Techblog extravaganza!

Hi – this is the first in a highly irregular series of Techblogs about the geeky things we’ve been doing at The Crash Factory. We’re getting a reputation more and more for fixing or spiffing-up our clients gear and we want you to know about it. Anything from general guitar setups (and letmetellyou, there’s nowt more frustrating during a recording session than a guitar that wont play or stay in tune) to fixing problems to custom modifications. We’ll do it and you’ll like it.

So a couple of weeks ago we did a demo session with a fantastic musician called Becci who had a problem with a DOD Octoplus pedal. It had pretty much stopped working, though when she got it off Ebay the problem was intermittant and sounded fantastic when it was working. However, even though it sounded great, she generally didnt use it on her pedalboard because of the awkard power socket DOD(and sometimes Electro Harmonix) use: her multi-adapter wouldnt fit.

It was sad to think of this pedal sitting unloved, so I offered to fix it.

In the state it was in it sounded like this: Busted

After a poke around inside, I found the problem. Someone had obviously tried to fix some scratchy knobs(chortle) with some kind of horrible, greasy lubricant. The control pots were gunged up like they were full of frogs, and utterly discloloured. They’re supposed to be silver:

It took some doing, but after a through cleaning, and even taking one of the pots apart to scrub it out, the thing sounded like a dream: Fixed (and obviously by ‘like a dream’ i mean ‘like Satan’)

All that was left was to install a new, regular DC power socket and a dudey, yellow LED (red is so last week…) and she’s good as new. Better than new.

Must go now, more things to fix. Bye.

Mark

Uh Huh Ok Alright

Hey there – how are you?

Firstly, have you seen our new music player? It’s pretty spiffy, and apparently very cleverly coded… though I only know about distortion and horrible noise so I can’t comment. Go have a look on the audio page, now. Go.

Ok, you’re back? Right.
I’ve just finished a day with Simon Waldram, mixing three songs for his upcoming album. We did a little mixing and mastered his last album, Conchology this time last year and it’s been great to work on another record with him.

Before that, we did a day with a band so new they don’t have a name! Going under the working title ‘Black Days’, they came in with two songs ready to go and left with the foundation for seven! The three of them laid drum, bass and guitar tracks down for what will probably be a pretty meaty EP, sounding like a cross between Gish-era Smashing Pumpkins and massive Feeder-style pop choruses. They’re coming back next week to do some more work and I can’t wait.

I’m also excited about sessions coming up with trash/rock/roll quartet The Breakdowns and the hammering stoner-prog of These Monsters. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Lastly, if you fancy coming to a massive party(and why wouldnt you?) we’re throwing one on April 10th at the Chameleon Arts Centre in the middle of Nottingham. It’s to celebrate the launch of The Charm Offensive, my own band’s first EP ‘A Scripted Ending’ and we promise you noise aplenty. It’s utterly free to get in and we’re filming the whole night so put on your best frock. Also playing is one of my fave party bands, Girls On Film coming all the way up from Worcester for the night. They sneeze two minute pop songs in their sleep and then use them to smash the crap out of their instruments. You’ll approve.

Until next time.

Mark
The Crash Factory

I Gotta KickEmOut

It’s been busy and varied here lately, with a lot of work from ‘non-bands’: At the start of the month we did some promotional voiceover work for Microsoft of all people, for a new game based around Halo 3- that was a whole bag of fun. We’ve also had a few clients coming in and creating tracks from scratch, like Anticure who’s drummer couldn’t make it to the studio for recording day. Not to be beaten, we all chipped in with loops and crazy noises and came up with an altogether unique sound which, it seems, will shape the way they do recordings in the future.

We’ve also been doing sessions with a few songwriters who want to build up a much more dense recording than just guitar and vocals. Even though each client has a recording setup at home they’ve all said how refreshing it was to be able to just create music and not worry about plugging in mics and cables and power supplies, and how the results have been much more fluid. Score.

Lastly, we’ve been busy busy busy in the tech department, fixing up gear for our clients – from guitar setups and squealing pickups to pedals that stopped working or custom modifications, our techroom has been just as busy as the studio has! We’ll be putting up a geeky techblog soon about what sort of fixes we’ve been doing. If you have a crackly input socket or a guitar that just won’t stay in tune, or you think your gear could probably sound a bit better give us a call.

T’ Factory

Life in the future…

So in Spielberg’s world, we only have a couple more years before Hoverboards, self-cleaning jackets and Jaws 19. Until then, we’ve got records to make…

We did some great things in 2009, culminating in the insanity and splendour that was the Hockley Hustle… Our show was amazing! Despite having problems with the original venue and having to move the gig halfway through, while simultaneously turning a hairdressers into a gig venue, the show was utterly amazing and utterly punkrock. Highlights were Rescued By Wolves filling the joint, Blacklisters bludgeoning everybody and a magnificent headline set from Ocean Bottom Nightmare who are fast approaching being the best band in the land.

Plans are now afoot to expand the place, to make a lot of new friends, and most importantly to make some really great records for people like you who love the music you make. We love it too.

We’ve just put up some right nice offers for the next few months, so checkumout.

Stay in touch, k?

Mark

The Big Hustle

It’s Rocktober! It’s Hockley Hustle month! We’re curating the day’s events at Wax Bar on Broad St, and we have the very loudest of line-ups:

4:00 Rescued by wolves
4:45 Here’s to Tragedy
5:30 Patchwork Grace
6:15 Fuzz Guitar Boutique presents The Air Guitar Final To End All Guitar Finals!
7:00 The Charm Offensive
7:45 Sinatra
8:30 Death; No Less
9:15 Blacklisters
10:00 Ocean Bottom Nightmare

We’re also co-hosting with Fuzz Guitar Boutique the Air Guitar Championship to end them all – Heats will be held in the day at Fuzz’s shop on the corner of broad st, with the final being held in the evening at Wax.

We’ve worked really hard to make this awesome, and we hope you can come along. We’re probably going to be doing some kind of cool-style studio offer on the day, so watch out for it…

There are still a few half-price wristbands on sale, so snap’emup, like a snapitty crocodile. Snap!

Info: www.hockleyhustle.co.uk
Tickets: £5earlybird / £7.50adv / £10otd
http://www.wegottickets.com/f/p/1/1083#rtn_58015
All for Oxfam and local NSPCC projects

Lions! Offers!

The new issue of Left Lion is on the streets, and the fellas who put it together have been kind enough to write a feature about us! There’s even the obligatory ‘at-the-console’ producer shot. This will never happen again.

They managed to get my better side, I think…

So we’ve got more awesome offers over the next few months. Check the Offers page, and use your ocular sensors to download the information directly to your brain!

If you want tea, come see us. We got tea. Maybe we can talk about records too…

Mark the recordingman

Rescued By Bees

The last week we’ve done Grunge AND Blues. Not in one go, though, oh no.

Rescued By Wolves came by and tracked two songs in a day – Big Muffs galore!
Will Jeffery is recording his debut CD right now. Simple and accomplished, If he lets me when it’s finished, I’ll put it up for listenings.

Mark

Many Of Rock

It’s been flipping ages since we wrote about a couple of the records we’ve made, so here’s a pat-sharp style run-down…

Mabels Husbands were in for about six days to make a monster of a four-track EP. Piles of electronicals, messed up guitar and the gravelly, greasy lyric of M J Wilkinson. A snippet will be up in the future.

Death; No Less came by to lay down their debut tracks. Bass? Who needs bass? Not when you have a tiny girl tuning to drop-c, and a sound halfway between PJ Harvey and the Deftones.

Here’s To Tragedy Synthed and bleeped their way through their first proper EP, getting a LOT of recognition already. We covered a lot of ground, from disney-pop to a dirty prodigy-style track about a particular lady who take off her clothes in magazines. These boys will do good things – come see them at our Hockley Hustle show at Wax Bar on broad st, 25th of October…

Mark

Get Your Gig On

As part of the Hockley Hustle this October, The Crash Factory will be throwing a sexy free-for-all live music party at Wax in Hockley, Nottingham.

The night is set to explode in your lap on October 25th, with 8 bands appearing throughout the day. Half the bill is already booked, so if you’d like to get involved you better get in touch with a quickness.

Invisible Pink Unicorn Month

To celebrate the advent of The Invisible Pink Unicorn, we’ll be running a special promotion all throughout June for only the very coolest of you musician types:

If you book for any studio time in June and mention The Invisible Pink Unicorn or you turn up with your deposit proudly wearing an Invisible Pink Unicorn badge, we’ll add a whole extra free day to our Four-for-Three offer. That means you’ll be getting FOUR DAYS FOR THE PRICE OF TWO.

Now who wants to say unicorns aren’t real?