Thursday 7th April – Recording Day 8

 

Headed back through to the studio for more recording after a 2 month break. We’d managed to secure two strings players to play on the record – Nichola Kerr on viola and Rachel Wilson on cello. I’d had experience of playing with Nichola before in a band called Prehistoric Friends so I knew she was really good. She also loves Max Richter – a massive bonus. It was the first time I’d seen her since I’d left for Coll so it was good to see her again. I’d sent her about four tracks I’d scored strings for, under the working titles of Lonban parts 1,2, and 3, Dark Skies and Malin (likely to change!). The three lonban pieces were variations of the same melody, with one being scored for solo cello, one for piano and one more orchestrated with synths, brass and percussion. Malin is a more slow paced somber piece, with a repeated score for cello and viola intertwined with a moving brass melody. Dark Skies is probably one of the more experimental pieces on the record, with a stand out full string motif in the middle.

The day consisted of laying down all these parts, plus a few string improvisations here and there. Rachel also added a lovely repeated vocal part to one of the Lonbans, after Andy Bush and I had heard her humming along to a playback. All in all it’s all sounding really great, with the strings really helping to fill out and add dynamics to the songs.

 

Friday 8th April – Recording Day 9

 

Coffee to start the day as usual.

Listened back to the previous days string recordings – coming back to them with fresh ears has made a big difference.

Recorded piano for a few tracks and we did a lot of mixing and note taking. Songs are just about there.

 

Saturday 9th April – Recording Day 10

 

Last day in the studio. Mike recorded the last of his cornet parts and we added in some additional piano melodies to the pieces. Spent a lot of time listening over stuff to fine tune some of the smaller details.

 

We have taken a trip up to Ardnamurchan to take some photos and to listen back to the final mixes for the album.