Iceland's biggest celebrity and my first paid recording gig. What's the connection?

Published: Fri, 08/09/19

If you ever get a chance to visit Iceland, I highly recommend you check out my friend's tour, the Reykjavik Music Walk.

Here we are yesterday celebrating the 50th anniversary of the iconic Abbey Road photograph of The Beatles.

From Left to Right: My dad, two Scots, and me.

During the walk, Arnar the tour guide, music journalist and music scholar of 25 years, took us around Reykjavik to some of the cool hotspots in our music's history, like the practice space of the Sugarcubes and Björk's old apartment. If you end up going, you shouldn't be surprised if you run into random rockstars on the street or get an impromptu history lesson in Icelandic politics.

However, back in the day, when I was an aspiring teenage alternative metal rockstar (not a good career move), Arnar had interviewed us for one of the newspapers about our music.

The old teenage photos are too embarrassing, so here's one from our 10-year reunion show

Because Arnar was familiar with me and my dodgy past as a failed Icelandic rockstar, he graciously allowed me to add some stories and expand on his tour stops with my perspective.

So when he talked about Björk and The Sugarcubes I couldn't help but mention that the very first recording gig I got paid for as an audio engineer was for Björk's son. He was the singer in a noisy punk group at the time: fuzzy guitars, thundering drums, and crazy vocal effects.

Of course, we had no idea what we were doing at the time but we did our best to contain the chaos.

Our gear consisted of a Digi 002 and Pro-Tools version 5.6. We "borrowed" some random mics from the live sound venue I worked at and we scrounged up the rest from acquaintances in the industry. We set up shop in an abandoned high-school gym. The gym connected to some classrooms so we could isolate and separate each track as much as possible.

As for acoustic treatment...well, let's just say that the only thing we found that even resembled absorption were some high-school art canvases we found in a dingy storage closet.

We were about as far from "pro gear" and a "commercial studio" as possible, but we made it work.

So next time you're lying to yourself that you don't have "this particular mic" or "a perfectly tuned room" to make a good recording, just know that the gear you have now is probably miles ahead of what I had to deal with back then.

Even if you get the chance to record the progeny of a huge celebrity, you still gotta make do with the gear you got and the recording skills you have. It's up to you to make the most of it and do the best you can.

That's your fodder for the weekend. Enjoy!

P.S.

Speaking of improving your audio skills, tomorrow is my birthday and it's also about 10 years since I graduated audio engineering school and started Audio Issues. To celebrate, I'm putting a huge package together for you to improve your music production and recording skills.

Look for the announcement in your email tomorrow!

Björgvin