not our Neil, the guy who owns No Machine is called Neil too) doesn’t think this is a problem, gets me to play it once and then does lots of amazing jiggery pokery so that it sounds like I played it in time. Clever, clever Neil (not our Neil, the guy who owns No Machine is called Neil too, though that isn’t to say our Neil, isn’t mighty clever too)!!
Now it’s the turn of Ben and his guitar and his vocals, again, done in only a couple of takes! It’s only about 3pm, and we’re not far off done. Neil and I get our backing vocals sorted pretty quickly and it’s time to experiment with adding a bit of Synth, to truly cement the cheesy disco brilliance that is ‘Mess of Contradictions’. Sadly, in my slightly delicate state, there is something about the sound of the synth that makes me feel really unpleasant. I complain. Ben calls me a mardy cow. He’s excited by the word ‘mardy’, he looked it up in my dictionary yesterday and everything. It doesn’t help my outlook on life, so I hush up, and Neil (not our Neil, the guy who owns No Machine is called Neil too) turns it down a bit. It actually sounds pretty cool, in spite of my nausea! And we’re all done.
We settle up, book a date to record the final track of the EP in March I think, and head home. I curl up on the sofa to begin feeling sorry for myself with some determination. Today was good. There are some things I’m not hundred percent convinced about, but we’ll see how it sounds after a bit of a break. It’s hard to be objective when you’ve listened to something 100 times in 6 hrs!
Kat
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