Insider Artist: DIY Recording with Brief Habits

HOBBLEDEHOY
Jul 23, 2017 · 5 min read

The following is a guest post from Dan Rogan of Brisbane band BRIEF HABITS

Brief Habits — Dan Rogan, third from left

The recording of Brief Habits (the self-titled album) all began with us leasing an industrial shed in Brisbane’s Everton Hills. We’ve spent the past 7 years playing music together and in that space of time developed a really keen interest in the recording process. Elliott (Drummer) especially — being the complete nerd that he is.

“Hi, I’m Elliott and I play the drums.”

With the only initial intention being to create an album authentically us — that we could love, be proud of and enjoy for many years to come — the decision to record completely ourselves allowed us freedom. Freedom to experiment with different song structures, recording techniques and sounds to capture the very best versions of each song — without placing any stress on money or time.​ The industrial shed provided us with a nice big open space to write and record in/ high ceilings to get some great drum recordings and a small office to set up a separate a control/listening room. It also gave us a little more leeway in creating some excessive and repetitive noise (haha) though there will still adjacent tenants we had to be mindful of (A 3D printer, Cabinet Makers & Mechanics). This mindfulness even led to us building our own homemade speaker cabinet and sound isolation box through which all of the guitars on the record we’re run through and captured. The process was fairly quick. With the band mainly consisting of just Elliott and I at the start (Steve (Guitar) sometimes popping his head in for a cheeky guitar riff or a few overs of cricket and beers). We would start with tracking a quick live demo playing together to a click/ listen back and develop the parts and structures from there.​​

We’d then take the multi-track to pro-tools approach and would go back and overdub/re-track each instrument as they came. Without the time restrictions this gave us plenty of extra time to experiment and track all the extra instruments you hear that normally wouldn’t be able to achieve in a live setting. Acoustics/ Piano/ shakers/tambourine/ ebow/ controlled & Harmonic feedbacks etc.​

A shot from inside the rented industrial shed.

…the decision to record completely ourselves allowed us freedom.

​Towards the end of the recording, once all the songs we’re sounding together we hired a vintage ludwig kit from Greg at Drum Cartel and re-tracked all the drums. We also hired an 80s American p bass from Tim at Tym guitars to re-track all the bass and achieve the sound and tone that we had in our minds. Both these guys are complete legends and are integral to the alternative Brisbane music scene, super grateful to be able to use such quality gear.​

We didn’t have noise complaints the entire 3 months of being there, almost. The very last weekend when we had hired both the kit and bass to finish up (forking out a bit of extra money and a time limit now in place), the police came and shut us down for the first night, plus a local neighbour the next day who’s wife had had enough. There was one song of Drums left at that time which only took 5 minutes; so the Man was able to go back to his wife as the hero shutting us down — as we were finished and out of the shed 5 minutes later…

After all the tracking was complete, we culled the songs back to the strongest. 8 songs wasn’t intentional and a little short but these just really felt like a complete concept and nothing was missing. I then realised there are so many great records that are only 8 songs (Astral weeks/perfect from now on/low-life/ songs of love and hate etc ) So we stuck with that haha!

…the police came and shut us down

When it came to mixing, it was a matter of going back and listening to our favourite albums and their mixes. One name that kept coming up was J Robbins. Liars Academy/Blueline Medic/ Promise Ring/ Hey Mercedes/ Maritime / Jawbreaker/ Jets To Brazil/ Pilot To Gunner. Not to mention loving his own music with Burning Airlines and Jawbox. So many great records that have stuck with me through the years and every single mix was great/ everything had its place.

We approached J with a simple email and the song ‘Either/Or’ attached. Not really even expecting to get a reply, who responded with a lot of excitement in the song — loving the vocal and the way the song developed — and couldn’t wait to be a part of it. His mixes gave the songs a whole new life and completely exceeded our expectations. We couldn’t be happier with how the album sounds and so super proud that so much of it could be achieved from just a few blokes in a shed in the suburbs Brisbane.

x

Thanks to Dan Rogan of BRIEF HABITS for sharing his experience and insights.

BRIEF HABITS, the bands debut album, is out now through Hobbledehoy. The band will be touring in support through August 2017.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade