One Time - THE IPES
“One Time” by THE IPES - a high school trio from Brisbane State High is a laid-back, reggae-inspired track built around smooth, low vocals and a bright, bouncy guitar groove. The song’s easy rhythm and warm tone immediately stood out to me — it reminded me of my time playing in Lighthouse Mouse, a band that often explored similar reggae and coastal indie influences. Drawing on that experience, I felt instantly at home shaping this project’s direction and dynamics.
During pre-production, I revisited some of my favourite references — artists like Cloak Bay and classic reggae recordings — to capture that balance between looseness and polish, where groove and tone take priority over perfection. THE IPES’ approach to songwriting and performance suited this aesthetic perfectly, creating a track that feels effortless yet deeply rooted in rhythmic intention.
THE PROCESS:
RECORDING THE INSTRUMENTAL
Before recording the track, the Vermillion team had selected this band based on their demo - footage from a band practice, taken from a pool table. I had figured out that because we were recording two bands with similar drum setups, we could plan to keep the setup for both sessions. So on the 24th of September (the first week of holidays), we booked back-to-back sessions in the Neve room (Z9-511) for Pap Smear & The Mammograms and THE IPES.
We tracked drums, guitar and scratch vocals at the same time, as the boys did not want to play to a click. This proved challenging as not being able to edit and record to a click limits the available options for tracking and re-tracking, but we worked around it.
We tried micing up an amp for the guitar tone, but because they wanted a really bright tone, we ended up just sending the guitar straight into the desk.
RECORDING THE VOCALS
Initially, Angus held a recording session with Jordi (vocalist) in the UAD rooms (notoriously dodgy). And although the session apparently went well, the vocal file corrupted and was not able to be used.
We held a make-up session in the Neve room again, where Jordi was even more pleased with the sound - he did some low vocal takes that were blowing us away (photos by Jaden Amba).
MIXING THE TRACK
I mixed this track myself, with notes and feedback from our Vermillion Production Team and Yanto Browning
COLLABORATION & COMMUNICATION
For THE IPES project, most of my communication was with Angus Beeney, who handled one of the vocal and trumpet sessions when I was unavailable. Unfortunately, the session file became corrupted, which required us to rework parts of the production and reinforced the importance of consistent file management and backups.
In terms of artist communication, I initially reached out to the band via email, but quickly realised that texting was a much faster and more effective way to get responses and approvals. This streamlined our workflow and made it easier to organise session times and share quick updates. Overall, maintaining open, direct lines of communication across both the artist and production teams was key to keeping the project on track despite small setbacks.