Mungus in the Studio, Day 1 (Wednesday August 13, 2008)
Studio time started at 10AM. We loaded everything in and set up our equipment fairly quickly. While Michael set up, Duane, Stephen, and I discussed our approach to the song for the day: "Get Some". The studio, by the way, is beautiful. The air is full of incense and the colors are all warm and inviting. Couches are everywhere and Duane is friendly and easy to work with.
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It's 4:21 and we're having a break from recording (we ate lunch around 1) to listen to the most recent take. We changed the instrumental section following the first chorus in order to give the song more forward momentum and added an extra beat to the silence near the end. I wasn't sold on the first change initially, but I think it plays. We're all 100% for the extra beat of silence near the end (taking it from a 2-3-4 to a 2-3-4-5). It actually made my hair stand up.
A word about our set-up: the drums are mic'ed as is Stephen's cabinet. I'm running direct through a SansAmp, and Adam, of course, has a mic of his own. There's also a room mic to pick up the sound in the room itself. As for the layout of the room, we're not really isolated from one another: you can hear Stephen's amp in the background on the drum tracks, and if I didn't need to hear myself or Adam I wouldn't need to wear headphones at all. It's a really fantastic space... though I may have mentioned that before.
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We moved on to "Sex Kills". We played it through once, then recorded it and had a creative meeting regarding structure and sections. We changed the drums in a couple of places and removed the verse coming out of the guitar solo in order to crank up the energy (because, you know, it's such a laid back track). We've done some rerecording of the drums. It's currently 6:21. (We've also talked about how we're going create a NIN industrial rhythm layer but we'll do it live and with with all of us whacking garbage cans and chunks of metal. I am crazy excited about this!)
After recording the take Duane, Stephen, and I went to a local market to get some snacks and beverages. We weren't able to actually drive up to the store, though, because a car was on its top and a fire truck was blocking our way. We parked and walked the rest of the way. The woman behind the counter told us the driver had jumped out the moment the car flipped and ran off... not suspicious in the least. The little industrial neighborhood was abuzz.
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We ended the day by story-boarding "The Ponderous Groove". New vocals, a redesigned ending, and (gasp gasp) a new name. We'll record the working track tomorrow morning and move on to... "Jade"? "Move"? "Mr. Sathington Bets the Ponies"? Tune in tomorrow to find out more!
~Benjamin
Studio time started at 10AM. We loaded everything in and set up our equipment fairly quickly. While Michael set up, Duane, Stephen, and I discussed our approach to the song for the day: "Get Some". The studio, by the way, is beautiful. The air is full of incense and the colors are all warm and inviting. Couches are everywhere and Duane is friendly and easy to work with.
---
It's 4:21 and we're having a break from recording (we ate lunch around 1) to listen to the most recent take. We changed the instrumental section following the first chorus in order to give the song more forward momentum and added an extra beat to the silence near the end. I wasn't sold on the first change initially, but I think it plays. We're all 100% for the extra beat of silence near the end (taking it from a 2-3-4 to a 2-3-4-5). It actually made my hair stand up.
A word about our set-up: the drums are mic'ed as is Stephen's cabinet. I'm running direct through a SansAmp, and Adam, of course, has a mic of his own. There's also a room mic to pick up the sound in the room itself. As for the layout of the room, we're not really isolated from one another: you can hear Stephen's amp in the background on the drum tracks, and if I didn't need to hear myself or Adam I wouldn't need to wear headphones at all. It's a really fantastic space... though I may have mentioned that before.
---
We moved on to "Sex Kills". We played it through once, then recorded it and had a creative meeting regarding structure and sections. We changed the drums in a couple of places and removed the verse coming out of the guitar solo in order to crank up the energy (because, you know, it's such a laid back track). We've done some rerecording of the drums. It's currently 6:21. (We've also talked about how we're going create a NIN industrial rhythm layer but we'll do it live and with with all of us whacking garbage cans and chunks of metal. I am crazy excited about this!)
After recording the take Duane, Stephen, and I went to a local market to get some snacks and beverages. We weren't able to actually drive up to the store, though, because a car was on its top and a fire truck was blocking our way. We parked and walked the rest of the way. The woman behind the counter told us the driver had jumped out the moment the car flipped and ran off... not suspicious in the least. The little industrial neighborhood was abuzz.
---
We ended the day by story-boarding "The Ponderous Groove". New vocals, a redesigned ending, and (gasp gasp) a new name. We'll record the working track tomorrow morning and move on to... "Jade"? "Move"? "Mr. Sathington Bets the Ponies"? Tune in tomorrow to find out more!
~Benjamin