Nic is an artist that effortlessly taps into a sound and songwriting style that one could place as a 60s / 70s singer songwriter style. He’s a multi-instrumentalist, first learning drums and then piano and guitar. Vocally, he’s a great poet with a beautiful unique voice. You can check out his back catalog on Spotify.

On the first two tracking days at Stranded, we were joined by Scott Leishman and productively recorded the drums, piano, guitar and bass beds for 9 tracks. The Input List is as below.

Piano – A/B Pair – Rhodes pencil pair – BA JLM preamp
Piano Room – U47 (Chess Tools) – Great River Preamp – Smack Compressor

Acoustic Guitar – Sennheiser 4080 spaced pair – EZ1290 Neve Clone
Acoustic Room – same U47 as Piano

Kick In – D12 – Vintech 573 – Clark 1176
Kick out – Condenser (can’t recall the European brand) – desk pre
Snare Up – SM57 – Vintech 573
Snare down – SM57 – Desk pre
Hat – Beyer M160 – Desk Pre
Rack & Floor Toms – Toshiba Ribbon RB1 – Desk Pre
OH L & R – Coles 4038 pair – Telefunken V675
Crotch Mic – Sennheiser MD441 – Neve clone pre – Smack Compressor

Our third day at Stranded focused on vocals, and after a huge day, we had all vocals recorded and comp’d for the record. The studio had just invested in a few more mics and compressors so we had the fortune of recording in 4 fine mic flavours to give options during the mixing phase; the Input List is as below:

Vox 1 – Neumann U87 – Vintech V573 – Warm WA2A
Vox 2 – Neumann TLM 107 – Vintech V573 – Chandler EMI TG1
Vox 3 – Shure SM57 – EZ1290 (Neve Clone) – dbx 165A
Vox 4 – Chesspiece (?) U47 Clone – EZ1290 – Chandler EMI TG1

The post Back in the studio w Nic Cassey for his 3rd LP appeared first on chrishancock.network.

Nic Cassey Mountain Session

’m currently producing the 3rd record for Sydney-based Folk artist Nic Cassey. The first two records we recorded at Music Feeds (aka Megaphon Studios), but for this 3rd record we wanted a different experience.

We were kindly given keys to a quirky shack up in the Blue Mountains; the weather was cold and misty, the company fantastic and the sounds beautiful.

On a technical side we took up a RME interface, a bunch of quality pre amps and an assortment of mics. I was impressed with the RME Total Mix software and it’s ability to set up headphone sends, multiple monitor sends and interface with outboard gear. Further, I must say I just love a SM57 through a Vintech 573 on a vocal when going for a vintage folk sound.

A big thank to Leaf for sharing her shack with us and being so hospitable. We are currently in mixing mode and Nic Cassey’s new record should be out later this year.

In the meantime, enjoy one of my favourite tracks of his debut LP, Where are you going I just collected some pellets

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJvmknE4yBI

Nic Cassey’s previous releases are available from http://niccasseymusic.bandcamp.com

The post Nic Cassey Mountain Session appeared first on chrishancock.network.