New Release – Part of the Problem by Transmission Suite
Transmission Suite are a four-piece indie / electronic band from central Scotland. Their music is best described as a mixture of 80’s electronic, shoegaze, 90’s baggy and dream pop. This is the result of a melting pot of styles that creates an up-to-date version of electronic led music with guitars from the decades past and takes it right into the present.
They released their debut single ‘Fade Away’ in February. Their second release ‘Part of the Problem’ is out on 26th May.
“This song along with our debut release ‘Fade Away’ was recorded at Green Door Studios in Glasgow, Scotland by Sam Smith (formerly of Mother & The Addicts and Casual Sex). Green Door is a tiny (almost) all-analogue recording space in Glasgow’s West End. The idea of an analogue recording is something that has always intrigued us as records done in this way always have such an unique character, so when we came across this studio and found out more about its ethos, it was a no-brainer really.”
“A lot of the recording was done using vintage gear (old analogue mixing desks, vintage synthesisers, outboard effects and compressors etc.). There were lots of cool bits of equipment just sitting on racks around the studio – it was like an Aladdin’s cave of vintage electronics. Just being able to lay our hands on some classic gear that has appeared on some of our favourite records was unreal. Sat there in the corner was a Roland Juno 106, which happens to be one of our favourite synths of all time. This of course ended up being all over this record.”
“One of the main memories from the writing of this song was the dispute we had about it being based around only two chords. We debated over and over about whether we could get some change parts in at the chorus and tried various bits and pieces without any success. The bassline is the main driving force behind the song and there is just so much melody and interest at both the verse and chorus, it almost felt like we were trying to add changes for the sake of it.”
“Around this time we had just purchased a Roland TB-03 which is a boutique version of the legendary ‘TB-303’, famous for being used on the Acid house records produced in the late 80’s. We brought this along to one of the rehearsals where we were working on this song and once we got that riff going through the song it just transformed it to another level.”
“The recording of the song was really enjoyable. Sam, the recording engineer has a really good workflow and doesn’t like to dwell on things too much and we found his way of working really inspiring. The mixing on the other hand was a bit harder. We knew exactly how we wanted it to sound and had quite a bit of back and forth on things like getting the bass melody to really stand out and then getting the chorus synths to soar.”
“The vocals were originally double tracked and it just didn’t seem to fit with the song. On top of that, some of the phrasing wasn’t quite right either, and overall the song just didn’t feel as good as we knew it could be. After a bit of back and forth over email, we decided to go back into the studio to sort a few things out with the sonics and then re-recorded the vocal and stripped it back to a single take rather than doubling it up.”
“Reflecting on it now, the effort was worth it, as it not only really benefitted the song, but also helped us understand our own ways of working.”
“We feel it’s a really uplifting song and one that will hopefully stand out in a live environment. It’s the one we always look forward to playing in the studio anyway.”
“Of all the other tracks we have written, this one really seems like the natural successor to our debut release as it has a lot of the same key ingredients whilst showing off a slightly different side to us.”
“The few people that have heard it prior to the release have said it has hints of New Order. Given some of the equipment we used in the recording process, it’s probably no surprise that it has that kind of flavor.”
“We are buzzing to see how this one is received and hope your readers enjoy it!”
Pre-save ‘Part of the Problem’ here.
