I owned a Baby Blue Bottle mic before, very briefly, before it was damaged in a fire accident, during which I lost all mics (of course and a whole lot of other stuff). Interestingly, when I rebuild my mic cabinet, I didnt opt to replace the Baby Blue Bottle. I thought it was a mic that I could probably live without.
During that few months that I had it, it was used quite a fair bit on acoustic guitars and vocals actually. A very cool looking mic, nonetheless, but it wasnt a mic that would readily capture people’s attention and “wah”s right away…
Two years on, after numerous projects involving acoustic guitars, I dug out my old projects recorded using the Baby Blue Bottle and begun to appreciate the value of a Baby Blue Bottle. Some people call it a “dark” mic, as opposed to being “bright”. “Bright” stuff tends to impress people instantly, but, really, in the context of a mix, the “understatedness” of so-called darker acoustic helps gel a mix better than a bright one would.
Plus it works quite as well on certain vocals. Check out the sample clip of Smash Inc’s Neverland in the previous post. The vocals was tracked with a Baby Blue.
In any case, the Baby Blue bottle always looks to cute to resist. Hence, when the Baby Blue Bottle mic had a special price reduction recently at some US store, I decided it was time to restore it to my mic cabinet… My goto mic for acoustic guitar from now on…
The bassist of Smash Inc Jeff got married recently and the rest of the bandmates were in Backbeat rehearsing their wedding dinner performance (minus Jeff). I was really happy to meet them again (it was quite a coincidence as it was only not long ago when I recorded the drummer, Michael, currently drumming for Equinox).
Smash Inc was a band that I really enjoyed recording WITH… We worked together twice in fact when they were still at NTU. The guitarist-songwriter Lawrence has a natural talent in coming up with songs with good commercial hooks (i like). And I especially like recording Leroy’s “british-sounding” vocals also. I never tired from playing their test-mix in my car over and over again.
Here’s a sample clip of a song called Neverland that we recorded 2 years ago… Interestingly, we had a hard time nailing the vocals. It was about 9pm. We decided to take a break as we couldn’t get past verse 1. Leroy went off to take some murtabak for dinner at Boat Quay (Backbeat was at HongKong St back then). I thought it was a really bad decision — chilli/curry when the vocals aren’t even done? But when we resumed at around 10pm, wow, … it turned out to be one of the best vocals I’ve recorded.
The band, Equinox, from NTU Hall 16 was recently at Backbeat Studios doing a multitrack recording for Play-On Band competition. Thanks to them, here’s a video of the whole process. We managed to get quite a good separation of the individual instruments due to some careful positioning, as also because the band did quite a good job of controlling the overall dynamics… pardon the mono sound quality from Youtube though… the original video is too big to upload
Electrico recording their Channel V Interview at Backbeat Studios
What do you see?
Yes, Electrico recording their Channel V Interview on the lazy couch at Backbeat Studios. Electrico is Channel V artiste of the month for July. Not sure how many of you guys managed to catch their TV Special where they recorded their interview and studio session here at Backbeat. If any of you guys have a copy of the TV special, let us know, alright?
Well, August is probably the month of Electrico too… here’s a clip of the 2009 NDP song if you have yet to catch it on TV! Happy National Day!!!
Thanks to those ppl who were involved in the recent recording promotion project “The Muse must go on” to track their own original demoes…
We wish the promotion could go on for longer…. but with songs piling up waiting to be mixed and other projects due to start, we’ve decided to call time on this promotion project as of 31 May 2009.
At the end of the day, more than 1 hour of mixing work had gone into the mixing of each song. And I meant, really a lot more. Even thought the promotion included only 1 hr of mixing time, but we couldnt bear shortchanging you guys who recorded with us by stopping after one hour. Hmm.. we ended up shortchanging ourselves by using a few days to polish up each mix for free….
So for those waiting for their mixes…. have a little patience… the good stuff will be reaching you soon!
In case you walked past recently and saw this banner outside 42B Hongkong St…
Don’t be alarmed. We have been put ourselves up for sale. Dec 31 2008 was our last day at the HongKong St. We’ve decided to find a bigger and better place to house Backbeat Studios… January 09 was a busy month for us in setting up the studios… hence we havent really had time to update all our regulars about the shift…
Not to worry, all the good vibes at old Backbeat have been successfully “transplanted” to our new place, with a total of three rooms now..
New address is 215A Jalan Besar Singapore 208898.
Our studio line for recording and rehearsal services remains unchanged at 9677-5539.
woohoo, my favourite outdoor gig venue is finally back… the esplanade waterfront outdoor theatre. it was closed for renovation more than a year ago, and then construction was halted for a while due to some money consideration issues… but finally it is done. best place to catch gigs, simply because of the splendid skyline and sea breeze…
here’s a clip of jack and rai opening for the aug8 gig as part of National Day Countdown. it’s the very first gig at this new stage…
Save 43% on your rehearsal session this coming Saturday (9 Aug 08)!
How? Simply (1) come dressed in red on National Day and (2) play at least one National Day song in full during your session (you can play national day songs for the whole session if you like!). We will be on site to film a 43-sec clip of your session and putting them online!
Well,.. err if you aren’t Singaporean or arent too nationalistic, it’s ok. Stay tuned to our next promotion!
215A Jalan Besar Singapore 208898
Contact: 9677-5539
Backbeat Studios is a music recording and rehearsal studio that offers professional recording and sound design services at reasonable prices. Newly relocated to the Jalan Besar area near Farrer Park MRT, we are a preferred choice for many bands, musicians, voiceover talents and production houses for a variety of recording and audio production projects. See and hear for yourself today.
