After our short trip to Scotland to record in Callander, this week started with a trip to the West Midlands to record at Withymoor Primary School.

Recording in the West Midlands

This year a lot of our recordings have been North of Birmingham and required a fair trek up the M6 so this one actually felt quite local despite being 2 hours from our Bath Studio.   It also meant we didnt have to get through the roadworks on the M5 at junction 2.

Unloading and Setting up

Arriving a little earlier than our usual 07.30 start, I was met by the caretaker who promptly let me in.  Today I was recording on my own which isn’t a problem but does mean the setup can take a little longer. In fact it’s really just getting things unloaded and into the school which can take the most time, especially if – as happened here – I got stuck outside an automatic door which required a pass to open!

Safely inside, I was then shown into the hall and proceeded to get the microphones and kit organised.   Once everything is in the venue it generally takes around 40 minutes to turn your school hall into a recording studio for the day depending on how many microphones are required.

The Recording

Generally we suggest allocating around 20 minutes per song with a 5 minute turn around period. This worked well at Withymoor and we ran to schedule all day.

Designing the CD Artwork

This year, as we are busier than ever, we have now taken to producing the CD artwork on site. This has several advantages. Firstly it means we don’t have to wait until getting back to our studio (in the case of this week that was 4 days later). Most importantly though it’s good to work on the design whilst everything is fresh in people’s mind.   By creating the artwork on location with the teachers at Withymoor we were able to have the final design all signed off before we left to come home.

By the time we reached the end of the recording session the artwork had been approved to go to publication.

The CD

Like most of the schools we work with, Withymoor Primary had run a competition for the CD Front cover and this is the rather fetching design which won!

Have a listen

We thought you might like to hear a little extract from the album so here are some of Year 3 singing Do you hear what I hear?

\

---

If you would like too record a CD at your Primary School then please give us a call on 01225 302143 or alternatively click here to email us