We (BBT) spent the 30th and 31st of July in the good company of Rob Aubrey at Aubitt Studio in Southampton, recording vocals etc for our new Far Skies Deep Time e.p.
David Longdon: Far Skies Deep Time e.p sessions: Aubitt Studio, Southampton UK: July 2010
Photograph by: Amy Mumford
Photograph by: Amy Mumford
Friday saw the arrival of the vibraphone! What a clever thing it is too - instant Vision On, gallery browsing music. Those of you old enough will immediately understand me, while younger readers without the aid of Wikipedia will wonder what on earth I'm talking about.
We loved having a proper vibraphone in the studio, possibly because of the whole adventure of sourcing one in the first place! The Poole and I tried very hard indeed to make sure we had one for the session.
We tried everywhere. I tried my local music provision and was asked,
"Do you want one with a working motor?"
"Yes, of course" I replied "why would I want one without a fully functional motor?"
Unsurprisingly in the health and safety conscious 21st Century, it all boils down to risk assessment for heavens sake!
You may well roll your eyes but if the modern hirsute youth in the haste of ... er youth, happens to stand too close to that whirring vibraphone motor, there may be a danger of their hair becoming entangled in the rotating machinery.......... I know, I know but you can't be too careful....... can you?
Eventually after much enquiry and hard slog, The Poole eventually bagged one! What a trooper! Hat's off to Andy.
It was a non-collapsible vibraphone though! Quite tricky to negotiate through studio doors but eventually it was positioned close by the Aubitt sink unit, facing the control room.
After initial scepticism (why don't you just use a keyboard preset, audio instrument or samples? etc ) worries were consoled by the wonderful noise generated by the vibraphone. The sound is truly magical. It shimmers and swirls. It blends and blurs magnificently.
At this point you may be asking yourself...
"Hang on a minute, why are a progressive rock band using a vibraphone?" Well, the astonishing Ollie Halsall played one in Patto and that's more than okay with me - check out their track Magic Door)
The vibraphone was included because of a song on our new e.p called The Wide Open Sea. (Please wait for my next blog entry for further details)
The song is important for numerous reasons, not least because it has become the initial stimuli for that Big Big Thing we were talking about earlier.
But Shhhhh..... I don't want to say too much about that at this point.
"Do you want one with a working motor?"
"Yes, of course" I replied "why would I want one without a fully functional motor?"
Unsurprisingly in the health and safety conscious 21st Century, it all boils down to risk assessment for heavens sake!
You may well roll your eyes but if the modern hirsute youth in the haste of ... er youth, happens to stand too close to that whirring vibraphone motor, there may be a danger of their hair becoming entangled in the rotating machinery.......... I know, I know but you can't be too careful....... can you?
Eventually after much enquiry and hard slog, The Poole eventually bagged one! What a trooper! Hat's off to Andy.
It was a non-collapsible vibraphone though! Quite tricky to negotiate through studio doors but eventually it was positioned close by the Aubitt sink unit, facing the control room.
After initial scepticism (why don't you just use a keyboard preset, audio instrument or samples? etc ) worries were consoled by the wonderful noise generated by the vibraphone. The sound is truly magical. It shimmers and swirls. It blends and blurs magnificently.
At this point you may be asking yourself...
"Hang on a minute, why are a progressive rock band using a vibraphone?" Well, the astonishing Ollie Halsall played one in Patto and that's more than okay with me - check out their track Magic Door)
The vibraphone was included because of a song on our new e.p called The Wide Open Sea. (Please wait for my next blog entry for further details)
The song is important for numerous reasons, not least because it has become the initial stimuli for that Big Big Thing we were talking about earlier.
But Shhhhh..... I don't want to say too much about that at this point.
A fellow Patto fan! As always, David, I doff my cap to you...
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