The orange amp

We did some more recording the other day. Two things worthy of mention.

First, we used Mike's lovely old Marshall amp (pictured), which I'm particularly fond of simply because it's orange. As I recall, this was the amp that gave us the feedback sounds on Mercury Shuffle (on the last album, Some Of These Numbers Mean Something). This time it gave us some more screaming feedback, which was nice but not why we plugged it in, and some eerie slide guitar parts for an otherwise entirely synth-based piece (a rarity for Darkroom).

Secondly, we tested out another new plug-in that I'm writing. More on that later. For now, know that it sounded awesome and we pretty much wrote a track on the spot based on its sound.

Os, May 2009

Cheap Chinese mics 'r' us

14th May 2008 - the second 'audit' session for the new album, and time for a few overdubs. One track only needed a little extra guitar (it must've only had, like, 10 guitar parts at that point).

Mike had a new cheapo Chinese ribbon mic he wanted to try out - the T.BONE RM700. It's an odd looking thing - like a big metal lollipop. We stuck it in front of Mike's awesome Rivera amp and cranked it up.

The sound is - interesting. Makes things sound a bit old and knackered. Also it turns out there was a nasty resonant buzz on something - maybe the mic, maybe the cab - but fortunately we recorded a DI signal too. You should still be able to hear some of the buzz on the album, where we felt it was tasteful rather than annoying.

os, June 2008