Recording the South’s Christmas Number One
Dirty Beast Studio has been involved with George’s Rockstars since 2023, when we carried out drum tracking (including engineering, production, and editing) for the charity’s Christmas single. Let’s Make Christmas Loud! went on to reach number one in the South Coast Music Chart.
The 2024 follow up single was a full-scale production that covered remote, on-location, and in-studio recording. With multiple mixed formats, major engineering challenges, and some serious coordination, we managed to pull out another Christmas number one for a charity and cause that we love.
(It’s Just Not) Christmas Without You
Working in partnership with members of Rocksteady Music School (key songwriters, Luke Stala and Daniel Ash), we went from demo to full production in a matter of weeks.
The bare bones of the track were crafted by Luke from loops and samples, and he brought a slew of guitar ideas and additional arrangements into the project. Dan brought lyrics and melody, and informed the rap that tells the story in the song.
Production encompassed guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, lead vocals and backing vocals – with rap sessions carried out remotely. The Southern Ska Collective Ska Choir, recorded at Casemates Studios, were wonderful to work with.
An on-location engineering challenge arose when capturing the choir; giving each member adequate monitoring with minimal bleed. We worked to induce phase cancellation from the PA system at the microphones, minimising bleed and getting an airy, natural choir sound.
Extensive editing and creative production informed the mix, and the final master was delivered by Kev Smith at The Foundry Studio.
Please support George’s Rockstars in any way you can – with a donation, a social media follow, or by purchasing a digital download of one of their Christmas singles (all proceeds go to the charity).
Let’s Make Christmas Loud!
In our first project for George’s Rockstars, we were tasked with capturing an acoustic drum kit for the soon-to-be Christmas number one, Let’s Make Christmas Loud!
Craig (drummer, charity Chair of Trustees, and George’s dad) was a true pro; despite not having a rehearsal space to learn the song, he smashed it out in a handful of takes.
Drum tracks were comped, edited, and seasoned to taste – with a sample-enhanced snare – before being sent over to the team at Rocksteady, where production continued.
There are key moments in the song where drums are the star of the show, so getting it right at the source was important.
We tuned the kit extensively, chose mics and placement carefully, and got a good, clean level for everything on the way in – so that there was as little to do in post as possible.
The results have been gorgeous; thousands of views, plays, mentions, and thousands of pounds raised for a cause we are all proud to serve.