Josaka - Berkshire live music, indie record label, gig promoter

Creative Controller

Posted: Mon, 06 Jul 2009

Creative Control Studio is perched inside the impressive grounds of Bracknell's South Hill Park. Housed within a brick oblong-shaped building on the edge of the car park, you could be forgiven for thinking it a generator room or an unused potting shed, but once inside the soundproofed doors you find yourself in a comfortable control room and within that kind of deadened, warm atmosphere that only good recording studios contain.

Sat behind the controls we find Al Heslop, twenty-something in-house engineer and studio manager. Josaka grilled him on his recording philosophy.

Josaka: How did you get into recording?

Al Heslop: I think years of engineering at live shows helped to fuel my ambition to start getting into studio work, along with the fact that I was often disappointed with the quality of demos that I heard from local bands, and bands I'd played in, and perhaps believed with a certain arrogance that I could "do better". I guess music production and working with music is something I've been interested in from an early age too.

J: You currently play guitar in Berkshire band 'Heights'; does being in a band affect the way you interact with the people you record?

AH: I think it helps, in the respect that you've been in their shoes before, so perhaps you're a little more conscious and respectful of their position. Recording can be an emotional and sometimes stressful process.

J: Does the experience of being in a band mean that you favour a certain kind of technique when recording?

AH: I think simply recording band after band means you're constantly adapting and reinventing the way you work. If you're in a band, it's a bonus as you can practise your skills on your own band. For rock, metal, indie etc, I favour overdubbing as I feel live recordings are always going to be a compromise; if one person messes up, you may have to start again and you need everyone to perform to the best of their ability. For things like jazz, which is more of a conversational form of music, I don't think you can beat recording an ensemble live.

J: So you're not an advocate of getting a band in a room and letting them play - you're more interested in purity of sound, would you say, than a performance, as such?

AH: I guess it ultimately depends on the genre and what type of product the band is looking for. If the band were very tight, I wouldn't totally rule it out, but generally I favour tracking separately, for bands at least. I feel it leads to a tighter, more focused recording. In terms of the performance, tracking individually actually allows each player their chance to give the best performance of their instrument, as you're unlikely to gain a flawless performance from each individual in a live performance.

Purity of sound is a factor to consider, as live recordings can lead to spill problems, unless you have the luxury of several rooms to record in, I must add that not all musical styles should be recorded in this manner and it's a subjective thing; I'm only going from experience of recording bands, not classical works or jazz etc.

J: In your opinion, what is the most important aspect of getting a good record?

AH: Getting good takes is key. I think its important to get the best of out the musician, getting the best possible take that you can for the song and getting a good "vibe"; retaining the energy that a live band creates is a big challenge. I favour keeping things realistic, rather than overproducing with millions of guitar tracks and little things that are barely audible, cluttering up a mix. I prefer real drums over triggered drums, for example, as I feel they tend to suck the life out of recordings and of course getting a good mix is crucial.

J: You also favour using click tracks?

AH: I do indeed. Some bands are often intimidated or annoyed at the idea of a click track, but most of the time it really is vital in getting a cohesive performance, for most styles of music, obviously there are situations where a click is not needed, going back to Classical and Jazz etc.
There are usually points in a song, where a musician needs to drop in to a section or a vocal is "a capalla", in these scenarios there needs to be a reference. Not only that, but when everything is "locked in" with the click, sonically things will become more cohesive, its hard to explain, but most bands "get it" after hearing what affect the click has on a recording. I always try to reinforce the idea of playing "with" the click, rather than "to" the click, there are ways of playing with a click without it being noticable, that comes with experience. A click is also vital for editing audio, which inevitably has to occur occasionally.

J: Have you ever had any major disagreements with any of your clients?

AH: No major disagreements yet, luckily, but there really is no room for aggression and bad karma in the studio, so I think you have to compromise. If I have a strong opinion I'll make it known, but won't force anything if the artist has a strict idea of what they want to do, good communication is key really.

J: What's your favourite piece of equipment you own?

AH: Probably my Prism AD/DA converter, as it makes everything sound good from the get go, so you don't need to faff about as much when it comes to mixing, but I think everything in the chain plays it part, most of all the musician.
J: What are you working on at the moment?

AH: The biggest projects would be finishing an album for Basingstoke based prog/indie kinda band called "Primate", another album for Wokingham pop/rock band "Trio Spongo", an I'm midway through an album for folk artist "Anthea Neads".

J: What are you hoping to do in the future?

AH: Just to keep going really, there are some great new bands coming out these days, especially in the South East, and I've got some projects coming up that I'm really looking forward to. I think with the slight downscaling of major studios some higher profile bands are now been sent to smaller studios, so we'll wait and see!

Al Heslop has run the Creative Control studio since January 2008 and has previously worked with the likes of Rise, Spectrum 7, All Things Considered, Johnny Arrow and The Cheap Day Returns and Girl Afraid. Contact him at creativecontrol@live.co.uk