Chakram is composed and engineered by Pete J Booker and produced by Kiron J who explains:
“With Chakram I was going for a warm, round, organic, orchestral and somewhat filmic sound. The quality of the voices and the importance of the Sanskrit language also made it essential for us to focus on clarity in the singing. The percussion and the instrumental samples were to be ethnic – but not overly ‘Indian’ – yet there was to be a successful blending of western instrumentation wherever required.
We started with Kripamoya singing and Pete, who runs Arcade Studio, accompanying him on the piano. The other vocalists then made their own contribution singing around the principal vocal, but not on top of it. In Arcade Studio we have a Gemini valve microphone that feeds straight into the analogue desk and then into the computer via a Motu sound card. I never use compression when recording as I prefer an absolutely neutral vocal sound which then can be processed at the mixing stage.
I approach mixes in a certain way, old school, mixing by hand, nudging the faders up and down as the song progresses. A vintage Drawmer compressor is always on the main vocal, EQ’d on the desk using real Neve EQ and generally quite loud in the mix.
As a percussionist my main tools are Kontact loaded with Ethnoworld and Sampletank bursting with Indian, African and Moroccan drum samples. Generally nothing is quantized as the aim of the groove is its realness. Omnisphere is definitely a real gem as I can use a wide range of unusual sounds then blend them with a mixture of real sounds like the orchestra. Pete’s piano playing is not quantized either, The Grand 3 is used for its depth and clarity.
I approach mixes in a certain way, old school, mixing by hand, nudging the faders up and down as the song progresses. A vintage Drawmer compressor is always on the main vocal, EQ’d on the desk using real Neve EQ and generally quite loud in the mix.
As a percussionist my main tools are Kontact loaded with Ethnoworld and Sampletank bursting with Indian, African and Moroccan drum samples. Generally nothing is quantized as the aim of the groove is its realness. Omnisphere is definitely a real gem as I can use a wide range of unusual sounds then blend them with a mixture of real sounds like the orchestra. Pete’s piano playing is not quantized either, The Grand 3 is used for its depth and clarity.
For mastering, Metropolis Studios is my new home for this extremely skilled process. Andy ‘Hippy’ Baldwin, the mastering engineer, understands my ultimate goal sonically. He’s a vegetarian and an open minded spiritual person which makes communication simple. These days everything comes to him overly compressed, which means overly loud. I don’t bring my mixes to him like that, so he doesn’t have to put the digital limiter on anything. I give him room to be creative. With most music the wave form is almost square, but with my mixes it’s still a wave. So he likes it when I show up!
Most modern day albums with their extreme compression and loudness simply lose the dynamics, the listener simply feels fatigued. If one wants to play an album louder the volume control is a useful tool – its there for a reason! I wanted listeners to feel uplifted and refreshed by Chakram; I want the sounds to go straight to the soul.”
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