Recording Experiences – Part 1

In my time to date as a singer I’ve recorded my vocal takes in a variety of weird and wonderful venues with as many strange, talented, interesting and crazy people present to boot. From the state of the art plush recording studio with a 64 track ‘NASA flight desk’, to various friends’ cramped bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, corridors, school drum rehearsal rooms and make shift home studios aplenty...all with varying results as one might expect.

Whilst with my first band at school aged only 16, I was lucky to record my first ever vocal takes in a professional studio in North London, courtesy of an old boy of the school who became an engineer and producer who knew one of our cooler teachers. It was a fantastic experience and I learnt a great deal, we did 3 tracks in a day for a very generous school boy’s discount of £50!

We all got on well with the producer who said we sounded quite tight for such a young band and had potential but also added his immortal words of advice that we sounded like we all needed a good F***! – I hate to admit it but he was so right.

I recall after we’d finished the recording the producer invited us into his studio lounge for a quick cupper before we left. He said he’d enjoyed the day and had a little parting gift for us.....he produced a bag of fresh Thai weed for each of us and further obliged us by rolling each of us one in turn. The etiquette of the moment was to smoke it there in the studio together so we did. Now I’m no drug expert, addict or advocator but this stuff was powerful. We left the studio in North London and some of the band went off somewhere else so it was just me and my good old friend ‘the drummer’. To this day, and I swear this is the God’s honest truth, the only thing I recall was waking up the next morning in a strange bed, in a strange house in Romford, Essex...how I got there is anyone’s guess.