Teacups - Piano

Ben came to record some piano and organ parts for a couple of songs on the Teacups EP. I forget how amazing the Hammond and Leslie can sound when someone who really knows how to play them is playing (and when I get the excuse of recording to turn the leslie up a bit). Getting that Hammond going is heaps of fun.  

Note to self; learn how to shred on piano.

Mimsy Cable; More Keys!

Recorded some more Keys with Mimsy the other day, we had a few more songs to finish off, used the Pianet a bit more and then added some Organ to a song. The Organ bass was quite important so as well as micing the rotating horn (in stereo) I put a mic on the bass rotor which you can see in the bottom photo. We also tracked some of the bass part seperately so I could treat it differently to the rest of the organ and I ended up just using that 1 mono mic.

Christmas Album - Artisan Guns

Apparently 17 songs just wasn't enough for a Christmas compilation and I agreed to record Artisan Guns Christmas song this Saturday (despite it all needing to be done before Tuesday) we'd planned to record it the other week but Jonathans hand ended up being put in a cast and a couple of members just couldn't make the recording.

Anyway its recorded now and is really great. We ended up using all of my guitars, Matt used my acoustic for the main part (and then doubled the end with his jumbo) then added a rhythm track on the Musicmaster, a dirty rhythm track on the Gretsch then played a part on the Tele, which Jonathan also used again later to double the Organ part.

Theres some really cool backing vocals in the end part where the "bay" and "bee" of "baby" are split in to two parts sung by reuben and matt. One sings the "bay" and holds that note while the other comes in with the bee over the top and they end together. So we recorded this part with them both infront of the mic together.

Alex added a few layers of toms, rims, tambourines and samples from his drum pad that don't make much sense on their own but together work really nicely off each other. We recorded the electronic drums with a delay plugin in time to the click so that they delay would be part of the drum performance, but also so I could adjust the delays various settings and sound later. The final section has a pretty big sounding drum kit in it, I've got 2 room mics up in the recording (and they're both fairly high in the mix) the ribbon which you can see in the photo and my Blue Kiwi set to omni in the corner behind where the photo was taken, just next to the door.

Finally Jonathan (who came straight from cricket) added some Organ which helped to tie the song together, for a couple of the parts we turned the leslie up to 8 so it was just starting to break up. Its probably one of the most satisfying sounds ever.

The album is coming out on the 6th of December as a very limited CD release in stores and online as a free download from www.littlemonsterstudio.co.nz

Artisan Guns - Crowded House Cover

This room mic on the Piano sounded great, its a shame its very quiet in the mix.

Had quite a long day recording Artisan Guns covering Crowded House song "Private Universe" for a Crowded House covers compilation album.

Reuben played a really cool muted pick bass part, for a slightly more even controlled mute over all the strings I stuffed a cloth under the strings at the bridge

lots of Drums were recorded, we started with a base of kick snare and floor tom and then Alex added Shaker, Tambourine, Woodblock, Cymbals, Hi Hat and a Tom pattern on top.

Later we doubled the Snare for a thick Phil Spector-esq multiple drummer sound.

I mixed the song late last night and today to get it sent away on time to be mastered. Phewph.

Christmas Album - Great North

Great North came over to record their Christmas song for the Album, we tracked Drums, Bass, Acoustic Guitar and Vocals live with a guide Keyboard track and then overdubbed Piano, Glockenspiels, Backing and Group Vocals, Percussion, Organ and Toy Piano.

I'm really pleased with how this song is sounding. Haydens coming back to record some trumpet in and Strahan (who was up north while we were recording) should be over soon to record his guitar.

Getting Frosty.

Last Thursday and Friday I had a visit from the lovely Ruby Frost who came by to track a couple of songs to maybe be released as singles.

One of the songs "Moonlight" revolved around an organ and by some sort of coincidence keyboard player Haddon was just around the corner in Glen Eden which seemed the perfect opportunity to record some Hammond. It was a joy to hear as good a musician as Haddon put it through its paces.



By the time we discovered that Haddon was just around the corner I'd started to program in the organ and even with my plug in emulation it sounded great, but it turns out you can't beat the real thing. I love the whir of a nice Leslie.


I used 2 x Beta57a's to pick up the horns in stereo and then a blue baby bottle a bit back from the lower portion of the cabinet to pick up the body of the organ, I ended up not using the condenser as I got enough low end from the Beta57's.

Another thing I could probably program in but just isn't the same is Bells. Very important. It turns out Ruby is an incredible bell player. She takes this very seriously.


We recorded some acoustic guitar and I played some electric and bass but the rest was all programmed in with my various synths in protools (except for vocals obviously). All in all a very productive 2 days. I'm just giving the tracks a mix now. FUN!

HAMMOND. LESLIE. GOOD TIMES.

This is probably my most exciting/excited blog post ever.

I am now in possession of a beautiful old Hammond E262 (one of the wood options on the E100) Tone Wheel organ, pretty much a B3/C3 but with lot less features and a bigger heavier cabinet. This was designed to be the home model with its built in speakers and they were made between 1964 and 1969.

Also it has a lovely Leslie (model 145) with it. I turned it on yesterday and it was the most joyous thing I have ever heard. This is something I have dreamed of owning for years. I never thought it would happen and am incredibly grateful to Mark, Roxie and the Haines family.