Yama-Nui Studio Open Day – 'Hit it & Quit it'
Every couple of months we’ll open up the studio for a few rounds of “Hit it & Quit It”. The thinking behind these sessions is like a game, a chance to catch something spontaneous, focusing on meaningful performance over studio perfection, taking a risk and rising to the challenge. A return to the commitment and charisma we’ve all been drawn to in older recordings, the knowledge that it all happened right in a single moment. Sessions designed to simply capture a great performance of a great song, no mess, no fuss and at a low cost. Join our mailing list now and get sent details about the next one as soon as it’s announced.
“The motivation behind it for me really stems from a talk I attended by Reggae superstars, The Congos. They were talking about old Jamaican recording sessions in the 50’s and 60’s, where the studio would be all set up ready to go and the producer would walk out into the yard where all the hopeful singers and groups would be standing around waiting. One by one, they would audition live for the producer and if they’re track was hot, they’d get to go in and have one shot at laying it down live. This would go on all day long. By the end of the day the studio would have recorded a dozen new hits, all to be pressed onto blank 7” singles the very next day and circulated to all the soundsystems around town and see which ones were hot enough to fill the dancefloors. That’s how stars were made, and I remember the Congos saying they rehearsed their tunes at least 200 times before heading down to the studio yard. It was captured in less than 20 minutes and released the next day. The sound of a genre, an era, a studio and a Nation were ultimately built from the commitment of everyone involved. I’m so inspired by this and want our local community of talented musicians to be able to experience the immediacy and commitment it takes to pull this kind of thing off” – PaulieB.
We’ll have Yama-Nui fully set up and ready to record with our in-house backline. All you have do is walk in, plug in and drop it while it’s hot. It might not be what you’re expecting, but go with it. Be ready. Be brave. Come open minded and trust in us. Trust in yourself and trust in your bandmates. Hit it, and Quit it.
You’ll get 10 minutes to set up, then an hour to record. It might be just you and your guitar. You might want to lay down a live band rhythm, then come back for vocals or horns over the top. You might want to go all at once. You might want to demo your live set. You might want to record an entire 44 minute LP – people have already. It’s up to you. The only rules are that we set it up our way and you only get 1hr. Then we turn it right around and start mixing immediately, followed by a quick, but slick mastering job. You’ll leave the studio exactly 2 hrs after you arrived with release ready tunes.
Come play a round of ‘Hit it & Quit it’ with PaulieB and see what ya made of.
