AERIAL RECORDING

Happy New Year !

Hope everyone is having a good break.
Make sure you eat and drink a little too much and enjoy yourself. Charge up those batteries and let's make a stack load of great music in 2025 :)

I’m sitting here in the studio taking a week off and I’m already regretting it. I’m not really built for holidays. I just get restless and want to be around microphones again.

One of the quirks of living basically in the forest is that a possum followed me into the studio tonight and I’m trying to coax the charming little chap off the top shelf in my drum storage room and back to the trees with a trail of apple back to the front door.
That plan is not working terribly well and he seems to just want to hang around listening to me mess around with some bass drum sounds.

2024 was a splendid year working with so many different musicians, instruments and unique styles of recording and composition.
Thanks to all the artists and projects that brought the very best of human creativity and poured their music down my microphones.

Some very cool projects booked in already for 2025 and gearing up for it all with a bunch of studio upgrades, including Santa dropping by with one of my huge wishlist items, a pair of classic 1950's design Coles 4038 ribbon microphones.

All the best-
Ronan, Aerial Recording

THE MOON IS MY MACHINE
- Sparks

Ronan Charles - keys, cymbals and nostalgia

Recorded and produced at Aerial Recording, Perth

Noongar Lullabies Project

Kaya !
About to finish tracking sessions for a really amazing Noongar Lullaby album project with the Moorditj Maaman men’s group and Community Arts Network. The album is a collection of touching original songs full of warmth and heart and soul and family and community, all performed in the Noongar language and accompanied by a rich combination of acoustic instruments from didgeridoo to string quartet.

Great to work with Kobi Arthur Morrison as musical director, and really appreciate that vocalist/instrumentalist Cyndy Moody has been doing her level best to teach me enough Noongar language for me to understand the meaning of all the words and songs.

Big And Loud Drums

A quick pic while spending an enjoyable day tracking drums and bass for the new Monotonic album.
Al's snare is the heaviest and loudest DW brass snare I've ever seen and is captured with a BeesNeez BU67 and Albini-designed Josephson E22S. Also, out of shot, there are a few room microphones 6m out from the kit. Can't wait for this record to be complete as the drums sound truly massive.
This week I remastered Rob Zielinski's grand retrospective album "The Day Dawn" for an international tour. Also a bunch more mixing for Langley Chambers' first album which is also getting really close to release.

Perth Session Musicians - Get in Touch

I have a bunch of interesting projects coming up and looking to expand my roster of experienced local musicians who are interested and available for session work.

Drop me an email and I'll be in touch.

Rob Zielinski "Memories of Krakow" Mastered at Abbey Road

Rob Zielinski is one of the finest violinists that you'll ever have the pleasure to hear. He was traditionally mentor-trained in Irish fiddle and tours extensively. In addition, he is also a violin luthier of the highest standard. I've been recording Rob for 6 years now, documenting him with various groups, solo performances and the distinctive sound of each new instrument he makes.

"Memories of Krakow" is one of his own finest ballads, shot through with dark Polish folk vibes and I just got word it should be available soon. I'll post a link to it soon.
Thought I'd share an email I just got from him.

"Hey Ronan,
So I'm just back from Europe and managed to duck over to London and get this track mastered at Abbey Road with Andy Walter. He's one of the senior engineers there. Amazing experience. He loved the sound, mixing and everything . He said it didn't need anything and just put it through the software chain they use on everything pretty much."

UPDATE JAN 2024
Found a set of 3 videos shot here in the studio one night in 2020.
Rob Zielinski and vocalist/guitarist Kate Burke performing a beautiful set with just a single U47 microphone between them.

New site to celebrate Aerial's 10th Birthday

Welcome to the new Aerial Recording site. My daughter Neve took some of the photos and studio hound Vinny did his best to get in every shot. Thanks also to Elliot ("Elite") Ramsay for some great shots taken during the Sascha Ion sessions.

Studio has been busy lately and have also been doing a stack of renovations to the old joint. I built some new big and wide stairs to make it easier to lug in drums and amps without fear of killing yourself. New lights (yeah I'm addicted to fancy lights, I admit), new server room, new drum storage and installed the amazing Autotone Reverb Device in the main room to enhance the room sound. Next is to tackle my admittedly basic (some might even say primitive) kitchen.

Recent new recording projects have included the recording of Monotonic's new album, featuring ex-members of Header and Ammonia. Langley Chambers, a talented young singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist is working on his debut album. Also about to start work on mixing the mammoth Chagos Population album that kept me busy all 2022 recording dozens of great local players as guests. Gus McKay is planning to release an EP from some of the previously unreleased "Talisman" sessions. btw: Hunt down a copy of his critically acclaimed and Aerial-recorded album "Talisman" on vinyl if you still can.

Nel Begley Quintet are making a video of one of the tracks she recorded here when she toured here from London over Summer and look forward to posting it here.

My own latest instrumental project Rain No Rain also has a new website with all the tracks from the 2022 live recording made here. Features the awesome Ricky Malet, Daniele Di Paola and Kate Pass.