Recording and Mixing new “Lark” track in SA and UK

“Vampire” is actually a track from way back when the Mouth of Me EP was first released. We used the original Reason session and tracking as a starting point and were in close contact with Paul Ressel, who was simultaneously working on production from his end at Metropolis Studios in London where he has a production room.

Sean Ou Tim then came in to record drums for the track, with Matthew James behind the desk - full mic setup in our live room including 2 shinybox ribbons as an AB room pair and Neuman 103 overheads running into a TLA C1. We tracked multiple versions of the song going for a thunky retro kit sound (think oceans 11). As additional percussion ideas, he laid out all his cymbals flat on the floor and played them (along with pots and pans from or kitchen) whilst on his knees—if you don't believe us check out the link below to the video we took!

Inge Beckmann arrived later that day to lay down and comp some incredible vocal stylings—not unexpected as any Lark fan will know! These takes were combined with the originals from Paul's old bedroom studio here in Cape Town—real blast from the past!

As a bonus we also tracked some eerie violin parts played by Kyla Rose Smith (Freshly Ground) We comped down the tracks and sent the whole session via courier to Paul in London where he chose/changed parts to prepare for Simon (Fuzzy) to mix at Fortress Studios in London. Given the Swing-electro vibe of the track, Fuzzy opted to mix it old school, using an Otari 2” 24 track tape machine, a Neve console and selected outboard with Protools only being used for the transfer. Check out the photo's below—looks like Paul and Fuzz had a great time bonding over all that analogue gear!

Keep a look out for upcoming lark releases to hear how it turned out!