Studio Session Feat King Selewa
It's been quite a while now that we wanted to record a ska song the way it used to be done back in the days, something that would sound definitely more old school and roots than what we've been doing so far, what would be Freygolo tribute to the rocksteady and 60s' ska songs that we' ve always liked to a certain extent. We labelled this project under the "cool things to do" but postponed it just because we are lazy people... until lately. Cheered up by King Selewa as the producer we gave it a try... here's what happened:
Here we are on Saturday morning, we have an appointment at the crack of dawn with Alex, sound engineer at the "Palmito studio". The "Palmito" ( sort of French slang to say palm tree) is kinda like the Mecca for local roots/reggae fans, kinda like riddim's waiting room, this studio seems like it's been made for ghost notes and offbeats... There are rainsticks, donkey skulls and djembes all over the place.... SCARY!
We meet our host, unload the gear, then the King (Selewa not Elvis) arrives... Now, we can start to work!
Alex sets up the mics, the amps, and the drums... this dude knows his job, and an hour later punk-rock is out, Kingston's (almost) in.
Then, the King briefs us about the recording process. We're gonna record the bass/drums/guitar live ( simultaneously)... But first and foremost we're NOT gonna record with a metronome, we can afford some off-timings !
Ten takes later the rythm part is done.
The horns are next, with the similar kind of recording process, that is trumpet and trombone recorded in the same time, to keep that live spirit.
We end up with the voices and some arrangements. There are off-timings, but it sounds alive, and it sounds damn good. The athmosphere we wanted to give to the song feels just right .
The result is really nice for Motown novices like us, I think we' ll put that song just the way it is on our next record !
Here we are on Saturday morning, we have an appointment at the crack of dawn with Alex, sound engineer at the "Palmito studio". The "Palmito" ( sort of French slang to say palm tree) is kinda like the Mecca for local roots/reggae fans, kinda like riddim's waiting room, this studio seems like it's been made for ghost notes and offbeats... There are rainsticks, donkey skulls and djembes all over the place.... SCARY!
We meet our host, unload the gear, then the King (Selewa not Elvis) arrives... Now, we can start to work!
Alex sets up the mics, the amps, and the drums... this dude knows his job, and an hour later punk-rock is out, Kingston's (almost) in.
Then, the King briefs us about the recording process. We're gonna record the bass/drums/guitar live ( simultaneously)... But first and foremost we're NOT gonna record with a metronome, we can afford some off-timings !
Ten takes later the rythm part is done.
The horns are next, with the similar kind of recording process, that is trumpet and trombone recorded in the same time, to keep that live spirit.
We end up with the voices and some arrangements. There are off-timings, but it sounds alive, and it sounds damn good. The athmosphere we wanted to give to the song feels just right .
The result is really nice for Motown novices like us, I think we' ll put that song just the way it is on our next record !
posted by freygolo at 5:02 AM
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