I thought it would be cool to document some of the sessions I do - and what better time to do one, after the recent release of the Palomino Party EP II (iTunes / Spotify / SoundCloud)? We recorded all the drums, bass and some of the guitars at Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, Wales. We were in the smaller of the two spaces at Rockfield, the Coach House (vs the Quadrangle), which has a pretty cool/tight sounding room, with some extra mics sprawled out into the corridor and a nearby marble room for differing levels ambience. This room was used to record the Oasis' What's the Story Morning Glory, and like, a bunch of other stuff.

The main desk was a Neve 8128 (which likely had a dodgy channel buggering up one of the overhead mics - noticed only once the session was over, of course), not a whole bunch of outboard gear, but some nice EQs. We were lucky to find a decent/tatty old AC30 there so took advantage of that, and used an old Marshall Lead-Bass through a vintage 4x12 for some bass, plus the amps we took.

I get asked about different mic setups, so here they are. The vocals and more guitars were done at my studio, but I'll give the vocal chain too:

Drums:

Overheads: 2 x B&K 4011 (or DPA if you’re fussy)
Kick In: Sennheiser 421
Kick Out: Neumann FET 47 & Yamaha NS10 Sub
Snare Top: Sennheiser 441
Snare Bottom: AKG 414
Toms: Sennheiser 2 x 421
Hi-Hat: AKG C451
Corridor Mics: 2 x AKG 414
Marble Room Smash Mics: 2 x Sennheiser e606

Bass:

1) DI via 1176
2) Sansamp DI
3) Marshall Lead & Bass 1964 though Marshall 4x12 -> Neumann FET 47

Guitars:

Vox AC30: Shure SM57 + Neumann U67
Marshall JTM30 and Fender Hot Rod Deluxe: Shure SM57 + Neumann U87

Vocals:

Shure SM7 -> Great River ME-1NV -> 1176