Recording Studio!

On Wednesday I went to a recording studio, located in a small industrial park in the middle uxbridge, an unlikely home for a music studio. Once we had entered the music studio, our band claimed our practice room - with the loveliest full length mirrors and we set up and began practice. The agenda for the day was to record 2 songs as a band and hope that they sounded top notch! After waiting around for the other band to record their 2 songs, after hours of practice and exploration it was time for Soho Train to hit the recording booth. Our first song was Tighten Up by the Black Keys. For this song, we had a standard setup - guitar, bass, drums and vocals. We started the track by running through it a few times, then when the technician was set on the levels, we ran through it again and kept the drums and guitar. I then laid down the bass to the song and lastly Charlee and Harriet went through and did the vocals and harmonies. I thought that they sounded spiffing, but then thats just me being biased as its my own band... With a small bit of editing, we moved onto our next song - Bad Blood by Bastille (who, as it turns out, this producer man also produced the real Bastille!) For this song, we had the same set up, but this time I played bass on the temp track. I then laid down the guitar after. I was not expecting the producer to put as much distortion on the track as he did, but I can honestly say that it sounded so much better! For this song we had a to do a few vocal retakes and then we added in some cheeky clapping at the end to fill out the song.
Overall the day went really well and we had a great time and really bonded as a band! We also gained so much new experience from the trip and got some new contacts in the music industry!

Gig Review

On Thursday February 14th, we did our first gig. I think that as a first gig as a complete band, everything went very well. After watching the gig back •here• other than a few sound issues, I feel the gig ran smoothly and we didn't encounter any issues or faults. I do however think that in our next gig we need to loosen up as we looked a bit stiff in this gig - however, I am putting that down to nerves. I think that after a few more practice sessions and maybe even small gigs we will being to evolve as a band and everything will become much more natural for us.

What Comes Next?

Now that we have done our fist gig, we have a number of ideas brewing in our creative little minds.
We have been asked to preform alongside the other group, however they are taking their time arranging things - so we have put our speedy thinking caps on and have a few ideas up our sleeve. Firstly, we are going to do some live gigs that are streamed across the internet - giving us the time to practice our set and see what people think about us. It will also allow for us a band to bond and get to know each others playing styles more intimately as we wont need to be showing off to anyone in the audience.
We are also thinking of places that we can hold our own gigs. We want to hold another gig in a spontaneous place around the school like our last gig, but we just need to think that idea through a bit more and think of a 'safe and suitable' place - that doesn't serve alcohol of course..

With our gig coming up rather soon, we needed to get a list together of what equipment we would be needing for it and each song... 

Practice Sessions 04.02.13-08.02.13

This week, we really nailed down and got going on our setlist for our 'valentines gig'. We had settled on a final 7 song set list:

I Knew You Were Trouble - Taylor Swift
Bleeding Out - Imagine Dragons
They Don't Know About Us - One Direction
Love is Easy - Mclfy
What Would You Do - Bastille
Thrift Shop - Macklemore
Don't You Worry Child - Swedish House Mafia

We worked as a group on every single song and managed to fit in a practice run of the gig.
In some of the songs, I am going to attempt to sing in them. I have never sung before at any concert and I am very very nervous about this. I sing rather low parts in the song and hope that they are in tune.

Week 2

This is our second week together as a band! Unfortunately this week we did not have too much time to fit in any practice! This was due to a small amount of admin that needed to be completed. First off, we needed a name. After a long, thought provoking process, we came up with the name 'Soho Trains'. Honestly, there is no reason behind this, we just thought it sounded 'new' and 'hip'.
  We started to think about gigs and set lists. We have decided that we will play two warm up gigs within the coming months. The first gig would be played in the winter gardens at school on Wednesday 30th January, and the second on none other than valentines day! (February 14th for people who are unsure of the date...)
The set lists for the gigs are as follows:

These could change as the weeks go on, but these will be the kinds of songs that we aim to play!

Introduction!

For this music unit, we were set the task to create an ensemble band and eventually host our own gig.
My band consists of myself, Reece Garside, Harriet Newman and Charlee Frost - and our roles are as follows:
• Reece - Guitar (any other string instruments) Harmonica
• Harriet - Vocals Guitar Drums
• Charlee - Vocals

The style of songs that we plan to play are going to be 'Top 40' songs. However, if we all agree, we will throw in the odd alternative song. The reason we have chosen Top 40 songs is that it will allow us to create a set list that has versatility. We should get a mixture of fast, upbeat, happy songs, and slow, sad, depressing songs. Something which every good set list needs.

The first 3 songs that we have decided to tackle are going to be: Mcfly - Love is Easy, One Direction - Kiss You, Bruno Mars - Locked Out of Heaven.

This is our first ever practice session. I think that for a first session we sounded very good. There were a few minor mistakes on the guitar, and I think that I could make it a little more funkier, but that will come naturally when I start playing with the drums. The vocals sounded good to me, just the small issue of knowing the words, but I cannot blame my wonderful singers as it was the first time they had gone through it.