Loci was born out of a momentary lapse of concentration; leading to a two-year fit of the giggles, that was stretched & echoed throughout three albums in a progression of manic swooping mood-swings, wild waxing & waning emotions transferred into songs & instrumental tendencies through a mesh of acoustic & electronic instrumentations from folk to punk to electronica & back, stopping at all decades on the way.
The Loci sound is a see-saw that sways between traditional song-writing and experimental sound engineering, with an eclectic flock of influential & inspirational sources that transcend genre. I have attempted to name some of the most pertinent influences below...
The Loci sound was originally formed largely due to the instrumentation; the mix of acoustic guitar & bass with samples, synths & elaborate audio editing. The demo recordings of the first album adhered to pretty strict instrumental constraints, allowing only a single guitar over-dub, and a single vocal over-dub, and a single percussion track (such as a shaker, tambourine, hand-claps etc.); these additional layers were also used fairly sparingly.
The first album demo was also made up almost entirely of first-take material, with the songs being written, sometimes only minutes before recording!
This technique gave the album a pretty fresh & vibrant sound, where mistakes felt at home, and less-than polished recordings became part of it's
charm. The album was written, recorded, artwork complete and mastered within three weeks, sometimes completing three songs in a day from start to
finish. It was some time later that the project was re-opened, some songs were cut from the track-listing, and with the benefit of a fresh
perspective and some further sound engineering experience, I re-mixed the album, and expanded the constraints of instrumentation to include extra
backing vocals, acoustic bass, and some 'icing-on-the-cake' processing, ready for replication.
(Big thanks to 'Blade' for the CD replication!)
To name some particularly inspirational artists, in no particular order, that have contributed to the Loci sound, I would have to mention Manu Chao, Eels, Igor Stravinsky, Gomez, Graham Coxon, Hunter S. Thompson, The Kinks, The Bees, and Led Zeppelin; as well as Supergrass Elbow, Violent Femmes, Sigur Rós, David Byrne, Syd Barrett, Jah Wobble, Beck, The Cure, David Bowie, Blind Melon, Radiohead, Wendy Carlos, Paul Williams, The Smiths and Guillaume Vienne....
Inspiration & influence need not only come from other musicians (see Hunter S. Thompson above!). Other creative media have proved to be of great help in seeking out new ideas & sounds, new effects & adaptation of genre: the films of Richard Linklater, the Coen Brothers, and Michel Gondry, and some particular titles, such as There Will Be Blood, A Clockwork Orange, The Machinist, Minority Report, Koyaanisqatsi, Waking Life, Angel Heart, 2001 A Space Odyssey, Pan's Labyrinth, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind have been extremely inspirational & influential, not only through their fabulous scores, but also in their subject matter, exceptional craft & creativity.
My first move into recording was with an old AKAI 12-Track tape machine, no mic's, and little understanding about the process. I managed to put together an album of tracks, though very poorly recorded! My real pursuit into sound engineering started with my introduction to Steinberg Cubase, pre-audio version, whilst studying for an access course in Music Technology.
It wasn't 'till a few years later that I started putting together a computer-based home-studio, and taking recording more seriously. I spent the next few years finding some value 2nd hand microphones, some nice mic-preamps, and a bit of outboard gear. During the time the Loci project was started (around 2004), I had been teaching myself to record & mix for a couple years, using a computer system; a budget PC running Steinberg Cubase, and a couple of mic's (an AKG C3000 condenser and a Shure SM57).
My home-studio has grown steadily over the past four or five years, by slowly acquiring the priority bits of kit as they became available, generally second hand (thank you Ebay!). Priorities were: computer, vocal mic' , stereo pair of small-diaphragm condensers, A DECENT MIC' PRE!, and a compressor. Oh - and an SM57 or two!
I now have a reasonable microphone collection for the work I do; recording acoustic guitars/bass, vocals, percussion, flutes, harmonica etc. and a bit of small drum-kit recording. I have a lovely sE Z5600a tube mic' - which is the best mic' I've ever used for my vocals, (though haven't tried [couldn't afford] the GEMINI!); a matched pair of RODE NT5 small-diaphragm condensers, which I use on the acoustic guitar, and as drum overheads, for percussion, and distance-mic'ing some stuff for a bit of room-character. I have a Soundelux U195, and a Neumann TLM193 which get used here and there for backin' vocals (for some separation from the main vocal), sometimes on the acoustic bass, for flutes & some experimental mic' set-ups. I also have the obligatory Shure SM57 for snares, for mic'ing the body of the acoustics, and whatever else happens to happening! For the acoustic bass I often use my Shure D112; the kick-drum mic' - which is great when used with another mic' or two. ....but the Z5600a really is my fave'.
