CF NEWS

As we mentioned, we did "Annual New Year's Day Recording Session 2022" on 1st and 2nd January. You can visit VIDEO page or AUDIO page...ENJOY!

We've been using a good old 'Groove Tubes Model 1B' valve microphone as our main vocal and instrument microphone for more than a decade. As we've been upgrading studio equipment since 2 years ago, we spent a lot of time researching a more reliable and affordable main vocal (instrument) microphone and finally concluded that what we need is the Neumann TLM 67 (poor man's U67…still very expensive though). However, Neumann dealers in Japan suddenly raised the price more than 30% and it was impossible for us to get one like TLM 67 anymore…then, we accidentally found that one online music shop offered a very special price for TLM 67 and a matching shock mount as a limited time offer. The price was even cheaper than the previous one. So we discussed about this matter and decided to get one.

John's been dreaming to own two particular vintage microphones since he did recording sessions at Vic Keary's Chiswick Reach Studios, London back in the early 90's…one is Neumann U67 and another one is Neumann KM54 apart from RCA Ribbon microphones and an extremely rare 'The Fi-Chord' microphone. He somehow obsessed with the sound he heard at the studio and couldn't forget about it since then…

Meanwhile John came across another vintage microphone 'Neumann Gefell RFT MV692 with M94 capsule' (poor man's KM54) which he's been looking for ages and this particular one is in excellent condition (recently re-skinned capsule by Peter Drefahl and converted to 48V by Microtech Gefell). Again the price was even cheaper than M94 capsule alone! So we decided to get one and try not to think about next few years monthly payments… Anyway, this microphone was stuck in transit for 3 weeks and finally arrived at Great Bliss Studio from France on New Year's Day!…just in time for Annual New Year Recording Sessions!!

Initially, we wanted to test a new microphone (Neumann TLM 67) and record a song live in mono like we did for 'Colours Unplugged: Black & White' project. But we slightly changed the plan as we got another vintage microphone (Neumann Gefell RFT MV692 with M94 capsule) and finally recorded 3 different versions of 'Can't Find My Way Home', one of our favourite Blind Faith song written by Steve Winwood at Great Bliss Studio on 1st and 2nd January 2022. This is the style John used to play in the folk cellars and acoustic clubs back in the 80's and the 90's London as a singer-songwriter…

*Note: 'Can't Find My Way Home Vol.1' was recorded vocal and acoustic guitar separately. 'Can't Find My Way Home Vol.2' was recorded live with 2 microphones (one for vocal and another one for acoustic guitar). 'Can't Find My Way Home Vol.3' was recorded live in mono with one microphone.

We recorded and mixed 3 songs and also shot and edited 3 videos between January 1st and 5th 2022. We worked so hard in this 5 days but the most difficult part was writing this 'News'…to be honest, we both are not good at writing or talking…but sometimes we feel like to share a story like this one with others who might be interested.

Love & Peace

Clockwork Flowers