So I got back last night from two weeks in Norway. There's a fairly big bit of news that comes at the end of this blog, but you have to know how it went first, right? Spoilered for the lazy amongst you...
SPOILERS! (Click to view)
EPIC.
I spent the first two weeks working on the "Gigant project." The idea was that I would be the assistant engineer for a Norwegian graduate of my course (mine was a guy called Kristofer who graduated this year... he was lovely) and we had a plethora of young bands in to record one song each of theirs, and give them a taste for the studio environment.
The studio itself was in an old cinema, downstairs in a tiny second screen with about 15 seats and a lot of floor space. The tiny room behind the screen was the control room. Acoustic treatment came in the form of about 20 mattresses propped up against the brick walls. We recorded onto a MacBook, with Pro Tools 8 (Kristofer originally used his laptop which had 7.1 on it, and so did not have Elastic Audio, so I protested... I ended up using it a LOT, because... well, most musicians' timing isn't as hot as they'd like to believe, and it was all multitracked), a Focusrite Octopre and an 003 Rack, 2 x Genelec monitors and a sub.
I worked with Stabb Alex first (aged 12, 13 and 14) who were truthfully, not very good. However, the guitarist/vocalist wrote the songs and despite none of them being too good at playing, that guy could really write a catchy pop punk song. I told everyone about how good they were for their age, because truthfully, I was blown away by how good they were for their age. One day, they were playing in a marquee in the centre of Alta (only erected for a few days, about 10 people showed up) and I ran down there from Huset where I was working (20 mins walk away) to see them. They loved the fact I came, and I loved the fact I went. Everyone commented on it, and my mate Jamie who was running sound said I had this look on my face like a 'proud father' whilst they were playing.
They were my highlight, but I also worked with Before Dusk ( \m/METAL \m/ ), Astatines (who were a really good bunch of lads) and the Rlerbyrgers (pronounced 'Rollerburger', it's a Norwegian fast food item which is a burger in the shape of a hot dog sausage... once the drum track was laid down by Kristian B. it basically became a Kristian K. solo project... it was a METAL cover of 'Bye Bye Bye' by N'Sync, and he did two versions, one of which with seriously foul lyrics.) Kristian K. was a seriously funny guy.
This last weekend, we all had to run live sound in a venue in Alta. Mine was Barila, a small bar which rather challengingly featured a 12-channel mixer fixed to the wall on the side of the stage, and the PA speakers behind the stage. The two main problems this presented were a) all the mics were in front of the speakers so it was feedback central, and b) I had to go into the crowd, listen, then go back on stage (pushing past the bassist) to correct stuff. That said, I pulled it off very well judging by the amount of compliments I received (*pride*). The bands on Friday night were the aforementioned Astatines and the Geggen Mauno band (ageing rocker, apparently with a big following in the Finnmark region of Norway). His touring sound guy was a DICK, and I spent the second half of his set keeping a drunk guy off the stage. Saturday night was a three-piece blues band called Bl Strek who were really good... they just turned up 10 minutes before they started, plugged in and rocked out. No problems or arguments. Then was Violet Road, who had played Barila many times before and as such knew the challenges. The keyboard player does all their sound anyway, so I set up their mics and left them to it, pretty much. They were fantastic... closed with an amazing cover of Friday I'm In Love by the Cure. People were dancing on tables and all, it was superb.
After that came one of the most manic afterparties ever (kicked out of the hotel by security, kicked out of the house party we then went to by the police, then crashed breakfast at the hotel and made arses of ourselves in front of a roomful of old people who were there on holiday... not exactly a proud moment, but hey, go with the flow!)
Seriously, I could write about this stuff for ever, and how fun it was, but the bottom line is this...
I'm looking into emigrating to Norway. The pay rate is so good, I could spend a few years working out there then return to the UK absolutely minted and set up my own business or do whatever I wanted. They're crying out for sound techs over there, and the pay rate would START at around 20 an hour. I'm looking at the housing market, immigration, trying to find language classes in Liverpool, and trying to get the ball rolling so that I can finish uni and head over there. I need to see Oslo first and the south of Norway, and I should probably experience a Norwegian winter (< 2 hrs of sunlight a day), but this is a serious consideration.
I need to speak to people... my best friend Scott, for one. That'll happen tonight. My parents have already told me "for fuck's sake, do it... don't stay in Britain!"
So there you go.
xx
