At first, the band planned to record their debut album in the space of two weeks. However, tours and other live performances caused the recording to spread out between September 1999 and April–May 2000. In March 1999, Coldplay began work on their debut album, recorded at Rockfield Studios, Matrix Studios, and Wessex Sound Studios with producer Ken Nelson, although the majority of Parachutes' tracks were recorded at Liverpool's Parr Street Studios. The band worked in three studio rooms at Parr Street, and tracked much of the album in one of these rooms—the project studio which Nelson describes as "basically a demo room". The album was mixed by American engineer Michael Brauer in New York. Coldplay's record label had originally intended to use a mixing engineer for the tracks they picked as singles, but eventually hired Brauer to work on all songs for the album. During that period, they played on the Carling Tour, which showcased up-and-coming acts.