HINDS x gorilla vs. bear takeover: gear we used
FOR THE MUSIC FREAKS AND GEEKS!! We are about to reveal you all the gear we used song by song!!!
but first we are gonna explain a bit what the process was.
we recorded this album in the same studio we recorded the first one, in PACO LOCO STUDIOS, in a town called El Puerto de Santa Maria in the south of Spain.
This time we decided we wanted to go to the studio two times, with some time in between. after doing Leave Me Alone we realized its almost impossible not to get crazy when you are locked up in the studio, so we wanted a break in between, to be able to listen to the songs without the pressure of having to take the decision in that moment...
The first trip was in March 2017, for two weeks. We co-produced the record with Gordon Raphael. We met Gordon like 3 years ago, after he wrote us saying he was a fan of our Demo (our first single ever to be released!). We chose him because we knew he like HINDS as we are and he was really sweet and easy to work with, and he was specially important for our vocals recordings. Before recording them he would make us sing the song a cappella and would stop us every time he wouldn’t understand some words because of our pronunciation. This was so new for us, we had never worked with a non-spanish person so it was a nice surprise. In those 15 days we recorded all the songs except New For You (that was written in between these 2 periods).
After touring the US and playing Coachella, we came back to the studio in April. This time we brought Shawn Everett to mix. We didn’t know him but we really liked the job he did with The Growlers' last record, and he seemed a good guy on Skype (and also, he has a fucking grammy!!!!)
This time we were there for 10 days, but he was getting to Spain on day number 2 so we recorded New For You that (had just been written) and re-recorded Finally Floating (all by ourselves with Paco engineering). Watching Shawn work was a total mind-blowing experience. As we said before, he asked us to do the collages of images and he worked every day with the collages next to the mixing table. We felt really happy when he started showing us the results because we knew we didn’t want to give him too much info, we wanted him to show us what we thought was the best for each song. And it happened to be exactly what we loved.
I also want to say a word about Paco Loco, who was there engineering, understanding and supporting us during the whole time. and he still does.
AIGHT NOW ALL THE TECHNICAL SHIT!!!
(In the order of recording!)
ROOKIE:
ana´s guitar solo was recorded with a GIBSON 225 and with cc´s pedal: SPARK BOOSTER TC Electronic
Carlotta used her own guitar: a DANELECTRO 56 pro sp
Ade used a Mustang rally from 1972
SOBERLAND:
Ana: jazz master and for the solo a Line 6 MODELER pedal
cc: her own DANELECTRO
ade: her own bass that’s also a mustang bass but newer
TO THE MORNING LIGHT:
Ana: JAZZMASTER
CC: DANELETRO + a RAT pedal for the solo
Ade: her own bass
LINDA:
ana´s solo : carlotta´s DANELECTRO
cc: EASTWOOD Saturn 63
Ade: her own bass
THE CLUB:
Ana: jazz master
Cc: her own daneletro
Ade: her own bass
For this song, the drums are so present that we had to tune the toms to be in the same key as the guitar chords
I FEEL COLD BUT I FEEL MORE:
ana: EASTWOOD Saturn 63 with the tremolo pedal of the amp.
cc: her own DANELECTRO
Ade: her bass
ECHOING MY NAME:
ana: her own guitar EPIPHIONE ET25
Cc: her own DANELECTRO
Ade: her own BASS
TESTER:
Ana: jazzmaster
cc: her danelectro
+ the intro was recorded the same way as MA NUIT
FINALLY FLOATING:
Ana: her guitar
Cc: her guitar
Ade: the 72 bass
MA NUIT:
Ana: NYLON guitar for the chords
Cc and Ade used 2 acoustic guitars
Amber played the bongos covered with towels so they weren’t too loud
When we are in the writing stage, we always record the songs with our phones with acoustic guitars and vocals, so we can re-listen to it and remember and change things. Well with Ma Nuit, we got so obsessed with how the phone-recorded sounded that for the real recording we wanted the same “spanish- patio” sound.
Ma nuit wasn’t recorded in the studio. We went to the house we were staying at, sat down around one mic and recorded everything live (this time including vocals). We did it with the windows open so you could hear the birds.
NEW FOR YOU:
ana: her EPIPHONE + vibroking pedal for the solo
Cc: her DANELECTRO
ade: the 72 bass
AMPS AND DRUM KIT:
Ana used a FENDER amp for all the songs.
Cc usually used two amps at the same time: an ORANGE and a FENDER SUPERSONIC.
Amber used a ludwig vintaage drum kit (the same one she used in the first record!), she used hi-hat paiste, crash turkish y ride zildjianand cymbals and 3 different snares in total.
Ade used a big ass Ampeg B15.
And some stuff of how we always work:
- we like to record all the music live and together (and clearly without clicks haha). The only thing we record apart are some guitar solos, to be able to edit the sound better and vocals
- Carlotta and ana, we record our vocals on different mics but and the same time. A thing we love about PACO LOCO STUDIOS in that we can do this; he has two different rooms separated by a glass door, so we see each other every time we are singing.
-Behind all the songs we add a nylon guitar to warm the song and make you feel like you are in Spain.