Nick Hemingway - Record Producer & Audio Engineer

20/07/2016
KKKK for 'Enraging the Beast' in Kerrang! this week!!!

"An exhilarating record" KKKK

The latest issue of Kerrang! is out now, featuring another fantastic review for Bull-Riff Stampede's new album.

04/07/2016
10/10 from Powerplay For 'Enraging The Beast'

"Ludicrously satisfying...this really is that good" 10/10

Powerplay Rock and Metal Magazine reviews the new Bull-Riff Stampede album 'Enraging The Beast'

01/01/2016
Malleus Kick Drum Pedals

Nick Hemingway Endorses Malleus Drum Pedals

It’s worth mentioning right off the bat, that I have played a very tricked out set of Iron Cobra’s for years. The pedals I use, you can’t buy off the shelf, they have the cobra coils on a chain drive, I upgraded the bearings to ceramic, you name it, they have been tweaked, shaved & upgraded to hell & back.

As everyone knows the Iron Cobra’s & DW5000’s etc. are under the skin, exactly the same Camco design acquired in 1977. So if you have played either, you will loosely know where I am coming from.

For those that know me as a record producer rather than as a drummer, you can see me playing one of my more relaxed, slower, less busy, commercial singles here :- https://youtu.be/kqLsOVf1yBU But rest assured, the album tracks have some quite busy footwork.

Stock pedals were ok, but I found that the pedal board would leave my feet through very quick passages, the cobra coils helped with that. But I still didn’t have the glued to my foot feeling I craved.

I always felt a truly great drum pedal should feel like an extension of my body. Not a delicate & intricate machine that I had to tweak & setup exactly right, with the perfect throne height just to play nearly as well as I did yesterday.

It’s easy to get paranoid about pedal setup, and oh boy I was… If anyone messed with my pedal setup before a show, they would have got stabbed. But after a few years of recording other drummers day in, day out. I had to learn every pedal setup technique imaginable. I can now setup my kick drum pedals in a few minutes from stock. But this taught me something very important. It wasn’t the setup that sucked. The problem lay with the pedals.

The basic problem was this, we were all trying to use a technology designed in the 70’s to play techniques that were inconceivable back then.

I tried adding cycle SPD’s to footboards to regain that missing control & get the glued feeling. It didn’t work. The footboard wasn’t the issue either. Both chains & straps have slop. It takes time for that slack to be taken back up. That is what I was feeling, and that is what was holding me back from the speed & accuracy I craved.

So, you can imagine how curious I was when a talented engineer & drummer I knew, (who owned a very impressive CNC engineering company) in the midst of our discussion about me producing another of his records, admitted to me that he had designed a revolutionary new kick drum pedal.

Mark of course didn’t put it like that, he is if anything, a master at the subtle understatement, but it was immediately clear to me that what he had invented was about to change drumming for me, forever.
He had clearly come to a similar conclusion that I had over the years, traditional pedals had slop from the strap or chain, which was no big deal if you are just laying four on the floor, but were hugely limiting when playing more technical material where milliseconds really did matter.

His solution was to go direct drive. Zero backlash, zero slop, and instant response.

Why hadn’t anyone else made a good direct drive pedal I hear you ask? Well… Predominantly I think it was cost based. To make a pedal work like that it would have to be machined to incredibly tight tolerances (higher than you find in a modern car engine for instance) it couldn’t have one single weak joint or component, if you did you would be able to feel it in every stroke.

Drum pedals just aren’t made like that, they are bolted together from cast components, a bearing housing might be machined into the cast, but that’s about as high tech as it gets. And frankly, it doesn’t matter, there is so much chain & strap slop, you will never feel it & the repetitive impact is decoupled from the rest of the assembly. (If we ignore for the moment what that does to those poor, poor bearings which were never designed to take that kind of abuse)

I have heard the phrase ‘money no object’ hundreds of times, this is the first time I can genuinely say I have seen it in action. He knew what he wanted to build & set about creating it, not one single f*ck was given to how much it would cost.

He added a ceramic bearing option without any hesitation at all, I had bugged other drum companies to do that for years, one quick conversation with him was all it took, he simply needed to know how much better it was & if I had any reliability problems using them for the last few years, not once did he ask me how much they cost.

Mark is an excellent CAM designer, I have seen that first hand with his precision engineering company. Sadly the truly amazing part of his design is what no drummer will ever see. He came up with a way to machine all the components out of billet aluminium (not cheap cast) to a very high level of precision.

In my opinion, Mark’s genius is in the simplicity of his designs, to design something that elegantly simple, you have to be very, very clever indeed. He refused to compromise on the build quality or components. Instead he brought the manufacturing costs down with possibly the most creative use of CAM & CNC manufacture I have ever seen; there is astonishingly little waste.

This seems to allow him to sell pedals to the drummer at a price that simply doesn’t make sense to me. I have a small CNC workshop, if you asked me to make a set of those pedals, I honestly couldn’t make them for any less than £1,500.00

But all this is meaningless unless they allow you to play what other pedals can’t. I am not talking about gimmicks, there is no cheating heel plate allowing you to play two strokes for every one. Mark is a purist.

These pedals simply just put you in as much control of your kick drum strokes as you currently do over your snare strokes. They are direct, pure & connected like I have never felt before. The footplate feels glued to my foot. For the first time in over 25 years of drumming, I don’t worry about my kick pedal setup when I sit behind a kit.

The biggest compliment I can give these pedals, is that I frequently forget that they exist.

Now don’t get me wrong. You are not going to jump behind these and have them feel like your old pedals. They aren’t meant to. They are truly revolutionary, that means they feel different. The increased feel, speed & precision will take some getting used to. In my opinion, I would allow yourself 2-3 weeks if you are a technical kick player. They are direct, so when you mess up, you can feel it. This is new & freaky, but the days of asking for more kick in your monitors have gone, being able to feel it is fantastic, but it has a down side, you are suddenly going get to feel what the audience hears.

Unless you are incredibly gifted this will upset you, because you will have your mistakes highlighted. I didn’t need three weeks to get used to the pedals, I needed about 3 hours of hard play… The rest of the time was spent polishing up my kick drum playing from what it actually sounded like, to what I thought I sounded like.

Ever had a show recorded where you felt like you were playing great, but the video playback the following day was awful? Well these pedals will let you feel that as your playing it. Which is fantastic once you are used to them, because knowing when you mess up is critical to being a better drummer.

But in the same way that suddenly catching a glimpse of your aging sweating form in the mirror when your having sex can be rather off putting & very contrary to the mental picture you have of yourself. These pedals are at their very best if you get some practice time in private before performing in front of people. It’s not that your playing will be any worse, but they will show you the stark reality of your playing, and there are moments when you really don’t need the bedroom light switched on by surprise.

I can’t go back to other pedals now, they feel disconnected & sloppy, plus I can’t physically play the stuff I have written on the Malleus Kick Drum Pedals even on my tricked out Cobra’s. So its just as well that they are built like a tank & will probably still be playing just as smoothly when our grandkids get their grubby little hands on them.

Unlike other manufactures, Mark offers every component as a spare on the Malleus website, so if you do manage to find a way to break something, you can easily get a replacement or simply upgrade your pedals to the latest Gen by only ordering the new parts that have changed.

Malleus Kick Drum Pedals aren’t cheap, but that’s not the end of the market they are aiming for. What they are, is the very last drum pedal you will ever have to buy. This is genuinely a piece of drum hardware that will outlast you 5x over. So do your great grandkids a favour & go check out a Malleus at your local drum shop.

P.S. Mark... Design a hi-hat pedal before I have to fly back to England & force you, your drum pedals have made me realise what a pile of rubbish traditional hi-hat pedals are.

18/06/2014
Safe Room Studios website

Safe Room Studios website has been officially launched!

Head over to www.SafeRoomStudios.com to check it out

12/05/2014
Sorry for the lack of updates.

As many of you know, I have been pretty much flat out for the last 24 months building my own studio.

It's taken a while, simply because I wanted it to be a perfect environment to record bands in. This has meant a huge investment in live room & control room acoustical design before even starting the extremely complicated build, treatment and all the rest.

I am hugely happy with the results, I have never recorded anywhere that has been so easy to work in, record & mix, having truly acoustically designed environment built from the ground up to fit my needs exactly is a HUGE benefit. I have never used so little EQ in my life, you just push the faders up & things sound great!

There has been plenty happening as well as the studio build, I have managed to fit a few great sessions into other studios during that time as well, but I simply haven't had the time to update any of the websites, I hope you understand.

I will be updating this site (finally) over the next couple of months, but the priority now will be a new studio website at www.SafeRoomStudios.com which is not far from completion.

And of course, getting back to being in the studio everyday & recording the huge backlog of bands that have been patently waiting for me to finish the studio :)

The studio is Pro Tools HDX based of course, has 810 square foot of studio space in a dedicated c1900 Stone & Slate barn conversion, set within 7 Acres of beautiful Camarthenshire countryside offering stunning views over the entire valley.

Sorry for the delay, but when you all hear & experience the new studio, you will realise it has all been more than worthwhile.

Nick

03/08/2012
Fell On Black Days - Some More Than Others - Video Released

'Some More Than Others' is taken from Debut Album 'Talion' released worldwide on 6th August 2012 - Produced by Nick Hemingway

09/05/2011
Nick Hemingway's C4 Presets available for free download from Waves

Nick’s personally C4 presets are now available to download for free from the Waves website as part of the ‘Waves C4 Super Special’ promotion.

The presets are as follows:-

Tom Control
This preset is setup to allow enough mid through to make the toms sound good on small speakers & have impact, but it scoops them after the initial transient to control the woof & sweeten them up.

Tom Control - Added Attack
This is the same as the 'Tom Control' preset above, with some added attack dialled in, adjust Gain & Threshold on Band 4 to taste.

Distorted Guitar Bus - Palm Mute Woof Control
This preset is setup to control the huge woof of muddy low end you get on distorted guitar palm mutes. Reducing these allows for a more powerful, heavy & clear overall guitar sound.

Double Kick - Low End Build Up Control
This preset is setup to control the build up of overpowering low end you can get with very fast double kick drum playing. It allows you to keep the low end thump through normal playing & automatically reduce it when the fast double kick is played. Adjust Band 1 Threshold so that it doesn't affect the sound on single kicks, but comes in automatically with the double kick.

Full details of the Waves ‘Waves C4 Super Special' promotion below:-

For a limited time only, get the C4 Multiband Compressor at a great price.

A multiband dynamics processing powerhouse, the C4 does it all: Four bands of up and down expansion, limiting, and compression, plus dynamic and standard EQ. Combining technologies from our acclaimed Renaissance Compressor and the powerful C1 Parametric Compander, the C4 gives you unprecedented control over the contours of your tracks, with maximum clarity and transparency.

Download over 70 free custom C4 presets for vocals, drums, bass, guitars, problem-solving, mastering and more, direct from some of the hardest working engineers in the business.

Alex Pfeffer
Anthony Lannucci
Chuck Zwicky
Dave Kelly
Dean Landon

Dean Stairs
Jack Hale
Niels De Groot (Motoko)
Nathan Rausu
Nick Hemingway

Nokolaj Vinten
Paul Mills
Mark Den Hartog (Zownd)

“I use the C4 on many different tracks. It is a great tool for detailing a vocal sound or taking the harshness away from a source track.”

Ross Hogarth
(REM, Jewel, Ziggy Marley).

“The C4 is excellent for controlling low midrange in vocals.

Gil Norton
(Foo Fighters, The Pixies, Echo & The Bunnymen)

“When contouring vocals, the C4 has proven my favorite plugin of all time.”

Brett Dicus
(Norah Jones, Avril Lavigne,
Ricky Martin)

"Pre-recorded tracks can be any engineer’s nightmare, but with C4, I can perform miracles"

Phil Strong
(Kanye West, 50 Cent, Common)

"I use C4 for so many things, to help shape sounds dynamically."

Scott Martin Gershin
(Star Trek, Hellboy 2, Chronicles of Riddick, American Beauty)

"C4 is great for de-noising some (using the multiband gating functions), and awesome to level out frequencies on recordings."

Charles Deenen
(Need for Speed,
Fast & Furious 1 and 2)

Available exclusively at the Waves Online Store. Send to a Friend

06/10/2010
Avid Introduces Pro Tools | HD Native

New addition to the Pro Tools family harnesses faster CPUs to deliver customers the industry-leading capabilities of Pro Tools HD with native, host-based performance

Avid® today introduced Pro Tools | HD Native, enabling a growing market of music and post-production professionals to tackle demanding audio projects using the full capabilities of Pro Tools® HD software running entirely on computer CPU host-processing power. Taking advantage of the rapid advancement in the performance of computer processors, this newest member of the Pro Tools family couples the cutting-edge software features, premium sound quality and broad compatibility of Pro Tools | HD systems, with a highly efficient native audio driver. This combination offers customers outstanding performance without the additional dedicated processing hardware included in larger Pro Tools | HD DSP-assisted systems.

The Pro Tools | HD Native system offers customers a completely integrated professional hardware and software solution featuring a new Pro Tools | HD Native PCIe card and running Pro Tools HD software—delivering a new level of price-performance and simplified, open workflows for recording, editing and mixing. Providing the best audio quality, Pro Tools | HD Native uses Pro Tools HD Series interfaces for up to 64 channels of premium audio conversion and I/O. Support for SYNC HD enables accurate synchronization to picture for post-production workflows. For integrated monitoring and tactile control, the system integrates with Avid® ICON and C|24™ work surfaces, and features lossless session and project interchange with other Pro Tools and Avid video editing systems for simplified collaboration.

Additional features include:

Third-party DAW support—Opens up workflows by giving customers the flexibility to work on their DAW of choice with support for Core Audio and ASIO drivers, enabling broad compatibility with third-party audio applications, such as Apple Logic, Steinberg Cubase, and others, while also offering Avid-advantaged integration with our own solutions.
Integrated low latency mixer—Allows customers to focus on recording high quality audio with near-zero latency, rather than the distraction of managing a separate low latency mixer. The Pro Tools | HD Native PCIe card enables customers to easily establish a low latency monitor path directly in the Pro Tools system with the push of a button for set and forget direct monitoring while tracking.
Pro Tools HD Series Interface support—Offers customers the ability to achieve premium audio conversion with up to 192 tracks of audio, and up to 64 channels of I/O using HD I/O, HD OMNI and HD MADI. Customers can create flexible configurations that support a variety of analog and open digital formats for seamless integration into any audio environment. Giving customers an even broader selection of I/O, the system is also compatible with legacy Avid Pro Tools HD interfaces.
Broad compatibility—Provides customers the flexibility to use their platform of choice with the highest performance and stability available on a native platform, supporting both Windows 7 and Mac Snow Leopard 10.6 or higher.

What Customers are Saying

Early reviews are in, and the industry’s hottest music and post production professionals are excited about new Pro Tools | HD Native.

According to Andrew Scheps, producer, mixer and engineer for bands such as the Rolling Stones, U2 and the Red Hot Chili Peppers: “Pro Tools | HD Native is amazing! It was incredibly easy to set up and allowed me to open up a mix I had been working on in HD and get right to work, using the same 64 channels of analog I/O as well as my Sync I/O. I even ran the same session with all the peripherals on my MacBook Pro with a Magma chassis. It works great!”

Glenn Rosenstein, audio post expert and multiplatinum producer/engineer whose credits include Ziggy Marley, U2 and Heaven Hill, said:“Pro Tools | HD Native is the natural evolution of a tried and true recording system. It takes full advantage of today's higher revving computers, while accessing all that is right and familiar with the Pro Tools environment. Compatibility is no issue—HD Native fits transparently and reliably into my world, bringing a new flexibility and unmatched sonic performance. I've noticed a definite boost in Pro Tools responsiveness, and a significantly more aggressive workflow. The Pro Tools|HD Native PCIe card, combined with the new compliment of Pro Tools HD Series I/O's, is truly the next step."

Nick Hemingway, producer and engineer for heavy metal bands such as Cancer, Desecration and ISOR, said: “What strikes me most is how snappy Pro Tools | HD Native works on my Windows 7 platform! Hitting playback is instantaneous and Pro Tools software loading time is faster than I’ve ever experienced. Having just finished a 20 day album tracking session with Pro Tools | HD Native, I have to say it's a joy to use. Long studio days of recording 18 simultaneous drum channels with very complicated independent headphone mixes, hundreds of drop ins & industrial strength elastic audio drum editing. Pro Tools | HD Native didn't miss a beat or get bogged down through the entire session, it's simply flawless.”

About Avid

Avid creates the digital audio and video technology used to make the most listened to, most watched and most loved media in the world – from the most prestigious and award-winning feature films, music recordings, television shows, live concert tours and news broadcasts, to music and movies made at home. Some of Avid’s most influential and pioneering solutions include Media Composer®, Pro Tools, Interplay®, ISIS®, VENUE, Oxygen 8, Sibelius®, System 5, and Pinnacle Studio™.

Source - http://www.avid.com/US/press-room/Avid-Introduces-Pro-Tools-HD-Native

01/10/2010
QuarterBlind on Terrorizer Fear Candy Cover Disk - Issue 202

A free track from QuarterBlinds stunning second album 'The Root of Affliction' is on this months (Issue 202) Terrorizer Cover Disk.

It's in the shops now, so get down to your newsagents & pick it up...

19/10/2009
Dogma - Week of Death Video Released

Those crazy Italian guys Dogma, have just finished & uploaded a video from their debut album 'Sound Therapy'.
Check it out ;)

18/12/2008
Desecration - Forensix gets 8.5/10 in Terrorizer!

Desecration's new album Forensix has just got 8.5/10 in this month's Terrorizer magazine!

They must have really, really liked it because a track (Aim, Fire Kill) is on the cover mount CD and they are streaming the entire album from the Terrorizer website all month!

17/12/2008
Desecration - Forensix gets KKKK/5 in Kerrang!

"Could knock a train off its tracks from a mile away"!

"Filled with furious blastbeats and riffs that grind like a hooker on ecstasy"!

"Brilliantly filthy and more than a little twisted, this may be the album of their career"!

KKKK/5 Kerrang!

11/07/2008
Nick is proud to announce his endorsement of Protection Racket

Few decisions in my life have been as easy as this one; I have been a satisfied Protection Racket customer since 1999, they have never let me down, ever...

Their attention to detail is simply staggering, and the case construction & materials are far beyond high quality, from the 'Racketex' waterproof outer, 'Propadd' dual density foam protection to the 'Propile' fleece inner that polishes & cleans your drums while they are in the case.

They have literally developed the best materials possible for each individual component and when they are put together in a Protection Racket case it creates something that is far greater than the sum of its parts... And all this is before they add features like indestructible, waterproof, rot proof zips. Bonded nylon stitching that doesn't deteriorate and holds the case together even if an area of stitching is breached. Webbing handles & seams that give a staggering 1,500 kilo breaking strength. Totally rust proof & indestructible satin finished nickel plated steel zip pulleys. Luggage tags, size labels & countless other innovations that in my opinion make Protection Racket cases the best in the world.

This opinion was reinforced to me recently in such a clear way that I will never use a none Protection Racket drum case ever again.

One of my cherished (& expensive) drum kits was protected by a mixture of Protection Racket cases & 'Hardcase' brand hard cases, this kit was toured & rehearsed on for 7 years & was constantly being transported, each drum was transported in the same way & treated in the same way...

A few months ago I was cleaning the drum kit & noticed a lot of wear & scratches on the drum I was cleaning, on closer inspection I realised that only the drums that had been in the hard case's were showing the excess wear & scratching. The drums that were in the Protection Racket cases were all still perfect.

The rust on the lug screw also goes to show just how well the 'Propile' fleece removes surface moisture.

As far as I can tell, the drums move around in the hard cases no matter how tight you fasten them, the tiny amount of foam in the top & bottom of the lid just isn't enough to hold the drum in the centre of the case during transit, consequently the drums appear to be rubbing against the hard plastic sides of the cases, and the shock is passing directly through the hard unforgiving plastic directly to the drum.

I have heard a lot of rubbish talked about the difference in protection between soft cases & hard cases, and firstly I don't consider Protection Racket cases to be 'soft cases' as such, as far as I am concerned they are semi rigid cases. But whatever you call them Protection Racket cases absorb shock & protect from scratches far better than any hard case I have ever seen. I have experienced the very real & expensive proof first hand...

In my opinion, any drum would survive better in Protection Racket case from any fall than it would in a hard case, the unique design of the Protection Racket cases gives all round thick absorbent shock protection that dissipates the shock damage before it reaches your drum & even spreads the load if the drum strikes a sharp corner or ridge. The hard case simply passes the shock directly onto the drum & the hard plastic sides can damage your drum even if the ground doesn't.

In the extremely unlikely event of a drum case being crushed with sufficient force to damage the extremely strong residual shape of a drum, by being run over by a tour bus for example, it won't matter what type of case it is in, the drum will still be matchwood, the only difference being the one in the Protection Racket case with be cleaner, scratch free matchwood, oh... and the odds are the Protection Racket case will still be fine to use on your new drums once you have washed off the tyre marks & got rid of all the sawdust...

This is why professional musicians all round the world trust Protection Racket to take care of their valuable instruments, to see Nick's profile & see a full list of protection Racket Endorsees visit http://www.protectionracket.co.uk and click on the Endorsees button.

The current Protection Racket catalogue can also be viewed online Here

10/07/2008
7,000 Mp3 Single Downloads in 71 Days for ISOR’s ‘Tiananmen Square Dance’

We are pretty chuffed to report that ISOR’s MP3 Single ‘Tiananmen Square Dance’ has had over 7,000 (7,238 if you want to be pedantic about it ;-) Since it was released on the ISOR website 71 Days ago.

That’s an average of 102 people a day downloading that song and the 9th of being the top day with 387 downloads.

The system is only counting fully completed mp3 downloads from unique people, and those figures are only for www.isor.net and do not include any myspace or Copro Records site downloads.

If you haven’t heard the track yet & don’t know what all the fuss is about you can download it here:-

Tiananmen Square Dance
[MP3 Audio]

ISOR’s second single is also available here:-

Dykes Make My Sperm Strike
[MP3 Audio]

('Right Click' and 'Save Target As...')

Both Singles are taken from ISOR’s Second Album ‘The Zebra Theory’ which will be released worldwide on the 21st of July 2008 through Copro Records.

Nick & Dave would also like to take this opportunity to thank their Asian fans, who have been big downloader’s of ‘Tiananmen Square Dance’, we realise that is has become somewhat of an anthem over there and are extremely proud that we are helping is some small way to spread the message & help the people fight against the many human rights violations by the Chinese government.

28/05/2008
Nick is proud to announce his endorsement of TAMA.

Obviously I have recorded a lot of different brands of drums in my career as a Record Producer, but there is something about the TAMA drums that just sonically suit metal & hardcore in a way that the others can’t match. Every time I mic up TAMA drum I find that I have to E.Q. it much less than any other brand as they have the heavy & powerful sound I am looking for right from the start.

I have a set of TAMA Iron Cobra Power Glide double pedals that have been in constant use for over seven years, doing every ISOR tour, rehearsal, recording & video and they have never let me down in all that time, and they are as smooth, fast and responsive as the day I bought them!

The staggering build quality of the TAMA drums & hardware together with their attention to detail, constant innovation and unique sound, make me proud to join the TAMA family and endorse and exclusively play ‘The Strongest Name In Drums’

10/12/2007
RUE THE DAY on MTV2's Headbanger's Ball

RUE THE DAY's video for the track 'The Machine' will be shown on MTV2's Headbangers Ball this Tuesday night (11th December), at 10.00pm.

The video kicks ass, so tune in and give the guys some support on Tuesday.

26/11/2007
Metal Hammer Review for 'SEVENYEARSDEAD - To The Ruin of All'

UK metallers square up to the Americans

With influences ranging from Slipknot to Unearth, Manchester's sevenyearsdead don't pull any punches when it comes to being commercially viable. That they succeed where others fail is thanks to the strong songwriting and clear production on 'To The Ruin of All' - the band's debut release. Initially the overriding influence seems to be American tech-metallers Nevermore, but it's on further listens that the subtle nuances and influences come to the fore, whether through the Machine Head-meets-Pantera-styled brutality of 'Juggernaut' to the Alice in Chains-influenced 'Chosen'. Sevenyearsdead have proved that they have both the songs and delivery to stand against any American act, and this is a strong beginning for a promising band.

7/10, Metal Hammer

29/08/2007
KKKK Kerrang! review for 'SEVENYEARSDEAD - To The Ruin of All'

'Full blooded debut from work ethic touting Brits

Home grown metal in every sense of the word. SYD play metal as it was always meant to be, uncorrupted by the taint of short lived fads. As such, the music is all about gigantic riffs, shape shifting time changes, spiky guitar breaks and roaring hooks. It’s somewhere between the simple thrills of prime Skid Row and the more corrosive attitude laden abuse of Slipknot or Machine Head. Having formed back in 2001, SYD haven’t been handed this on a platter. They’ve toured, honed their art and settled on their ideal line up. These are the results. Check out the ballsy, anthemic Blindfold. For all concerned, it’s been worth the wait...' - KKKK

24/07/2007
Nick is proud to announce his endorsement of Peavey Electronics.

“I have consistently used & relied upon Peavey equipment throughout my recording & touring career and in all honesty, I can’t imagine how I would have made most of the albums I have produced without Peavey amps there to provide the muscle. Peavey has been such a mainstay & foundation of the metal/hardcore/punk scene that sometimes there is simply no substitute if you want the record to sound ‘right’.

Peavey guitars are also astonishingly good. We recently chose to use a Peavey V-Type on an album over several £1000+ guitars because of its superior tone & playability, which is pretty impressive when you realise the V-type retails for around £500...

The build quality of all the Peavey equipment is second to none, and their customer care is simply amazing, you just don’t see service like that with any other company nowadays. They are in a league of their own...

In my job, my reputation is on the line with every equipment decision I make, but with Peavey I know I am in safe hands.”

10/04/2007
CHOKEHOLD to tour with SAXON

U.K. metallers CHOKEHOLD have announced their participation in the forthcoming U.K./Irish tour of metal legends SAXON. Drummer Lawrence Paterson comments: "F***king YEEESSSS! To share the stage night after night with such a renowned and ultimately respected band as SAXON is an honour, but to be personally invited is truly special. We can't thank SAXON and their management enough for this opportunity. Get ready — the 'Love Hammer' is coming, and we've got a Sax-on…"

26/02/2007
Victory State - 'Kick Back The Rug & Every Dance' - E.P. Released Worldwide

Victory State have started a revolution. It is their aim to prove that playing professionally within the music industry is an achievable dream. Victory State are a revolutionary band, discarding typical values for humble credibility and opening the eyes of fellow contemporaries. Each member of Victory State has previously played in professional bands and been burned one way or another. Now it’s their turn to take control. Victory State stick to a strict ethos in order to achieve their aim, they are determined to prove that the industry can be cracked without money acting as their catalyst. They vow to donate 100% of their intake from EP sales to the Make a Wish Foundation.

26/02/2007
Down Within – 'The Heist Begins Here' - E.P. Released Worldwide

DOWN WITHIN are a 5 piece hardcore band from the Reading/Berkshire area. Their debut release 'The Heist Begins Here' will be available through Casket in February. These guys have already received acclaim and applause from a wide spread audience, and the EP showcases both the technical abilities of the band and reflects the passion and devotion, combined with pride and enthusiasm that the band puts into both writing and playing every note of every song.

27/11/2006
Below The Line - 'Odes To St. Chris' - E.P. Released Worldwide

From the depths of London town, and formed from an array of up and coming acts, that include Deep Sixed and most notably Stoopi, there is born a post grunge rock sleeping giant by the name of Below The Line. A neat concoction of Tool, Alice In Chains and Life Of Agony, with the awesome vocal talents of Andrew Hutton a highlight of this gem that proceeds the debut album later next year.

31/10/2006
The Legendary Apogee Rosetta 800 Added!

Nick is proud to announce the addition of a brand new Apogee Rosetta 800, 8-channel, 24bit/192kHz AD/DA Converter to his equipment list.

Apogee’s Legendary Conversion in High-Definition is now available on all sessions booked with Nick.

The most crucial process in the digital recording environment is high-quality analog to digital conversion and the most trusted and desirable converters are made by Apogee. With up to 192k standard sample rates, the ROSETTA 800 combines Apogee’s legendary conversion quality with flexibility that complements any digital audio workstation.

Another essential for outstanding digital recording is maintaining an ultra-low-jitter clock signal. To accomplish this, ROSETTA 800 utilizes Apogee’s Intelliclock. Intelliclock is really two clocks in one. A fast-responding ´read´ clock, with a wide locking range, fills a dedicated FIFO buffer, while an ultra-low-jitter ´write´ clock writes the data out of the buffer, and is used to clock the converters.

SoftLimit: Maximize Levels, Minimize Overs:- One of the greatest difficulties in digital recording is getting an adequate level without clipping and unwanted distortion. With Apogee’s SoftLimit, you can maximize digital output levels without overs

UV22HR: Dither Down with 24-bit Detail:- UV22HR is Apogee´s industry standard technology for reducing the word-length of a high-resolution digital signal to 16 bits for the Internet and CD mastering. UV22HR is also being employed to produce dramatically improved Internet and computer audio content without increased file sizes or data rates.

30/10/2006
Your Creation - 'The Line Ends Here' - Album Released Worldwide

Born and bred in Wiltshire in late 2004, Your Creation have put their heart and soul into the band, writing fast paced songs filled with vitriol and anger, turning crowds into frantic pits of movement, whilst touring with the likes of Knuckledust, Murder One and Agnostic Front among many others.

This a band that will not disappoint the hordes.

22/05/2006
SAKURAI - 'The Room We Do Not Speak Of' - Album Released Worldwide

Hailing from Manchester and forming from the ashes of popular mob Ordium. Sakurai have been showcasing their wares up and down the Country for the last couple of years, supporting the likes of Beecher, Sikth, Isor, The Blueprint, Sense and Martin Grech amongst others. The band have been hyped to the sky by pretty much everyone within earshot, Sakurai channel the spirit of Soundgarden, bludgeon it to death with a post-hardcore sledgehammer, then bandage it back up with Deftones ‘Change (in the house of flies)’ before repeating the process against a backdrop of aggressive, ambient noise.

17/04/2006
Chokehold - 'The Killing Has Begun' - Album Released Worldwide

Featuring members of underground UK death band DESCENT, Oxfordshire’s CHOKEHOLD have been a regular act on the local metal scene since their conception. Their 5 track EP “Legion” garnered them a strong reputation, and interest from several labels including Casket who will be releasing their debut full length “The Killing Has Begun” in April.

Recorded at Philia Studios (Henley-on-Thames) the band have achieved exactly what they were looking for – a blend of groove, veering from down-tuned metal crunch, to slow dense grit and pure British aggression. The band have filmed a video for the track ‘Faith of Fear’, complete with insane pyrotechnics (one of which blew part of the roof off the listed building they were filming in!!) which will be on the airwaves shortly, followed by a full UK tour

10/10/2005
DEMONBREED - 'Closer To God' Album Released Worldwide

Hailing from the South coast of England, DEMONBREED have built a fearsome reputation, picking up loyal fans throughout the UK with a truly awesome live set, which has to be seen to be believed. Being likened to acts such as The Haunted and Atreyu, but with their own unique sound, the band are quickly winning many new friends and fans. ‘Closer To God’ puts the mayhem back into the dark arts of seriously Heavy Metal!

10/10/2005
ENEMY UNKNOWN - 'Alert Status: Red' Album Released Worldwide

Joining a host of young bands coming out of a growing scene in Surrey, ENEMY UNKNOWN’s musical direction has evolved over the years into a unique blend of metal with real melodic tendencies. Taking inspiration from bands such as Metallica, Megadeth, Exodus, Iron Maiden and Joe Satriani (!!), to name a few, the four piece add their own unique style to old school heavy metal with brutal efficiency.

28/09/2005
ABIGAIL'S MERCY - 'Salvation' Album Released Worldwide

The UK goth scene can once again be proud, we now have more than a couple of bands willing to give the Europeans, oh and that one Yank outfit a run for their money.
ABIGIAL'S MERCY debut album "Salvation" (CSK051) out on Casket Music this week 26th Sept.

Blending to perfection old goth standards with the modern trens, mixing male and female vocal parts to perfection. Salvation indeed for the Brit Goth scene. Imagine Sisters Of Mercy f**king with Lacuna Coil, uhm, now take that image away and listen to the sounds, you get it.

The band are also guesting on the upcoming WITHOUT FACE (Earache) UK tour.

21/09/2005
Demonbreed on Radio 1 Rock Show

A track from Demonbreed’s excellent upcoming album 'Pray to Death' has just been featured on BBC’s Radio 1’s Rock Show with Mike Davies

(Released Worldwide October 15th on Casket)

12/09/2005
DIED SMILING ‘Evolution Of The Fist’ Album Released Worldwide

Brought up on a diet of bands like Faith No More, Pantera and Sepultura, as well as various obsessions with film scores, punk and classic metal, DIED SMILING have distilled their influences into their own unique sound – melodic and intelligent, yet bursting with energy and power. For fans of Pitchshifter, One Minute Silence and Pantera. Stunning debut from the Devon four-piece.

28/07/2005
Kerrang give KKKK/5 To Cancers 'Spirit In Flames'

Cancers New Album ‘Spirit in Flames has just been given the Kerrang seal of approval when they rated it KKKK/5.

Which is good new when you think Kerrang is the world's biggest selling weekly rock magazine...

(Cancer - ‘Spirit in Flames’ out now on Copro Records!)

20/06/2005
NAILED ‘A Pure World Is A Dead World’ Album Released Worldwide

Despite their ties to the incestuous Anathema/Cradle Of Filth/My Dying Bride family tree, and their geographic origins, West Yorkshire Extreme Metal act NAILED bare little resemblance to predecessors who have hailed from the same fertile Northern breeding ground. Instead their sound draws influences from the Florida and Swedish Death Metal scenes, whilst also accepting the baton from British grind forefathers Napalm Death and Carcass. Extreme Metal for fans of the Swedish and Floridian scenes.

20/06/2005
CANCER ‘Spirit In Flames’ Album Released Worldwide

The wait is over, after seven years the UK Death metal supremos are back. Following huge success in the early nineties, when the band were and still are one of the few Death Metal acts that can claim Major Label success when they signed to East West. CANCER have come back stronger than ever. With a blend of renewed angst and energy and a healthy dose of the traditional trade marks of the band of old, classic riffs and strong hooks. In fact more than just a few are already claiming this album to be the best the band have done, and considering the wealth of classic material and calibre of Producers and Studios used in the past (Pr: Simon Efemey, Scott Burns, Pee Wee Coleman; St: Great Linford Manor, Morrisound) is really saying something. This is a must for all CANCER and Extreme Metal Fans alike.

20/06/2005
HEADSPEED ‘Blueprint for Disaster’ Album Released Worldwide

In HEADSPEED we have an explosive, high- energy metal band, formed in the home of heavy metal, Wolverhampton, England. Being likened to acts such as Machine Head and Tool, but with their own unique sound, the band have quickly been winning many new friends and fans. In the months before the release, the band have been invited to open up shows for Anthrax, Cradle of filth, Stampin Ground, Testament, Sikth and Breed 77. For fans of Machine Head, Pantera and Tool.

A wonderfully textured album layered with the very best sounds and influences from the metal of their generation, gelled in such a way that will have you frothing at the mouth. Powerfull and fueled to bursting potential.

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