Purvis at Paisley

Recently, myself and my colleagues at Studio Boomhouse and dB Audio were recording Allan Purvis, a Glasgow-based singer songwriter, who chose us to record and release a new 4-track EP! The EP, titled Lovable Scamp, was recorded at the University West of Scotland Paisley Campus and will feature 3 brand new tracks from Allan, as well as a new acoustic cover of his previously released single "Runaways".

My colleagues and I managed to get in contact with Allan and we agreed to record a 4-track EP for release some time this year. Recording began on Monday 2nd March and ended on Wednesday 4th, with the 4 tracks being recorded in Paisley Campus' prestigious Studio A.

Our mixing console was an Audient ASP8024-12 Heritage Edition, and we made use of an outboard featuring a PRO VLA compressor that we utilised on Allan's vocals.

Danny at dB Audio had previously worked on the pre-production with each track, mixing the MIDI-programmed drums, bass, and synths, and keeping some of the previously DI recorded guitar tracks Allan had recorded at home.

This meant that the studio sessions themselves were fairly simple, covering only vocals, acoustic, and electric guitar, however we wanted to ensure only the highest quality from each take, leading to us spending a whole day on a song's instruments.

We began with "Moët", featuring acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and vocals; the song boasts a heavily acoustic-driven melody, similar to that of the Oasis track "She's Electric", ableit with more psychedelic flourishes and sharper bites of electric guitar that can be heard throughout.

"Moët" proved to be the easiest song for us to tackle, as it was the most acoustic-driven and the electric guitar sections were nowhere near as complicated as later tracks; we used a Marshall MXL 990 and RE20 Electrovibe for the acoustic guitar, in order to give it the maximum depth for the recording, the MXL 990 being placed at the twelfth fret for the higher frequencies from the strings themsevles and RE20 placed at the acoustic sound hole to capture the deeper resonance, leading to us achieving a wide and detailed acoustic guitar sound that helps drive the song with a perfect blend of low-mid to high frequencies.

All microphone setups used for each instrument were kept for each song overnight; this would prove handy for the next two days of recording when we tackled "Trouble" next.

"Trouble" is the standout single for the EP, as Allan and I had discussions about which song we should make a music video on. Initially I considered "Moët" or "Runaways", however "Trouble" stuck out to me as a song with an important lyrical message that the others shared but didn't display quite as powerfully.

The song displays this powerfully through it's synth-driven intro and it's hard-hitting distorted guitars and vocals.

The vocal microphone setup is quite unorthodox, as we utilised a Shure SM57, an AKG C214, and an Electrovoice RE20, all taped together in order to have each recording from each mic be phase-coincident, ensuring no comb filtering or phasing issues during playback of the vocal takes.

The reason for this unusual vocal mic setup is that we aimed to have Allan's vocals have a slight radio effect similar to them being played through a bullhorn or an old radio speaker, but also to add clarity and allow for us to have a variety of takes to choose from, with each mic offering a different characteristic imprint that was placed on Allan's vocals.

Electric guitars were much simpler, being recorded with a Sennheiser MD421 and a Shure SM57 through a VOX guitar amp and my own Boss ME-80 Multi-FX Pedalboard. Tonally we desired a crunchy tone that had enough grit to it to give it a slight edge to cut through the mix, but not too much to turn them full on heavy metal/hard rock guitars.

"Trouble" and "Last Chance Saloon" were the two tracks to feature these more gritty guitar tones, as the electric guitars on "Moët" were much cleaner and more psychedelic with a slight flourishing of flange, chorus, and uni-v.

"Runaways" featured no electric guitars as this was the acoustic cover for the EP, however it was still synth-driven to add a very Charlie XCX/Circa Waves vibe. We opted to make this track sound massive like the rest, but through synths as opposed to distorted guitar, meaning that while it is an acoustic cover, it is more focused on synth-driven hooks and melodies.

Our time recording Allan ended on Wednesday 4th March when we tracked "Last Chance Saloon", an electronic rock song that we think ends the EP and the studio sessions perfectly.

With the recordings done, Danny at dB Audio was taking care of the mixing stage, and I had work to do on the music video for "Trouble". Stay tuned for a new blog post talking about the making of the video, and stay safe!

- M3