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mrben - recording the album part one
Day one @ level 7 studios Sydney, we head in to start tracking drums on Sunday 21st of October 2008. With 8 hours up our sleeve we needed to get at least 6 tracks down, you are also hearing rough / guide guitar / bass & vocals in this and other clips. With Jamie Sullivan Engineering drums for the day, we were pretty happy with the awesome vibe that was at the studio. Lindsay Rimes, our Producer was there to smack us all around and make sure that what we had discussed and recorded in pre-production was being laid down on the day. Click Below to Visit mrben's You Tube Site
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mrben - recording the album part two
Day ten, Ben thought it was a good idea to capture a moment in the car whilst driving down to Song Rimes studio, excited as he was it doesn't really show on this video but with only a mobile phone with video recording capabilities, every moment captured was another remembered. At this point of the production, we were all focusing on the track "One Man" as it was always going to be the first single from the debut album, it still might just be the first single yet with so many other strong sounding songs to come we were hoping that every song is going to become a "hit", as you do really when your hyped up this much. Click Below to Visit mrben's You Tube Site
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mrben - recording the album part three
We don't expect anyone to be really blown away with the quality of these video recordings by now but hey, it seemed like a good idea at the time. We only wish we could of got our act together and officially documented every step of the album journey, but like many other success stories, sometimes it can be as crappy as to watch yet still gives you the idea. As annoying as a click track is, it's like training wheels, you kinda need them and so by sticking with it & playing away with it bashing your ear drum apart, the results always speak for themselves. In case you haven't noticed, we are still tracking guitars for "One Man" Click Below to Visit mrben's You Tube Site
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mrben - recording the album part four
Day 23, Leighton heads in to start recording bass parts. Sure it displays a little progress from the drum beds & guitar tracks but it highlights the phrase by phrase recording approach that really worked well for us. Lindsay our (Producer) remarks, "yeh man" this is going to "rock" Everyone is somewhat known for having a saying or "signature" quote yet this one wins the race I'm afraid. "Yeh Man..... Absolutely" was the calling card & foundation of our studio lingo, when ever we agreed on something, or just felt like speaking, "Yeh Man..... Absolutely" were the words to use, cheers Lindsay, we do love you! Click Below to Visit mrben's You Tube Site
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mrben - recording the album part five
Day 30 "something" lost count by now, but it was around 2-am from memory & we were not going to stop at this time. There isn't a lot of guitar solos going on throughout this album yet if there was going to be one, we wanted it to be a good take, and so after 13 or so, we decided that this one was "it". With the original guide guitar / bass & vocal tracks still sitting in the mix, we were chopping up a few "OK" takes with some real "winners". We all loved how "Autobiography was starting to take some shape. Click Below to Visit mrben's You Tube Site
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mrben - recording the album part six
Day 40.....ish now & don't forget that we weren't working everyday on this project, with all of us busy with work commitments etc, time in the studio was made up of late random nights and every 2nd / 3rd weekend with plenty of gaps in between to get this done. At this stage, a little "cabin" fever had set in and every little thing was amusing to say the least. Lindsay our Producer was very proud of a few tiny "edits" AKA chop chop of drums & guitars to get this very tight section in the song "The Last Time". As you can see from his reaction, he was very impressed with how it was coming along. We loved the idea too. Click Below to Visit mrben's You Tube Site
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mrben - recording the album part seven
Leighton's most loved track on the album here, it really shows his true "funk" colours and skill to slap his way throughout the entire track. There's always some serious glue in most great songs and without a doubt, the simplistic chord structure of this song is purely driven by the Bass. There were many different approaches laid down that night and they were all gold, we just had to find that special take, and we did. As a passenger, Ben was very much enjoying a few cold ones as it was his night off from recording hence the stupid faces pulled towards the end of this very short clip. None the less, we were having a ball. Click Below to Visit mrben's You Tube Site
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mrben - recording the album part eight
Now heading down the path of "embellishments" post all of the recordings we wanted to get a sort of dark slight 80's "Simple Minds" texture on top of our favorite track "A Memory" we added a few strat over dubs with chorus.....yes, chorus with a few keyboard route notes on top. We were not complaining with the outcome. Again, you will see how happy Lindsay was by his "air drums" in the bridge section, mind you it was completely warranted and if I wasn't holding the camera, I mean crappy phone, I would of been doing it too. Click Below to Visit mrben's You Tube Site
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mrben - live at the bald faced stag part one
First gig back from the album recording, we have a new addition to our live show. Greg Hodgins (percussion) adds an amazing colour to our new songs, we knew we needed something extra and he most certainly delivers all that we were searching for. The song "Murder" featured in this clip is one of Ben's favorites and with Jeff & Leighton giving their very best performances "every-time" we hope that we have backed up all the hard work from the studio & re-created the new vibe on stage. Click Below to Visit mrben's You Tube Site
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mrben - live at the bald faced stag part two
This clip of the track "Stand" is one of Jeff's favorite songs, especially towards the end of the song it seems to just move him in certain ways. Mind you, this would be the first time that Ben has ever played his acoustic guitar live & standing up so you may see him appear to be slightly out of his comfort zone. Our sound guy "Andy" loves the "loud" button and a little vocal delay, no complaints all round here as you can here the raw from the P.A serving the audience well with volume and intensity. We all felt natural, comfortable and so happy to be back on the stage performing our new material, hope you do too. Click Below to Visit mrben's You Tube Site
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mrben - live at the bald faced stag part three
Apart from the slight speeding up half way through in the verse, this song "The Last Time" is Leighton's run way to go nuts with his bass lines. The choke, pause and overall angry parts make this track aggressive & intense but it's not one for dancing along too. Overall, we have developed some kind of mutual swing type of dancing movement on stage here of which is just driven by the parts throughout this song. The truth is that this "golden oldy" has been re-recorded purely because it "rocks" and we love to perform it live. Hope to see those watching wanting to come and see it for themselves sometime soon! Click Below to Visit mrben's You Tube Site
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