mixing – Adam Crowe

Mercia – Breathe EP Recording and Mixing

Adam Crowe — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 19:58:59 +0000

Earlier this year I was very fortunate to work on a very special project with a band called Mercia. It was (and is) special to me because I got to meet some truly talented individuals, got to spend a lot of time with them and have input to their work, got to record them and mix this wonderful EP.

Mercia are essentially a duo – Simone Picknett on guitars, vocals and songwriting; and Dan Endersby on drums. Additionally, the EP features a giant of musical knowledge, heart and spirit of Tobias (Toby) Edward Hawthorne; pianos and violins by Dan Richards, marching drumming by Tom Ashcroft, and stunning additional vocals by Luke Crawford.

Simone’s writing is way too mature for her age. Augmented by a brilliant sense of melody, alternative tunings and open chords, she creates lush textures that create the basis for her beautiful storytelling. Equally, Dan’s solid drumming and Toby’s exceptional bass work all create a head-shaking and foot-stomping performance. Luke adds exceptional lead and backing vocals to Simone’s lead vocals which interleave like a elegant dance.

I’ve attended rehearsals with the band prior to the recording and we’ve done simple pre-production at my studio. With a recording plan and a schedule in mind, we went into Snap Studios for three days to track the songs. Starting with drums and bass, and working through guitars, piano, violins, vocals and percussion. One by one, every piece of the puzzle came into place.

After three long days and very little rest, the EP was mixed in my studio and mastered skilfully by John Webber at AIR Studios Mastering. In hindsight, I’m not sure how we had the time, but we managed to also record all the four songs as a live performance in the studio’s live room! You can watch them all on the band’s YouTube channel.

Very proudly I’m happy to say that the EP is now available digitally via iTunes and Amazon. Please buy, list and share!

Buy Breathe EP on iTunes
Buy Breathe EP on Amazon

Here’s a little sample (or listen before you buy) from the EP:

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/113239299″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/113239792″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/113239872″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/113239971″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

I regret not having enough time to take as many photos as I would like, but here’s something.

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Do follow Mercia on the various social networks. They are actively gigging and uploading new stuff.

Follow Merica on Facebook
Follow Mercia on Twitter

Denise – Camden Town

Adam Crowe — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 17:50:14 +0000

Over the past year or so, I’ve been involved in an amazing production called Camden Town by Denise. The 14-track album is a explosion of styles ranging from jazz to soul to instrumental to rap all written by the talented Denise Jahnigen. Featuring 44 musicians from four continents, I have been very fortunate to record many elements from this album, play guitar on two tracks and mix 7 tracks!

Camden Town was composed by Denise Jahnigen who not only wrote the music and lyrics, but also wrote and orchestrated all the string parts which were recorded in New Orleans with a proper New-Orleans-style rhythm section. The album is full of gorgeous melodies and jazzy, yet poppy, chord progressions. Denise has a great ability of taking complex chord progressions from the world of jazz and making them very accessible and natural to even an untrained ear.

I had the great fortune of being able to play electric guitar on two tracks – Amy and Crazy Magnolia – which I recorded in my studio, and also engineered/recorded various elements like drums, piano, bass, French horn, percussion and BVs in Snap Studios and Alice’s Loft Music (see below). More importantly for me, was the chance to mix 7 tracks which I am very proud of. The album was skilfully mastered by the great Ray Staff of Air Studios and is now available on CD and Vinyl (my first vinyl release!).

“…Adam Crowe for his incredible patience, support, and advice throughout this entire project…”

Credits

[ultimatetables 1 /]

This album has been in the works for a long time and I know how hard Denise worked on it, and I believe the result reflects that. I’m very proud and honoured to take part in it. I encourage everybody to have a listen to the album below and moreover, buy a copy!

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/2694849″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”350″ iframe=”true” /]

Buy Album

Arhai – Eastern Road

Adam Crowe — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 21:40:48 +0000

Earlier this year I have been commissioned to mix an album for an interesting electronic/folk fusion duo called Arhai. The album ‘Eastern Roads’ a very tasteful mix between traditional folk instruments with electronics grooves and beats. The folk part is heavily inspired by traditional Irish, English and especially Balkan music.

Although I am less used to electronic music, I found that the beautiful combination and the gorgeous playing was just too nice to resist. I am very proud of this work as it was not only a challenge for me to work with a new style but also because I got to meet two very talented musicians. I’ve never before met someone so immersed in a specific type of music so much as Jovana Backovic and Adrian Lever are. They manoeuvre with ease between between a standard 4/4 rhythm through 7/8 to a finger-breaking 11/8 that I am still trying to learn how to count!

Have a listen to the album preview below (I especially recommend the excellent guitar work on track 10 – Ismail)

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/2503507″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

CLICK HERE TO BUY THE ALBUM!

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I highly recommend catching Arhai live because seeing their music come to life on stage is something special. Have a look on the band’s Facebook page and website for tour dates, and of course don’t forget to buy the album!!!

Arhai website

Arhai on Facebook

Gecko – Camden/Feeling My Way

Adam Crowe — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 22:48:10 +0000

Back in Match this year, I was in the studio again with the brilliant Gecko band to record a few songs for their then upcoming EP. Only one song from that day called Feeling My Way made it to the EP, it joined another song we recorded nearly two years earlier called Camden.

Together Gecko launched the Camden/Feeling My Way EP with a fantastic summer tour of the UK, performing at small and medium size venues but also at scoring a place at an award winning festival of boutique music called Bestival at the Isle of Wight. Moreover, Gecko were chosen to perform twice at the London 2012 Olympic games at the Emerging Icons stage! A great honour indeed!

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As always, I feel very lucky and proud to work with these guys. They are a lot of fun to hang out with. Their live shows are full of energy, and I can’t recommend them enough!

The hard-copy EP has been sold at the live gigs but is now available at the band’s BandCamp page for FREE! Well, not exactly… I mean it is… But you are encouraged to pay something for the download to support the band. So please pay whatever you can!

The Camden single has also received a fantastic video (directed by Chris Hugall ) which I would like to ask you to share on your various walls, pages, feeds and blogs! At the Bestival festival, Gecko met the super talented Ed Sheeran who liked the Gecko guys so much that he was kind enough to tweet about the new video!!!

New video from @geckoofficial – http://t.co/M1MqYMcf

— Ed Sheeran (@edsheeran) August 14, 2012

As always, I try to take a few shots of the recording session. This day was extra busy so I didn’t get a chance to take many photos, but I did get a whole bunch of shots of Gabriel Anthony-Casey chillin’ in the control room

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Camden/Feeling My Way EP was recorded at Snap Studios by Adam Crowe and mixed by Adam Crowe. Mastered by John Webber at Blue Pro Mastering.

Check out Gecko on:

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/geckoband
YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/user/geckoofficial
Twitter – http://twitter.com/geckoofficial
BandCamp – http://geckoband.bandcamp.com

Niche London Quartet

Adam Crowe — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 21:38:37 +0000

I’ve had the pleasure of recording a string quartet recently called Niche London Quartet. Two violins, one viola and a cello. A lovely repertoire of both classical and contemporary pieces, all part of this group’s preparation for the summer season of weddings, birthdays, Bar Mitzvahs, corporate events and fancy dinners.

Apart from the lovely music, Niche were a treat to work with! They were also very accommodating to the little microphone experiment I carried out (see below) which was very kind of them.

It was interesting to see how the live room at Snap Studios would respond to a quartet and what microphones in the studios’ mighty arsenal would be suitable for this task. As an experiment I attacked with everything I could! The recording comprised of:

Decca Tree – two Coles 4038 on the sides with an RCA DX44 in the centre.
Spaced Pair – AKG C12
Coincident/Blumlein – Royer SF-12
Other – Schoeps Stereo Sphere Microphone KFM 6
Cello spot – Neumann U47
Viola spot – Neumann KM64

A bit extravagant, I know… But why the hell not?! I’m trying to get the best result here! But I’ll let you be the judge. All the microphones went through the Studio 1’s Neve 53-Series console with Neve 33114/5 mic pres.

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Obviously, everything sounded different. The Decca Tree ribbons sounded lush but slightly too roomy/distant for my taste; the AKG C12 spaced pair sounded ‘bigger than life’ and very detailed; the Royer SF-12 had a very natural representation of the room and so did the Schoeps Sphere mic – for more critical and classical recordings, I would have definitely chosen these as the main microphones. The Neumann U47 had an extraordinarily beautiful bottom end as one would expect, and provided a brilliant bass ‘anchor’ for the stereo image of the group. And the Neumann KM64 on the viola was used gently to bring out the softer-sounding pizzicatos.

In the end I just couldn’t resist and ended up using a mix of all of the above with the help of Little Labs IBP phase alignment tool to keep all the signals in phase as much as possible. The mixes were brilliantly mastered by John Webber at Blue Pro.

Update: The guys have editing a video of I Need a Hero by Bonnie Tyler preformed live.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3XfTSxLXw4

Have a listen to a little showcase of the several songs we recorded that day. See if you can recognise the contemporary ones:

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/37160880″ iframe=”true” /]

Please check out Niche London Quartet and bare them in mind if you or one of your friends is having an event this summer!

Gecko – Safest Bet Video

Adam Crowe — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 23:31:49 +0000

I’m sure you’ve seen me praise these guys before but I just have to do it one more time because this bunch is just the best! Earlier this year I was in the studio with Gecko recording a few songs for their debut album and this is the second single which the band have decided to give out for FREE as a download on 19th of September!

I’ve been lucky to have been chosen to record and mix this single. Full credits below.

This is a really cool video shot in hi-def. Make sure you watch it in 720p and don’t forget to click the Like button!!!

Follow Gecko on Facebook and Twitter

http://www.facebook.com/geckoband
http://twitter.com/geckoofficial

Video

Directed by Jack Sanderson-Thwaite and Arthur Williams
Director of photography Luke While (http://www.vimeo.com/lukerawhile)
Assistant cameramen Simon Smith and Ben Westwood
Make up by Atalanta Bluff
Edited by Luke While

Cast

Will Sanderson-Thwaite
Gabriel Casey
Simon Cole
Ben Mckone
Amy Love

and Ramani Shehara Rajaratnam as ‘Nala’

‘Safest bet’ was recorded at Snap Studios, North London during April & May 2011
Produced by Adam Crowe and Gecko
Engineered by Adam Crowe
Mixed by Adam Crowe
Mastered by John Webber @ Blue Pro Mastering, London

All music (c) Will Sanderson-Thwaite, Ben Mckone, Simon Cole and Gabriel Casey 2011

For press contact hello@blurbpr.com

Lyrics

Who needs reasoning, just dance through the scenery
Turn your back on logic face-plant into greenery
Never met a dance move I haven’t kept in touch with
Met up with, occasionally in public in London
So you’re a tortoise it’s your first day at school
Understandably you wanna make friends
But you’ve gotta come out of your shell
Else you might be mistaken for an ornament

I realise that I’m not your safest bet
If you make a list, then I’ll see what I can get
You can take your pick
‘Til there’s noone left around
I prefer the rhythm we’ve found
We’ve found

I realise that I’m probably not your safest bet
Like a tigers not the safest pet
It’s arrival caused panic
An unsuitable animal for housing
Unfit for its surroundings
Accounting for this altogether unsuccessful outing
Especially when he started growling
But I’d proudly
Outrun a cheetah for your undivided attention
Can’t promise that I’d beat her but I’d lack no intention
So lets dance beneath the sunset
Drive away the upset
I’m not your safest ticket but the scenic routes astounding

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