Kenny Bridges and the band Moneen (Dine Alone Records/Vagrant Records) talks about how they used his home studio to help make their new album. www.moneen.com

 

 

FOR OUR NEWEST RECORD we had to do an incredible amount of demoing and pre pro. Having the freedom of time also meant we had the freedom to think, over-think and then think some more about the songs. Which basically means that we had to re-record songs quite a bit. Part of me loves what new technology has allowed us to do when writing a record, but another side of me misses having a simple cassette 4 track; once you recorded a song you pretty much lived with it.

 

Now we have the option to record many tracks, listen back to one small detail and edit, re-record or erase all together. This can be a powerful tool for song writing. I am a huge fan of "try everything once." Not everyone likes this approach and you definitely need patience to follow this path. But the end result can be really good and experimental.

 

I listen back to the demos we did for this record and cannot believe how good they actually sound. Whenever we would listen back to a song after recording we would always wonder if it actually sounds as good as we thought it did. That is the thing, these days we are able to sit at home with a small setup and really get great sounding recordings. I have always been a big supporter of the DIY (do it yourself) approach. So being able to record at home means we have the option to do whatever we want, when we want.

 

I love trying to find different ways to do things. With percussion, I will always try something weird first. Mind you I won't do this in an actual studio recording because I don't feel confident enough to waste a producers time with my weird ideas. But at home I will try anything and everything.

 

Once we finished our pre pro demos we entered a professional studio. For this record, we really pushed ourselves hard, but in the end ran out of time. So as the mix started we went back to my house and finished up all the last bits of vocals and guitars. This can be a scary thing after putting all this time and money into a recording to just pack up a few mics and finish a record at my place in Brampton. The thing is, we did some really great work in my home studio. It was a nice balance of recording in an amazing pro studio with tons of mics and gear to going home and having the comfort to try some different things. We would be up all night finishing vocals and I would wake up in the morning, listen to what we did and decide to re-sing a certain section. With home recording you have that option.

 

The art of recording at home is finding a comfortable balance between honest creative performances and great sounds. It is easy to get natural takes in your own home, the hardest part is making them sound good.

 

Stay tuned for more from Kenny Bridges and Moneen.