Wesonator Snacks, Fresh From The Sonic Cuisine

Let's start with the big snack first. I've been keeping quiet about this since we started recording, dropping occasional studio pics from the session, but now, it's official. The record is out and the lovely Jen at Trinifold gave me my copy yesterday when the band took to the stage at Kew The Music.

It all started when Trish at RAK studios called me in to record. When I asked her what the project was, she told me it was Ali Campbell from UB40. Cool! It only got better from there on. Turns out it's Ali, Astro and Mickey back together again and we were going to record some of their hits in acoustic format. They guys were joined by Winston Delandro on guitars, Paul Slowly on percussion and the amazing Matt Hoy on BVs. 

We set up in my fave RAK studio 2 and went on to record the full album in 3 days! I got even more excited when I was asked back to mix the record. We decided to stay in studio 2 so I could mix on the wonderful API console everything had been recorded through and after two days the entire record was done and dusted.

Mastering was set to happen at Metropolis and I had a blast putting the finishing touches to this work with Hippy Baldwin.

UB40 are the most amazing guys to work with and Ali, wow, what a voice! All it took was a great vintage Neumann U47 and a 70's era API mic pre and wallop, there it was: UB40.

If you want to hear the band, up close and personal, give this one a spin. 

Just a quick shout out to a few extra people who made this one happen: Thanks Trish for trusting me with the boys. Scott, Mike and Dave at Advanced Audio Microphones for introducing me to your mics. The CM67se and CM49 are all over this one. They even feature on the front cover artwork! Dennis Weinreich for the loan of your AKG The Tube. Max for being thrown in at the deep end as my assistant :-) and finally, Ali, Astro, Mickey, Matt, Winston and Slowly for being the coolest cats ever.

In the mean time I ended up in the gorgeous chapel at Royal Holloway in Egham to record the film score for Fiona Howe's new film and I spent a wonderful three days at The Park Studios in Wembley recording an EP for the very talented Georgia Nevada.  Mixing for that session has started and we have a few more overdubs to do. I'll keep you posted on that project as it comes along.

As per usual we'll finish up this news update with some Sonic Cuisine gear updates.

There are some new hard and software units gracing the room: Meris 440 mic pre, Drawmer 1960, Focusrite 3, Solo Dallas The Schaffer Replica (Thanks Goose & Fil), Moog MF-Trem, Roland Dimension D, A Cranesong Insigna, and a pair of Dynaudio BM5A MKIII on IsoAcoustics stands. Software newcomers: UAD Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor, UAD Dangerous BAX EQ, UAD API Vision Channel Strip, Cranesong Phoenix & Peacock, Dave Hill Designs RA II. 

They're all looking forward to working on your new material.

See you on the other side of the glass.