Thankyou for the old sounds!

It is with great sadness that I announce this:

Elephants, one of the few local bands who have made an impact on the national music scene have decided to call it a day. They have done very well these last two years with slots at the Radio 1 Big Weekend, two BBC Maida Vale sessions and numerous tours and showcases.

A 'Farewell' EP is currently being mixed by me, having also been recorded and produced by me at Anchor Baby. The aim is to get this ready for the bands final show at Tinseldayer II on December 18th - THE best local music event this year!

In other news, I have had more great bands in the studio over the last month or so in the form of Blue Train, Surgery Without Research and the VERY WELL REHEARSED function band Counterfeit Notes! I have also had the pleasure of recording a pianist who played for the Queen for 11 years!

November and December are looking exciting, with album demo's from Cats and Cats and Cats, a new EP from Bellingo, the Elephants farewell EP and the brand spanking new single from local punk supergroup ;) FUCK THAT!

I am also selling a guitar amp head (pictured!). It's a Selmer Treble n' Bass SV series 50watt valve head - from 1973. It has the original valves in it, and has recently be re-finished in silver tolex, so it looks amazing!

These amps are fast becoming collectors items and are being sold on E-Bay for anywhere up to £500. I am asking £400 for this one as it's immaculate. If anybody is interested please e-mail me via the website www.anchorbabyrecordings.com

2010 so far...

Hi all,

For those of you who have seen the website, you will notice that it's had a complete overhaul - new music, new reviews, new photos and a serious re-wording! Please have a look around (www.anchorbabyrecordings.com) and listen to the MP3s which I have tried to keep varied. There's some ambient/experimental stuff (Phoria), some acoustic folk/indie from Keith James and Klaus, some hardcore/punk/indie from Jairus, Yamaharahara and Kid Pang, pop-punk from Ocean Skylight and rock/nu wave from CWB!

2010 has been a really busy year for me, getting off to a great start with the new Tortilla Army album 'One For The Living' - and I am glad that my recording/production service is finally reaching a point where I don't have to pay to advertise!

I have recently had the likes of Elephants (www.myspace.com/fullyelephants) in the studio to record and mix their new creations since the line-up change, it's sounding a lot more energetic than their older material and will potentially be mastered by Nick Zampiello at New Alliance East, who previously mastered the Jairus EP 'Build My Gallows High'last year!

Other recent clients include:

YAMAHARAHARA (www.myspace.com/yamaharahara) - an amazing new band from Folkestone, similar in style to Meet Me In St Louis with female vocals.

CWB (www.myspace.com/bandcwb) - Female fronted alt/rock from Canterbury, AMAZING songs.

KLAUS (www.myspace.com/klaussaysbytherecord) - Finalist in the Orange Unsigned Act 2009 on Channel 4. Beautiful acoustic indie!

I have also had the pleasure of recording and mixing Surgery Without Research, Fuck That!, the new Jairus version of the Pink Floyd song 'Sheep', Ocean Skylight, The Dead Ends, Cats & Cats & Cats, Blue Train, The Ambience (album finished soon!) and many more.

2010 will continue to be a busy and interesting year, with future recordings booked including Counterfeit Notes, Jairus and more!

More news very very soon!

- Dan Lucas

August news!

The Phoria EP is finally finished after 3 months of serious hard work! It sounds beautiful, epic and like the band do live - mission accomplished! Thanks to Oz Craggs at Hidden Track Studios for a superb mastering job too...very shortly I will have some of the tracks up on my website for your listening pleasure.

In the coming weeks there will be exciting new sessions starting for Ocean Skylight and Klaus, plus the final mixing sessions for the new Ambience record, and the Cats & Cats & Cats three tracker!

I have recently had some new photos taken of the studio, and the website will be getting an overhaul very shortly with new MP3's, new pictures and a whole load of new info and services on offer.

If you are interested in recording with me, get booking soon!

July 2010...

Hi all,

I thought I would be updating this more frequently than I have. The reason for the lack of updates is actually because 1) I moved into a new flat (in the very plush Earls Avenue in Folkestone I might add!) and 2) I have been ridiculously busy with recordings and mixes to catch up on. So, what's been happening in the world of the Anchor Baby?

CATS and CATS and CATS:
These guys have been in to track some demo versions of their new album material. It's much more energetic than their previous stuff, and I am pleased to be working with them, more info on this as it's finished!

PHORIA:
This AMAZING bands' new EP is now finally mixed and ready to be sent off for mastering. Imagine it sounding a bit like Elbow meets Coldplay meets Sunny Day Real Estate. It's dark, beautiful and very very awesome!

THE AMBIENCE:
Nearly there with this album. It's 11 songs of reverb-smothered experimental indie, circa Manchester in the late 80s/early 90s - some of my favourite things about this record are all of the little interludes between songs. They are things that have just kind of happened in the studio. For example, there was one day where Joe (singer) was passing around his I-Pod with the new Brian Eno synth app on it. We had it plugged into the desk, and I was recording it for some reason. Just as everyone was having a go at making ambient synth noises, the trumpet player was doing his warm ups in the live room. I had a stereo pair of room mics set up (trusty old Rode NT1s!) so I hit record and what we've ended up with is a really unique sounding kind of avant-garde bit of music! Smother it in reverb and hey presto, two songs linked together!

KLAUS:
I was lucky enough to witness Klaus performing his amazing acoustic set at a gig in Folkestone a couple of months ago. After a brief chat it turned out he's a fan of Jairus and we arranged a day to record back in June. He laid down two songs, "Note to Self" and "Don't Kiss Back" in as many hours - and I am pleased to say that I have now mixed them and will be making one of them available on my website very soon!

STATIONS IN THE VALLEY:
New band from the ex-Secondsmile boys. This record is in the final stages of mixing, only a few tweaks to go and then it's off to mastering! There's some really great parts on this record, and I managed to do some guest piano playing too! looking forward to sitting back in a few weeks and chilling out to the finished article!

CHARLENE HUSKINSON:
Two more days in the studio of mixing should have this 10 song album of female-fronted brutality under wraps. Really pleased with the guitar and drum sound on this record, the trusty Hughes and Kettner Tri-amp really shone through this time around.

That is all for now, more updates, more frequently from now on!

- Dan.

Phoria fun...

Below you will see an amusing video, featuring Tim Douglas of Phoria - having an enjoyable time with my classic 'Les Paul through a Marshall JCM800' setup.

From the dark and slimey underbelly of the underground-band recording scene!

This is the very first of many posts to come, and will probably be one of the longer ones due to a lack of previous online insights as to what exactly goes on out there in Monks Horton, a small village just outside of Folkestone - for those of you who don't know.

I will start by taking you back to December 2009, a wonderous month for myself and Marcus (co studio-leasing guy) where we were lucky enough to find a beautiful DDA DMR12 88 input analogue desk (designed by Dave Dearden who now designs Audient consoles) which currently has pride of place as the central hub of our control room. In order to make the installation an extra special occasion we refurbed the control room, treating it to a new carpet, new paint and some nice furnishings too - so anyone who remembers the old thread-bare carpet of the Astra/Absolute/Barewires/Anchor Baby/Quantum Leap (insert whatever other studio name here) days can be safe in the knowledge that it has been laid to rest.

The desk itself was in perfect working order, having just been serviced (although oddly enough none of the VU meter bulbs were working - perhaps a dodgy fuse) and it sounded absolutely fantastic - especially after our ears had adjusted to the somewhat brittle/non-responsive EQ of its predecessor - a Soundtracs Virtua digital console, and before THAT a Soundtracs Inline analogue board (which to its credit actually worked out pretty well when the Kid Pang and Keith James records were tracked through and mixed on it). I only wish we'd had the beloved DDA when Jairus recorded our EP last September, which was tracked through the Virtua and mixed in the box.

Skip past Christmas/New Year and into January:
During a VERY snowy weekend I had the Tortilla Army lads in to record their new album (out now and called 'One For The Living') - a really really well rehearsed band and top bunch of guys. Due to severe weather in Monks Horton (the entire village got snowed in) we ended up spending the night in the studio, and carried on recording throughout the night until 10am the following day. Due to time limits I had to continue mixing through the night (not advisable if you want a good sounding mix) whilst the lads slept on the control room floor around me - I can remember watching the clock ticking past: 1am, 3am, 5am, 7am. In fact, I was petrified of listening to the mix a few days later due to the circumstances under which it was mixed, but to my pleasant surprise there were only a few tweaks to be made. A few weeks later the mastered copy (Thanks Oz) was in my car stereo and sounding HUGE! Great album release show too...

So, since January I have had some incredible bands through the studio doors, including Delta Sleep (new EP out soon), Stations In The Valley (new band from the Secondsmile lads), The Blues Shift, Klaus, Facades and one of the best bands I've ever heard: Phoria - a new band from Brighton.

Phoria really are something else - I discovered them at the Dirty South in Lewisham when I went to see Tener Duende (awesome gypsy-jazz trio) back in March. I knew as soon as I saw them that I had to record them, so a month or so and a few Myspace messages later they were walking towards the studio doors to record their new EP for a week, armed with a suitcase full of food and some wooden bear that they take everywhere with them. A few weeks (and some stray cats, marmite sets, location recording in a ballroom and country house, out of tune pianos) later and we're putting the finishing touches on the mixes, then it's off for mastering. This record will be something TRULY amazing by the time it's finished. Expect to see plenty more of this band very soon!

In other exciting news, the Jairus EP 'Build My Gallows High' has had some rave reviews from Rockmidgets.com, Rocksound magazine and Terrorizer magazine. Comments so far have mentioned how huge and beefy the production sounds, thanks guys! We are also pleased to announce that we will be playing alongside Sepultura, Glassjaw and a whole host of other amazing bands at the Hevy festival in August.

Well, that's about it for the first blog. The studio is going from strength to strength, and has now been treated to a lovely new set of windows all round. The sun is out, the garden is mown and there are plenty of exciting bookings lined up for the Summer.

I will make an effort to update this blog daily, so if you're interested in what's going on - or may be considering recording with me then please keep checking the blog out.

- Dan Lucas.