Though a click was used for the drums and each instrument was tracked individually, we concentrated on the importance of 'human looseness' on this session. Also horrible, horrible guitars. 'Stickboy…' probably took around two days to track and mix across a few sessions, the mix being to 1/4" on our Studer A807 using a particularly grungey-sounding formulation of tape.


Micro- Stickboy And Matchgirl In Love

After laying a slab of sequenced synths and electronic figjiggey onto the tape we decided the track should be deliberately different to the ultra-tight hifi sound that most Instrumental Postrock outfits opt for, so we tuned the drums low, split the guitar through a combo and a bass stack and ran the bass synth through a Marshall on 11. Because of the sequenced nature of the track the drums were played to a click which made punching in a couple of missed beats a breeze. The whole thing was tracked in a short day and mixed in about four hours down to 1/4" tape before being digitised.

Apparatus Of Sleep- Ecco's Family & The Big Fucking Spaceship

The main track was laid down in a day, with the bass & drums tracked together. Dick then came over for an afternoon of snarling, theramin spanking and whiskey. We love the mix of dirty 70's punk and 50's rocknroll swagger. And spring reverb! Our Studer B67 was on Tape-echo duty for this mix, and the drums are mono except for a few accents which helps the context along nicely. 
-www.dickvenom.com

Dick Venom & The Terrortones - Cadillac Twist

The Dollars are a working covers band, and a really good one at that. A fine reminder of how much fun it is to record covers, we think this mix is pretty close to the Arctic Monkeys original. The Dollars recorded and mixed three songs in four days to 1\4" and we're pretty pleased with the result.
-www.thedollars.co.uk


The Dollars- I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor

This song is so much fun! For the sake of tightosity the drums were played to a click with everything else meticulously layered on top. The session ended with JD singing till his throat bled. Cracking. Mixed straight to digital to keep the clarity and sizzle intact.
-www.jdandthefdcs.com

JD&theFDCs - Stupid Music Played By Idiots

One of six cuts from John's debut extended-player, we tried to recreate the feel of 50's Chicago blues with a thick dollop of Tom Waits mixed in. We added dirt and grit, footstomps and tape hiss.  We made solo guitar sound lonely, and lonely vocals sound roaring. We mixed down to 1/4" at a deliberately low speed because the high speeds sounded too *good*. Which was bad. A genuinely unique record and one you should check out.
-http://soundcloud.com/johnnyslim/sets


Johnny Slim - Winding Road

Recorded live to 2-track on Christmas eve eve. Played by the spiffing Johnny Slim and mouthed by the lovely Lily M. Merry Christmas!


John&Lily - Santa Baby

We're a 24-track analogue recording studio in Nottingham, UK and have been open since 2006. Though we generally like vintage equipment (old german mics, our 32ch AMEK console, Studer & Otari tape machnes) we're not a purposefully 'retro' studio: we love modern and classic records alike. We use tape because we feel it's simply a better tool for creating art, away from the safety-nets and infinite possibility of computer recording.

We also really like distortion.

We do equal measure of recording bands from the local scene and beyond, and mixing tracks that artists have done in other studios or at home. We feel we bring an objective set of ears, fresh ideas and a huge slice of delicious, thick analogue sound.

We also really like distortion.

The Crash Factory

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