RECORDED IN EXETER. MIXED IN THE USA BY THE MAN BEHIND ALICE IN CHAINS & PEARL JAM.
When Hole Tripper came to The Source Studio Exeter to record their single “King Rat,” there was a little more riding on the session than simply getting a great recording.
It was the band's first time recording together in a professional recording studio.
The session was also deliberately being used as a dry run before Hole Tripper headed to Middle Farm Studios, giving the band an opportunity to experience the recording process, work through their setup and discover what did — and didn't — work before their next studio sessions.
What started as a recording day therefore became something much bigger: three preparation sessions, plenty of experimentation with guitar tones, a hybrid Neural DSP Quad Cortex and Marshall JCM 900 setup, and ultimately a recording destined to cross the Atlantic to be mixed by a producer with some extraordinary records behind him.
Preparing for Hole Tripper's First Recording Studio Session
If you've never recorded in a studio before, there's a lot to take in.
Playing a song live at a gig or rehearsal is very different from putting it under the microscope in a recording studio.
Suddenly, guitar tones, arrangements, tuning, timing, dynamics and small performance details become much more noticeable.
Rather than discovering all of that when the clock was running on the main recording day, we spent time preparing with Hole Tripper beforehand.
In fact, the session required three separate preparation sessions before recording day itself.
One of the biggest things we needed to get right was the band's guitar setup.
Recording a Quad Cortex & Marshall Amp Hybrid in the Studio
Hole Tripper guitarist Jim uses a Neural DSP Quad Cortex live, and getting the guitar sound right for his studio recording required more preparation than simply plugging in the settings used live.
Digital amp modellers such as the Quad Cortex can be incredibly powerful recording tools, but a guitar sound that works brilliantly through a PA or in a rehearsal room doesn't necessarily translate perfectly to a studio recording.
That's why Jim & Dave used the preparation sessions to experiment rather than leaving those decisions until the main recording day.
They could listen critically to the tones, work through the signal chain and develop a recording setup that gave flexibility without losing the sound and character the band wanted.
Quad Cortex Meets Vintage Marshall JCM 900
For the final King Rat recording session, they decided not to make it an either/or choice between digital modelling and a traditional guitar amplifier.
Dave recorded both simultaneously.
The guitar was captured through the Quad Cortex while also recording a vintage Marshall JCM 900. Funnily enough, the one Jim sold The Source a year or so ago!
That gave two different interpretations of the same performance: the consistency and flexibility of the Quad Cortex alongside the physical response and character of a real Marshall tube amplifier moving air.
More importantly, because the signals were captured at the same time, we weren't asking Jim to recreate exactly the same performance later simply to give the mix another tonal option.
The eventual mix could draw upon the Quad Cortex recording, the Marshall JCM 900 or a combination of the two. Oh and a dry DI to give the option of reamping, should the song need more layers!
It's exactly the sort of decision that demonstrates why preparation before a recording session can be so valuable.