"Put it away, Plectrum"

Seasons Greeetings Ladies and Germs

This week I took a train down to the coast. A very rare occurrence for me, in that I am seldom tempted out from "behind the wheel of a large automobile" (Talking Heads anyone?), but, as I was going to have a small glass of sherry at my destination I decided to let the train take the strain.

For the journey I took along my trusty iPod and having recently loaded the L.E.O. Alpacas Orgling album (check it out here http://www.myspace.com/bleuleo) I thought this would be a serious opportunity to geek out on all things related to the Stereo field. For the Non- musos out there this relates to the "Eureka" moment of my childhood when I first placed a a pair of ridiculously large Headphones atop of my tiny swede and realised that some instruments/voices seemed to be kind of off centre or, even stranger, moving from one side of my head to the other. To simplify, imagine you have on a pair of the previously mentioned, "Tony Blackburn", style, large Heaphones (curly lead optional). Basically, after all the parts of a song are recorded they are placed (or Panned, if you're Bob Clearmountain) either in the centre (top of your head or 12 o'clock ), Hard Left (your left Ear or 9 o'clock) or Hard Right (your Right Ear or 3 o'clock). This is how the Stereo field is created. If you are really geeky you will realise that some parts are actually panned in between these points and this is where my childhood Archimedes moment kicked in.

Ever since I first got a multitrack recorder, I have always been blown away by how much you can change the dynamic of a song by moving one instrument from the centre of the mix to the left or right side of the mix. All this just by twisting the mixing desk pan control from one side to the other. This is also probably the main reason I have never finished recording an album and why, realising that I am entering into the world of double entendres, Knob Twiddling is my downfall. I can see why Brian Wilson made everyone in the studio wear Firemens Helmets while they recorded "Mrs O'Learys Cow (Fire)" - the Studio is just one great, big adventure playground for Musicians.

Coming back in where this thread started, The L.E.O. record is a kind of tribute to Jeff Lynne's mighty E.L.O., but, more songs written and recorded in the style of ELO, rather than a straight a cover version tribute. Over the course of a 1.5 hour train journey, I blissed out to the fantastic songs and over obsessed to the clever tricks in the Stereo mix. My fellow passengers were completely unaware that, all the while, I had been sitting there with one thing on my mind - "Twiddling my Knob".

Peas and Fluff 'n' Christmas stuff

Mick