Over February, March and April of 2013, Vuvuvultures went into Lynch Mob Studios in London to record our debut album "Push/Pull". We spent a week tracking all the live instruments, re-amping and mangling all the electronic sounds and then got deep into the mixing process. Besides playing guitars, samplers and keys, I co-produced the album with Max Heyes.
All photos, except the very first one, shot by Fiona Garden
PRE-PRODUCTION
The recording and production demos as well as most of the electronic/digital production was done in my personal studio in London. We spent a long time getting the sounds we wanted, choosing the final track list and perfecting the structures of the songs.
The recording and production demos as well as most of the electronic/digital production was done in my personal studio in London. We spent a long time getting the sounds we wanted, choosing the final track list and perfecting the structures of the songs.
RECORDING BASS, DRUMS AND PERCUSSION
We recorded bass and drums at the same time, keeping the swing and feel as natural as possible. Once we had great rhythm section takes, it was much easier to lay the guitar, synths and vocals down. We also tracked some spontaneous percussion takes on each track, adding a great rythmic feel to the songs.
We recorded bass and drums at the same time, keeping the swing and feel as natural as possible. Once we had great rhythm section takes, it was much easier to lay the guitar, synths and vocals down. We also tracked some spontaneous percussion takes on each track, adding a great rythmic feel to the songs.
GUITARS AND SYNTHS
A lot of time was spent on getting some mental, noisy and heavily effected guitar parts down. I didn't want to use plug-ins at all so while I played the guitar lines, Nicole (bass) would run them through delays, pitchers, reverbs and synth fx pedals and mangle the sound in real-time. We used this technique for a lot of the instrument takes.
A lot of time was spent on getting some mental, noisy and heavily effected guitar parts down. I didn't want to use plug-ins at all so while I played the guitar lines, Nicole (bass) would run them through delays, pitchers, reverbs and synth fx pedals and mangle the sound in real-time. We used this technique for a lot of the instrument takes.
VOCALS AND BACKING VOX
Vocals were recorded using a combination of high quality microphones and messed up, old dictaphones that gave us a really dirty, distorted sound. Depending on the vibe of the track we would us more or less distortion to get the vocal sound perfect.
REAMPING AND MIXING
A lot of the synth and electronic sounds started life as modules I've built using signal-processing software like Reaktor. The sounds are interesting but they're also very digital. To get around this we re-amped a lot of sounds using combinations of bass and guitar amps as well as small fm radio speakers and tape machines. All the sounds take on a unique character because the re-amping makes them seem familiar even though they are very processed.
A lot of the synth and electronic sounds started life as modules I've built using signal-processing software like Reaktor. The sounds are interesting but they're also very digital. To get around this we re-amped a lot of sounds using combinations of bass and guitar amps as well as small fm radio speakers and tape machines. All the sounds take on a unique character because the re-amping makes them seem familiar even though they are very processed.
Preview the album in it's entirety below on Soundcloud.
Order physical copies here:
www.energysnakerecords.com
Or Digital downloads from iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/push-pull/id670910170
