Treasures are sometimes hard to find, hiding at a place you wouldn’t expect. This song is just like that. Transparant is the third and last song from Mensergerjeniet and to be honest I didn’t ever get really enthusiast about it after the recordings.
But I had to change my opinion. A lot. When I started processing the recordings earlier this month (about 30 audiotracks and 20 effecttracks), they proved to generate a very open and clearly song.
The clearly rimclicks by Paul in combination with the sound of a woodblock, Bart’s lovely muted trumpet solo, the step back taken by the complete band when Dirk plays his solo on guitar, Paul who’s creating his own moment during a break at the end of the song: transparant truly is a treasure!
The Audio Engineer course at SAE is almost finished. Time to hand in the final project. My first attempt was too ambitious, but fortunately I could learn from my mistakes and was allowed to work at a project that earlier visitors probably recognize.
Stop the press! Grab a rubber, tipex, or just old-skool strike it out, but we definitely need to correct history. It was not 4 kleine woordjes that Mensergerjeniet and I wanted to record in the first place in March 2009, but de maat is vol. 4 kleine woordjes was one of the two songs that were recorded in no-time. Nice.
So, de maat is vol it is. For everyone that wondered since July 11th (the date of the previous post) where the other two songs were: here it is. Mensergerjeniet song number two. This time with keys.
Click the mp3 box below to listen. Just below that you can leave your comments!
Mensergerjeniet is a swinging Dutch ska & reggae band. Inspired by “Doe Maar“, a popular Dutch band from his youth, Roy (singer, guitarplayer & writer) started searching for musicians with the same ideas of making music.
We come in contact October 2008. The band already recorded two songs in a studio before but it did not lead to much – the result was never made available to the public. Despite that, they would like to give another studiosession a try.
Mensergerjen!et
Finally we are in a studio on an early morning in March 2009 to record drums and bass of their song 4 kleine woordjes. After the setup, tuning and adjusting drums and microphones (thanks Marco de Jongh for your help!), which takes a lot of time, we have a successful recording after a few takes. While you might come off very well with a little error in a live situation, the studio is very honest and relentless.
Sure enough, we have 45 minutes left before the studio closes, and suddenly the band can’t be stopped. Is it Dirk, the solo guitarplayer, who comes by to socialize and plays along with his trousers up to the ankles? Two more songs are being recorded in no time. At the end of day one, we have the foundation of three instead of one song!
But there’s still a lot of work to be done: two guitarplayers, keyboard, saxophone, trumpet, trombone and three vocalists: every single one of them comes to the studio to record their piece. Despite my fiery wish there’s is no more time to record percussion.
I started mixing the first of the three songs this month. 4 kleine woordjes (4 little words – you might be surprised once you know which) comes out very well. It’s hard not to move your feet while listening!
Check their website if you care for a swinging and cheerful concert with catching ska! We might meet each other. Don’t be surprised about Dirk’s trousers
Click on the mp3 box below to listen to 4 kleine woordjes.
‘Acoustic slow rock’. That’s how aran describes his own music. It’s definitely acoustic & slow. If it’s rock you have to see by yourself.
We meet in January 2009 during my work as an audio engineer at popei, when he is the support act at a concert, armed with only his acoustic guitar.
MS stereo
Aran visits me in the SSL studio in Rotterdam one month later. On a friday afternoon, we record 5 songs. It takes some time to find the his most pleasent way of recording, and to find the most suitable microphones and their placement for this job, but once that’s been sorted out, we’re on a roll.
In the studio of Theo Vogelaars (ex Tröckener Kecks), aran already recorded an EP. My goal is to create a warmer, opener and more honest sound. Using an MS stereo microphone technique certainly helped. You can listen to the songs by clicking on the mp3 boxes below.
May I have your attention please? Attention for detail that is…
Chasing Tales
October or november 2008. Once again I am visiting a band while they’re rehearsing. Chasing Tales would love to record a demo and their earlier work was nice enough to visit them.
They play two songs for me that evening. I choose Melody because of it’s composition. The song has a nice combined action of the guitars and a surprisingly end. Thomas, the drummer, plays along well with the metronome, even after I remove his sight to it so he can only hear it. It’s a little test. In the studio he can’t see the metronome as well.
De telegraaf 19 november 2008
When we record their Melody on three Sundays by the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009, the 4 gentleman of Chasing Tales definitely give attention to detail. They are not easily satisfied: they had to play perfectly in the various studio’s at SAE in Rotterdam, where Maarten Reinen was so kind to assist and donate studiotime.
During february and march I mix the song using Apple’s Logic. One final meeting at SAE follows for the finishing touch.
The attention to details pays off, if you ask me. But don’t hesitate to click on the mp3-box below and judge for yourself.
One of the final assignments at SAE’s course to audio engineer is a postproduction one. One needs to create a soundtrack with music and effects, among others, to go along with an existing movie without any sound. I’ve worked on a edited version of Lifted by Pixar. Fred Westra was kind enough to compose beautiful music for this movie.
The soundtrack is mixed in Dolby surround 5.1 using Protools HD. Several sounds are self-recorded, while some of them were found on the internet. I estimate that I have worked 40 hours on this. So don’t blink your eyes, ’cause before you know it you miss one hour of fine labour
Some things take time. A lot of time. This is one of those things. Blokade again visited the studio in october 2008, to record a plugged version of their song Wil je weten wie ik ben? We recorded an unplugged version of this song two months earlier. This time me and Rogier Mook plugged every piece of gear we could find in the mixing desk. The hell with unplugged; rock and roll!
Blokade live in de melkweg
Vele uren zijn er gestoken in het mixen van het nummer, maar het was steeds niet zoals het moest zijn. Uiteindelijk zijn alle probeersels via de prullenbak naar de eeuwige jachtvelden verdwenen om opnieuw en met een frisse blik aan de mix te beginnen. Met resultaat. Of zoals de band schrijft: “Top! Dit klinkt echt super. Alles duidelijk onscheidbaar [sic], Blokade sound erin, heerlijk.”
After many, many hours of mixing, I still wasn’t happy with the results. Finally it was decided to throw everything away and start all over again using only the original recording. That worked. Blokade wrote: “Great! This sounds superb. Clearly distinction, Blokade’s sound, lovely.”
Wil je weten wie ik ben? (translation: Do you wanna know who I am?) is driven by the hihat and floortom. During the break the floortom and the bass are working as one. Great guitars and a rough voice make Blokade complete. It still is a song about doubts, playing a waiting game, disappointments in people, and the struggle between your own safe space and a relationship.
The hell with unplugged. Rock & roll!
Het zou zomaar kunnen dat je Blokade dit jaar op een festival bij je in de buurt treft. In 2008 schopten ze het tot in de finale van Emergenza; de jury van BeachBattle omschreef de overwegend Rotterdamse rockers als “een band die op geen enkel festival zou misstaan” en in april 2009 gaan ze weer de studio in. Tot het zover is moeten jullie het even doen met de nummers op hun website. Deze nieuwe versie van Wil je weten wie ik ben? kun je hier ook beluisteren door op de mp3-box hieronder te klikken. Reacties, positief of negatief, worden zeer op prijs gesteld.
You might run across Blokade on a festival this year. In 2008 they made it to the final of Emergenza; the jury of BeachBattle described them as “a band that would fit any festival” and once again they will enter the studio in april 2009. Until that time you can enjoy yourself with the songs on their website. This new version of Wil je weten wie ik ben? can also be found on this website. Just click the mp3box below. Comments (positive or negative) are more then welcome!
Time for the next project. A few months ago I got in contact with Blokade. Five friends who rather rock then be subtle. No sweet lovesongs in 4/4 (or even worse: 3/4) time signature, but hard and rough and lyrics with a painly undertone.
When I suggest to them, after visiting a live concert, to record a song acousticly they first look dismayed. Acousticly? Subtle? Unplugged? It takes a while before I see that enthousiasm that I am looking for in a band.
Unplugged it is. We book the SSL studio in Rotterdam on august 20th. Unfortunatly Lorq, the drummer, and his cajón can’t make it. But when the only member of the band that can keep a beat can’t make it, these guys go nuts. The clicktrack is kindly being told to shut up after two bars, and off they go.
When take 8 has been recorded, most of us are satisfied. Pause. Time for nicotine and cafeine. And time for that beer that had to go earlier that evening, while entering the school building.
Blokade in Concert
Pause. Only Horvat (vocals) and Rubinho (guitar) wait a while and are jamming along. Fortunately that is also being recorded because Horvat now sings more relaxed and a bit lower. A bit to low for his voice, but still more appropiate for an unplugged version.
In the days that follow, I start mixing the recording, and the vocals are really giving me a hard time. I want to take the vocals of take 9 and merge them with the instruments of take 8, but without a clicktrack and thus with a very variable tempo, it’s very hard to do so. I try several digital programs and methods, but each time I find myself throwing away the result. Finally, I succeed in Logic to match the tempo in a way you don’t clearly hear that the voice is digitally manipulated.
An appointment to return to the studio is being made that same evening. We will then record a plugged version, and whether they like it or not, use a clicktrack For now Blokade can add a unplugged demo to their list, and you can click below for the result!
Wil je weten wie ik ben? is a song about doubts, playing a waiting game, disappointments in people, and the struggle between your own safe space and a relationship. That’s were the resemblance with a certain person ends. That is also were the lyrics ends by the way…
In search for bands and artists in order to record something together in the studio (fun and educational for them as well as for me) I received an email on august 7th from Dennis van Eckeveld. He and his friend, Bettina Witteveen write songs together, and after a little conversation by email I receive a rough homerecording of a song. Definitely worth it to make a professional recording of.
Bettina @ SAE studio
Together they wrote a few more songs, and on august 19th we meet in SAE’s SSL studio in Rotterdam to record the song Caught. After three hours we recorded enough for me to mix in Logic.
I finished mixing ten days later, with a very nice result! 2 little errors in Dennis’ guitarplay, the perhaps a bit unsteady singing of Bettina in the beginning (no need to Bettina: you have a beautiful voice!) and a de-esser that I might have adjusted a bit better, but it’s hardly worth mentioning it.
Minor detail: the light in the vocalbooth was broken, and a spare lightbulb was nowhere to be found. Bettina did her job in shimmer, barely able to read the lyrics
:cool:
Afterall, it was a nice evening with two nice persons that are to modest of their music. I hope we’ll meet again in a studio!
The mix contains 4 tracks of 2 guitartakes (a AKG-414 and a Sennheiser MD421), and 5 tracks of 3 vocaltakes (AKG-414), combined with a few effects. You can listen to it by clicking on the mp3 box below.
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