Far Horizon

Week 4, 25th – 31st July: Tracking guitars

Afsana — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 20:20:46 +0000

So here we are…
Yes, some time has passed since the last studio upload, however, it wasn’t all for bad reason as we spent the time playing some decent shows (w/ Evolver One and Isochronous), touring & getting up to our usual shenanigans. Since I’m (Tyron) keeping these blogs in check- what I’m gonna do is stick to the “week” thing, so even though 4 months has passed since our last upload, this very blog is humbly labelled “Week 4”. My last post ended in saying “next week we hit the studio for, the part I’ve been looking forward the most….guitar tracking (if there was a devilish, smirk looking face, I’d insert it here!)

Let me first begin by saying that we, Far Horizon, and to a slightly more extent, Keegan and myself, have always taken the onus upon ourselves to do whatever it takes to seek & achieve the most heavily, crunched-up, monster-breathing, jaw-dropping huge overdrive tones the world has to offer. When the band first started, we had ourselves a Marshall JCM900 – cool amp, thick cleans, ‘in yer’ face” drives – an absolute demon! However, just to take it a step further, we had the output stage beefed up, to give us a thicker low & more present scream. It still holds the fort every night & day be it on the studio, pm stage or the road! Along our journey, we also picked up a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier, an older 2 channel, 97’ model. At the time it was not available in SA. In fact, I don’t think it’s ever been available in SA. That amp needs no introduction. All I’m gonna say is, when the record comes out – you’ll know!

SO….this all leads to me to the real point of this blog which is, recording the driven sounds for the new Far Horizon album. It was a tedious process due to the meticulous approach Keegan and I take when it comes to guitars – both the playability and the tone. Often the case would be: Press record, track the takes, listen to them and realise, “Wow, you played that real good, but it’s not the sound we want…” and thus, do it again! So all-in-all it took us a week, switching between the amps, mics and guitars, combining different colours of tone to shape the feel of each track. This was definitely one of the most rewarding parts of the recording process.

Next week, starting Monday 23rd August – we hit the studio for the second part of guitars…clean takes!

Nice and sparkly time.

Tyron

Click here for a sneak peek video

Home Tour! Here we come

Afsana — Fri, 21 May 2010 19:21:12 +0000

Hey guys, Here is details for the Home Tour. We so excited to hit the road, home-school.

The Home Tour kicks off tomorrow night at Purple Turtle.

Come support 3 local bands, Far Horizon, Boombox Troopers and Dustland Express embark on a unique approach to ‘touring.’ Tour your own city, they say. Come check them out tomorrow night, we say.

This is going to be a party and a half or three.

Date: 22 May

Entrance: R30

Ps. We can celebrate the rugby victory together. Go Stormers. (Don’t worry, I haven’t sold out)

Check out facebook for other dates on the tour

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/event.php?eid=112563015448192&ref=ts

Netfest 2010

Afsana — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:32:26 +0000

Thanks for all who came through on Saturday for NetFest. Kudos to Gareth and his team at Kega for putting together this initiative.

Line Up was as following:

· Llevado
· Far Horizon
· Tailor Hill
· Red Light in June
· The Undefind
· 12th Avenue

Week 3 – 12th -> 16th April

Afsana — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 06:22:53 +0000

Monday, April 12^th, marked the beginning of week 3, which started of a little behind schedule due to unforeseen issues that crept up during our tweaking stage. Thankfully though, a little bit of extra hard work & pure ground, filter coffee saw us laying down the first (of many!) bass lines, early the following Tuesday morning. By Thursday, we had worked up a good rhythm whereby Devin was nailing about 4 tracks a day, which was awesome efficiency bearing in mind all the guitar changes, tuning changes & tone changes we had to check & double check in between songs & takes etc. Our aim was to take utmost care whilst recording the bass in order to make sure it “locked down” 100% with the drum grooves but at the same time, provided a firm foundation for the forthcoming guitar tracks too. So, in otherwords, we all owed Devin a big “hoo-ra !” in the end for achieving the frustrating task of having to play the role of the “glue guy” in the band whilst at the same time, firmly stamping in the “low-end”. Monday 19^th April brought an end to the bass as we finished up the last 3 songs. Stay tuned as next week we hit the studio for, the part I’ve been looking forward the most….guitar tracking (If there was a devilish, smirky emoticon, I’d insert it here!!) Should prove to be very interesting…

Chat soon..

Tyron

Week 2 – 6th -> 9th April

Afsana — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 06:42:53 +0000

Week 2, which wasn’t much of a week due to the public holidays, was filled with lots of nitty-gritty fix ups and listening sessions. Long hours were spent at Sound and Motion Studios with our (legendary!) producer & engineer, Matt James, focusing on the arrangements & structures of the individual songs and making sure that everything was 100% in shape for the rest of the recording process. Because we had tracked so much stuff in such a short space of time, we felt it necessary to just take a good listen to everything & selectively choose the best of what we had recorded. Next week Devin gets going with the bass which we’re all looking forward to! So first two weeks under our belt and excited for what lies ahead.

– Tyron

Studio – Week 1 – March 29th -> April 3rd

Afsana — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 20:47:55 +0000

We arrived at Sound and Motion Studios early Monday morning to start setup, all dried up and sleep deprived from a not-so-distant Johannesburg tour. 11 songs, 6 weeks,100’s of re-takes and copius amounts of caffeine was hopefully, all that stood between us and our…yes, long overdue…debut record. Setup was smooth, which I think was a testament to our hours of pre-production and planning weeks before, which definitely paid off. What made the start even better, was the fact that we all got to play together in the same room whilst recording the drums, as opposed to just having Sean record along to a guide guitar riff or bass line, it made the tracks seem a little more “real”. Monday through Thursday saw the recording of all 11 drum tracks and then it was finally time for the (well deserved) long Easter weekend!

– Tyron

The JHB ‘tour’

Afsana — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:31:06 +0000

Armed with only their rucksacks, guitars, drums and amps, Far Horizon set off to Joburg for a two-show mini tour. With a week taken off, the band arrived at their first show, at Tanz Cafe. This well-equipped venue was a great blend of intimacy brought by the seats and tables, and the party atmosphere which was bought about with St. Patrick’s day. Along side Allegra, the venue was well-attended and an all round great response was heard after the show. With just two days rest, which did not seem to be enough, Far Horizon went on the road (all the way to Botswana’s border) for the next show, a 21st birthday party. The venue of the show which was labeled “Mishstock” was packed with people, tents, goats and a I’m-going-to-party-attitude. With The Shamrocks, an acoustic outfit, and 4 well-known Joburg DJ’s on the line up, the Saturday night was already in expectation of one crazy night. Overall Mishstock was one wicked time and the band was widely complimented on their show. After nights of pumping up beds every four hours, 39 hours of driving and a whole new level of sh*t talk, Far Horizon got back to the Cape. This adventure is a great prelude to the forthcoming recording of the album.

– Keegan

All our bags are packed.

Afsana — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:00:24 +0000

The much anticipated JHB ‘Tour’ has finally hit the road. We will be playing at Tanz Cafe on the 17 March and a private birthday party on the weekend.

This is more of a cameo appearance and we will hit JHB probably within the year.

Hope to see all you JHBers @ Tanz Cafe. Entrance is R50.