Mungus in the Studio, Day 8 (Friday, August 22, 2008)
We're beginning with "The Ponderous Groove" (which may end up being be renamed "Recompense"). I think the general feeling is that we'll finish this one completely before moving on. I want to re-record just a couple of notes in the quiet section. I don't need to, but I played the safe version when we recorded it, and I regret it every time I hear it. We're also trying to fill out the ending. The band is leaning toward layering on more instrumentation, while Duane is pulling for percussion. I can see both ways, honestly, though I'm inclined to add more instrumentation.
---
11:20 and I didn't actually have to record anything for "PG". We had the version I preferred on a previous take, so we just took the two notes I wanted and put them in. Done.
We moved on to "Longshot" to record Michael beating on a piece of metal.
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Back from lunch (it's 1:47). I just recorded an electric viola line for "Longshot". It doubles my bass line in one section of the song. I don't know how prominent it will be in the final mix, but it will be there for weight and texture. I'm glad I brought the beast. I ended up needing to tune everything up a half-step (which will stretch out the strings quite nicely). I haven't really played this viola at all, so the tuning pegs are reluctant to stay in place and the strings are brand new. We had some intonation issues at first, but by the end of it we got a great sound to give the already meaty bass line that much more bite. I plugged into the Marshall, but Duane also had the acoustic sounds my bow was making on the strings miked as well in order to get the full spectrum.
Stephen's overdubbing some interesting guitar lines for the intro that may or may not be used in the final mix (he even used a slide for one take).
Adam recorded a brief vocal harmony at the end which adds a lot, but isn't gratingly obvious.
---
2:47 and I'm done recording my overdubs for Mystery Song X. Adam recorded some vocal harmonies and was directed to write more to fill out the chorus.
---
At 3:15 Duane's computer crashed. It took a while to restart it, and we weren't sure what was lost (ultimately nothing). The ten minutes waiting for it to come back online was "fun". "Get Some" is the next song we're attacking. And just to be clear, everything we've done so far today, with the exception of Mystery Song X, is finished, requiring only to be mixed.
After trying to play "Get Some" for four minutes and having the playback break up fairly consistently, Duane said he was going to get his tech guy to come over because this had never happened before. He eventually copied all our files onto another drive and managed to get the playback working again at 3:43, though not to his liking. He eventually talked to his tech guy who suggested he call the man who built the system (which he did). It's 4:08 and the two of them are wandering through the system, troubleshooting.
I think we killed Duane's set-up.
---
We ended the day (5PM - 6:30) talking to Duane about what we needed to do as a band to proceed from here. His suggestion is TOUR TOUR TOUR. It's all about the touring and the promoting. He gave us city suggestions as well, ("Don't bother with small towns: Philly, New York, Atlanta, Knoxville on the way to Nashville,"). Tour and promote. We need to find three or four clubs with which to nurture a relationship, and if after the fourth or fifth time there we aren't packing them in, move on to another city or club. Don't spread too thin.
Keep writing (because we can't have enough material) and networking.
Lots to think about, campers. Hopefully his system will be up and running tomorrow.
~Benjamin
We're beginning with "The Ponderous Groove" (which may end up being be renamed "Recompense"). I think the general feeling is that we'll finish this one completely before moving on. I want to re-record just a couple of notes in the quiet section. I don't need to, but I played the safe version when we recorded it, and I regret it every time I hear it. We're also trying to fill out the ending. The band is leaning toward layering on more instrumentation, while Duane is pulling for percussion. I can see both ways, honestly, though I'm inclined to add more instrumentation.
---
11:20 and I didn't actually have to record anything for "PG". We had the version I preferred on a previous take, so we just took the two notes I wanted and put them in. Done.
We moved on to "Longshot" to record Michael beating on a piece of metal.
---
Back from lunch (it's 1:47). I just recorded an electric viola line for "Longshot". It doubles my bass line in one section of the song. I don't know how prominent it will be in the final mix, but it will be there for weight and texture. I'm glad I brought the beast. I ended up needing to tune everything up a half-step (which will stretch out the strings quite nicely). I haven't really played this viola at all, so the tuning pegs are reluctant to stay in place and the strings are brand new. We had some intonation issues at first, but by the end of it we got a great sound to give the already meaty bass line that much more bite. I plugged into the Marshall, but Duane also had the acoustic sounds my bow was making on the strings miked as well in order to get the full spectrum.
Stephen's overdubbing some interesting guitar lines for the intro that may or may not be used in the final mix (he even used a slide for one take).
Adam recorded a brief vocal harmony at the end which adds a lot, but isn't gratingly obvious.
---
2:47 and I'm done recording my overdubs for Mystery Song X. Adam recorded some vocal harmonies and was directed to write more to fill out the chorus.
---
At 3:15 Duane's computer crashed. It took a while to restart it, and we weren't sure what was lost (ultimately nothing). The ten minutes waiting for it to come back online was "fun". "Get Some" is the next song we're attacking. And just to be clear, everything we've done so far today, with the exception of Mystery Song X, is finished, requiring only to be mixed.
After trying to play "Get Some" for four minutes and having the playback break up fairly consistently, Duane said he was going to get his tech guy to come over because this had never happened before. He eventually copied all our files onto another drive and managed to get the playback working again at 3:43, though not to his liking. He eventually talked to his tech guy who suggested he call the man who built the system (which he did). It's 4:08 and the two of them are wandering through the system, troubleshooting.
I think we killed Duane's set-up.
---
We ended the day (5PM - 6:30) talking to Duane about what we needed to do as a band to proceed from here. His suggestion is TOUR TOUR TOUR. It's all about the touring and the promoting. He gave us city suggestions as well, ("Don't bother with small towns: Philly, New York, Atlanta, Knoxville on the way to Nashville,"). Tour and promote. We need to find three or four clubs with which to nurture a relationship, and if after the fourth or fifth time there we aren't packing them in, move on to another city or club. Don't spread too thin.
Keep writing (because we can't have enough material) and networking.
Lots to think about, campers. Hopefully his system will be up and running tomorrow.
~Benjamin