Tag Archives: Live Music

Best of the #BCBsessions – Eclectic Mainline 23rd April 2014

During my 10 years presenting Eclectic Mainline on BCB I had the pleasure of recording live (largely) acoustic sessions with some wonderful artists.  As I am giving up the programme, I wanted to re-broadcast some of my favourite session tracks before leaving.

BCB sessions

So, this week I played some (but by no means all) of my favourite session tracks. You can hear the full programme (plus a bonus track taking the show past the hour mark) on my Mixcloud page:

My method of recording a live session evolved over time until I ended up with a process that got the best out of the available resources.  The microphones at BCB are only really suited for speech broadcasting, and the studios are not equipped for multitrack recording. But I managed to work round these restrictions.  The microphones issue was easy to overcome, as I would borrow some from Wilful Missing.

I was restriced to recording in stereo, but I would hard pan the inputs, recording the lead vocal in the left channel, and all other instruments in the right channel.  This effectively created a 2-track recording that I could later mix to ensure a good level on the lead vocal.  But I needed to get a good live mix of all the instruments, and this wasn’t always easy because I was in the same room as the musicians.  I couldn’t monitor what was being recorded without also hearing the ambient noise of the musicians in the room. Continue reading →

The Mirrored Hammer Istanbul Special Pt.1

Tonight’s episode of The Mirrored Hammer (9pm – 10pm on BCB 106.6FM) is an ‘Istanbul Special’ audio diary resulting from the first week of Andy’s residency at PiST/// Research and Production Residency: PIRPIR through Gasworks (London).

Contains snippets of conversations with PiST///, the Istanbul Biennial press launch, street musicians and city sounds, a Fluxus music event, and gigs by Mombu, Monduel, Ah! Kosmos and more.

If you wish to hear the last episode you can do so here:

The Mirrored Hammer

The fifth episode of The Mirrored Hammer: Art, Culture and Social Change airs tonight at 9pm on BCB 106.6FM. This final episode of the series includes interviews with the curators of this year’s ‘Kunstvlaai’ festival of independent art in Amsterdam and the ‘Corners’ exhibition at Gallery II, University of Bradford. David Bell talks about the political resonances of improvised music and there are live recordings from No Hands, as well as the ImprovDay and Folk Narratives events that took place in Bradford; songs from Champion Lover, Howie Reeve, Bridie Jackson, Richard Dawson, Bennett-Murray-Vulliamy and The Sense of Adventure Tape Deck Orchestra.

Last month’s episode is uploaded to here if you wish to listen again:

The Mirrored Hammer: Episode Four by Andyabbott on Mixcloud

The Mirrored Hammer

The second instalment of The Mirrored Hammer: Art, Culture and Social Change airs tonight on BCB 106.6FM at 9pm. Interviews with Dusty Rhodes talking about being a student in Bradford post ’68 and the/(a) history of The Bradford Festival. Also a chat with Nagbea (The Word/Sound Shack Records) talking about the birth of the Punk scene and resonances between African culture and the DIY music scene. Live bootlegs from Blood Sport, Guns or Knives, Jupiter and Okwess International, Jaipur Kawa Brass Band and Gerrard Bell-Fife.

 

You can listen to last month’s debut episode here: