Finally got my band up and running (epic studio content)

AEL89

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Jan 22, 2009
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Hey dudes,

After 3 years I've finally got everything going with my band!

Check us out on facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Empressband

There's a full studio diary coming in the next few weeks but for now we have a short teaser video up. We recorded at Sofa Sound and The Pool - both cool studios! Mixed at British Grove too!

I'd really appreciate it if you like our page!

Thanks!

Alex

 
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i'm glad you guys stuck it out for 3yrs, from my experience that's a good amount of time for a band.

I'd say a year of that was just finding our sound. It's really eye opening when you're in a band and you get really into it and then it all breaks apart. From my experience - even more so having worked as a producer/engineer - there are so many people in bands playing music they don't love. I was in a band and then we split up and formed Empress.

It really did take a lot of patience to stick it out with this band but we love our own music and now we're ready to show it to everyone. In a way it makes you more thick skinned. Anyway - end of ramble.

Thanks again for listening dude - please like our page and keep an eye out for new stuff being put up on Sunday!

We have a really long studio diary too with loads of cool shots of gear and all that fun stuff.
 
here is a whole track



If anyone knows why the quality of the image is shit - please let me know. I uploaded a TIFF file into final cut but it still ended up looking rubbish. Annoying!
 
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When's the album getting released? I'm really digging this song and want to hear some more. Any details you can offer up on the production?

Thanks for checking it out man! The album is a very long way away. We only recorded 3 tracks and we have 3 others.

I remember pretty much everything from the recording process...

Drums are all natural. D112 and FET 47 on kick into Neve 1064 into DBX 160s. 57 on top and bottom snare both going into 1064s then distressors. 421 on top of toms and something weird and old school on bottom being summed on the way in. They were going into Neve as well I think. U67s on OHs but can't remember the chain. One crush mic... a coles going into Neve into an 1176. Coles stereo room mics and an earthworks mic in the hallway. C451 on hats. Drumkit was a Tama Star Classic Bubinga. Paiste custom cymbals.

Drums and bass went down at the same time. Bass was my ESP Vintage 4 into my Orange Thunderverb into an Ampeg 4x10. Mic'd with a FET 47 into Neve into a retro Sta-level. Obviously took a DI too and blended both in the mix.

Both rhythms were recorded at the same time. 1976 Les Paul custom through a 5150III on the blue channel and an ESP Eclipse through some funny Marshall we found. 5150 went through a Mesa cab (sounds like a very Andy-Sneap-forum setup but... it wasn't really) and the marshall through an Simms-Watts loaded old school cab. Both mic'd with some LDC Gefell and a 57. 5150 went through telefunken mic amps into some EMI bus compressor and the Marshall went into Telefunken mic amps then a Fatso.

Can't remember much about cleans other than we used some weird old Wep amps. Acoustic guitar is a Gibson J-45 with a C451 on it and something really weird and old with a valve inside.

Vocals are SM7b into Shadow Hills mic amp into an 1176.

Mixed on an old API legacy. Not a single plugin. Used a real fairchild on the mix buss.

Mastered by Jens Bogren.

If I've missed something then please just ask.
 
Damn, that's awesome. Did you use much compression on mixdown (aside from the mix buss) since most everything was compressed during tracking? I really like the vibe going on in the song, it kind of reminds me of the last few Thrice albums but way more aggressive.
 
Damn, that's awesome. Did you use much compression on mixdown (aside from the mix buss) since most everything was compressed during tracking? I really like the vibe going on in the song, it kind of reminds me of the last few Thrice albums but way more aggressive.

Yeh - we used an old LA-2 just to smooth the vocals some more. We used distressors in parallel on the drums too - just a tiny bit blended in. We used some other weird compressors for some grit and vibe too. Lots of compression! We used some AMS boxes for reverb and delay on the vocals. We used EMT 140s for all the plate stuff. British Grove is a crazy studio. Mumford and Sons were recording their album whilst we were mixing too!

We like Thrice! A lot of people say my brother (singer and guitarist) sounds like Dustin too.
 
Here's the full documentary we did. Just kept it kind of chilled with some hippie vibes. Hope you like.

 
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