Glass City and Locks went into Chamber Studio, Edinburgh, to record two songs each for a split that'll include our friend Lowlands. We had just one day to nail down the whole thing.
Glass City had used Chamber Studio before, so we set up first. Marc has switched onto guitar though, so was able to use his new Morgan amp, with both his AVRI Strat and J Mascis Japanese Jazzmaster. Mike used his trusty old '96 Les Paul Studio and Verellen Model V, but ran it through an in-house Marshall 4x12 with Greenbacks.
This session saw our pal Ross join on bass - he ran his Squier through Marc's VHT Deliverance 120, through the in-house Ampeg 8x10. Pro tip: for the best overdriven bass tone on earth, just use this. Euan's drum sound comprised a Pork Pie snare and Pearl kit from the studio, and his UFIP cymbals.
We were keen to be done as quickly as possible, to free up time for Locks to get tracking, and managed to get both tracks recorded, instrumentally, within a couple of hours. Not the worst effort.
Locks were up next. Dash used his thinline Telecaster into my Verellen rig, set a bit gutsier and overdriven than I had it. Johannes used his Les Paul Studio into the Morgan/Orange rig, aiming for something with tonnes of low end but not too much gain. Iain changed out the cymbals but ran a similar drum setup, and Craig (sorry, no photos!) used his P-Bass into a classic combination of an Ampeg SVT into the Ampeg 8x10. Sounded chunky across the board.
A lot of the time, in the studio, you sit around waiting for it to be your time. Because we had finished tracking our songs, we had to wait until Chris and Ross did their respective vocals. Chamber is an amazing environment to just hang out and relax though, I could easy spend days in there, even if I wasn't recording.
We tracked the vocals to the two Locks songs next. Ross and Johannes bring totally different flavours to the band's sound, adding layer upon layer of texture.
An amazing old Neve console, some ridiculous compressors and then, of course, some Roland Space Echos. Such a good place. As I said though, there's a lot of sitting around.
Chris then stepped up and tanked the Glass City vocal takes. This boy's consistency continues to baffle and amaze us. Some lad.
Here's the guy behind the desk for the session, Stephen Foster. A total pleasure to work with, and amazingly patient while we try and come up with the dumbest guitar tones we can.
We finished up, after just eight hours or so of tracking, with some quick gang vocal takes for one of Glass City's songs, and Chris also offered some backup vocals to one of Locks' songs. Felt a good way to finish an intense day of combined effort. The release will be out soon, we can't wait for you to hear it.
All photos taken with a Fujifilm X-Pro2 and 23mm f2. All photos except the third set taken by Zeromirror Photo. Photo credit for the third set to Marc Zwetsloot.