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..