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.

Wesonator - Sonic Cuisine Update

Hi everybody,

This is a long overdue news update from the Sonic Cuisine.

Things have been crazy busy since the last February news feed so, there's a lot to talk about.  A  wide variety of musicians and musical styles have graced the faders in the last couple of months. I'm just putting the finishing mastering touches to  "The New Lady Radnor Suite" album I recorded with Fiona Bennett in the wonderful British Grove Studio 1. One Fiona is obviously not enough for the Sonic Cuisine and we're wrapping up Fiona Howe's album " Mermaid's Work". 

From two classical albums, I moved right into some cool rock 'n roll with Elliott Randall. We're working our way through the instrumentation for a very cool track indeed. It's an exciting track we rescued from a reel of 2" and it features an amazing singer ;-)

In the mean time my work with Mo Michael has been rolling along nicely and we have a full album's worth of material. The fab Gloria Nuti has been back with a couple of tracks and keeping that European vibe going, Italian fronted Delta Unit punk power house have an album on the boil too. A couple more mixes and a few vocals to go.

The last moth I've spent a lot of time in my favourite  RAK studio 2, recording a very special album in three days and mixing it in two! I then went off to record a fab track with the lovely Debi Doss, record a world premier of a new musical written by Mike Reed and John Theakston and then straight back into RAK for another marathon with the amazingly talented Albert Man & His Band. We recorded 14 songs in three days. Old school man.

On the writing front Audio Media published my article about Mastered For iTunes, the Cranesong Insigna review for which I also wrote the user manual.

And to finish it all off, I received great news from Debs at Big Sound PR that I am a Pro Sound News Awards finalist for Studio Engineer of the Year. Fingers crossed.

Launch Your Recording Project pt.1

Hey all, 

Here's a quick update from the most recent Tannoy newsletter. Some common sense tips and tricks for spending your recording budgets wisely and how to go about picking a recording environment that best suits your needs.

Enjoy. 

2015 Rolled In

Hey all,

Before January is out, here's a quick Happy New Year and may 2015 bring us lots of great music, wonderful talent and killer sounds.

There are a couple of things to update you on. I just got back from Namm 2015 where I did a nice little H.O.T. Zone talk to live and studio engineers and venue owners on how to get the most out of your system upgrade and on general business practices to ensure repeat customers.

In the mean time I'm excited to let you know that The Sonic Cuisine is now Mastered For iTunes certified, so let the war on over-compression and silly loudness continue. And I've joined the fold at the Music Producers Guild.

There are several projects on the go, on which I'll update you as they come along.

In the mean time, here's a little gear update:

Dynaudio BM6, Tannoy 802, 502 & 402. We've added a wonderful Empirical Labs Distressor EL8-X and we're test driving a sensational Cranesong Insigna Tube 500-series EQ. In addition to the Advanced Audio Cm67se, we've added the  CM251 to the arsenal. It sounds amazing and has been working over time on the Mo Michael recordings at RAK.

Also, a great book on capturing great sound at the source, the antidote to "let's fix it in the mix" attitude, Ian Corbett's Mic It! is now available. I've had the pleasure and honour of contributing to this super read. Check it out.

Have fun out there, be creative and see you on the other side of the glass.

Ringing out 2014

Hey everybody.

Time to squeeze in a little Wesonator news update and then get back behind the faders and finish up a couple more projects before the year is out.

I've been holed up in the studio with Elliott Randall, working on a few mixes for The Distortion Mirrors. In between these sessions I've decamped to RAK Studio 1 to record my Newbay buddy, Gino Robair and John Butcher making some amazing sounds.

The Sonic Cuisine has been rocking out with more mix work on Delta Unit and the very exciting Belgian group, THRIVE.

And to top it all off, I got to spend the weekend behind my favourite API console in RAK studio 2 with Mo Michael. There's 6 more songs coming your way and in the mean time you can get a taster on Mo's Soundcloud page.

A fabulous studio, one of the best sounding APIs, Advanced Audio CM67 & CM251, a Neumann KM84 and a vintage U47... combine that with a killer tunesmith and performer and you have magic!

And before I leave you to get on with your holiday prep, here are some insights from the Tannoy site.

Merry Christmas all and let's make it a wonderful and musical 2015.

See you on the other side of the glass.