Location, Location, Location.

Things are going well after the recent move from a barn in Donaghadee to another barn in Glengormley. After a few minor tweaks the acoustics of the new rooms are sorted out and work was able to begin in earnest on an EP with Dundalk band Anna's Chamber. They expect to release the EP soon.

Currently in the studio is Ian Jess working on a blend of Irish and Scots folk music, a mixture of traditional songs and his own compositions. He's got some great session musicians lined up in the next couple of weeks to provide the finishing touches.

However this past month I've been dragged out of the comfort zone of the studio to work in several different locations with The Lambing Season. The guys have a very definite idea of how they wanted their tracks to sound, in particular they want a really ambient sound for the drums, the sound of a big space ... so they found a big room!

It gave me a chance to try out the new ribbon mics that have been added to the Blueroom microphone cupboard for the first time. It also gave us a chance to experiment with lots of different percussion ideas but I'll not give too much away until the tracks are done and dusted.

Next on the list was the piano and rather than taking the easy option of using samples we setup in the main performance hall at the City of Belfast School of Music to record their baby grand. As well as getting a really nice recording we got some really nice photos. You can see more of them in my Flickr photo set.

Work continues on what's quickly changing from an EP to an album for the rest of this month and we hope to have a couple of tracks ready as a taster for the rest very soon.

If any other band is interested in recording  in a similar way then please feel free to get in touch. The sound and character of a room really gives a recording it's own unique vibe. Especially when it comes to drums. Why use fancy convolution reverbs when you can get the real deal?

Next up in the studio is the return of NASA Assassin. It's not wrong, it's the future. Stay tuned ...