Octopus Recorders specialise in making live, or nearly live, location recordings. Whether you are a rock band, solo artist, folk group, chamber ensemble or larger group, we can make a high-quality recording in an environment that suits your sound. We can record an entire project, or we can for instance record live drums that you could overdub to later. We can also make live concert recordings.
Our recordings are always broadcast-quality and several have been released on CD. Recently we tracked and mixed four songs on Model Village's new album You Chose These Woes, and the twelve songs we recorded for Mark Drury and Jane Edwards have been released as a full-length album.
We are always affordable, and because we frequently need to use recording projects for testing out new equipment, we can sometimes offer our services on an expenses-only basis, especially if you are willing to record midweek. Please contact us for more details.
We have a good selection of modern and less modern audio equipment, and are able to cater for nearly all recording situations without the expense of hiring additional gear. Usually we would record and mix to a PC, but we have a small digital multitracker available where space or time is at a premium.
Some bands prefer to hear themselves on headphones during a recording session; others prefer to use a PA system as they would in rehearsal or at a gig. We can cater for both options, and have plenty of stands, cables and other equipment to make complex multitrack recordings where necessary.
We have a large selection of vintage microphones from manufacturers such as Neumann, AKG, Sennheiser, Beyer, Pearl, RCA, Shure, B&O and Electro-Voice. We also have high-quality valve guitar and bass amps available, a drum kit, and some nice old synths. If we don't have what we need for your session, we can easily arrange to hire it.
We don't have a studio of our own, which is partly why we specialise in location recording. We also like to work quickly, rather than spend weeks comping vocals. Over the years we've discovered several nice-sounding recording spaces around the Cambridge area, some of which we have access to for free. We're also happy to record at local gig venues.
If you do want to work at a studio, we recommend Half-Ton Studios in Milton.
A few of the more interesting recordings we've made over the last couple of years...
David Youngs
We captured David's terrifyingly accomplished guitar playing for a series of promotional videos. He uses a lot of extended techniques which pose quite a challenge for the recording engineer!
Model Village
We've done a couple of sessions with this excellent folk-rock band. This unexpected cover version was recorded live with no overdubs.
Mark Drury & Jane Edwards
Mark and Jane had been to a lot of studios, but never got a recording they were happy with. We made a whole album in an afternoon, entirely live, with no overdubs or edits.
Blue Rose Code
When Blue Rose Code, aka Ross Hoon and friends, played at the wonderful Waterbeach Baptist Chapel, we were on hand with a digital recorder.
Straw Bear
Another live gig recording from Waterbeach -- this time upstairs at the Sun Inn. It's a box-shaped room with terrible acoustics, but this came out OK.
The Paul Goodwin Band
A true location recording: we recorded Paul and his band in a school classroom. There were no overdubs -- even the vocals were live -- and a floor wedge was used to monitor the vocals so that the band didn't have to wear headphones.
Reckless Play
When we heard this brilliant group we knew we needed to find somewhere with a grand piano to record them. This too was recorded completely live.
Nell McLeod & Sam Inglis
A traditional folk tune, again recorded live. We jammed the sustain pedal down on the piano and shoved some mics inside, for extra psychedelic reverb.
Vile Bodies
Vile Bodies were our favourite local band and we were determined to record them before they went their separate ways. Live, singer Alun played electric guitar with his hands and bass with his feet. For the recording, we tracked drums and guitar live (at deafening volume) and extracted a particularly evil synth bass from something called a Polivoks, aka the 'Russian Minimoog'.
Nell McLeod plays the melodeon
A surprisingly difficult instrument to record, but it came out very well.
Fuzzy Lights
This was a very interesting project -- especially as the band wanted to record fingerstyle acoustic guitar, drum kit and fuzz bass at the same time! We recorded in a school gymnasium for added bigness, again using a PA for monitoring rather than headphones. Vocals and a couple of other bits and bobs were added to the live recordings later.
Bourn Primary School choir
No shortage of challenges in recording a chorus of hyperactive ten-year-olds! It turned out they didn't have a pianist, so we had to play MIDI piano parts through our trusty PA system. Recorded with a 50-year-old stereo ribbon microphone -- it hissed a bit, but sounded better than anything else.
The Binewski Murder
A soundboard recording made at The Junction in Cambridge, with the invaluable help of Paddy the live sound engineer. With the line-up including three singers, accordion, clarinet and full drum kit, it took a bit of getting right, especially as there was minimal time for soundchecking...
Get in touch! We are always keen to talk about possible projects, no matter how big, small or weird.
Contact Sam by email or on 07905 140970.