This is volume one from a new series released on Pale Wizard Records called "Beyond The Pale". Vol 1 is dedicated to the work of Kate Bush. On the split 12" ep I do "sat In Your Lap" and Sergeant Thunderhoof do an amazing version of "Cloudbusting". To get the vinyl, go to the bigcartel site for Pale Wizard. There are some great variants of the records. Here is some info on how this project came about and how I recorded "Sat In Your Lap"

I. Conception.
In September 2020 I received an email from Dan from Sergeant Thunderhoof asking if I was interested in mastering a cover of the Kate Bush song Cloudbusting that they had recorded for a single. I am a serious Kate Bush fan, so this sounded great to me. I was under the impression that this might be a split release with another band but Dan said it wasn’t and so I took that opportunity to let him know I was interested in contributing something and to let me know if that was something that they would consider. The reply was a kindly worded yes. I explained to them that this would be a Tony Reed solo effort and not a Mos Generator recorded track and that was also nicely received. After that decision was made, I had to choose which song I would do. My first choice was “James and the Cold Gun” from the first Kate Bush album. I used to play it in a band in the 80s so I figured I could recall it with ease and record it quickly. It’s a great rocker and probably her most typical 70s rock number. Right in my wheelhouse. Then I started to think about something more challenging. Something off The Dreaming, my favorite album of hers and an album I consider having one of the best productions of all time. To cover any song off that record would be a challenge. I like challenges. I think I chose “Sat In Your Lap” because I like the rhythm and the placement of the vocals. I couldn’t visualize what my version would sound like when I started deconstructing her musical and vocal arrangements, but I knew that I would keep the drum parts as true to the original as I could. A nice foundation to build on.

II. Building up the track.
The first thing I recorded was a kick drum and a 14” floor tom that went through the entire song. Then I doubled the floor tom hits with a 16” drum. Next, I recorded two passes of high toms. 8”, 10” and 12” with a third pass during the last 30 seconds of the song. At this point I wasn’t sure I was going to record the main music with piano or guitar as the lead instrument but went ahead and recorded more drums in the choruses and end to beef up those areas. In the choruses and from the last verse through to the end I overdubbed a kit using kick and snare, with hi-hats and cymbals. This gave those areas more of a rock feel. After drums I moved to bass guitar. I had already recorded reference bass and vocal parts to a click track to record drums to, so I knew the bass parts. I recorded two different tracks of bass with a Musicmaster Stingray, but later re-recorded the same parts with my ‘72 Fender Precision. Now we are to the point where I decided to do all of the piano parts on guitar. I figured it would be best if I performed the parts on the instrument I was more comfortable with. After a bit of experimenting with sounds, I ended up recording the guitars with my LTD Viper (loaded with Guild HB-1 pickups) through a 1969 Laney Supergroup 60. I doubled four different guitar parts to reproduce the piano and fairlight sounds from the original song. Finally, the vocals. I had no idea if I was actually going to be able to do this, but I did know it would have to be in my own style. I do need to mention that if I hadn’t been listening to this song for the last thirty years that this would have been a much more difficult task. Her phrasing of the words and the odd arrangements in the music would have taken me quite a bit longer to decipher. Once I started singing, I realized my vocal style fit well with the decisions I had made to build the music track. After the main vocal track was recorded and doubled, I moved to the vocal additions and their accompanying harmonies. I’m a big fan of recording layered vocals with quite a few harmonies, but, like most of Kate Bush’s music, not much is done in the norm. There are some very strange harmony vocals going on in this track and I did my best to decipher and reproduce them. My only real vocal challenge was the “I must admit, just when I think I’m king” sections. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get her range and intensity, so I really had to make it my own. I put some slap back delay on it like she did and just let it be what it is.

III. The Mix
The toughest thing about the mix was getting so many parts to sit nicely in the mix and be audible. The rumble of all those drums made it hard to find the sweet spot for the bass guitar. I gated off the resonance of many of the toms, leaving only the lower floor toms open for the natural ring. Separate submixes were made for the percussive toms, kick drums, full kit, and cymbals. Different compressors and reverbs were added to each submix to sculpt the tone. With the bass guitar I submixed both takes to a stereo track and added a vintage warmer to give it slight compression and grind. The guitar tracks apply the same concept as the bass. All guitars were submixed to a stereo track with slight compression and reverb added. Equalization and panning are applied to each track as needed before it’s sent to the submix. Vocals are also approached this way. All vocals but the “I must admit” sections are sent to a stereo submix with compression and reverb added. The “I must admit” section is just sent to the main output with quite a bit of compression and tape distortion with heavy mono slap echo.