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Tidy Kid - Composer - Producer - Musician
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Most Expert Pages deliver an array of credentials, Tidy Kid however has developed his own own rules and publishes part of a journal, showing you the reader.. integrity, heart and accomplishment in action ....
Journal, by the Tidy Kid, requested by the Trash, 21st October 2007.
( album project for Trash of the "Red Paintings" )
A Journal, one to be placed on another site then mine, hmmmmm, let me think, what head space should I be in. Cough cough, where's my coffee ....................................................................
Emotionally this Album project has been extreme. It's my instinct as producer to take Trash's vision, wrap it up in an audible package and place it into the hands of the people. We have been working on it now for about 3 months, with only a couple weeks in between to rest the ears and play in sand pits. At this stage, tracking is almost complete. Left to go though are guest musicians/artists and their instruments, a large amount of editing and then, in separation, 2 weeks of mixing, with the concept of sticking to a single day per track. This time restriction will allow us to get back to the first intentions of each song. This will include bringing up the parts, which hold the naked truth, and smooth out the back tapestry of sounds, of which the flavour of the album will come from.
Throughout the project, speaking for myself, it's been full of highs and a few lows. The lows are mostly due to the largeness of the project and the undertaking of it as a solo engineer/producer. To be honest, this style of project would usually consist of a few tracking engineers, a separate producer and a separate mixing engineer. To flip between 2 minds all the time is comfortable when the energy is there, but confusing when the body is tired. The pro's of us doing it all ourselves, surrounded by many other performers and artists, is that the original vision will stay mostly intact, with a direct muscular energy.
Trash has had to go through a lot of new emotions I gather over this period. The usual quest is to get in and out of a studio, in a limited time, and not have the chance to breath. This time around, he's doing a lot of breathing. He's finding through this, many pro's and con's. Luckily, all con's have solutions. On the other side of things, he's not sleeping much, he eats sometimes, and he's always managing the band, sometimes till 6am in the morning. If not for his unique fans, their energy and direct participation with all things TRP, something I've never experienced in a band project before, things would be quite different.
This is a very unique project, something which I think I'll only find myself part of once. Recording with so many different characters in the project has added so many colors into the mix, but funny enough it's not turning gray. It's holding up and starting to sound like one of those Albums that you can listen to heaps of times, and for years to come.
The orchestra recording was something anyone with a more conservative mind would have tried to avoid. With a limited budget, we were able to get a space for free, players who donated their time for some food and petrol money, and the immense time and dedication from Ellen, who magnificently, scored up to 120 pages of material, for around 10 tracks, just in time. Dave did a fantastic job as conductor on the day, he was a man with plenty of hand. It's all a bit of a blur but its all working as well, nothing really has fucked up, it's quite astounding actually.
Since meeting the Red Paintings back when they were touring with Dresden Dolls in New York, and starting to work with them on the Feed the Wolf EP, which was fast in contrast, I've been making it my mission, like I usually do with producing projects, to become part of what they are. Taking on the role as Noah at rebellion marches, hanging out with fans, making friends and pissing some off, playing tennis with Trash, and most importantly, cleaning their kitchen over a 6hr heavy duty session has all helped me to condition myself for the role as producer. Isn't that what Producers are meant to do? Sorry, I didn't read the book, oops.
Ow, to add to it all, the studio I'm working at with trash, called Alchemix, ( www.alchemix.com.au ) is currently decorated with all things Red Paintings. We have had resident painters working in the studio, which has added a special element to the creative vibe.
In terms of my technique to pick up sound, I like to use my ears, instead of trusting gear. I don't really follow any rules, and don't mind when things are random and sound great for unexplained reasons. The album has a very real sound to it. When it comes to editing, most of the material is moved around without using a tempo grid. The big epic tracks, such as fall of Rome, Hong Kong and the Revolution is never coming, are quite play full in energy. They were tracked as a live take and then that energy was kept consistent as all the other parts were added on top. Ow, and the guitars, ow man the guitars, when will Trash stop with his guitars, some tracks have 10 different guitar lines playing at the same time, it's really fucking with my head. But then the next day it sounds great, and I'm ok again, I've learnt something new.
Ryan was great on Bass, he brought a new feel to the songs, which really helped to tie the energy of the drums together with the other elements. He's a great tub of glue that guy. Thank you mate!
For drums, we had the chance to utilize Greg's large selection of snares and cymbals, continually changing sounds for each song. It's a sonar kit. I liked it, so did Andy. He's was in a zone like no other, I liked when he was tracking through some of the bigger epic tracks, with a grin on his face like he was going to hover in mid air and hit the drums with newly formed limbs.
Overall, things are looking great, it's incredible to think that this is all due to the generosity of the fans and their donations. Usually this type of Album would cost well over 100 grand, but we are sticking to a very healthy budget indeed. This whole process, the way certain events create new opportunities, the way the weather changes to suit certain songs, to be aware of all the small things, during the ongoing creation of something huge, is what will resonate to listeners. I know the media will love this Album, so much to write about, so little to be bored off. Let's see where this all takes us………………………………………………………peace…..waves..........................................