cheddatom

I take the same approach, if the band are up to it

Another day, another session, drummer turns up without a ride, no worries, I'll loan a cheaper one from my collection, even though I specified to bring cymbals. Wants to play to a click but can't do it. Hits one of my clip on condenser mics and tries to fix it himself, won't admit to hitting it. Thankfully the mic is fine else the session fee would be wiped out! Oh well, it takes all sorts and I've got to pay the rent!

I'd have let you record on the street! Whatever it takes to get the best performance is my mantra

Mix notes/revisions can be good. I once had a band record 4 songs with me. I'd double tracked each of two guitarists' rhythm parts. Guitarist A was hard left and slight right, guitarist B was hard right and slight left. The band sent me a 4 page PDF document of mix revisions, one page per song. For each song, they'd just copied and pasted the same 4 bullet points. One of the points was "The guitars should be stereo". Having explained the concept of "stereo", and after explaining that it's not possible to turn up every component in a mix, I thought we were making real progress. I was pretty happy with the result, then I got another message "Now that you've mixed the instruments correctly, we can concentrate on the vocals. We'd like you to give them more of a hard rock edge"

great points there BRX On the first proper session I did as a bassist, the engineer wouldn't let me use my own distortion pedal. That was a big influence on my attitude to the whole process. I'll basically do whatever the client wants, within reason. I've done whole albums in a day, recorded totally live, and I've spent several days all on one single. I don't want to impose my views/sounds on other people's music

Loads, I really don't mind the instrument faults, I have decent guitars and basses for people to use, and spare strings. It is tough when they can't play what they've written though. It can be so frustrating for the player, and obviously I want to offer to play it myself, but don't want to offend or patronise. It can be quite a tense situation. Quite often the parts will get simplified.

A keys player, it was a "live" session to be fair, and he needed a fair bit of room. I didn't mind making more room for him! I just figured musicians would know not to move mics in a recording studio

I was working with a metal band once, and the drummer insisted on tempo changes for every different riff. Basically he wanted the tempo for each beat to be as fast as he could possibly play it. I tried my best to get them (the whole band) to agree to a more consistent tempo but they wouldn't be told. This same drummer then went out of time with the metronome. When I stopped the take he asked why I'd stopped it, and I explained that he'd crossed the bar and was nowhere near the click. He said "the click must have gone out of time"

My guitar was on a guitar stand next to me in the control room. I use it to work out notes when I'm tuning vocals. I was doing that with this guy's vocals. I'd put it down for a minute while I carried on synchronising the double-tracked vocals, and that's when I heard him playing it behind me. No big deal it just seemed a bit rude. If it was on a stand in the live room next to the other studio instruments I wouldn't expect anyone to ask before playing it

It wasn't the drummer!

I had a singer tell me there was none of his mic in the headphone mix. He insisted, "come and try for yourself!!!", took the headphones off, and feedback screamed because I'd pushed the mic so high in the headphone mix.

Another guy this weekend moved my drum overhead mics because they were in his way. When I explained that they needed to be where they were he said "What, exactly there, right in my way?", even though he had loads of other space to use

I run a recording studio in Stoke and I thought it might be good to document some of the more amusing episodes, and get other perspectives on it too I've done some work with a local band. They book me as a producer, but as soon as they arrived, their frontman said "You've got your work cut out for you today, you'll be recording 7 full tracks". Not long after, I clarified "so, you're the producer today, right, I'll just be the engineer?" and he was quite happy with that. He wasn't very happy with the end product and so had to book back in to re-do rushed vocals etc. which was predictable. After every vocal take, I would say something like "cool" or "OK" just to indicate the end of the take. He would take it as a compliment and thank me. Towards the end of the vocal session, he picked up my guitar and started to play it without asking. Is this normal behaviour?

Wroot Rocks in Wroot near Doncaster on Friday night. It wasn't packed but there were plenty in. Apparently quite a few couldn't make it due to closed roads etc. caused by the weather. Abdoujaparov were on first and I loved it. It's just super tight, quirky rock and roll really, but a great show. They're fronted by Les Carter of Carter USM fame and he's a lovely bloke. Our set went really well, we sold plenty of merch and signed lots of stuff so that's a win. The promoter here really takes care of the bands with food and drink etc. A long drive back in the rain managed to kill the van not long after the dropped me off. I really hate the van, nicknamed Vantanamo for it's lack of leg room, cupholders, fans in the back... the list goes on, so fingers crossed this is terminal and we can get something I actually fit in! Here's a terrible low light photo from just before we started. Saturday in Corby at the Ex Servicemen's Club, which was very "pheonix nights". The venue was too big for the audience really, only about 40 people turned up, which is cool in a small venue, but this was a big old room with loads of horrible echoes. It sounded alright anyway, and everyone seemed to love it.

I've played so many gigs where I think it's too loud, but I've never felt able to ask the sound engineer to turn it all down. I have asked for them to turn down the on stage levels, but sometimes in a small venue, the FOH is so loud you don't even need stage monitors. The problem is, if you're telling the engineer it's all too loud, then you're basically telling them how to do their job, and they're going to hate that. I wonder how people without crippling British Politeness handle it

Esquires in Bedford on Thursday. The stage is pretty small so Ferocious Dog very kindly agreed to share drum shells. The room was absolutely packed. It seemed to take a few songs for them to really get into us, but after a few they were all bouncing along. Ace gig The Boiler Shop in Newcastle on Friday night. We played here once before supporting New Model Army. It's a huge place and so well done, super cool. Ferocious Dog had managed to sell this one out so we played to a huge crowd. Best gig for ages

It's quite common for our bassist to suggest adjusting the tempo of a song while we're playing it, live on stage. If I agree we slowly ramp it that way together. It works really well! I'd love to play to a click live but I just don't think it'd work for this band. The occasionally random arrangements would be very difficult to do

I play a lot of drums, and I really like playing with a click. It gives me a sense of freedom, or relieves me of a responsibility. The fact is the excitement of a gig can really mess with your perception of time. I'm getting better at it all the time, but still sometimes play a song too fast. It doesn't feel too fast when I'm behind the kit! But everyone lets me know afterwards obviously!

Friday night was The Robin 2 in Bilston supporting the Steve Ignorant band, who are incredible. I used their drummers shells, and it was impossible to get the rack tom into anything like a normal position for me. I played the same kit every night on our tour last year but maybe I'd just gotten used to it. Anyway, I kept missing it but it didn't seem to make a bit of difference. We went down really well with the crowd and definitely won some new fans. Afterwards, I bought myself and the roadie a 9" pizza and a can of coke each, for £11, which is the cheapest gig food I've ever bought, AND it was good! I watched the whole of Steve's set and loved it. We got back to Stoke around 1AM. Driving home from there I saw a tall guy stumbling around right near a main road. He looked really messed up so I pulled over to check on him. When I got closer I realised I actually knew the guy from the local music scene! Obviously I gave him a lift, but unfortunately he lives at the opposite end of the city to me so that added another hour on to my bed time. Bed at 3AM The same line-up on Saturday at Corporation in Sheffield. This time Carole Hodge from the Steve Ignorant band got up to do her guest part on one of our songs (she did it on the record too) and it was brilliant! The venue and crew were fantastic and the sound was the best we've had for ages. I had to pose for photos and sign stuff for people I'd not seen before, so I guess we did well. I watched a good bit of Steve's set again. I'd highly recommend checking them out, even if you don't like Crass. They're amazing performers. Bed at 2AM The Tivoli in Buckley on Sunday. We played there a month ago supporting The Undertones, and the sound guys were the same. We used the exact same gear. Last time sound check took 5 minutes and the result was great. This time there were constant issues with feedback, they didn't like how I'd tuned my drums etc. Anyway, we muddled through and the sound out front was apparently brilliant. We had to hang around to watch Ferocious Dog's set afterwards, and they are sh*t hot musicians, but I really don't like the music, and there was no decent beer at the bar. Next time I'll bring more for the dressing room! Bed at 2AM I'm tired now

Saturday night at Redrum in Stafford. A charity fund raiser for North Staffordshire Hunt Saboteurs. The sound engineer started talking about the resonant frequencies of the room, and how terrible the monitors are before we'd even loaded in. He didn't like that we didn't have in-ears, he didn't like that my snare drum isn't damped, he said the bass rig was too loud before the bassist had played a note, and he lost his mind when our guys insisted on using their own vocal mics. SM58s. I realise other mics might be preferable, and sharing mics might save time, but we've been through covid, and there's no way we'll be sharing mics again. Anyway, the room was packed and we played well. The mosh got a little over the top at one point but no-one was hurt. Apparently they raised £1500 which is great!

We played Viking Fest on Saturday which was basically a big wake for a guy known as Viking on that particular festival scene. We went on at 10:30 and played until midnight. I was already too tired when we went on! We play a few festivals at this venue Hilcote Country Club and I really don't like it. You're set up on the dance floor, then there are some steps up to a higher level where some people sit but you can't really see them. Anyway, a low pressure gig and it's always fun to play.

Yardi Gras festival at The Brit Bar in Weston-super-Mare on Sunday night. Terrible weather all day and the stage is outdoors in a semi-covered smoking area. We were promised hot pizzas would be there when we arrived but all we got was a begrudging apology and a free pint. Very cramped conditions, 15 minutes change-over between bands. I opted to use the house kit, our bassist went with the house bass rig, we were ready to go in 5 minutes but the sound guy took his time meaning 2 songs were cut from our 45 minute set. I reckon we played to 25 people at the most. It's a bit frustrating travelling all the way from Stoke for a gig like this, but we stayed positive, won some new fans, sold some merch, and enjoyed a few van-beers on the way home. I'm still starving though! I've not seen any photos but there was a woman stood to the side of the stage filming me (not the whole band) for at least 2 full songs. Very weird if a little flattering.

People cover a few of my band Headsticks' songs, but I only play the drums so no writing credit for me. One band actually recorded a Headsticks cover with me in my studio though, that was weird

I was on bass in a 3 piece band and we were so f*cking good it was a nailed on certainty. We desperately sent demos and press packs, signed with various promoters and managers. Nothing ever really happened but that wasn't my problem, I just had to keep getting better at the bass and it'd all take care of itself... then the drummer left and I was suddenly confronted with the reality of the situation. We were never going to get anywhere. Anyway, that lead to me switching to drums and I'm having a great time in the most successful band I've ever been in. We've got pretty far without any "deal" although hopefully we're going to get some help to push the next album. None of us think we're going to "make it" but a lot of our fans think we already have

I had a word last night but I think they thought I was being sarcastic