2011 has just swooshed by. In the last 365 days, there have been a lot of exciting updates, news, stories and recordings taking place here at Backbeat Studios that we had wanted to share but never got round to it… hence we’ve decided to tell you all at one go, to mark the end of 2011.

Counting down from …

#2011. Nothing gets us more excited than recording a new indie artist or band with great originals. As a recording studio, we always do our best to engineer and deliver the best possible mix for whatever material the artist or band has, but we are also limited by the potential of the songwriting itself. 2011 was remarkably a bumper year in terms of the high level of creative potential that we have witnessed in almost every indie artist and band that we recorded at Backbeat, from Vanessa Faith in early 2011, Kris Gunalan, Midnight Tantrums, Inert, Atlas to Godzilla and many many others. Their songs in the rawest from were already gems by themselves, making the whole recording and mixing process a joy, as well as an opportunity for us to showcase the quality of the gear we have here at Backbeat. Check out their songs at our “Past Works” section

Vanessa Faith – Local singer-songwriter

#2010. Last year also saw a significant number of upgrades in our recording signal chain as we continually strive to deliver the best sounds possible for our recording clients. One noteworthy upgrade that gear junkie would be interested in would the Universal Audio 6176 Tube-Channel strip that now sits on the front end of out signal chain now. Many recording engineers go on a never-ending holy grail search of the “best microphone” to improve their sound. But what every microphone could offer is but a different sonic character, which many fail to realise is also largely a product of the pre-amp or channel strip that the microphone has been paired with. The reason why some of the best recordings have vocals that sound so “wide” is simply the result of using the quality preamps rather than any miracle in the post-production stage. Getting it right at the source is the only way to the big, expensive vocal sound that makes everyone sit up and listen to you with excitement.

The Preamp as the secret to the big vocal sound

#2009. Last year, we also set a new record of the longest running recording session of 18 continuous hours non-stop for the NUANSA 2011 music production. NUANSA 2011 was the musical production by the NUS Indonesian Student Association about the Old Batavia legend. Due to the large numbers of musicians and singers involved and the difficulties in their scheduling, we did an ultra-marathon of 18 continuous hours of recording, where the music were tracked live simultaneously. No a simple engineering affair, given the number of instruments involved.

Here’s a clip taken during the recording:

#2008. …

#2007. …

…

…

…

#0001. And yes, we have our own Backbeat Wall Clock!