(Oooops...forgot to post this Monday)
Here be how the latest studio session went blog....
Let me post it how I wrote it in my notebook - King
Saturday, 4/28/07
Well, here I am in Milltown, NJ at the home of Chris whose studio we're about to record in, Technical Ectasy, lies below in the basement along with my bandmates and K. I, being the early bird as usual, am up already. I think it's like 7 in the morning. His 3 cats are all eyeing me up nervously.
The ride up was pretty uneventful. The kids went ahead earlier in the bug. Penny had originally printed me directions with no street address. He later texted Andy then and I went to Yahoo maps to print them out. Much to my surprise, they were actually correct for once! Penny didn't realize his mistake 'till later he said and he got lost for a bit, but he's been up here before and got it figured out right away.
So Andy and I pull up the van in a very residential neighborhood. Some neighbors were out who were pretty friendly and must be used to all the bands coming and going. They pointed us in the right direction. Chris' wife Liz let us in and showed us the way. I saw a sign that pointed it's way to the "dungeon" along the path. We opened the door to some very tiny steps leading below. They were challenging at first to a fatty, but we traversed them well. Chris was talking on his cell, so Penny stepped in and led us to where we'd be recording at.
The first impression overall is "wow"! You see the big soundboard and all the gadgets. Guitars were all over. But the biggest surprise was still in store for me. I make my way around the corner and couldn't belive my eyes! The studio drum kit is a Ludwig blue vistalite set, the same style as my very first drum kit! So immediately I was stoked right out of the box! Chris said it was cool to use everything as is, so I brought all my stands, snare, kick pedal, and cymbals in vain. Ah well, it was good to be prepared just in case I suppose. Everything was set in "low rider" position, so I had to adjust all the stands and whatnot. Damn, that kit sounded good! The other fellas were getting set up. Andy did bring his guitar, but Chris said pick out one of his. Andy went for the '74 Gibson SG. Nice! In no time they were plugged in and we were jamming away. Chris got us all headphones as it was time to get all the levels down. We pretty much had that done in no time. The vibe is friggin' awesome. He has stringed lights hanging up, so we just used those and killed all the bright lights. We kept on jamming shaking off a little rust. Looks like we're gonna record without dummy vocals. As long as Andy mouths the words, we'll be fine, no problem.
Chris called us in to hear a bit of the test run. Everything sounded great. Man, this session is gonna be a good one! He then was playing us unmastered stuff he recently recorded with The Steinways and The Ergs. Stuff sounded great as is! So after listening to a few more songs we called it a night and headed back upstairs. It was 9 PM and we were all getting hungry. We were even entertaining the thought of catching the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie, but the nearest theater was a little too far away, so instead Chris joined us and we made plans to go eat at a diner. K fixed the van up perfect with all the pillows and blankets we brought. It has a real 70's van feel back there. Chris was up front showing Andy the way as I rode in the back with the kids. At one point, K took a nasty tumble, but luckily my belly fat was there to provide protection from any serious injury. The diner was pretty choice. I had to get me some liver and onions. I sacrificed the bacon to everyone else, trying to cut out some calories to stick to the diet. It had K's approval, so I hope Joe Queer will be proud.
After the meal. we made our way back to the house. We unpacked our pilows and blankets and made our way to the basement. I brought in the cushions we use in the van for my bedding. The kids took a couch that's down there. Andy, along with his fan that he needs to help him sleep, took a recliner. All the lights were cut off, but luckily I had all the LED lights from Chris' equipment to act as a night light. It was off to slumber in no time.
Chris has to go into his job at Guitar Center for a bit in the morning. We should start recording around 11 and keep on going thru the evening, maybe 'till 8 or 9 for day 1. Can't wait to get started!
Sunday, 4/29/07
After writing yesterday's entry, I sat there trying to get the 3 cats to be sociable and reading my "Ghosts of Cape May" book. Liz came down around 7. We chatted for a little bit and I discovered how one of the cats eats cantelope. Slowly, one by one, everyone started arising from the basement lair. Before no time we were gathered around the kitchen table as K was preparing us healthy hippy food. Oh, I'm sorry, spiritually ecclectic food. I was offered raw corn on the cob. After initially declining, I ate half an ear and was surprised by how sweet and good it was. K then made me a natural peanut butter and raw honey sandwhich on this 7 sprouted grain cinnamon raisin bread. Damn good stuff! I later had to have one for lunch. Afterwards it was back down to the basement. The kids had made a coffee run for themselves. Penny was literally bouncing off the walls. He made up a happy little acoustic song we were threatening to record as a hidden track. Later he was playing with a synth box gadget as Andy was making wild noises on a recorder flute. I was free styling verse while playing a crappy little pair of bongos. That exercise in free form jazz improvisational hell was quite interesting. Finally, after a little while, Chris was back from Guitar Center and it was time to start rolling. It was right at 11 I might add.
First up was getting the basic tracks of drums, guitar, and bass. After a quick tune up of the drums by Chris, it was ready to roll. The first 4 songs were pretty easy. The first real challenge was "Better Than Star Wars". Everyone was saying I was playing it too fast. Chris, being a drummer himself, suggested I try more of a "Marky Ramone" beat on the hi-hat to slow me down. So I was trying to learn a new technique on the spot for the song. I gave it a couple tries, but I was thinking way too much as it sounded forced. I finally abandoned it and went back to my ususal style, but slowed it down. I did keep his 2 handed snare pop at the beginning though. Truthfully, I was a little wound up after that, but got thru the rest of the songs fine. Think it only took 1 1/2 hours to get down the basic tracks.
Next step was to go back and do a couple punch ins to fix a couple guitar and bass flubs here and there. There only were a few, so that didn't take long. Following that was Andy adding the 2nd guitar part. Chris switched Andy over to a different amp to get a cleaner sound. The guy really is a mad scientist. He has an excellent ear and was right on with several cool suggestions, but more on that later.
There weren't many leads to be added at all. They're really not true leads in a sense anyway, it's more like adding color to the music. Chris was really at his mad scientist best here running and grabbing various stomp boxes for each song's need. First up was "I Don't Wanna Smile". Next was "Paranoid Together" with it's "Screeching Weasel style" lead. "Lose My Head" had a quick part too, but the true monster was "Neg Mofo" with major fuzz box and other wacky effects going on. Chris was stomping on each box madly as Andy was playing away. Finally it was time for vocals.
I'm more used to laying down the main vocals first, then coming back and doing backing vocs later. But Chris went ahead and had us complete each song as it went along. I ended up liking that way so much better. Figures the first song, "Punk Rockers With Cell Phones", would be the toughest one for Andy to sing. But thanks to Chris' smile singing technique and this wacky throat spray stuff, he got thru it fine. Still took a couple tries mind you as most vocals do. They are the toughest but most fun part of recording. I went in and added the high backing vocal part afterwards.
"Ooh Wah Ooh Wah" just needed double tracked vocals and some high harmonies from Andy. "I Don't Wanna Smile" had Penny laying down his first backing vocals of the session. We all went in for the "hey" shout. "Paranoid Together" had the most stuff going on. All kinds of backing vocals. In the middle of this, Chris had the brilliant idea of adding a higher octave guitar in the second part of the solo. We did and it worked like a charm. He also heard the high pitched "paranoid" parts and had me and Andy in there doing them. The finished product I remarked later during playback was like cotton candy to my ears, it was so sweet.
"Better Than Star Wars" had double tracked vocals and me adding the high part. All of us went in for hand claps and we later had Chris play tambourine on a couple spots during it. "Sorry So Psycho" was so much fun! We had the 4 part harmony "ah" part ala "Twist And Shout". Chris sang the 3rd "ah". The order for those keeping score at home was Andy-Penny-Chris-King. Penny went in and did backing shouts on the "sorry so psycho" part that filled it out better. The best part was when Chris sped up the spoken word part son that on playback it's a pitch lower and Andy sounds like a complete lush. He screwed up too, but the mess up was fucking perfect and on time, so we kept it! Too fucking funny! In error comes genius!
"Lose My Head" just needed double tracked vocals to keep the bare bones feel of it. "Neg Mofo" was out of the box! We decided the 3 of us would go in at the same time to record our vocals live, each person stepping up to the mic at the appropiate times for their part. We later double tracked vocs on top of that. Fucking insane I tell you! I fucking nailed the scream not once, but twice! Oh, it was kinda sloppy overall, but that was the exact feel we were going for. I think it turned out great and does the Black Friday legacy proud.
Afterwards, Chris did a rough mix. Even that sounded good. I've said it before I know, but I really feel this session is the best we've ever done. It's gonna sound fucking great! Chris and his Technical Ecstasy studio was the secret weapon. We're already talking about returning here to finally re-record "Fear And Loathing in NJ" properly. Hope we can do that before the year is out. I think we wrapped everything up at 7:30 so it was 8 1/2 hours of mayhem to get it done.
Today will be the mixdown. Chris told us we'll start around 1. Guess we'll have a few hours to kill come this morning. Well, it's time for my early bird rising ass to get back to bed and try to catch a few more Zzzz's!
Afterthought - Monday, 4/30/07
Well, I did catch a few more hours of sleep I'm happy to add. I wrote that at like 4 in the morning! We started the mixdown at 11 and was done by 3. Chris had to overdub one of his tambourine parts on "Star Wars" as it vanished mysteriously. I have to tell you it IS the best recording of us ever! And the fucker ain't even mastered yet! Thanks again to Chris along with his lovely wife Liz for letting us into their home and putting us with us dopes. This kids is gonna be the shit I tell ya!
Here be how the latest studio session went blog....
Let me post it how I wrote it in my notebook - King
Saturday, 4/28/07
Well, here I am in Milltown, NJ at the home of Chris whose studio we're about to record in, Technical Ectasy, lies below in the basement along with my bandmates and K. I, being the early bird as usual, am up already. I think it's like 7 in the morning. His 3 cats are all eyeing me up nervously.
The ride up was pretty uneventful. The kids went ahead earlier in the bug. Penny had originally printed me directions with no street address. He later texted Andy then and I went to Yahoo maps to print them out. Much to my surprise, they were actually correct for once! Penny didn't realize his mistake 'till later he said and he got lost for a bit, but he's been up here before and got it figured out right away.
So Andy and I pull up the van in a very residential neighborhood. Some neighbors were out who were pretty friendly and must be used to all the bands coming and going. They pointed us in the right direction. Chris' wife Liz let us in and showed us the way. I saw a sign that pointed it's way to the "dungeon" along the path. We opened the door to some very tiny steps leading below. They were challenging at first to a fatty, but we traversed them well. Chris was talking on his cell, so Penny stepped in and led us to where we'd be recording at.
The first impression overall is "wow"! You see the big soundboard and all the gadgets. Guitars were all over. But the biggest surprise was still in store for me. I make my way around the corner and couldn't belive my eyes! The studio drum kit is a Ludwig blue vistalite set, the same style as my very first drum kit! So immediately I was stoked right out of the box! Chris said it was cool to use everything as is, so I brought all my stands, snare, kick pedal, and cymbals in vain. Ah well, it was good to be prepared just in case I suppose. Everything was set in "low rider" position, so I had to adjust all the stands and whatnot. Damn, that kit sounded good! The other fellas were getting set up. Andy did bring his guitar, but Chris said pick out one of his. Andy went for the '74 Gibson SG. Nice! In no time they were plugged in and we were jamming away. Chris got us all headphones as it was time to get all the levels down. We pretty much had that done in no time. The vibe is friggin' awesome. He has stringed lights hanging up, so we just used those and killed all the bright lights. We kept on jamming shaking off a little rust. Looks like we're gonna record without dummy vocals. As long as Andy mouths the words, we'll be fine, no problem.
Chris called us in to hear a bit of the test run. Everything sounded great. Man, this session is gonna be a good one! He then was playing us unmastered stuff he recently recorded with The Steinways and The Ergs. Stuff sounded great as is! So after listening to a few more songs we called it a night and headed back upstairs. It was 9 PM and we were all getting hungry. We were even entertaining the thought of catching the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie, but the nearest theater was a little too far away, so instead Chris joined us and we made plans to go eat at a diner. K fixed the van up perfect with all the pillows and blankets we brought. It has a real 70's van feel back there. Chris was up front showing Andy the way as I rode in the back with the kids. At one point, K took a nasty tumble, but luckily my belly fat was there to provide protection from any serious injury. The diner was pretty choice. I had to get me some liver and onions. I sacrificed the bacon to everyone else, trying to cut out some calories to stick to the diet. It had K's approval, so I hope Joe Queer will be proud.
After the meal. we made our way back to the house. We unpacked our pilows and blankets and made our way to the basement. I brought in the cushions we use in the van for my bedding. The kids took a couch that's down there. Andy, along with his fan that he needs to help him sleep, took a recliner. All the lights were cut off, but luckily I had all the LED lights from Chris' equipment to act as a night light. It was off to slumber in no time.
Chris has to go into his job at Guitar Center for a bit in the morning. We should start recording around 11 and keep on going thru the evening, maybe 'till 8 or 9 for day 1. Can't wait to get started!
Sunday, 4/29/07
After writing yesterday's entry, I sat there trying to get the 3 cats to be sociable and reading my "Ghosts of Cape May" book. Liz came down around 7. We chatted for a little bit and I discovered how one of the cats eats cantelope. Slowly, one by one, everyone started arising from the basement lair. Before no time we were gathered around the kitchen table as K was preparing us healthy hippy food. Oh, I'm sorry, spiritually ecclectic food. I was offered raw corn on the cob. After initially declining, I ate half an ear and was surprised by how sweet and good it was. K then made me a natural peanut butter and raw honey sandwhich on this 7 sprouted grain cinnamon raisin bread. Damn good stuff! I later had to have one for lunch. Afterwards it was back down to the basement. The kids had made a coffee run for themselves. Penny was literally bouncing off the walls. He made up a happy little acoustic song we were threatening to record as a hidden track. Later he was playing with a synth box gadget as Andy was making wild noises on a recorder flute. I was free styling verse while playing a crappy little pair of bongos. That exercise in free form jazz improvisational hell was quite interesting. Finally, after a little while, Chris was back from Guitar Center and it was time to start rolling. It was right at 11 I might add.
First up was getting the basic tracks of drums, guitar, and bass. After a quick tune up of the drums by Chris, it was ready to roll. The first 4 songs were pretty easy. The first real challenge was "Better Than Star Wars". Everyone was saying I was playing it too fast. Chris, being a drummer himself, suggested I try more of a "Marky Ramone" beat on the hi-hat to slow me down. So I was trying to learn a new technique on the spot for the song. I gave it a couple tries, but I was thinking way too much as it sounded forced. I finally abandoned it and went back to my ususal style, but slowed it down. I did keep his 2 handed snare pop at the beginning though. Truthfully, I was a little wound up after that, but got thru the rest of the songs fine. Think it only took 1 1/2 hours to get down the basic tracks.
Next step was to go back and do a couple punch ins to fix a couple guitar and bass flubs here and there. There only were a few, so that didn't take long. Following that was Andy adding the 2nd guitar part. Chris switched Andy over to a different amp to get a cleaner sound. The guy really is a mad scientist. He has an excellent ear and was right on with several cool suggestions, but more on that later.
There weren't many leads to be added at all. They're really not true leads in a sense anyway, it's more like adding color to the music. Chris was really at his mad scientist best here running and grabbing various stomp boxes for each song's need. First up was "I Don't Wanna Smile". Next was "Paranoid Together" with it's "Screeching Weasel style" lead. "Lose My Head" had a quick part too, but the true monster was "Neg Mofo" with major fuzz box and other wacky effects going on. Chris was stomping on each box madly as Andy was playing away. Finally it was time for vocals.
I'm more used to laying down the main vocals first, then coming back and doing backing vocs later. But Chris went ahead and had us complete each song as it went along. I ended up liking that way so much better. Figures the first song, "Punk Rockers With Cell Phones", would be the toughest one for Andy to sing. But thanks to Chris' smile singing technique and this wacky throat spray stuff, he got thru it fine. Still took a couple tries mind you as most vocals do. They are the toughest but most fun part of recording. I went in and added the high backing vocal part afterwards.
"Ooh Wah Ooh Wah" just needed double tracked vocals and some high harmonies from Andy. "I Don't Wanna Smile" had Penny laying down his first backing vocals of the session. We all went in for the "hey" shout. "Paranoid Together" had the most stuff going on. All kinds of backing vocals. In the middle of this, Chris had the brilliant idea of adding a higher octave guitar in the second part of the solo. We did and it worked like a charm. He also heard the high pitched "paranoid" parts and had me and Andy in there doing them. The finished product I remarked later during playback was like cotton candy to my ears, it was so sweet.
"Better Than Star Wars" had double tracked vocals and me adding the high part. All of us went in for hand claps and we later had Chris play tambourine on a couple spots during it. "Sorry So Psycho" was so much fun! We had the 4 part harmony "ah" part ala "Twist And Shout". Chris sang the 3rd "ah". The order for those keeping score at home was Andy-Penny-Chris-King. Penny went in and did backing shouts on the "sorry so psycho" part that filled it out better. The best part was when Chris sped up the spoken word part son that on playback it's a pitch lower and Andy sounds like a complete lush. He screwed up too, but the mess up was fucking perfect and on time, so we kept it! Too fucking funny! In error comes genius!
"Lose My Head" just needed double tracked vocals to keep the bare bones feel of it. "Neg Mofo" was out of the box! We decided the 3 of us would go in at the same time to record our vocals live, each person stepping up to the mic at the appropiate times for their part. We later double tracked vocs on top of that. Fucking insane I tell you! I fucking nailed the scream not once, but twice! Oh, it was kinda sloppy overall, but that was the exact feel we were going for. I think it turned out great and does the Black Friday legacy proud.
Afterwards, Chris did a rough mix. Even that sounded good. I've said it before I know, but I really feel this session is the best we've ever done. It's gonna sound fucking great! Chris and his Technical Ecstasy studio was the secret weapon. We're already talking about returning here to finally re-record "Fear And Loathing in NJ" properly. Hope we can do that before the year is out. I think we wrapped everything up at 7:30 so it was 8 1/2 hours of mayhem to get it done.
Today will be the mixdown. Chris told us we'll start around 1. Guess we'll have a few hours to kill come this morning. Well, it's time for my early bird rising ass to get back to bed and try to catch a few more Zzzz's!
Afterthought - Monday, 4/30/07
Well, I did catch a few more hours of sleep I'm happy to add. I wrote that at like 4 in the morning! We started the mixdown at 11 and was done by 3. Chris had to overdub one of his tambourine parts on "Star Wars" as it vanished mysteriously. I have to tell you it IS the best recording of us ever! And the fucker ain't even mastered yet! Thanks again to Chris along with his lovely wife Liz for letting us into their home and putting us with us dopes. This kids is gonna be the shit I tell ya!