Sound Mixing
by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | April 28, 2024
Photo Cred: Dave Archer
Recently Damian and his band were back in the studio for a string of days recording in Camden. Pictured above, Lewis Durham of Durham Sound Studios provides his expertise as Damian and band members look on. The music production studio provides phonographic services specializing in vintage analogue equipment, which was a key sound on Damian’s first album Mission Creep.
Back on March 27 we interviewed Damian backstage after his Norwich gig, where he shared details about his forthcoming second album.
The songwriting process starts with a theme, an idea or a line that he writes down throughout the day. He begins noodling around with basic chord structure on the piano and guitar, then organizes those in two columns – one for ideas, one for base chords. This is done all pre-lyrics. Then he mixes and matches chords with the idea – sometime initiatively. Sometimes he’ll blend a heavy theme with light chords and vise versa, light themes get blended with darker chord sequences. Only then does he start working on lyrics.
After that he makes a demo to present to his band with notes on style and reference points. The band essentially write their own musical parts and it’s taken to rehearsal. From there the song is taken into the studio to record where parts may be stripped down, removed, or changing up the frequencies – what may have previously worked in rehearsal may not sound well in the final version. That is all part of the mixing process. Damian is executive chef and his bandmates are brilliant cook or sous chefs. The most important kernel of the entire process is the theme/idea.
Difference in albums – Mission Creep was quite intimate, more tender, gentle, jazzy, singer-songwriter-y, whereas the new album has a different energy. It is more rambunctious, rock-n-roll, blues-rock, and almost has an indie, new wave feel about it.
The second album is expected to be released in the Autumn/Fall of 2024. There will be three singles released prior to the album. The three singles will be released every 4 weeks, about 2-3 months prior to the release of the album.
After finalizing the recordings and mixing of songs in the studio, Damian and his bandmates celebrated the completion of album number two with cocktails at a local pub. We can’t wait to hear it! Congrats to all the musicians and crew.
Photo Cred: Will Cleasby