THE SINKING TEETH // Exclusive Studio Diary With Producer Tom Larkin At ‘Studios In The City’

Hysteria are proud to exclusively present the studio diary from Melbourne punks The Sinking Teeth, fresh off the release of their debut record Songs From The Bottom Of The Lake.

The Sinking Teeth are Julian Doan (Bass), Nick Manuell (Guitar) and Adrian Van Bloom (Drums). Photographed by Manuell with professional flair, and written by Doan, the studio diary covers the intimate workings of a young band’s first ever full recording process. Recording their debut on a vintage 1974 EMI neve console in Melbourne’s Studios In The City, the band recruited Tom Larkin (Shihad/High Tension/Bodyjar) to assist them. The result is a close look into The Sinking Teeth’s dedicated journey from start to finish with Manuell providing the visuals for Doan’s entries throughout their time in the studio.

Cutting their teeth in support slots for Jimmy Eat World and Luca Brasi, the band will be playing tracks from Songs From The Bottom Of The Lake on their eighth national tour this November/December.

The Sinking Teeth’s new album Songs From The Bottom Of The Lake is available here.

These 3 gentlemen were the hearts of this record. On the left is Jon Grace. He helped record the majority of the album on minimal sleep and maximum love. He would spend 10-12 hours a day recording us and then go straight to work at Bar Open until 4am. He even has a toothbrush at the studio. Hectic. In the middle is the brains of the whole operation at Studios In The City—Tom Larkin. He recorded, produced and mixed this album and produced our last EP too. On the right is the hilariously witty Jim Young our unofficial tour manager. He was our ‘pat on the back’ and a phone smashing sidekick who helped us with everything from looking after merch, getting drunk with us and ordering falafel wraps from Tibas.

Jon Grace, Tom Larkin and Jim Young

We experimented with a lot of different guitars and amp/cab setups. Songs on the album had up to 4 different tunings: E, Drop D, B standard and Drop B tunings. Here’s what we used in the end.

Rhythm guitar:
GIBSON Les Paul CUSTOM ’68 Reissue
SCHECTOR Ultra VI Baritone with TV Jones Pickups
FENDER ’52 Reissue Telecaster

Lead guitar:
T GUITAR with T90 Pickups
DAN ELECTRO Baritone
FENDER Jaguar Japanese Reissue

Amps:
ORANGE AD30 with a MARSHALL BX 4X12 Cab
SOVTEK MIG 50 Head with a MESA Boogie Rectifier 4×12 with Vintage 30’s
VOX ’64 AC30 Head and FENDER Tonemaster 2×12 Cab

Half the songs on the new album were originally written and recorded in late 2014 as a follow up EP to White Water but it was never released due to touring and fund raising. Then came renovations to Tom’s studio in May last year to fit a Vintage 1974 EMI Neve Recording Console, one of seven in the world. We were stoked to be the first band recording on this and so we wrote a bunch more songs and recorded an entire album instead.

Measuring the distance between what you are recording and the microphones to make sure they are the same distance apart helps with reducing phase issues.

Measuring up

Below is Nick on ‘Gats’ on the left and me on the right. Tom Larkin says a good record sounds good when the performance is good. When a song is performed together by the band from start to finish even with a metronome there are subtle dynamic changes in speed or volume that wouldn’t be captured if parts were recorded in separate rooms or parts. We were positioned like a rehearsal space all facing each other and played together naturally how a band should. Drums and bass are recorded live together whilst the guitar served as a live guide in a separate room. The downside of this was playing one song 20,000 times from start to finish and not having enough ‘juju’ for the next song.

You can never play with enough guitar effects pedals. Out of the giant metal cabinet full of toys the main overdrive pedals used on this album were:

FULLTONE TUBE TAPE ECHO
ROLAND RE-201
FULLTONE OCD
EHX MICRO POG
FREDRIC “GREEN RUSSIAN”
BIXONIC EXPANDORA 

Above is me providing the silken smooth tofu bottom end to the tracks. Bass was recorded two ways: one directly via a Sansamp Bass Driver DI and the second with a mic on an Ampeg 810 cabinet and Sovtek MIG 50 Watt head. Some overdrive was dialled in by a Fulltone OCD and we also blended some dirt from a Wizard Head.

Bass guitars recorded:
GRECO 1975 Jazz Bass
FENDER American 1958 reissue P-Bass (thanks Sammy Crawford)
SANDBERG P Bass

Jason Huss, Ben Stewart, Tom Larkin, Julian, Jon Grace

How you keep track of what is done and what is yet to be done

All of the drums on the album are tuned to a sympathetic note to the key of the song. It’s a pain in the arse but it makes sense. You don’t want overtones from drums clashing with other things.

Julian with the Dano Barry (thanks Nick Grammaticos) 

We wouldn’t have been able to record this album without the amazing drumming work by Ben Stewart. He’s been there since the formation of the band and slugged out the hard yards to get this band on the road and touring nationally since 2013. He left after recording the album to focus on his own project ‘Slowly Slowly’. Since then we’ve swayed another drummer by the name of Adrian Van Bloom who so happily graces the stage with his super positive hippie vibes, old man pub jokes and a praying mantis reach.

Ben Stewart

Matty Giusti was a spiritual guide and supplier of exotic things during the recording process

Some of the normally distorted electric guitar parts were recorded with an acoustic guitar running through a dirty amp. You get heaps of harmonic overtones doing this.