Toomarchyoo - Mother Eel

2 or 3 hours last week, 4 hours today.

The result, a very well balanced rehearsal recording becomes a quite nicely finished track.

Just recording and mixing, with no mastering as the track is to be included on the 2012 Slaughterfest compilation cd (often said to be the only metal compilation accompanying a concert that is worth listening to more than once*). As the recording started out as a rehearsal, the band were using our quantum distortion rehearsal studios and we finished the track in the same space so as to keep the "room sound" and maintain a consistent sound and feel.

Initially, the rehearsal only comprised of two guitars, drums, and noise/feedback. All recorded live, only using a stereo pair to capture the drums and guitars and with a kick mic to reinforce the bass drum. Obviously, some thought and effort was put into placement and levels to get a good balanced room sound. Today the recording was completed by overdubbing bass, four distinct vocal tracks, and two stereo tracks of noise and additional vocals. The additional layers were slightly gain adjusted and panned, and the track was complete.

7 minutes and 20 seconds of Metal with a strong rhythmic drive, pummelling and beautiful textures, and extended experimentation of simple themes. The track apparently started out as a semi-instrumental improvisation based around an evolving drum beat and two notes, and has slowly become a more fixed work.

Look out for Mother Eel at Grindhead Records' Slaughtfest in Sydney in July, 2012.

Ivan and the Backpackers

Blue Mountains hardcore street punks, Ivan and the Backpackers, recently recorded what we believe to be their second release with us. The recordings will be part of a split release with Newcastle's Obat Batuk.

All engineered, recorded, mixed and mastered in one afternoon, by us and Ivan and the Backpackers.

Interesting story, because the lads wanted a solid "old school" punk sound (say, similar to Minor Threat, Black Flag or super early Nirvana), we were forced to strip back and use one of the executive bathrooms to record in. Recorded with 12 channels, mixed down to 8 tracks, and vocals overdubbed at the end. All recorded live in our superior bathroom facilities.

Black Jesus - Fucked...... Live

We recorded Black Jesus live in Sydney at The Valve Bar, on the 9th of March, 2012.

All mixed and mastered by us.

Room sound only, recorded with a stereo pair of SM58s.

Download it, free, from Black Jesus's bandcamp page.

You can also download their other release (which is great, but we had nothing to do with it).

Bok Darklord - post production & mastering

We've been partially involved in Bok Darklord's (that's part Buttress O'Kneel and part Lucas Darklord) latest full length album, Lulu. The album will soon be available through New Weird Australia (NWA - http://newweirdaustralia.com/ ).

For now, their are two "singles", actually digital 7" vinyl records, available for free download from Crypt Designers Guild. Both singles feature entirely different cuts to those that appear on the album.

Just released is the Iced Honey single, featuring Iced honey and Brandenburg Gate ( http://archive.org/details/Iced_Honey ).

Also available is The View single, which features The View and Mistress Dread ( http://archive.org/details/The_View ).

Previous Bok Darklord projects have been a very even affair with the workload and creation split fairly evenly between Buttress and Darklord, this release was created by the two, but edited, assembled and mixed by Buttress O'Kneel.