Recording of Monzanto Sound
Type: Recording, Producing, Mixing & Mastering of EP
Artist: Monzanto Sound (Band)
Label: None More Records
Engineers: James Foss
Fabio Rizzoli
Anshuma Basumatary
JJ Jackson
Monzanto Sound are an exciting new band from London, with a psychadelic style rooted in grooves and funk interpreted through the lense of dub and electronica. These are certainly guys to watch for the future, and I'm expecting big things from them. Check out this live performance of their track 'Open Flower' at the Camden Roundhouse:
For our work together, we were to record a set of professional demos as part of an EP which they would give to their label, None More Records. We were involved in every stage, from tracking and editing to the mixing and mastering phases of production. Recording took place at the SAE Institute London's studios at Bankstock in Haggerston, Hackney.
Multi-instrumental live tracking is the only way the band records, such is Monzanto's dedication to their live sound. They have huge experience jamming together, and a large part of their ethos in recording takes from the improvisational approach of jazz, in which a pre-planned song structure is more or less a rough guideline with a strong emphasis on improvisation and to-and-fro musical 'conversations' between the musicians. As such, the policy was that once we had recorded three good takes of a track, it was finished; any more than this and the track would become forced and inauthentic.
Here are clips from the demos we recorded together. Out of respect to the band who will have the tracks remastered and released on their label, I have put our masters on a private playlist on my own personal Soundcloud:
Our main challenge was to create this live and flowing jam environment whilst capturing the cleanest possible recordings for the band. This involved finding a way to have the band feel the same experience of playing together in the same room, yet simultaneously isolated from each other for clean recording. The photographs further below give you an idea of our set-up and how we achieved this.
I felt the recording was a great success; in each session, after a long set-up once we got going and the band were warmed up they recorded incredibly fast; Descending Tune, for example, is just one take! The sessions were very productive and we were able to get clean recordings for Monzanto Sound to take to their label and leave them maximum control over the sound and aesthetic of the recordings.
Check out Monzanto Sound's 'Open Flower' on Spotify:
The finished EP will be released later this year on None More Records. If you are interested in checking Monzanto Sound out further, you can follow them and stay up to date for future announcements on their socials:
Instagram: soundofmonzanto
Facebook: soundofmonzanto
None More Records: nonemorerecords
Credits
Monzanto Sound
Synths: Mali Baden-Powell - Synths
Bass: Antony Boatright - Bass
Drums: Wazoo Baden-Powell
Bass: Antony Boatright - Bass
Drums: Wazoo Baden-Powell
Vocal & Guitar: Sienna Mustafa - Vocals and guitar
Engineers:
James Foss
Fabio Rizzoli
Anshuma Basumatary
JJ Jackson
