Memories of Miss Memory

We arrived in Cologne on Sunday 15th August, a motley crew of worldly individuals hailing from Australia, America, Russia, Spain, New Zealand and England. Each person a producer in their own right, a writer, and a pretty decent individual. Some of us are by comparison, just beginning in the world of music production, the youngsters, others well on their way down the musical path, and then there are the seasoned professionals. Unlike the “college of laid back knowledge” Academy style, the “Class of its Own” aims to bring together like minded individuals with a focus on the music making and practical learning, without the formality of lectures. Our learning was to be had in the recording booth, around the console, in the pre-production rooms, and over the billiard table.

A couple of insights

Its true they say that the more you learn the more you realise there is lots you don’t know. It is possible that we can achieve so much in our lives yet still have much to learn. I like to think that as I grow, so do my questions. So to be able to watch the way others work in the studio, put together tracks and collaborate with others has been an invaluable lesson. The lovely RBMA staff pretty much gave us free reign to do whatever we wanted, very trusting of them, but as there were no rules, the entire experience was also an experiment in self-governance.

The ley of the land

The studio lay out was mouthwatering for any gear head (like myself). There are two live rooms, housing a top of the line drum kit, Rhodes, and microphones, acoustic and electric guitars. A control room housing what I believe to be a Neve console, and a fabulous array of old and new outboard processing. But even so, my favourite room had to be Achtung, or Ghetto room, as named by Theo Parrish. This room had a jaw dropping array of analogue toys, drum machines and synthesisers, all brought together into a 24 channel console. The room even housed a harmonium!

Theo’s mad rush

On the first day, Theo Parrish realised he had to leave by Thursday. He wasted no time in getting started and got together a group of people to start producing a track in the main studio. Even Theo - a seasoned producer, had his eyes open in the studio, asking questions and scratching his head. By the following night he had worked on other five tracks, some of which he invited everybody to collaborate on. One track, dubbed, “the chemistry is meant to be”, turned into a 7 minute epic with almost everybody adding a little touch to it. I helped with the strings and melodies, and added some electronic percussion. When Theo left on Wednesday night/Thursday morning, he had resolved to buy Logic.

Om’Mas

I must make a special mention about Om’Mas and his writing technique. First he has an idea for a song. Then he secures some studio time. From there it was like this, step one, drums, step two, bass, step three guitar, step four vocals. When asked how he writes his vocals, he says he writes them on the spot. Everything is an organic process, all mapped out in his head.

Steve and Mark on the late night shift

After 3am was the Mark Pritchard and Steve Spacek shift. They would turn the Achtung room into their own domain, making music using Commodore 64 emulators and the Moog Voyager, which single handedly became the most used and adored synthesiser during the 10 days.

Roman and Sofie

Roman and I quickly realised the pre production studio was free from 10am till 1pm every day and made this our own quiet time to write some music together and learn about each others style. We both had an understanding regarding each other, being two ambient music producers, and lucky for us Roman had a good grounding in Logic, and I had a great understanding of how to work the studio. Each morning we would connect different drum machines and synthesisers and listen to them, record them, and massage the sounds into soft pieces of music.

The Mizells

Open, caring, modest, the most seasoned and knowledgeable of the group were the most gracious, always considerate of others, offering their abilities to anyone who needed them. They were the epitomy of this idea i mentioned earlier about knowing more means you realise you have more to learn, that learning is a neverending experience that only stops when you close yourself off to it. Working with the Mizells was truly an honour, and each one taught me something and were also open to my ideas. One day, Fonce asked me if I would like to work on some lyrics with him, and together we worked on an idea he had for a song, in Motown shuffle style. We taught the lyrics and melody to Steve Spacek, whom Fonce decided was the perfect singer for the job. It was a moment when we put our musical genres aside to collaborate on a timely tune with a master tunesmith. Fonce writes lyrics from ideas. First he writes down what he wants to get across, then he picks the phrases that will work in a song and forms them into shape, and no rhyming. He’s not a rhyming man.

part 2 coming soon….