Feature: Stylus - Gain, EQ, Presence, Control
Author: Melanie Selby
Taking 12 months to record an album in a busy Auckland studio is a luxury few independent bands can dream of affording. Of course when your band consists of a bunch of talented producers and engineers and the studio set up is your own, it is a situation to be exploited with relish.
Auckland band Stylus made the most of their on-hand resources for their sophomore album 'Gain Control'. A studio space they kitted out themselves, in the attic of long-established Auckland recording studio The Lab, allowed them the flexibility to create an album that bass player and
co-producer Paul Matthews says they themselves are fans of. Still, the band members admit they hadn't expected the recording to take quite so
long!
"It took a couple of stabs," explains Matthews' fellow co-producer (and vocalist) Matt Samuels. "We thought we were ready to record it and we were out shopping around for producers and the overwhelming feedback that came back was 'You should probably have some more songs' - even though we had like 30."
"We did the great thing of getting into producers who didn't really like our music so they said 'You've got no songs'," laughs Matthews.
The question begs - why bother shopping around when in your band you have Matthews and drummer Dave Rhodes - the pair responsible for producing the triple platinum-selling debut Blindspott album among other notable credits.
"We had this theory that because we were in the band we couldn't be as objective about it and we should get a third party to sort it out. But
when we looked at the money involved..." explains Matthews.
"And, you know, we live in New Zealand and the people who like our music the best are probably going to be us," laughs Samuels.
"We decided we couldn't afford to get someone in who's going to do a better job than us and we were like oh let's just do it ourselves, we'll
be fine. And we were," Matthews finishes.
'Gain Control' was recorded part-time, "... not quite 40 hour weeks, more like 30 hours a week" over the duration of a year. Three drum tracks were recorded at York Street Studios in April 2005 and the rest of the album was done at The Lab, finishing up in April 2006 - a significant chunk of time by anyone's standards. According to Samuels the band weren't happy with the songs they had so they wrote more and worked on them until they were satisfied.
"There was no pressure in the writing process. We already had a shitload of songs to make an album with, but ideas were just coming out and we were making songs out of them."
The writing is a team affair and new guitarist Aja Timu has been influential in the rockier tendencies of Stylus's new material. Original Stylus guitarist Kenneth Holt left in 2004 when, according to Samuels, he got tired of being a poor muso and became more keen on pursuing the career
opportunities his corporate job was offering. Timu was the band's first choice for a replacement and the band's label owner, Wildside's Murray
Cammick, agreed.
Having played in a number of hard rock and metal bands including State Of It, Die Madison and We Dunno, Timu introduced a different approach to the Stylus sound.
Auckland band Stylus made the most of their on-hand resources for their sophomore album 'Gain Control'. A studio space they kitted out themselves, in the attic of long-established Auckland recording studio The Lab, allowed them the flexibility to create an album that bass player and
co-producer Paul Matthews says they themselves are fans of. Still, the band members admit they hadn't expected the recording to take quite so
long!
"It took a couple of stabs," explains Matthews' fellow co-producer (and vocalist) Matt Samuels. "We thought we were ready to record it and we were out shopping around for producers and the overwhelming feedback that came back was 'You should probably have some more songs' - even though we had like 30."
"We did the great thing of getting into producers who didn't really like our music so they said 'You've got no songs'," laughs Matthews.
The question begs - why bother shopping around when in your band you have Matthews and drummer Dave Rhodes - the pair responsible for producing the triple platinum-selling debut Blindspott album among other notable credits.
"We had this theory that because we were in the band we couldn't be as objective about it and we should get a third party to sort it out. But
when we looked at the money involved..." explains Matthews.
"And, you know, we live in New Zealand and the people who like our music the best are probably going to be us," laughs Samuels.
"We decided we couldn't afford to get someone in who's going to do a better job than us and we were like oh let's just do it ourselves, we'll
be fine. And we were," Matthews finishes.
'Gain Control' was recorded part-time, "... not quite 40 hour weeks, more like 30 hours a week" over the duration of a year. Three drum tracks were recorded at York Street Studios in April 2005 and the rest of the album was done at The Lab, finishing up in April 2006 - a significant chunk of time by anyone's standards. According to Samuels the band weren't happy with the songs they had so they wrote more and worked on them until they were satisfied.
"There was no pressure in the writing process. We already had a shitload of songs to make an album with, but ideas were just coming out and we were making songs out of them."
The writing is a team affair and new guitarist Aja Timu has been influential in the rockier tendencies of Stylus's new material. Original Stylus guitarist Kenneth Holt left in 2004 when, according to Samuels, he got tired of being a poor muso and became more keen on pursuing the career
opportunities his corporate job was offering. Timu was the band's first choice for a replacement and the band's label owner, Wildside's Murray
Cammick, agreed.
Having played in a number of hard rock and metal bands including State Of It, Die Madison and We Dunno, Timu introduced a different approach to the Stylus sound.
