Day 1 with Killy Mockstar

SpeakerSonic Studio

Take 5 A type personalities and put them in a band = Killy Mockstar.

Goal: 5 song EP, 2 10hr days.

Variables: Beatboxer, Bass, Guitar, Sax and Vocal all recorded live.

Challenging set up again for this one. The guitar and soprano sax take up a lot of sonic space in a live situation, and… a beatboxer? Yup. They want a live feel, so I put them all in the same room, but it was clear from the first roll, we had to separate the vocals. We put Killy in my control room with the window. She is responsible for a lot of visual cues, and needed to focus on the guys getting their parts. We also want to be able to manipulate her vocals easily. Maybe replace some parts, or effect them without effecting the band sound.

Killy and Superman

We acquired "The Thumper TH100 Vocomotion" throat mic to add some bass to the beatboxer's sound. Along with an MD 421 thru an API 550b bass boost and LA-3A for his spit parts, I feel pretty good about the outcome. The guitar player is using one of two very small amps for each song. Simple, I put a Sennheiser E609 in front of each on of them and built a little fort to tame the sound in the room. I ran the bass direct with an API 550b and LA3A insert, then put another MD 421 on the Sax. Great players = great outcome.

A couple of Thumpers taking a break

As things go, a few songs were harder to capture than others, but we were able to get pretty solid takes of all 5 songs plus some gang vocal overdubs and scratch mixes by the end of a long day. Of course, then I had to run out of the house with a remote system to record M Lamar's new show at La Mama. I'm tired today.

Day 2 begins today and I'm told there will be a Diva backing vocalist to prepare for. Are you kidding, after working with 5 Divas, I'm prepared for anything. Hardy har-har, just jokes, wink wink, nudge nudge. No but seriously, I'm afraid!