Stephen Fearing - The Secret Of Climbing VINYL LP
TRACKLIST
Side 1
1 Johnny's Lament
2 Just In Time To Say Goodbye
3 The Things We Did
4 Every Soul's A Sailor
Side 2
5 Time
6 When My Baby Calls My Name
7 Red Lights In The Rain
8 Long Walk To Freedom
The closest you will get to experiencing Stephen sitting in your front room singing and playing for you
Rega's founder Roy Gandy had suggested Stephen record his guitar and vocal separately in the traditional studio manner. Stephen felt the quality of his performance depended on the authenticity of him playing and sing simultaneously.
Tape running…the initial results were astounding, and excitement filled the room. This enthusiasm immediately fuelled the first three songs which were recorded within half a day. By the end of the second day a miraculous eleven tracks had been laid down, of which eight made this incredible album (the other three have been included in the digital download included in the sleeve).
This album was created with a little luck, a great deal of hard work, iconic tape machines and two days of faultless performances by Stephen.
capturing the sound
The voice and guitar were directly recorded onto two tracks of a meticulously restored 8-Track one-inch Studer A-80. No mixer was used.
The two microphones were directly interfaced into the Studer via a custom designed Rega microphone pre-amplifier. This was loosely based on the fully symmetrical design of the exceptional Rega Ios / Aura Moving Coil pre-amplifiers.
The guitar microphone was a Pearl CC22. A uniquely configured microphone using a rectangular diaphragm chosen for its natural characteristics.
Two different voice microphones were used during the sessions, the Pearl CC22 and an Audio Technica AT-4040
Using a Rega custom built, all discrete, 8 track mixer (designed by Regas Terry Bateman and based on Rega hi-fi amplifiers) the two original tracks were then mixed down onto a two-track quarter inch Studer A-80.
This process was particularly critical. Roy used PPM meters to ensure every track was laid down at a similar volume level. This level of care eliminated the need for any further mastering in the cutting studio and a cable was run from the studio tape machine directly to the Neuman cutting lathe.
All the tracks were recorded at 15 IPS on 80R tape. Finally, Ray Staff conducted the tape splicing of the recorded tracks but crucially no studio mastering was necessary or used.
