Jack Ruston

A few months ago, Ryan, who I worked with when he was fronting Beautiful Country, came to me with a bunch of basically folk songs. Originally the idea was to do some rough and ready live recordings of these tracks with a view to some YouTube videos etc. But we felt that really we should take one or two and explore a more pop-oriented approach than he was used to. We’re both really proud of the way this approach has developed. It has been a question of using a lot more programming and a bigger production, but without losing the folky core of a guy with a guitar. The first track, Here Lies An Ocean is out on the 28th. Links to follow.

We’re underway with tracking on Glenn Aitken’s record. He’s an awesome artist with a great, hard-working band. It’s a cool project and fantastic to be recording musicians as talented as Glenn and the guys. More to follow

I love Strymon pedals. I don’t know what they do, but their pedals sound so three dimensional, and their innovative dual use of each control allows for a lot of functionality in a small box. I have had an El Capistan for ages, which gets used on pretty much every record I work on, often winning out over any and all competition, as well as a Mobius. So I was excited when I saw the new Dig pedal. I especially like the big soundscapey pad type stuff around 14:00. Check it out!

Walking On Cars new single, Catch Me If You Can, which I engineered for Tim Bran and Roy Kerr, was Annie Mac’s ‘Hottest Record In The World’ on Radio 1 last night. It’s playing again today on Fearne Cotton’s show. It’s crucial in the UK to get Radio 1’s support for a band and obviously competition is fierce. So this is huge news. It’s hard to imagine a more deserving band. Listen to Walking On Cars – Catch Me If You Can by Walking On Cars #np on #SoundCloud http://soundcloud.com/walkingoncars/woc-cmiyc

This last week has been tracking at State Of The Ark with Foxes. Lou’s voice is sounding amazing and the band are truly exemplary players. It’s a massive privilege to engineer for Tim and Roy on this, and I can’t wait to be able to post links to the releases in due course. I think I’ve also managed to get everyone hooked on a tasty raw cacao/nuts concoction that I live on – may cause over-excitement.

Chungking’s new single, Sapphire, which I mixed was Lauren Laverne’s ‘headphone moment’ on BBC Radio 6 this week. I’m so pleased for the band, and proud to be involved in their record.

Check it out here

This morning I had the pleasure of hearing Mandy Parnell’s masters of the Chungking stuff I’ve been mixing for their forthcoming album – Defender. She’s done such an awesome job. Some mastering engineers suffer from a rather formulaic approach, but the best always know when to leave things alone and when to wade in hard. Mandy’s work is perfectly judged and a genuine enhancement. It’s exciting to be part of this project and I’m looking forward to the album’s release.

Just had a fantastic couple of days tracking with Foxes. How such a big voice comes out of such a little person I will never know. Her band were also fantastic – absolute professionals. It was a real privilege to be in a studio with them. Of course, there was also the usual production masterclass from Tim Bran and Roy Kerr. Great recorded tracks are born in different ways. Some kick and scream, and some just pop out with no fuss. This was one of those times where you’ve got a great artist, paired with top producers, all of whom share a vision of what the track should be, and have the ability to deliver that result. There follows a very relaxed chat with the musicians, who then with no fuss or apparent drama just pop next door and play exactly what they were asked to, while also coming up with some tasty little extras as a bonus. I just hope they all felt that the engineer was similarly able to deliver the goods. I think this track is going to be huge and I look forward to posting a link when it comes out.

Reuben’s In Nothing We Trust, which I was fortunate enough to engineer, is number 2 in Kerrang’s 50 Albums You Need To Hear Before You Die. It was an amazing experience to work on this record with the band and producer Sean Genockey. There are things about that record I will never forget…

Jamie knew every part of every track in encyclopedic detail. When we came to start guitars he’d say ‘Right there are nine parts. Here’s part 1…’ Every riff, every drum fill, every harmony existed in his head before we started, and he picked up the tiniest deviation from this picture. It really was a clear vision for him and made it easier and faster than doing a record where the artist has a lot of general ideas but blanks in the detail.

Jamie filmed a load of stuff on his little camera every day, and after leaving the studio at midnight or 1am, would then edit, and often overdub music etc onto the daily video diary. These were generally ready and online by the next morning.

There were some amazing guest vocalists on that record including a now far more widely known Frank Turner.

Jamie had, and has extraordinary vocal control, and can switch from rich, melodic tones to full on screaming, and back again.

Although the ad says that Mum has gone to Iceland, in reality it was Jamie, Jon and Guy. In Nothing We Trust was fuelled by Iceland pizzas.

For those interested in technical stuff… The main tracking was done at Livingston 1 on the SSL that was there at that time. Guitar and vocal overdubs were at my place in Wimbledon and Sean’s Blackdog Studios. The vocal mic was a Brauner VM1, which we used for everything however loud or soft. It was amazingly versatile. We mixed the record on my Audient console, with a lot of Sean’s (sometimes unusual) outboard.

Amazing experience, for which I’m truly grateful to Sean and the band.

Walking On Cars have released an awesome video for their ‘Always Be With You’ single, which I engineered at State Of The Ark last year. Tim Bran and Roy Kerr produced – Check it out