In the last issue of the CCB News Geoff Hart wrote about the expected sub-zero temperatures on the band's visit to North Shields. He was about 4 weeks early in his dates; the sub-zero temperatures arrived, and how, when the band assembled at St Andrews Church Melbourne on 20/21 March to record their part of the joint CD venture with the songsters. This was the culmination of a years planning following an invitation by the building fund committee to the band and songsters to produce another recording, following the success of Lift Up The Banner, with the profits going to the building fund.

Jumpers, jackets, scarves, hats and even gloves were the order of the day, it was COLD! It seems the heating was on a time clock and was due to come on at 7pm, just as we were about to start recording. There were two problems 1) we were unable to over ride the system to make it come on earlier and 2) we had to switch it off when it did come on as the fans were too noisy and could be heard through the microphones.

We were pleased to link up with Matt Parkin who acted as the recording engineer for B&H Sounds. Matt has vast experience of this type of work, having engineered on a number of band recordings including the ISB, and has recently joined the BBC in Glasgow where he works for Radio 3. He specifically wanted to be involved with our recording as he had engineered a number of the previous recordings done by the band and songsters; he even took holiday from work to be with us.

The set-up for the recording involved about 8 microphones set up in front and in the middle of the band with 2 specifically for the percussion who were hidden behind a number of screen in an attempt to contain their sound. We were seated in fairly standard formation although the back row cornets were on raised staging so they could project their sound over the front row cornets. The trombones were pushed back a little further than normal (not a bad thing some might say) but because of the tiled floor, a number of coats were scattered in front of them to prevent the sound bouncing off the floor.

Three evenings were originally scheduled for the recording but because of the good work by the band we were able to wrap it up in two. This was despite Matt being a hard taskmaster with an excellent ear for tuning & intonation. It was not unusual to hear him say something like "Third bar of letter D, first horn should have played an F#." He would make a fearsome adjudicator at a band contest.

In his comments last time Simon mentioned some of the pieces we were to record. The other tracks we recorded were My Heart's Desire, Mighty to Save, Go Tell It, St Francis, I Vow To Thee, Be Still, Diademata, Praise My Soul, My Jesus My Saviour, the last three are to be used as backing for the songsters. The unwritten piece mentioned is Richard Phillips' arrangement of Blaenwern which the band have used to accompany congregational singing at the hall but it is also something that is usable as a stand alone piece in its own right. This will also be used as a backing track for the songsters.

I think the band enjoyed doing the recording despite the cold, it certainly brought out some good playing from all concerned.

It is hoped that the CD, provisionally entitled Go Tell It, will be on sale in November, so start thinking about how many copies you will need for Christmas presents. As mentioned earlier, the proceeds from the sale of this recording will go towards the corps building fund.

© Chelmsford Salvation Army Band 2005		Last Updated : 03/04/08