Couse And The Impossible

The band had been gigging a lot for the previous two years, so we were very tight and well rehearsed. Dave, as the producer, wanted us to capture that energetic, direct performance as much as possible, so we started by setting up as a live band in the large living room in Red Hills and mic-ing everything up. We didn’t use any click tracks in order to maintain the ebb and flow of the songs as they moved through their verses, choruses, quiet and loud sections. From these takes we got our drums and bass down, held on to any guitar stuff that was really good, and proceeded to overdub everything else.

The days were full as we generally did some editing in the morning, guitars and loud things in the afternoon, and a main vocal in the evening. Then food, then more guitars, keys and programming, whatever we felt we wanted to tackle. Being immersed in the world of the album away from everything was a great way to focus, though we needed to be well rehearsed to do things that way. It was an amazing experience, and it cemented my love for recording, performance and production.

The entire album was recorded using an iBook, a MOTU 828MKII Interface, a Presonus ADAT Mic Preamp unit, and a Focusrite Producer Pack. Yep, an iBook! Phil lent us his Quested Audio monitors, a bunch of microphones, and we improvised a talkback and monitoring section using a Spirit Folio F1 desk. We set up our control room across the hall from the large Live Room (the living room!), and we recorded the vocals with a very minimalist vocal booth, using a reflection filter to eliminate the room sound.

Dave and I love our guitars, and he has an amazing collection. There were Telecasters all over the place, as well as a gorgeous 1964 Jazzmaster, a Rickenbacker, and around 6 amplifiers. We set the amps up in a semicircle for fast auditioning of tones, though we rarely used more than one amp simultaneously for any given sound. I also like the idea of trying to capture the sound with a single mic, instead having two or three on there and phasing them in and out with faders and positioning.

Half way though the recording the MOTU interface started to act up, so we had to source another one – thankfully Mike O’Dowd, the drummer in the band, was able to lend us his to get us back in action. Other than that everything went really well, it was lovely to just walk down the stairs in the morning, grab breakfast and coffee, and power everything up. Creativity happened very fast, no barriers.

Back in Dublin Dave and I did some sampling and programming for Little Darlin’, Stars, and The World Should Know, and then it was off to Fergal Davis for mixing. Though the album was recorded in Logic Pro, Fergal was mixing in ProTools, so I exported everything to him, one song at a time. The album took just over a week to mix.

Once released, reception was good from most quarters, and we were thrilled to receive the Meteor Award nominations.