GETTING IN THE ZONE
“I feel like we discovered some really cheap ways of getting some pretty good sounds.”
“It was the first occasion I’d taken the time to listen to the sonic characteristics of a preamp. ‘Oh that actually sounds pretty nice. Sounds noticeably better. I don’t know how, but it does”
I love the understatement of this. Alister Wright is best known as Cloud Control’s sinuous frontman but he’s also the architect of the band’s first self-produced album, Zone.
Some three years in the making, Zone, is a labour of love. It’s the trophy-bride at the conclusion of a story of can-do, how-hard-can-it-be?, Aussie optimism. It’s a tale of back-yourself, do-your-homework, single-minded prosecution of a vision. In fact, because it’s a story of ‘inspiration finding a way’, it could be your story or my story… if only we had the necessary reserves of talent and resolve to carry it off.
It all started with a realistic look at the recording budget.
“Recording an album in a commercial studio is expensive,” Cloud Controls’s Ulrich Lenffer reminds us as we chat about producing Zone back stage at The Croxton on the band’s Melbourne leg of its Australian tour. “If you’re in a studio and you’re stressed out and you’re not getting the sound you’re after and everyone is stressed about the clock ticking… that’s not good for anyone. Take that element out. Choose the gear you want to use and learn how to use it.”
More understatement but so true.
