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Record Breaking Advice
Featuring Paul Alexander of Midlake

This blog was contributed by Adam Brawerman, Zoom In Online's Music Channel Assistant Producer.

The current generation of recording musicians is commonly noted for its DIY mentality.  A number of factors such as creative control and the cost, availability, and portability of equipment have persuaded artists to take recording into their own hands.  Given the detail oriented nature of Midlake , it is no surprise they decided to go this route almost a decade ago.  I talked with Paul Alexander, the band’s bassist and main recording engineer/producer, about making the choice to produce their own albums, and how they create their sound.  As for how he became the band’s engineer: “We bought a Roland 24 track workstation, turned it on, and nobody knew how to use it.  Somebody had to read the manual, and that was me.”

The Decision to DIY

Midlake used a professional studio to record their first EP, Milkmaid Grand Army .  Although they saw the value in a high quality studio, they decided it was not for them, “It’s good to go to a studio that has good equipment and has an engineer that knows their stuff.  You’ve got a producer that can help you get your sound, and record it quickly.  That’s worth the money I’d say- if you’re not like us.  We’re completely obsessive compulsive.  We want to control [our music], and won’t let anyone have their say in it.”

“When you have to pay a lot of money to a producer, you gotta get it done in a couple weeks, a few weeks... the downside is you’re stuck with what you’ve got, and it’s going to cost you a bunch of money.”  However, when you are in your own studio and not on the clock, the pressure to get things done may be absent, “The downside is that you have the luxury of being able to sit and mull it over a bit too much probably.”

There are other obstacles involved in recording in a not so proper recording space.  A lack of isolation for an instrument can lead to “bleed” on other mics.  You either live with this, and limit your options in the mixing process, or record the instruments one at a time.  Midlake recorded their first two albums, Bamnan and Slivercork and The Trials of Van Occupanther , in a home studio that was basically their living room.  Due to the lack of isolation, they tracked things separately, “We would record bass and drums together, because I could plug directly in with the bass, and then track everything separately from there.”  To keep the vibe of a full band, they found creative ways to hide other musicians such as their lead singer, guitarist, and keyboardist, Tim Smith, “Maybe you have Tim off in the bathroom doing a scratch vocal, and acoustic guitar to play along with.”  Although it wasn’t ideal, they were able to make it work.

The band is currently recording a new album tentatively called, The Courage of Others.  Due to an upgrade in their recording space, they now have the ability to record the whole band at once.  However, it took time to change their old habit of recording separately, and even began tracking the album this way, “We started out trying to make the album the way we always did, with overdubbing.  But we decided we were sick of it, didn’t like it, and scrapped a lot of what we recorded.  It sounded too stale.  So, now we’re doing what bands have always done, and that’s just to play together and record it.”

Sonic Ambition

One of the defining elements of the Midlake sound is their ability to blend electronic melodies within a more traditional rock climate.  The dynamic was born out of a combination of necessity and experimentation.  For the song "Roscoe," they were having a trouble laying down the opening piano riff and were forced to be inventive, “Our upright piano sounded so bad we couldn’t use it.  We had to use a digital piano, but that sounded atrocious as well.  So then we just blended the two together, and it sounded cool.  Basically, what was two crappy sounds, blended together and sounded good.  And that was by accident.  We just had to improvise with what we had.”

Another aspect of Midlake that stands out is the voice of Tim Smith.  His vocals have a lot of character.  However, not much went into the production of his tracks, “...maybe a little distressor at 4 to 1 compression, not hit it too hard, and then put it right onto our little Roland, and that was the sound,” adding, “That’s just his voice.  That’s how it sounds.”

Certainly, a common effect in their first two full length recordings was the use of a distressor and FATSO (Full Analog Tape Simulator/Optimizer).  Both are designed to give depth to digital recordings, and simulate the character of recording to tape.  Similar to the nostalgia of records over CD or Mp3s, many feel that digital recordings lack a certain warmth that analogue records shared.  

Along with processing their tracks to sound as if they were recorded to tape, they also treat their digital equipment as it were reel to reel, “There’s nothing in the Radar (their console).  It’s a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), but compared to Pro-tools, the editing is significantly less.  We don’t even use a monitor.  We don’t even look at waves.  We basically use it like a tape machine.”  The advantage of recording in this way, is that you are forced to listen, without getting caught up with looking at sound waves.  In a recent interview with ZIO Ben Kweller said, “I think having a computer screen in the control room is a crime. You know you have a problem when musicians are looking at the music for problems instead of using their ears.”

Being a Muscian/Producer

Paul and Tim behind the soundboard

The fact that Paul is the band’s producer can sometimes distract him from his duties on bass, “It’s kind of difficult to get the best performance out of me, because I’m thinking about making sure all the microphones are on, and I’m not blowing the monitors.  I have to make sure I’m being careful with the equipment, and my head’s not in the music, it’s in the console.”

Experience has told Paul that the producer has to walk a bit of a tightrope in the studio, “It’s a fine balance of trying to accept what you’ve done, and at the same time being critical of it, and knowing when you can improve.”  In many ways the technology is almost irrelevant.  The audience is willing make exceptions in quality of the recording, if the feeling is there, “What’s most important, I think, is that the human emotion that is conveyed is captured well.”

Visit Midlake on Myspace
Watch the video for "Roscoe"
Also check out their video for "Young Bride"

Check out other installments of Record Breaking Advice featuring:
Ghostland Observatory

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