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Notes for the Lo-fidelity Trainspotter:

Observations on the art of making records at home for the computer-illiterate band on a budget

As always, it will start with a conversation in a pub. You want to make a record. You have no cash to spend on recording. If you could maybe get a couple of tracks recorded yourselves you could press up a demo. As with all schemes that start with a conversation in a pub, it will all get a little bit out of hand.

The basic recordings for Pacific Ocean Fire's three CDs to date were made on a 1980s cassette six-track, in an unheated and unlit rehearsal room with minimal sound-proofing. The room next door was constantly occupied by the loudest of Britain's soft-rock/pop bands, so all of the basic recording had to take place outside of normal human hours. The latest e.p. was started in the wine-fuelled hours between midnight and 1am, and the autumnal evening tones of "Give My Love to the Sunrise" were recorded early on a cold, wet winter morning.

The pre-war six track was the tape recorder of choice due to the practicalities of recording four people in a room at once, rather than any minor considerations such as sound quality or tape hiss. As Andy is firmly of the belief that click tracks are the work of Satan himself we had to at least get the drums and guitars down live, so a device with lots of sockets on the front was needed. Mics were positioned around the room according to how many we could borrow on the day and vague attempts were made to isolate the guitars and bass by putting whatever was lying around the room in front of the amps. It was only later that we realised that this never works.

We pressed play and record and hoped for the best...     ...pressed play and record again...    ( ...repeat to fade...)

Once the initial recordings were safely captured onto cheap chrome alloy it was time to go to the pub and get really pissed. 

The basic tracks were mixed down to a Boss portastudio in a form that would hopefully sound reasonably balanced in the final recording. As none of the original mixes could be altered after the initial mix-down this was inevitably a critical moment for the song. According to the amount of alcohol that had been consumed, there was either a feeling of absolute confidence that the perfect mix had been achieved without changing a setting or an overwhelming paranoia that the hi-hats were going to be far too quiet when that trumpet section went on later. For the latest e.p. we got all muso and only kept the drums from the original sessions which gives a bit more scope to mix the guitar and bass later. This was a good idea.

Vocals, guitars and percussion overdubs were added in the comfortable surroundings of the trumpeter's boudoir. Cramming four people, six guitars, an amp, two trumpets, two portastudios, various bits of drum kit, a glockenspiel and two cats into the smoke-clouded front bedroom of a terraced house always adds a certain charm to a recording session. 

All of the vocals were recorded with the curtains closed. This was not for any practical reasons of sound quality, but because the kids from the corner would inevitably be outside breaking things or gurning through the window when that all important take was being recorded. I'm sure Brian Wilson never had to put up with this kind of shit.

Brass, casiotone and the Early Learning Centre percussion bits were added later, away from the attentions of the rest of the band. More rough mixes were produced. At this point everyone invariably becomes convinced that the mixes are getting worse.Happy accidents happened: the music box that was uncannily in the right key for the song it was used on, the wave noises that were added to cover the hiss on a otherwise perfect guitar track that just fitted the mood of the song, etc.The final mixes were mastered onto PC, using a 1.99 audio lead from Dixons. We later discovered expensive optical cables, which make no discernible difference in sound quality whatsoever.A lot of time, a lot of beer, a bit of ambition and not much money later we have a record.