Path Of Sorrow

This was the first song I wrote for the EP. It began quite simply with a guitar picking pattern and the first few verses being hummed until I got an idea for melody, and then for lyrical content (I typically write most of my music like this). I wasn't quite sure if I wanted the song to remain a fairly stripped back acoustic singer-songwriter style song in the vain of Keaton Henson or Nottinghams own Daudi Matsiko of If I wanted it to become something with a little more instrumentation. 

I recorded a demo with my friend Nathan, tracking vocals and an acoustic guitar (the guitar being kept for the final mix) and finished writing the core structure for the song in that time.

When I wrote the bridge and played it through for the demo it became obvious that the song wanted to build into something with bigger instrumentation. Taking inspiration from bands like Manchester Orchestra, Mogwai, and This Will Destroy You, I started working on some electric guitar parts with Nathan and his housemate Tommy at their house and ended up creating a big swelling bridge with layers of guitars and drums.

That initial demo can be heard below:

From here we went into the studio. Tommy tracked over his initial demos, adding some new harmonies and arpeggiated chords, my friend Rueben played a rhythmic line for the build, and my other friend Dave played in the rhythm chords, lead line and some further arpeggiated chords. The Samples of each can be heard below:

I shaped the tone of both Tommy and Reuben's guitars using the outboard gear seen below:

Stage Echo SE-300 --> EHX Deluxe Electric Mistress --> Strymon Big Sky

Whereas, Dave used his own pedal board with the Walrus Julia and Boss RV-3 pedals playing a big role in the overall atmosphere of the guitars.

See below:

On the same day that myself and Tommy recorded guitar, we also recorded myself playing drums with the help of Nathan and my other friend James Harris.

We used ribbon mic's for the two rooms mic's and over heads desiring to have a 'roomy' sound that wasn't too bright. This was to replicate some of the big 'post-rock' sounding bands like Explosions In The Sky and This Will Destroy You with their dark sounding overheads and spacious kit sounds (see video below). 

The overall drum set up can be seen and heard below:

Bass was simply tracked with a DI and amp simulator and all that that was left to do was vocals. The U47 was the microphone of choice after a shootout took place with 3 other mic's (the Neumann M149, WA-87, and Telefunken TF39).

Below you can hear the final mix and master: