Reflections from Chris Adams
Rob sought my assistance with the upcoming project, and there was never any hesitation on my part. Recording guitar is an art form in itself, and I was alert to the fact that I had never captured the sound I could hear in my head. I spent a lot of time researching and asking questions, because I realised the importance of what we were about to undertake.
We didn't have any of the specialised equipment back in 1993. All we had was a decent tape recorder, coupled with some huge Tannoy Gold speakers, and a case of Shure SM58 microphones. Good*God Studio had taken up residence in the old 202 Hindley Street studio in the Adelaide CBD. The room was acoustically good, with carpeted floor and walls, and cork tiles on one wall, and a really high ceiling. I added a LINE signal from the guitar pickups via a DI box, so that I had a choice of sounds during the mixing stage.
Rob was always under pressure on the day, so it was important to get things off to a flying start. I needed to conjure the sounds I wanted, through the mixer, and quickly, so that Rob did not become fatigued or frustrated with the process. I had a lot to manage as engineer and producer, but we forged ahead successfully one track at a time.
Every track involved multiple attempts by Rob to get it right from start to finish. Sometimes he stopped playing almost at the end of a take, because of an irregularity in the playing. Often I stopped him, because I felt that we needed to try again. I felt bad that I had to do that, because asking Rob to start all over again was a huge ask.
Nowadays it’s no big deal - in fact, it’s so easy to recover. But back then, we had no way of editing in a new section. We didn't have the facilities, and we couldn’t afford to pay someone else to do that for us.
In 2023, I am happy and proud of the final product, given all of the self-belief it took on both our parts, to carry that project through to completion. Good times for sure.
