For the full version of Abstract, we spent countless hours with percussionist Joby Burgess testing out different mallets, sticks, brushes and bows to curate a highly versatile and varied collection of hits and abstract textures. The aim was to capture Joby's performance and expression in intimate detail, whilst maintaining the authentic quality of the instruments unique sonic identity. This was the first time Joby has played the 'Marvin' percussion instrument, created by the company Morfbeats, which gave him the freedom to be totally free and experimental in his playing and brought an exciting energy to the sound. 

To capture Joby’s performance on these magnificent instruments we chose the world famous British Grove Studios, built by legendary Dire Straits front-man Mark Knopfler, located in the heart of West London. We chose it for its lush sounding large live room (Studio 1), cave of both vintage and modern microphones and a fantastic Neve 88R desk running through world’s best Prism Sound analogue to digital converters. Studio 1 has been used to record such scores as Gravity, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Macbeth, Stardust, and frequently visited by the bands like The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Adele, The Who. Our microphone set up consisted of Barcus Berry 4000, AKG 451, Coles 4038, Neumann U67, AEA R88, Schoeps MK22, AKG C24 and a fantastic Neumann M50 Tube.