Ah the joys of recording an album.

If it seems like there's a flurry of activity on the site at present, well, you'd be right. Our last gig for 2011 was Christmas Eve and our first gig of 2012 is at the Exchange in Newcastle on the 15th of January, so we' will have had almost 4 weeks off, but from that point forward its All Hired Guns Blazing.

Ye gods. We have Newcastle, followed by 11 days in Tamworth, then back to Sydney, then we're hoping to start the recording in early February, plus gigs, plus the Yackandandah festival coming up in march, yikes!

Between songwriting, tour planning and album organising, its hectic. "Aha!" You say, "but you still have time to blog!" and you're right, but doing so gives me a chance to seek location suggestions! (that means you, Dear Reader)

Right. Lets see. So the plan for SC5 (Hired Guns and Borrowed Glory) is to find another location that we can stay and play at for a week.

Following on from the excellent results on Carl's Chair, we want to use some of the same principles -  live recording to multi-track digital, on location (soak up vibe) , but this time inside a building

in a room or place big enough for us to see each other.

 We were unbelievably lucky last time weather-wise, location wise, and for that matter, Love Wise. The good vibes and good hearts of all the folks that helped us to get that album done echo in the recordings (awww).

This time round, we have gotten the love in bucketfuls from GC, PD, MC, RO'N with advice guidance and gear, and  BV has volunteered to come along as Guitar Technician. Guitar Tech??? When do I get a Harmonica Tech??

Ok, so the Feeling The Love Tank is on full. Niiice. So what about locations?

Some of my favourite of the Spacejunk tracks were recorded at Mangrove Mountain Community Hall

(see here for pics and vids from the recording) and we loved the sound of the Air you can hear in the Mangrove Mountain versions of the songs.

On Carl's Chair, the Porch where Theo was playing gave us a terrific drum sound on Hollow Tree and Rest My Bones.

Ok, so why is this relevant to location?

In a multitrack environment, as long as you can control the spill (sounds leaking into open mikes from other instruments) you have greater control over the sound treatment in post production, and if you directly take a line from each instrument, you get a nice, clean signal with no spill.

Our methodology so far has been to mike the drums, run the bass via DI (direct input to desk/recorder), Harmonica via DI, Vocals via mike (replaceable in studio if anything goes wrong or spill is too bad) and then to run both an external mike for guitar amps as well as a DI.

This effectively means that almost all of the instruments can be captured as a single, clean signal, as well as a 'room' or 'amp' sound, coming from the microphones set in front of the guitar/bass amps. This allows you to create a sound either from the clean signal, the room sound or any mix of the above. You can get truly Pink Floydian with it if so inclined.

Now the only thing that doesn't get the optional replacement/control options is....The Drum kit.

Yep, that sucker has to be recorded in via a Mike (unless some clever engineer reading this wants to set me straight on the matter) and therefore, no matter what you do, the Drum sound wil always be coloured by the environment in which its captured. So to some degree, the sound of the drum kit sets the sound of the album. I think.

Anyway that's my logic and I am sticking to it until better informed. 

Ahem.

Therefore,  Drum Sound as affected by Location is a factor in our planning. 

Next on the list is how do you record? Instrument by instrument, like we did on Whiskey Talkin', Nuevo Retro and the studio tracks on Spacejunk?

Or all together like we did for Carl's Chair and the Mangrove Mountain sessions of spacejunk

 The benefit of instrument by instrument, is control over the sound.

The benefit of all together is (potentially) the certain something you only ever seem to get when songs are played live.  To paraphrase New Scientist, humans are better able to synchronise their timing with each other when they are able to see non verbal cues. 

As GC (Recording Engineer of Carl's Chair and Official Band Patron) says 'you guys are a live band'.

Ok, so that settles it, we go live. But now, in studio or on location, and why?

We have been fortunate to visit some very nice studios while we have been looking into this, and some of them have the capacity for live playing with sufficient separation for multi track.

There are some pretty significant PRO's and few CON's, cost featuring amongst them.

So if you can get a studio with control, live playing space and a good sound, why go on location to record?

Good dang question. In the case of Carl's Chair, one of our objectives was to capture the ambient sound as part of the feel of the album, and having listened to far-off birds tweeting in the 'silent' bits of the tracks (try it with headphones), the sound of the rain during Rest My Bones (awesome), we achieved the objective.

Hired Guns & Borrowed Glory isn't necessarily about the ambient sound of the environment, this one's more to do with the performance.

My current thinking is that putting all the guys together on location does wonders to sharpen focus and putting them in a Nice location lifts their spirits. It's either Neuroscience or Tree Hugging, your pick.

During Carl's Chair, for example, we actually recorded songs that were finished while we were on location, and I can say for a certainty that songs like 'The Way That She Smiles' would never have occurred anywhere else.

This leads to the conclusion that we're looking for:

1. Large room

2. Limited reflective surfaces (drum sound issue)

3. Nice environment (head space issue)

4. Location where the five of us, engineer, roadie and guitar tech (guitar tech??) can sleep.

My first thoughts have been to try somewhere down the South Coast of  New South Wales, no more than a 5 hour drive from Sydney.

Due to work/life calendar restrictions, we can only go for 5 days, Monday to Friday, although we can do the setup and pack down on the day before and day after.

Now, Dear Reader, this is the part where you can come in. If you have any suggestions on Studios, Holiday Houses, Public Halls, Barns, Sheds, Lighthouses or whatever comes to mind, and it happens to be somewhere down the South Coast, send us your suggestion, we could use the help. Leave a comment or email us!

Meanwhile, I'll be back on the interwebs scouring for prospects. The best part about this is  that we're scheduled to go a week or so after Tamworth, so we have to get this organised now. Wish us luck!