Recording: An Insight

We recorded our debut, 3-track EP when we were just 15. The EP was titled “Province”, which was taken from a Latin textbook found in one of our classrooms at school. We excitedly ventured to Room 4 Studio, in Easton, Bristol, where we recorded, mixed and mastered 3 tracks in just two days. Around seven months later, we went back to the same studio and recorded a two-track Single; the A-side being a bass driven track called “The King” (one of Sam’s finest moments in the band’s history).

However, the sound engineer somehow managed to distort Sam’s recording of the bass, so it had to be re-recorded on another day. This would’ve ordinarily been no problem, but Sam had since been grounded following some “completely unacceptable” behaviour on our end of GCSE trip to Newquay with the boys. Subsequently, the song written by Sam that revolved around the baseline, was recorded by Charlie. Sorry mate.

In the February of our gap year, we released a 5-track EP named “Shaded Glass”, with a new record label from Bath, named Rechouse Records. The lead track on this EP was “Dripping Away”, which took the longest time to record, with all 4 of us having a crack at the harmonies in the chorus; it’s not as easy as it looks.

Furthering this EP, in July we went on to to self-release our guitar-pop track “Kiss My Face”. One of our most poppy songs to date, undoubtedly the most fun to write and record. For this track we headed back up to Worcester to use the recording time we had been given by MAS Records. The sound engineer Woody, and the facilities of the studio were superb, which resulted in some really high-quality recordings (not to mention a few hysterical nights out in Worcester mid-week)

I think the one thing we’ve learned over the years about recording/releasing material, is that it simply cannot be rushed. It’s pretty much just common sense; if you spend 5 days on one song, its going to sound better than if you spend 1 day on it. Patience is important, which is something we’ve definitely learnt through experiencing it ourselves. On top of this, a large proportion of your success you receive will be down to the pre-release marketing you do. No matter how good your songs are, if it only gets listened to by your parents and your mates at school, you are never going to achieve a lot. Not to say, after around 4 years of being on soundcloud, our largely un-marketed debut EP has racked about almost 10,000 plays and around 500 downloads. Not bad lads, not bad.

Music Genie: Jasper Storey 

“20 year old Folk-Funk Singer/Songwriter from Bristol. Expect big things from this boy over the next few years”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdyysd5T5Rc – “Jasper Storey – Monday Morning”