Our first official recording! In 2021 we received the gentlemen of R.A.T., a trio consisting of drums, bass and guitar. Fine rock music, inspired by the (late) classics. The band did two sessions, the first engineered by Rogier Grossman, the second by Kees Luijt. In addition to the audio recordings, the studio was also used as a backdrop to record three videos. With very nice results!
In the studio, the goal was to get as much of a live feel as possible. The basis of the tracks were therefore played together, with drums in the large live room, bass via DI and guitar amps in the vocal booth. The drums, a Ludwig kit, were mic’ed using a classic Glyn-Johns setup, to get an open, punchy drum sound. In addition, spot mics were placed on all drums for extra control. We made extensive use of room mics to capture the heavy, full sound of the kick and kit. A Neumann M149 tube mic and a stereo pair of MD441’s towards the wood of the studio walls provided the right energy. Bass was initially recorded through a Rupert Neve DI, and later re-amped through a Hiwatt bass amp. The guitars were recorded directly with Ampeg, HOOK and Marshall amplifiers, amongst others. To accentuate its tone, the Ampeg was mic’ed using a combination of SM57 and Royer 121, the Marshall with a combination of SM7b and AEA Nuvo. A few overdubs were done in the studio, after which the band finished the vocals and mixing elsewhere. All audio was recorded through the SSL Origin, to ProTools. CAPI VP28 pre-amps were used for overheads, rooms via Vintech Audio x73i preamps and “crushed” with a Chandler TG-1 limiter.