How did you get into recording?
UC: I first started recording bands while living and studying in Oxford. This was in 2003 I think. I had my own studio setup in my house and used to bring bands in there to record. I recorded many great Oxford bands during this time including Witches, Popular Workshop and Xmas Lights. After finishing my degree in Sound Technology I moved to Reading to manage Keynote Studios, where I was also house engineer. Some of the bands I engineered / assisted were The Face, Harry Angel, Dial F For Frankenstein, EXP, Dub The Earth, Loose Grip, International Jetsetters, Action and Action, and more. I also worked with other producers including Dave Eringa (Manic Street Preachers, Starsailor, Kylie Minogue) and Adam Whittaker (The Damned, Amy Winehouse, The Doves).
How do you prefer to work?
UC: I like to check out the band beforehand, preferably by seeing them live or just hearing some previous recordings. I’ll chat with the band about what they aspire to musically, and get an idea of their setup prior to recording. This is an important stage for me as it makes the band feel more at ease and helps me get an idea of what they’re after. I’ll get an idea in my mind about what mics I’ll want to use etc, a method of working. These days I’m all about organic! I like to work with the band to create the sound they want, trying to maintain a live feel and energy using modern recording techniques where appropriate. I love the sound of ambient mics in recordings. As a rough guide I try to stick to 2 songs a day. I find this is optimal quality-wise. I do prefer to record as much live instrumentation as possible, to retain energy and feel. I overdub the rest where that isn’t possible to achieve decent separation in the mix.
Is there a particular style of music you prefer to record?
UC: I’m pretty flexible and have worked with all genres of music from indie bands through hip-hop and rappers, jazz through metal. But my love is recording live bands who have their own sound and vision, with a wide open sound and plenty of dynamics.
Is it just bands?
UC: That’s what I would be doing 24/7 if I had the chance, but as I said before I’m pretty flexible to work with singers, rappers, solo instrumentalists and the like!
Can you play us a few of your recent projects and talk us through them?
Umair Chaudhry Producer Interview Clips by Silverstreetstudios
UC: Sure! First off is a local band I worked with called New Age Riot. They are a talented bunch of young lads who create great atmosphere and depth with their music, it’s the second time I’ve worked with them. I would loosely describe them as “shoegaze” with an atmospheric rock element. They spent two days in the studio with me and recorded 3 songs. On the first day I recorded drums with guide tracks, but kept the DI bass in the final mix. I sometimes can get a good enough bass sound this way by just putting it through an amp simulator. I used my standard mic setup on the drums with 57s on the snare, EV N/D468s on the toms, EV N/D 868 on the kick (I love this mic on kick I find it gives a nice, natural rounded sound), Octava MK-012s as overheads and a pair of SE R1 Ribbons as an ambient pair. I used the ribbons extensively on the guitars to add breadth and open things up. They recorded to a click, but I’m not too rigid with that. They went out of time toward the end of one track but it sounded fine and had loads of energy so I left it like that! I’m pretty happy with the recordings, they’ve commented on how I managed to capture their sound live.
Next we have an Oxford band called Undersmile. They have been described as “sludge rock” or “doom” and are getting plenty of praise at the moment from followers of the genre. They have an interesting lineup being made up of two couples, fronted by the two girls Taz and Hel. They spent 2 days with me and recorded 2 very long songs, averaging 12 minutes each! We got drums done on the first day (standard mic setup) with everything else as a guide. I like to get the whole band performing as they would live, even if I don’t keep everything as I feel it really reflects on the energy. I know some studios don’t bother recording the whole band, using only one or two guides (usually guitar) but I like to see the band bounce off each other as they play and give a more impassioned performance. I then proceeded to overdub the bass using two mics on a cab, guitars using 2 close and 2 ambient and finally vocals. I used the M-Audio Solaris for vocals, I find it has a lovely airy quality which is nice on female vocals. We didn’t hold back with the reverb on vox as it really added to the spooky element of the songs. I used a Marshall JCM800 plus 4 x 12 cab with the guitars, got a really warm and crunchy sound out of that. To add even more scope to the guitars I used aux sends to a separate channel with added tube distortion and Eq’ued it differently which really fattened up the sound. I don’t tend to use layers and layers of guitar in my work, usually find that 2 close and 2 ambient mics works fine for me and gives enough depth. Overall I think the recordings sound crunchy, warm and wide which is what I set out to achieve.
Finally is a band from Slough who used to be popular round here in the 80s. Their name is Deathpop, they reformed recently and I would describe them loosely as “punky swamp-rock”. They enjoyed airplay on John Peel back in the day releasing music on their own Twinkle Records label. They recorded 7 or 8 songs and it was great fun working with them. They have 2 guitarists, bass, drums, a singer and a sax player! I recorded drums on the first day as usual with everything else as guides. Using a pair of Radioshack PZMs as ambient mics, I captured the drums and guitars which I had fairly high in the mix. I also close mic’d the guitars using my standard combo of dynamic and condenser mics. Had a lot of fun recording feedback in one song, both bassist and guitarist were in the live room practically worshipping the power of guitar! Bass was direct in, and I used a 57 on the Sax. On his vocals I used the Solaris again with a touch of reverb. Nice and simple, got a lush organic sound in the end! (The band wanted to mix the songs themselves, but here’s a mix of one of their songs I did for demonstrative purposes).
What else would you like to add?
UC: We’ve just acquired some new ribbon mics in the studio, I’m having a great time using them!
Silver Street Studios
