The album was conceived after the band decided that some of the old magic was still around and they pitched in some ideas and continued rehearsing. If you have read the bio page, you will know that they lost their original drummer (Lindsay) at this early rehearsal stage and were lucky to obtain the services of Andy. Armed with 2 new original songs, (someone else’s eyes and suffered all) they sallied forward and started working on more new material.

The guys were rehearsing at Longrow studio, west Pinchbeck, where Lou and Andy had done some previous recording and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere that proprietor Mike Robinson had created. After it was found that Mike made fantastic tea, the band made the decision to do their recording there as well. The next decision to be made was digital or analogue, mmmmm that was pondered on for a few weeks whilst rehearsing.... and then they went for the new fangled all singing all dancing, no room for error.... DIGITAL. Wow 21st century technology made available to a stuck in the seventies band, ok the flares and the long hair have gone but all the all influences are still there, the boys still love progressive music.

Anyway, song ideas were coming in and some demos were made to help the songs evolve, they were working to a maximum of 24 tracks and so were able to be very creative when the recording started. Lou had asked to produce the album and was very keen on using some connecting tracks that linked the songs together. The album then took on the mantle of a concept album, which all the band got very excited about and all wore baggy trousers for weeks. Half way through the recording Andy brought a new drum kit which he liked better and re-recorded all the drum parts, also Graham had written some piano parts that he wanted to try on a couple of songs. So all in all the tracks were taking a lot longer than first anticipated but nevertheless well worth it.
All the recording started with Bass and drums using guide tracks for guitar and vocals, when they were happy with the drums, Lou redid the bass and then Graham and Dave put down guitar and vocals. After that, all harmony tracks were completed, both vocal and guitar, these were done mainly by Dave and Graham. There were some other tracks to complete, acoustic guitar, percussion, piano and whistling! Dave was the best whistler as you can hear on; In retrospect, as well as his lovely speaking voice, Lou did some acoustic guitar on a couple of numbers, as did Dave and Graham. Piano was some of the last tracks done, all by Graham’s nimble fingers, finally the band did the percussion tracks and they all sat down and had a good listen.

They liked what they heard but they still wanted extra vocals for backing. The boys had worked with Lesley Curtis before and decided to make contact with her to see if she would be interested in singing along, she liked the tracks and said yes. Two more nights of recording were planned and Lesley had completed all the vocal tracks, all was looking good.

Mike had mentioned at an earlier stage of recording that he didn’t mind if the band mixed at another studio, Lou thought this was a good idea as that had already pencilled in SRT for the mastering. Lou found a studio in Boston who used the Pro tools software and made contact with Ross Worth, Dave joined Lou in visiting the studio and both decided to book Alt-Mu studio for the mixing.
Well, they can laugh about it now but the pressure was on, time was now an issue, SRT was booked, and the band set to work.

The Real world had originally booked in to Alt-Mu Studios for four days but they encountered early problems with some of the recorded parts, this was sorted out but these things eat up time and the band realised that they needed another five days to complete. Pro tools is an amazing system and it gives artists amazing flexibility to become creative when recording or mixing, Ross knows the software like the back of his hand, he became invaluable to the band and steered them though the complex avenues of this system.

So with the sweat still dripping off their brows the boys thanked Ross and headed towards St. Ives to SRT for the mastering session, (actually Ross went with them, all part of the service). Mastering is more of a listening experience it’s all about volume and sound frequencies and I’m glad we had an excellent pair of ears by the name of Simon Murphy who engineered the session and did a sterling job.

Ah... Complete at last, no not yet, what about the artwork, design, sleeve notes, etc more work and some of this stuff still needed thinking about. The art work had been planned; Christine Smith had done some lovely watercolours for the cd cover and insert, Ross took on the mantle of designer and handled all the artwork production.
It all went crazy for a few weeks but at last they had a finished album, it was to be called; Welcome to.....

The boys would like to say thanks to all, we couldn’t have done it without you.

There are some photo’s here of Longrow Studio and Alt Mu Studios and more pictures in the gallery.

Mike Robinson can be contacted on 01775 640279.
Alt-Mu Studios (now Boston Recording Studios) 01205 317710 or click here
Sound Resource Technology click here

All for now,

Rothschild

Ps. Lou would like to say, as Ross and I sat on the final night of mixing, the 3 phase power to the whole site went down due to a major fault at the substation at 6pm. Panic stations, as we hadn’t finished and we had to load onto disc. Many, many thanks to the electrician from Eon who was able to fix us up with a temporary supply, which enabled us to finish at 1am and be ready for SRT next morning. He could have walked away but he didn’t, we didn’t get his name as we were in too much of a hurry but he saved the day. Thanks to the unknown sparky.

Mike Robinson at the control desk.

The live room at longrow studio.

The control room at Alt Mu Studios (now called Boston Recording Studios) Ross Worth takes a rare moment out of the chair!

Part of the live room at Boston Recording Studios

Part of the artists lounge at Boston Recording Studios...

...and the rest of it!