Last year I helped Jackson Simpson produce his 5-track EP, …and the flying machine. The production had a classic rock mentality, recorded sans click track and very little digital effects plugins (aside from compression and EQ).
The recording sessions began with the 3 members of the band playing live on the floor, with the guitarist/singer and the bass player in one room, while the drummer played in an isolated booth. This was so we could get a solid drum take. Then, we recorded guitar, bass and vocal separately.
For reference, we used Paul McCartney’s Ram album, and modernised it with some Mac Demarco tracks. We chose the Mac Demarco songs that were recorded relatively clean, with more acoustic guitars and less of the saturated sounds that he’s known for.
For these tracks I aimed to give them more low-fidelity than the old Paul McCartney tracks. The bass is quite present across the board and the kick drum cuts through the mix quite nicely. I also needed to offset a lot of the bright tones that were coming from the guitar. A few of the songs were played on a mini-Maton guitar with a high capo so the tone had a lot of sparkle. You can hear this mostly in “Build Another Highway”.
The kick drum was recorded a bit poorly on my behalf, so a lot of time was spent trying the bring out the click and hide some of the wooliness. Lawrence Churches’s drumming was very dynamic so I occasionally replaced very aggressive kicks with some of the slightly smaller ones by cutting and pasting them in.
I had an interesting discussion with a friend lately, who claimed that doubling a kick can sometimes be better than over-processing it when you’re far from the sound you desire. Of course, you’re always going to try and get a good sound in production but too much compression and EQ can often make the kick sound less authentic than doubled samples - which are usually made from real recorded samples. Jackson wouldn’t have allowed that on this EP though - he was very firm that he didn’t want any artificial post-processing. I recorded the kick quite poorly and my punishment for that was hours of editing.
Thomas Newman’s bass playing tends to have a lot of gritty tones, which really worked in some tracks but in the more low-tempo tracks I worked to iron out some of the edge in the bass with EQ and tasteful compression. I found a bass amp simulator was also helpful for this. Going back now, I would try and experiment with re-amping the bass, but regardless I am pretty happy with how it sounds. I was taught that the standard is recording the bass clean so it has more clarity but different situations have varying requirements.
Last year I also helped Jackson program a short livestream video, where he performed some songs around a narrative. Jackson and his band performed for an online audience and an enigmatic narrator. The video is amazing to watch - it has changing shots, sound effects, and some brilliant prop work.
The video is pretty indicative of their live performance style - they often play in their pyjamas with the help of the mysterious omnipotent narrator. Since they don’t perform too often, each of their shows are different and special. The EP launch was firmly in the same vein.
After the release of the EP and I got to properly listen to the masters by Zarven Kara, I was pretty pleased with the outcome. When comparing these tracks to similar commercial releases it fits in well, despite having a very unique character. The songs themselves, and the instrumentation and performances don’t sound very commercial at all but they’re worth listening to - much like the Tiff Norchick recordings I did last year.
I contacted Zarven Kara asking him if he had any comments on the production of the EP, since this was the first time I had recorded an EP in this style. His only comments were regarding the vocal sound - that perhaps we could have used a microphone that emphasised the strength in Jackson’s voice. He also suggested that I could have used some very subtle delay in parts. Personally, I think that I overdid the de-esser in parts. It isn’t too noticeable unless you’re listening for it, but in the future I’ll always try to save the de-esser for emergencies.
Check out the EP here:
https://jacksonsimpsonandhisband.bandcamp.com/releases
And this is Jackson’s livestream. It very effectively shows their performance style and it’s worth the watch:
Credits:
Producer: Jackson Simpson
Recording engineer: Tim Chivers
Mix engineer: Tim Chivers
Mastering engineer: Zarven Kara
Vocals: Jackson Simpson
Guitar: Jackson Simpson
Bass: Thomas Newman
Drums: Lawrence Churches
Violin: Oliver Toombs
Special thanks: Ian Parsons, uTas Conservatorium of Music, and Amateur Professional Studios.
More links:
Jackson Simpson and his band:
https://www.facebook.com/Jackson-Simpson-and-his-band-311340182610115/
Reel to Reel Studios (Mastering):
https://www.facebook.com/reeltoreelstudiostasmania/
Amateur Professional Studios:
https://www.facebook.com/amateurprofessionalstudios/
Mt Hungry (News and Reviews):
https://www.facebook.com/Mt-Hungry-Music-News-Reviews-1872592982767226/
My music pages:
https://www.facebook.com/TimChiversMusic/
https://www.facebook.com/nicepieband/