Decoding 1/4 inch signals from Spacejunk sessions with DDJ, just one of the adventures of the previous week. Read on for more! (Long article, vids, suitable for work, yadda yadda).
We had a big weekend of gigging, recording and photo shooting stuff. All part and parcel of what ya gotta do in order to be able to afford to record your next album. Lol.
Anyway, in rough, potentially chronological order, with little regard for the truth, here's the highlights of our last week of action!
Ahem.
Space Oddity
So, DDJ rolled out the 1/4 inch machine for us to judge the recordings from goose (Mission SC3-EP1-TLF, refer previous article).
To recap, we tried the same set from the previous recording attempt at Mangrove Mountain at Goose Studios (renamed the TLF module for the session, in honor of the Lonely Few's groundbreaking spacejunk recordings). We gave it a couple of days and went back to listen to the material.
IMHO, we need to do another session to get Come Back Baby down properly, and do another two tracks.
Dirty Work and Swamp Monster came out nicely, but I didnt like the version of sweet misery as much. Anyway. So this day was a quick listen and marvel at yet more DDJ spacejunk.
What on earth is this thing?
The next stage for our spacejunk project is mastering this wednesday and then...onto glory!! or Leichhardt. One of the two.
Right, so what happend next?
Vocal sessions for SC2
Front Room Studios are back in action, after a trip to the service centre and new monitor speakers.
Of course, with the return of the gear from service, Jim has shifted its position, leading to some peculiar choices for Mike Placement and control of spill.
Yep. You guessed it. I'm behind some boxes again.
Tried the vocals for a couple of tracks, including last drinks at glenrowan and um...err...other stuff.
Right. Damn its hot in there.
So, next was...??
Scuppered By Criminals & Bankers?
We had two gigs cancel in this period - one due to Economic Downturn Issues, the other because it appears that the Sydney Underworld from 1970 has booked the venue! The hotel was booked to film a few sessions of Underbelly and well, the posters, entertainment and the whole lot had to go. Yikes. However, our third and fourth gigs of the week were still on!
UWS Kingswood Campus Gig
All right. Here's my proof! Tangled Leads! I made mention of last weeks gig in Parramatta Mall to our PA supplier and the fact that I had to untangle a bunch of knotted cable. Our PA supplier are great guys and lovely and do all the right things. they were mortified to think they had supplied knotted cables. Mortified to the point of disbelief.
NOW do you belive me? and this one was OK, just spooled funny. Last week it was as if some Evil pretzel maker had packed the cabling. I stood under the hot sun un-knotting cables and muttering Popeye-like invocations of doom upon the Cursed Previous Cable Roller! ARR!!!!
UWS turns on a good lunchtime gig - between the Coca Cola Girls, the Ipod Promo, a free sausage sizzle and live music...yikes.
The boys took their turns getting photos with the hot coca cola girls, sipping half cans of Coke Zero (product placement anybody?) and easting sausages sans-bread (they ran out).
Its a hard life.
Ok, so next was Rhythm Section Day
Mal jamming whilst Mark is tuning up the drum kit.
This would have been about the fourth rhythm section day, and I think we have one more to go.
Todays sessions included a few tweaks to previous tracks (ie: fixes to stuff ups) and the first studio version of Last Drinks At Glenrowan.
Stopped playing the riff just as I started video'ing it. ARGH!!!
Of course, as per any standard Stormcellar session at Front Room, we break for tea:
Mal as short order cook?
Make that Tall Order Cook
Jim decided that the boys were not allowed lunch until they finished at least one take.
And so they set to work:
Mark strikes the Tiger-About-To-Hug-You Kung Fu Pose
Whilst the boys were doing this, I snuck out the back and had my sandwich. Hey, I did the shopping.
No reason to put this image up here and the qualitys crap, but when are you going to get a pose like that from Mal, huh?
So then it was time to pack it up for the...
Lansdowne Hotel Gig
Short, sweet, good vibe. Hi Terry! A short set, as Mrose puts it, all killer, no filler. Which was fine because the next day we had...
To recap, we tried the same set from the previous recording attempt at Mangrove Mountain at Goose Studios (renamed the TLF module for the session, in honor of the Lonely Few's groundbreaking spacejunk recordings). We gave it a couple of days and went back to listen to the material.
IMHO, we need to do another session to get Come Back Baby down properly, and do another two tracks.
Dirty Work and Swamp Monster came out nicely, but I didnt like the version of sweet misery as much. Anyway. So this day was a quick listen and marvel at yet more DDJ spacejunk.
What on earth is this thing?
The next stage for our spacejunk project is mastering this wednesday and then...onto glory!! or Leichhardt. One of the two.
Right, so what happend next?
Vocal sessions for SC2
Front Room Studios are back in action, after a trip to the service centre and new monitor speakers.
Of course, with the return of the gear from service, Jim has shifted its position, leading to some peculiar choices for Mike Placement and control of spill.
Yep. You guessed it. I'm behind some boxes again.
Tried the vocals for a couple of tracks, including last drinks at glenrowan and um...err...other stuff.
Right. Damn its hot in there.
So, next was...??
Scuppered By Criminals & Bankers?
We had two gigs cancel in this period - one due to Economic Downturn Issues, the other because it appears that the Sydney Underworld from 1970 has booked the venue! The hotel was booked to film a few sessions of Underbelly and well, the posters, entertainment and the whole lot had to go. Yikes. However, our third and fourth gigs of the week were still on!
UWS Kingswood Campus Gig
All right. Here's my proof! Tangled Leads! I made mention of last weeks gig in Parramatta Mall to our PA supplier and the fact that I had to untangle a bunch of knotted cable. Our PA supplier are great guys and lovely and do all the right things. they were mortified to think they had supplied knotted cables. Mortified to the point of disbelief.
NOW do you belive me? and this one was OK, just spooled funny. Last week it was as if some Evil pretzel maker had packed the cabling. I stood under the hot sun un-knotting cables and muttering Popeye-like invocations of doom upon the Cursed Previous Cable Roller! ARR!!!!
UWS turns on a good lunchtime gig - between the Coca Cola Girls, the Ipod Promo, a free sausage sizzle and live music...yikes.
The boys took their turns getting photos with the hot coca cola girls, sipping half cans of Coke Zero (product placement anybody?) and easting sausages sans-bread (they ran out).
Its a hard life.
Ok, so next was Rhythm Section Day
Mal jamming whilst Mark is tuning up the drum kit.
This would have been about the fourth rhythm section day, and I think we have one more to go.
Todays sessions included a few tweaks to previous tracks (ie: fixes to stuff ups) and the first studio version of Last Drinks At Glenrowan.
Stopped playing the riff just as I started video'ing it. ARGH!!!
Of course, as per any standard Stormcellar session at Front Room, we break for tea:
Mal as short order cook?
Make that Tall Order Cook
Jim decided that the boys were not allowed lunch until they finished at least one take.
And so they set to work:
Mark strikes the Tiger-About-To-Hug-You Kung Fu Pose
Whilst the boys were doing this, I snuck out the back and had my sandwich. Hey, I did the shopping.
No reason to put this image up here and the qualitys crap, but when are you going to get a pose like that from Mal, huh?
So then it was time to pack it up for the...
Lansdowne Hotel Gig
Short, sweet, good vibe. Hi Terry! A short set, as Mrose puts it, all killer, no filler. Which was fine because the next day we had...
Band Photo #2
We had another recording session scheduled for the afternoon, so Paul had organised a photo shoot for a promo photo just for giggles. We headed for the swamp.
I've got footage of Elvis dancing as we drove, but unfortunately Mal is telling me a story about Bikers in Queensland with expletive laden quotations...
So for the photo, Paul has the idea of using the Newington Swamp (Sydney Olympic Park). He's done some location scouting, so we head for the right spots.
Nope, its not a Midden from The Lord of The Rings, it's...it's...some sort of man made hill at the park.
Trying to find parking within quick access of the most photogenic areas proved somewhat problematical, thus we were in for a long walk.
Mrose walking the line.
And finally we reached one of the spots
Pointless industrial looking photo.
I'm waiting for the film to be developed (truly) and may post the results up here. Big thanks to Elize for leaving the company of Hannibal Lecter to come take some happy snaps for us.
Our final act for the week was another quick recording session and then to collapse on Sunday evening.
This week we're recording, mastering spacejunk, playing in Oatley and heaven knows what else.
More soon!
MJEB