RECORDING COMMENCES!!!

SO! I have finally acquired the equipment to put together a decent home studio. I'll be recording a five track EP which will be my first solo record. If you've read some of my previous blog posts you'll know I've recorded before with different bands and came close to finishing a home-recorded album but it wasn't me recording it, just playing. Having made the decision to go it alone, I've also since decided that I want to retain as much control of the process as possible. This means that as well as writing and playing, I want to record, mix and produce my music. I guess I'm kind of a control freak when it comes to this.

The first step was deciding what equipment I wanted to buy. I've recorded myself on an 8 track recorder in my teens but I needed better quality and more control of the sound. With some guidance from my friend Tom Hyland, guitarist for the brilliant Electric Swing Circus, I decided to go for a couple of condenser microphones, as pretty much all the instruments that I'll use will be acoustic, and a good quality audio interface.

The condenser mics can be used for a variety of settings, great for acoustic guitar and vocals if you choose the right ones. I went for a matched pair of Rode NT1a's, which come with a cable, shock mount and pop screen for each microphone. I already had a Shure SM58 mic which I bought along with my loop pedal (which you can read about below). The SM58 is a dynamic microphone so I use it for live vocals but it's a useful thing to have in the bag. It's brother the SM57, is a microphone of similar construction often used for recording snare drums and guitars. Honestly I'm still fairly new to recording so I'll figure out what the best use of the mic is when I get down to it. So far I've been using a combination of a line output from the guitar's pick up, one condenser about a foot away from the 12th fret (which I read about online and for some reason that spot picks up so much more warmth than towards the bridge) and today I tried using the other condenser positioned in the top corner of the room to catch some ambient sound. Doing this worked great for guitar but I got a lot of phase when using this technique for vocals (phase is where the same sound reaches the two different microphones at different times, because of their positioning, and a weird effect is produced).

The audio interface was something I'd never heard of. I've buffed up on the very basic physics of sound recently and I can now tell you (hopefully without boring you to death) that the audio interface is an essential part of recording kit if you're planning to record digitally, that is, onto a computer using a program like Logic or Pro Tools. The interface takes the electrical analogue signal that travels down the microphone cables, amplifies it, using built in preamps, and then converts it into binary code so a computer can understand it. Then we can record and alter the sound using one of the many software packages available. The better quality the audio interface, the better quality your music will be.

Here I went for the Roland Octa-capture. Multiple inputs, good preamps and good conversion rates. It comes with a software called Sonar LE, developed by Cakewalk which I think is a sub-company-thingy of Roland, so this is the software I'll be using.

It's been fairly easy to use so far. I've had a couple of ARG! moments when I haven't had the right inputs selected or some other tiny thing that means the recordings delete the second you press stop. But apart from these it's been pretty good. It allows me a control of the recorded music that is far beyond anything I've ever had before. On the 8 track recorder, you can put effects on when you're recording but they weren't very diverse or good quality; and once something's recorded, it's recorded. There was no post-recording control of any kind which meant that mixing just wasn't possible, all the levels, effects and playing had to be perfect the second it was recorded. With digital recording, while getting the levels right when recording is important, there is so much more scope of editing once the tracks are recorded. I can cut, loop, reverse, add effects and transpose any audio track I record, as well as a myriad of other features that I'm not even close to understanding yet.

The quality that I've received through this method of recording is, as hoped and expected, vastly superior to my old 8 track. The added ability in mixing and editing is absolutely brilliant too. I've realised recently that recording and sound production is in itself an instrument and one which much be used efficiently to effectively capture your music. Once I finish my useless classic degree, I'm taking a certificate in studio sound to further my recording ability, make contacts in the industry and make some god damn money hopefully working as a studio sound engineer to fund my penniless musical existence.

Thanks for reading! Frankly I'm impressed at your dedication as I'm not sure if this is completely boring or not. Hopefully not, feel free to let me know.

Until next time friends,

NJ

My Favourite Folk

Update: So this is my little music video for my song Bowed Oak. It literally just came from having a little fire in the garden and I decided to get my camera and film it. It probably stems from my slight pyromania and I'm ok with that.

So this post I thought I'd give you some choice folk picks of mine that you probably won't have heard before. There's a lot of different folk about, and where to draw the line between folk and country I'm not really sure but here are some of my favourite folk musicians, hope you find something you love.

1.Gillian Welch & David Rawlings - Sweet Tooth
This is perhaps quite a lot more country than folk but it's a brilliant tune none the less. I can't help but smile when I hear it. There's such a sense of humour in the song which I love. Watch David Rawling's fingers on the guitar, to sing and play like that is pretty incredible.







2. The Unthanks - Lucky Gilchrist
The Unthanks are a big folk band who play folk songs with a kind of melodic twist, at times very ethereal music. They are great story tellers. 'Here's the Tender Coming' is the first album from The Unthanks that I found and there literally are no bad songs on it. From the Romeo/Juliet-esque tale in Annachie Gordon or the toe-tapping odd-time Lucky Gilchrist, the songs paint pictures of overcast British skies. Really reminds me of home.

3. Jez Hellard - Minor's Picket Dance (Rory Mcleod cover)

A musical mentor and great friend of mine, Jez Hellard is a top class musician on guitar, harmonica and drums and percussion (amongst I don't know what else) and while he doesn't write his own music, saying that there are so many others that do it far better, he picks select songs to cover. He plays a range of music from two hundred year old English folk songs to reggae tracks by Sublime. Anything he finds lyrically and musically resonant, he'll play. and he'll play it damn well. With his old crew 'Jez Hellard and the Roving Blades', which I was lucky enough to play with on a number of occasions, and his new 'Jez Hellard and the Djukella Orchestra' he plays all over the UK and the Balkans. I feel privelidged to have learnt from and played with Jez and if you haven't heard of him (and far too many people haven't) then you should definitely check him out.
The tracks on his website are also definitely worth a listen, some haunting folk tunes here. Listen to 'Hometown Boy' and 'Harvest Gypsies':  http://www.jezhellard.com/htdocs/?page=tracks

4. Gillian Welch - One More Dollar

Gillian makes another appearance on the list with her solo music. It often takes a more solemn tone than her stuff with David Rawlings, certainly more of a soulful folk feel as opposed to country.
Th song One More Dollar is about a boy leaving home to work and get some money for his family and as the chorus line comes back each time the desperation grows making the repeated line 'one more dollar and I'm going home' increasingly poignant. It is an  example of brilliant song writing and made me realise how the structure of a song is so important and it certainly influenced my writing.



5. Laura Marling - Don't Ask Me Why/Salinas

There is no way I could write this list and not include Laura. She is one of my biggest influences and a huge idol of mine. Her songs are simply sublime. She was writing songs at 17 that sound like they were written by a 40 year old. Such maturity was always there in her song-writing but from her early performances, even after she really broke, compared to her gigs with her new album complete with full band show a fully confident Laura holding her head back as she sings. She has bloomed from a timid, fragile soul on stage, seemingly made of glass making her songs such a real experience, to a forceful front-woman and an a world class musician.

6. Jackie Oates - Hyperboreans

I'm lucky enough to own a violin that belonged to my aunt. It was built in the 1800s and is currently being restored to perfect playability at the moment. As soon as I have it back I'm going to start learning how to play proper folk fiddle, just like Jackie Oates. Her songs span from tales of desolation and heart-ache to joyful proclamations like Hyperboreans. A lot more traditional than someone like Laura but not quite as much as Gillian Welch. She treads the line so artfully, bringing the feelings of both the original folk style, which is in essence is what defines the genre, and the slightly more modern style in terms of things like song structure. Coincidentally, Jackie's voice sounds literally identical to Rebecca Unthank's voice, front-woman for The Unthanks mentioned above. Thought they were the same people for a while, it's uncanny!

7. Dixie Chicks - Truth No. 2

So a lot more on the country scale of things, the Dixie Chicks are one the artists that first coaxed me into the world of folk and country. I feel like for England, a country that has lost a lot of its national identity (not complaining just observing), English folk is the musical equivalent for the rich historical music of countries like China and Madagascar for example. The Dixie Chicks embody the southern States, their songs have a devil-may-care attitude but also a wry humour and great compassion. If I can embody the green hills of England as much as they do the deep south, I can die happy.

Expensive toys and exploration of noise

Hello everyone,

Today I thought I'd take you through my set up a bit and probably grab the opportunity to talk about my influences and writing as well.

A couple of months ago I purchased my first technical piece of equipment that I intend to use live. I've toyed about with electronic music before, mixing it with a kind of indie style, and actually have some songs of that genre that I'm really proud of. But this was just messing about with an old keyboard and some loops on my computer amongst other things, it was just for fun. My newest piece of gadgetry is the Vox VDL1 Dynamic Looper Pedal:

Behold it, in all its looping glory.

Basically it allows me to play a phrase on my guitar or sing a melody into my mic and the pedal repeats it. So I can play a rhythm guitar part and loop it and then play a melody over the top or build harmonious melodies on top of a beat. It opens up the harmonic and rhythmic possibilities of one person on stage and enables me to switch instruments mid-song. I have plans to include banjo and fiddle in the future as well as some percussion.

I'm still exploring the possibilities with the pedal and honestly I'm a little nervous about using it live. The hard bit is that if you play a bum note or screw up your phrase then that mistake will be repeated and would ruin EVERYTHING! Combining it with with a folk influenced style has been harder than first anticipated as well. I like to try and find new and interesting ways to mix melodies and chords in one guitar part, something that Jimi Hendrix pioneered on electric guitar, so instead of looping those parts I try to find more innovative things to loop through the pedal. The intro to one song on the EP, for example, begins with a surging cacophony of noise which descends into the first chord. It's really exciting when you find a whole other way of thinking about using the pedal and song-writing in general.

From my experience, song-writing, and any other creative process, progresses by making continual realisations that you actually can do more than you thought you could. When you sit down to write a song you think to yourself "wow, I can make any sound I want" or "I can write lyrics about anything" but for me thoughts like that tend to make me feel like a small dot on a huge white expanse of 'freedom' and it feels a little daunting. I find it easier to start with your comfort zone and explore the edges to see where it can be expanded and played with. If you always write songs with only four chords then try writing one with a twenty. That kind of thing. And through the years, and it does take years, your artistic blinkers will slowly widen until you can imagine things that no one's ever thought of before. This is my favourite place.

Obviously everyone is influenced by the music they've grown up around but I think the trick is to take the best bits and mix them with your own ideas. Copying is illegal but recycling is completely natural. You can (or at least I can) definitely hear the Laura Marling in some of my songs or the Gillian Wesch/Jez Hellard authentic folk feel in others.

Alright enough music talk because, seriously, I could go on for pages. For those who don't quite get the loop pedal thing or just want to see it in action I'll be posting a video soon with a little jam on the pedal and maybe play some bits of the EP as well so look out for that.

Once again thanks so much for reading, I hope it wasn't completely incomprehensible but I do tend to go off on one when it comes to music. Until next time, friends.

NJ

The story so far

Hello all,

I'm Nick. I'm a 21 year old student of ancient history (don't ask why) and I live, work and make music in Birmingham. I've played guitar since 8 but my introduction to live music came with Jez Hellard and the Roving Blades. I met Jez in Macedonia (www.jezhellard.com - so worth a click!) and he asked me to fill in for his fiddle player as a lead guitarist a few months later back in England in Peterborough. I was lucky enough to have my first real experience of playing in a group with some amazing musicians and some great venues in an authentic countryside folk setting, which ended up having a major influence on my music later. Jez is still the best harmonica player I have ever seen. Along with Nye Parsons on double bass and Tim Palmer on fiddle amongst others it is still to this day my favourite band I have ever played in.

In the early years of my degree some friends and I started a funk/reggae/rock type band called 'Blue 52'. The number in the name was the flat number where I first met the two earliest members of the band after hearing a trumpet and a harmonica jamming it out and going on a mission to find them, guitar in hand! We played a lot of venues in Birmingham (The Yardbird, The O2 Academy) and Leicester (The Donkey, Natterjacks) and got to know the local scenes really well.

That kinda ran its course and after that (and partly during) I played in a number of smaller projects including a four piece jazz group, lead guitar in a 5 piece indie band, and started work on a duo with the trumpet player from Blue 52, Gareth. We released a 4 track EP which went pretty unnoticed. It evolved (mainly from nudges coming from my direction) into a more folky entity as opposed to jazz. In it's final form this briefly turned into Fountain. The big folk band that never really came to be. We signed to a small record label and recorded the better part of an album. There was talk of extra singers, multi-talented musicians, multiple instrument changes mid show but really this all sounds bigger than it was and the practicality of being in a band that size was a little off-putting.

For reasons far beyond this I decided to leave Fountain, which in actuality had never got off the ground, to go it alone. I've played a lot of gigs in Birmingham over the past year including a lot of charity fundraisers as well as Vale Fest, the UK's biggest student-run charity festival, and in this time have also been writing music. You can't say something like this without sounding like an arse but I was finding my voice. Working out what it really was that I wanted to put out there. I'm certainly guilty of over-thinking my music sometimes but I feel like sometimes the most personal things to me are my songs.

But anyway, what I'm doing NOW is finishing off writing the last song on a 5 track debut solo EP which is due to be recorded within a couple of months.

I currently have a track up on soundcloud which was written and recorded with Fountain called 'They Will Always'. www.soundcloud.com/nickjacksonofficial

And finally I have a video of the song 'Overgrown Track' (which will feature on the EP) on youtube at www.youtube.com/nickjacksonofficial

To those who have got this far, thanks for reading and stay tuned for an EP released date!

NJ