1. Guy back in action
2. Demo recording done
3. MP3's available on website
3. Future plans
4. Demo session report
Hey,
Finally, we're able to send you some news on Belletrix after having our journey
cruelly interrupted by Guy inexplicably breaking his collar bone only a little
more than a month after we started this band and just a couple of weeks after
our first gig at the Rosemount Hotel (and thanks to everyone who came to the
Rosemount show).
For several weeks there hasn't been a whole lot going except for the rest of the band trying to push Guy to lose the sling and play through the pain. Fortunately, he's all better now and we have taken our selves straight to Groovehead studio, ready or not, to get down some demo tracks.
The engineer wasn't particularly impressed with us wanting to record 4 songs in a 6 hour session (they offer a 10 hour block of time where they usually record 1-2 songs), but not only did we do this, we also recorded an extra six songs!.
The 10 tracks that came out of this session are all available on the website as MP3's (until we change our minds!). Just remember that they are quick demo's - some better than others. Two of the tracks we recorded without any vocals because they're that new, most of the tracks have either missing lyrics, timing or pitch problems etc, but they're all there and there are some fucking rockin tunes among them! Find them on the MP3 download page or go directly to www.belletrix.com/belletrix_mp3.html
Our plan is to use 3 or 4 of the best songs for promtional purposes like getting gigs and entering competitions. It shouldn't be long before we'll let you know about our next gig - keep an eye out for it!
That's the quick update. If you have nothing else to do and want to hear more about the demo recording then read on...
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The Session
We didn't really know what to expect of the recording process, other than what
we have read and heard of other people's experiences. We knew that we were wanting
to achieve a huge amount in a very short space of time considering the usual
time allowance of at least half a day per song (this is for demo quality - radio
or cd release quality would require even more time).
Basically we wanted to record four reasonable quality demos to use for promotional purposes, like getting gigs & entering band comps etc and then record as many other songs as possible for our own purposes (like helping us figure out which songs should be developed further).
We didn't allow any time to fix any mistakes, redo or separately record any parts or add overdubs. All in all, this way of working caused several problems but allowed us to get a lot done in the time. Out of the six hours we had to record about 2 hours went on setting up and sound-checking i.e. load-in the gear, set-up the drum kit and instruments, mic the kit, sound-check the kit, mic the guitar, bass & vocals, soundcheck the guitar, bass & vocals, soundcheck everything together etc.
We then recorded the four songs we wanted most: Change My View, Creeping Nowhere,
Things To Do In The Corner & Organic. After that we listened back to the
songs and worked with the engineer to mix all of the individual tracks (ie set
levels for individual instruments) together.
Straight away we could see that it would be worthwhile redoing certain parts
of the songs, but we decided to just use the time to record as many extra songs
as possible.
The Sound
Basically the playing is worse than normal for us (honestly!), but the sound
quality is much better than we could hope to achieve at home, so it was well
worth it. Apart from that, the recordings have a good energy about them that
comes from recording them live.
To get as much done as possible we recorded everything live and in one take. Basically, we all set up in the same room with microphones on everything and played one song after another. The main problem with this approach was that we had to keep the volume of everything uncomfortably low (almost inaudible over the drums) so that the sound of the individual instruments and vocals didn't 'spill' onto the drum microphones. This made it difficult to sing to pitch and play as well as we would have liked.
We're pretty happy with the results really, but it will be even cooler when we get to record these songs properly and give them the time they need. The whole thing was a useful learning experience as well as providing us with some recordings that we can use to spread the word about Belletrix. Let us know what you think...
PS: If you want to download the best (most finished) tracks get the ones with asterisks next to them:
The Tracks
* All This Time of Day
No Antenna
* Been Here
* Change My View
Palm Trees
* Things To Do In The Corner
* Creeping Nowhere
* Died Alive
Climbing Ladders
* Organic
That's it for now. Love to hear your thoughts on any of the songs.
Thanks for listening!
Belletrix
mail@belletrix.com
www.belletrix.com