A quick glance behind the curtain!
April 2022. It seems like a long time ago now. The news across the media was all about Boris Johnson apologising for attending a party during lockdown. But really, the big event was The Bustling Tram Society heading to the studio to start recording their upcoming EP!
It’s Studio time!
We talked in more detail about the recording itself in our update blog a few months back. And to summarise, the recording process, barring a few rocky moments, went fairly smoothly overall and we’re super pleased with the result even if it took a little longer than we’d envisaged.
So who are the players?
Our line-up was very similar to the original Mariana’s Café line-up; Dan Western once again took to the skins to lay down the infectious grooves that pervade the EP. We welcomed Paul Jeffries on double bass to add his luscious, deep and velvety bass lines. I played all the guitar parts and Anna Stewart was once again laying down her dreamy and poignant vocals.
Recording was spread over a few days and completing the EP in its entirety spread itself over a few months. So a little longer than planned!
From the studio to the finished EP
Although most of the recording took place in April/May 2022, that was only the first phase. Next we had to start the mixing, which is where we get all the levels in balance, and then finally the mastering, where we bring it altogether as a finished EP.
Damon Sawyer was the recording engineer this time and he also took on the mixing and mastering duties. I think you can really hear the difference in this recording compared to Mariana’s Café, but what do you think? Can you hear a difference and which do you prefer?
I always think these parts of the process will take less time than they actually do, so in the end, it wasn’t until September that we actually received the finished files. It was quite a moment of elation too as it was the culmination of a lot of hard work spread over many months!
What else needed pulling together?
So we had the music files, but to release it as an EP we needed artwork, which is where Deborah Pryn comes in and you can read more about her and her art here. Deborah was recommended by a mutual friend and we’re so glad that we hired her as we love the artwork she created!
Deborah was working on this in the early part of the summer, listening to early mixes of It’s Clear to get the feel of our music, which from talking to her, is an essential ingredient in her artistic process.
We had given Deborah a fairly detailed brief of the sort of painting we wanted, so it was no surprise that when Deborah sent us her final masterpiece, it was exactly what we had hoped for and we simply fell in love with it. All we then had to do was add our logo and titles and voila, the EP artwork was completed!
The boring stuff?
The music and artwork were still only part of the process. We had to work on the behind-the-scenes website stuff and our series of emails (which those of you on our mailing list will know something about) to help spread the word.
But actually I quite like that side of things too, even if it’s a bit frustrating when something doesn’t do what I want it to and I have no idea how to sort it (which is where internet research and a barrel load of determination come in)!
Ready, steady, go!
So It's Clear is completed and available but that only really gets us to the start line. From here we have to push onwards and upwards!
Our plan is to get ourselves ready to play a few live shows for you and to start promoting ourselves more actively so we can share our music with a wider community. So if you happen to see us shouting about it on Facebook or Instagram, then please give the post a like – it really helps us spread the word!
We hope that what follows will be a giant, exciting and rewarding journey for us and every one of you who have become part of the Bustling Tram Society and who are joining us on this journey.
So stay in touch, and if you haven't already done so, let us know what you thought of It’s Clear over on our Facebook or Instagram pages. And we’ll keep you posted about any new developments and gigs that we’re planning!
Saludos,
Dave
