"Reducer" - A new Bandshed Records Release

[GMaq]

Hi!

Just passing along a new release made with Ardour in our "Bandshed Records" studio. "Reducer" is a 5 song EP of Modern Indie Folk and the first solo EP by Connor MacArthur (who incidentally is my son and Rated Blue's drummer).

Songs were written and recorded by Connor and I poked my head in occasionally for some mixing and mastering here and there..

It's on Spotify and all major streaming platforms:

https://open.spotify.com/album/1M8ocHUP ... oImUetIdtg

[milo]

Here it is on YouTube, for those who don't have a Spotify account: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAhps8l ... bxLafG5OaM

This is a moody, pensive, understated collection of songs. And for such a good drummer there is very spare use of percussion overall. "Reducer" is a good name for it. It reminds me of the "mope rock" I loved when I was a teenager.

Did Connor play all of the instruments? He's a talented kid! Nice performance overall. Lots of reason to be proud of him for this one.

Is that a real piano? It sounds like it is. How did you mic it and process it? I've had trouble getting decent sounds out of real pianos for some reason.

[GMaq]

Hi milo!

Thanks very much for the listen, comments and the alternate link.. I've suggested a Bandcamp link too which will be up soon, we're all in our Spotify bubble here..

Lol, even Connor says it's a mope factor 6 album (it may have had something to do with a girl).. he did play all the stuff, the studio is kind of his playground and he just keeps working away at things until he hears what he wants. The piano is something we get a big laugh about. It's one of those Yamaha 88 key thingies with 6 sounds or so on it from Costco and the piano and strings record very well from it.. We've had it for years and it is so NOT impressive compared to pretty much any garden variety hardware synth but the piano and strings kill..*shrugs

Thanks again for your time! I'll pass your comments along..

[ufug]

This is impressive! Everything is so tasteful. The mix on all the songs is just perfect, and the collection really blends together. He has a skill for providing a crazy level of detail and somehow making it sound spare, I envy that. Kudos to Conner.

I think I have to officially quit making drummer jokes now.

His wikipedia entry is fascinating as well.

[Tenaba]

I gotta say, those vocals are really good; I especially like the very shoegaze-y sound on Anniversary. It's probably my favorite track.. Mix is also well-balanced!

[Rainmak3r]

I'm not much into Indie music, but I liked Connor's songs. Hist style reminded me a bit of Magnet, a Norwegian songwriter I discovered thanks to a videogame and that I enjoy quite a lot. The quality of the recording and mixing is so high that it's incredible it was all done with Ardour... it's definitely orders of magnitude better than anything I've gotten out of it myself!

[folderol]

Very much his own style in these. Good work.