"We
see 2000 as an important year for the band" says principal
songwriter and front man Harry Jon Nanos. "We've done a lot
of miles this year playing to as many people as possible. There's
not a lot of local gigs for a country band based in Victoria - you've
got to put the miles in".
"Our last
trip to Tamworth gave us the opportunity to see the broad range
of talent that there is in Australia and the variety of styles that
come under the banner of country - it was inspirational and resulted
in the variety of styles which make up the songs on our new album,
which will be released at Tamworth next year. I love the way country
songs have a story to tell. Our album is no exception. I think I
paid more attention to the lyrical content of the songs this time
around and tried to reflect a bit more of myself and my experiences."
Crakajak's album
was recorded in a manner becoming more popular these days - self
funded and recorded in a home studio using new technologies. "I
was reading Australian Musician
and saw an article on the making of James
Reyne's album and it caught my eye what he was able to achieve."
recalls Nanos. Crakajak enlisted the services of Graham Williams
as producer. Williams had worked with international and local talent
in most of Australia's major facilities including stints as resident
engineer at Paradise, Platinum and Fast Forward (now Gotham).
"When Harry
and I first discussed the project we established the need to go
for a cleaner and more open sound than the last album." Graham
recalled. "That meant we had to be a little more pedantic about
the quality of the process and the sounds themselves. Studio time
is always expensive and Harry always loves to write while he's in
the studio. We decided to have a go at recording it at home".
"We used
a Roland VS1680 and a number of PC software packages as the core
of the recording system. This allowed us to capture basic rhythm
tracks as both audio guides and midi files. The VS1680 performed
flawlessly. The PC was included in the system mainly for editing
and mastering, but also as a backup. Ultimately, it was mainly used
for midi editing and provided a few "moments" when asked
to lock up with VS1680. The VS1680's editing was accurate and efficient.
The effects are great too. I found the user interface difficult
at times but the manuals are very good. Just a few more assignable
buttons and knobs would have been nice. We also had access to a
set of Roland VDrums and a TD-10 Percussion Sound Module. Fantastic
basic sounds with easy editing, good effects, and 8 outs....and
with the VDrums, I got to record MIDI with all the drummer's nuances
captured but retained the ability to edit. Most of the other parts
were recorded with some external processing then direct to the VS1680.
I used a variety of processors but the one that really earned it's
keep was the Behringer MDX2200 compressor/limiter. It's a great
sounding unit with qualities of more expensive units.
"The first
time we all got together to record the rhythm guides, I was blown
away. The first instrument that convinced me we had made the right
choice was the bass. I recorded a minute or so of bass played on
Ian Noyce's amazing one-piece 5 string Dolphin, one of the best
basses I'd recorded. The playback sounded identical. Quiet, clean,
punchy... I guessed the V-Drums were going to be pretty simple to
get a useable sound out of and they were. By the end of the night
we had 5 or 6 great sounding rhythm tracks. The bass is active and
went straight to the Behringer compressor/limiter and then to the
VS1680. We DI'ed an acoustic and recorded a guide vocal through
the other half of the limiter. The audio outs of the TD-10 went
to the 1680 and the midi was recorded along with a 2 track audio
guide on the PC. We overdubbed guitars using FX processors or just
DI's, going for clarity and openness in the sounds. Again the 1680
FX suited the sound we were after. The V-Guitar system uses similar
technology to the TD-10 and many of the "out of the box"
sounds were impressive. Vocals and the acoustic instruments presented
the occasional challenge. I found matching vocal parts one of the
most demanding tasks during the project, simply because digital
is completely unforgiving with it's ability to accurately reproduce
even low level ambience. The mic and the vocalist/instrument had
to nailed to the floor as any positional changes of either were
very easy to detect during overdubs. "
"To put
it into perspective though, this is all happening in my lounge room!
The project was done in a relaxed atmosphere, at our own pace and
achieved technically, damn near as good results as I could have
expected from a "real" studio. Artistically, I don't think
we would have realised anything near as good." concludes Williams
Nanos supports
Graham's take on the process. "Recording an album in a "home
studio" for commercial release was a daunting task at first.
I was unsure of how good the results would be, but not having a
"ticking clock" on studio time gave us the time to experiment
and achieve great results.
"I guess
the ultimate test for us will be how our fans accept the album",
reflects Nanos " and of course how the mass market will judge
it." However, at the start of the project we were very specific
about our objectives. Real country music with clean production and
simple songs that said something and were radio friendly. I think
on all accounts we have achieved this and can be very satisfied
with our efforts. Of course if it is successful and people enjoy
the CD then we'll be even happier."
