Back at Real World Studios

It’s always a pleasure to record at Peter Gabriels wonderful Real World Studios in Box, and last week I was in there for a few days tracking with some wonderful musicians. We had bass player Charlie Jones from Goldfrapp and the pianist/composer Daan Temmink, plus Cameron Jenkins from Stranger Records at the helm as our producer. Recording direct to tape is always an amazing experience and I had forgotten just how warm it makes the instruments sound, especially the drums. I was using my 1967/68 Ludwig Super Classic in white marine pearl, 22″ bass drum, 13″ tom & 16″ floor tom, with 3 different snare drums. They were my DW Collectors 14″x 7″ hit maker snare drum which just seems to sound great on any project. My 14″ x 5″ WMP 1967 Ludwig Jazz Festival which was a joy to play, I have not recorded with this drum for ages and it sounded awesome on the track. Finally, we used my 1967 Ludwig 400 which is an industry standard in the studio, mine is a little battered but it has such character and provides the goods every time.

The singer/songwriters material was along the lines of Johnny Cash/Blue Nile, and once again I found I was channeling my inner Ringo. The songs were fabulous and seemingly simple but the drums had to provide plenty of dynamics, shape, but never get in the way. So channeling Ringo, Mick Fleetwood, Steve Gadd and Jim Keltner is always a good place to start for me while working on this kinds of material.

The results will be released at some point along the way in the shape of an album, I am not disclosing the artist as yet but in time I will be able to.