Unexpected drum recording

A very long time since the last blog entry - you would be forgiven for thinking that all was quiet here in the Darkroom. No so - things have been chugging along behind the scenes, though slower than usual, mostly due to me devoting a huge amount of my time to recent developments at Expert Sleepers.

Since I last posted, work on the new album has continued, and we also undertook a rather unusual project which has resulted in a single release and couple of videos - more on that later.

Here I wanted to post some photos of a recent recording session for the new album. Until a few weeks ago it was a thoroughly electronic affair, but after putting together the almost-final sequence of the album we decided that two tracks (the first and the last, oddly) needed some ‘real drums’. So we roped in long-time Improvizone collaborator (and Some Of These Numbers Mean Something contributor) Andrew Booker for a recording session at London’s Bally Studios.

The Flickr set is here.

Andy was playing his beautifully refurbished 60’s Ludwig kit.
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Microphones used: Rode NT-2-A, Rode NT-1, Yoga BM-38 PZM, AKG C1000, Audio Technica AT4033a
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Recorded through my trusty Metric Halo Mobile I/O 2882.
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Os, November 2010

Lots of Improvizone videos

Here are the videos from four Improvizone gigs in April-June this year. These really chronicle the introduction of the modular synth into the IZ lineup, which often takes things in quite a different direction to previous gigs.






Os, November 2010

Custom Darkroom panels for the modular

Check out these beauties, courtesy of ProModular:
Darkroom SOTNMS panels
Os, April 2010

Back to CB2

This Wednesday (7th April), for the first time in over ten years, we’ll be playing at CB2, Cambridge, as part of Improvizone.

Do join us if you can.

Os, April 2010

Video from last two Improvizone gigs

The Vimeo pages are here and here. Another two outings for the Juno, now triggered from a Moog MP-201 pedal, and Mike continues to bring new pedals along, most recently an Eventide TimeFactor.




Os, April 2010

Bandcamp

We’ve put most of our catalogue up on our Bandcamp page.

Bandcamp is a great service that allows musicians to sell directly to their fans. It also offers downloads in much higher quality formats than other services - up to and including lossless formats such as FLAC, so for example you can now go and get Some Of These Numbers Mean Something in 24 bit FLAC, better than CD quality!

The downloads are also cheaper on Bandcamp. Well, to be accurate, the downloads can be as expensive as the band wants them to be, but I’ve set ours so you pay about what we would get from iTunes for a sale - because on Bandcamp we get all the money (none goes to Apple etc.) we can afford to do that and not lose out.

We’ll also be putting up most of our podcast tracks on Bandcamp from now on. The podcast will remain as 128kbit mp3s (i.e. low quality by today’s standards) but you’ll be able to download the higher quality versions from Bandcamp if you want.

Os, January 2010

New album progress

The new Darkroom album is progressing well. The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that my last.fm profile shows me listening to some cryptically named Darkroom tracks in various orders over the last few days - that’s me trying to get the play order right. I think I’ve nailed it.

It should be said that Mike hasn’t heard much of this yet, so it could be all back to the drawing board soon.

But I like it.

Os, January 2010

Improvizone gigs

Mike and I are playing at the three forthcoming Improvizone gigs. These are

* Wed 03 March 2010 - last.fm event
* Wed 31 March 2010 - last.fm event
* Wed 21 April 2010 - last.fm event

and all are taking place at The Plough, E17.

Watch www.improvizone.com/gigs.php for updates, for example details of the other musicians playing.

Os, January 2010