Update on album
OK, folks. The new album is getting very, very close to done. After getting drum tracks recorded last summer at the Hocking College studio (thanks again Kevin), I brought the tracks home and began editing. I edited together my favorite parts of each take (which is no small task when there are 13 mics) and began mixing the drum sounds. This required lots of gates, compressors, EQs, and in a few cases reverbs (although we set up a far-away room mic which largely eliminated the need for reverbs - I compressed the hell out of it and got a nice boomy room sound for many of the tracks).
Next I started recording bass parts. This is of course a crucial point in the recording process. The bass part determines the feel of the song almost as much as the drums do. I recorded the basses direct, using plug-ins to simulate amp sounds in a few cases. There are some great VST plug-ins for amp simulation out there.
Then I started recording electric guitars. I started out miking my jaguar 2x12" cab, but very soon abandoned this approach in favor of plug-ins. As a result there are very few actual amps recorded on this album. I think the only track that uses real amps is track 1 (The Moon's Elated). And even on that one, I ended up deleting some of the guitars and redoing them with amp simulators instead. I recorded a lot of electric guitars for this album, layering on many, many parts. However, I left one track completely devoid of electric guitars: track 2 (Amazed). I did this because I knew I wanted Brandi Parker to contribute to this track.
After I had recorded all the electric guitars I wanted (including solos), I began looking into keyboards I could either rent or borrow. I ended up borrowing an Alesis from Ken Dean, with whom I am playing fusion music in a band called Danger Will Robinson at the moment. Ken is a drummer, but he has a lot of random stuff around, including this Alesis keyboard. It included a removable media card which contained classic keyboard sounds (leslie, rhodes, etc.) which I explored and ultimately used extensively. I recorded keys on pretty much every song, with the exception of track 7 (Friday at 10), which didn't really need any keyboards (I experimented but couldn't find anything that really suited the track).
In the meantime, I sent Brandi Parker a copy of Friday at 10, because it was nearly done and I wanted to get a second opinion on the sound of the mix. My studio monitors are pretty crappy, and I am supplementing them with computer speakers (including a subwoofer) so as to help them more closely approximate what people will most likely be listening to the album on. Brandi is a graphic designer by trade, but she is also a guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. She and I played in Sigmund Blue together in Arkansas, and now she lives in NYC where she plays as the band Tella. Brandi gave me some excellent suggestions for the mix, which I took. Then I sent her track 2 (Amazed) and asked her to get to work recording electric guitars for it.
While Brandi was working on Amazed, which really wasn't very long at all because she is awesome and started recording immediately, I continued recording keyboards and some backup vocals. I recorded a lot of harmonies for this album. Some of them went to tape in the early stages of recording, when I was getting ready to bring tracks in for drum overdubs. But a lot of them went to tape much later, when I was done with most of the instrumentation.
I also recorded some tambourine tracks for the album. I am not a very good percussionist, so I recorded several different beats for each song, found one or two measures that were particularly well syncopated to the metronome, and looped those one or two measures for each section of the song. So in essence, I recorded short parts and then looped and sequenced them, changing which loop I used for each section of the song.
Brandi got back to me with some great guitar tracks, some of which were solos. In a flash of insight, one night I chopped up one of the guitar tracks into little bits and syncopated the bits, while letting the other one play freely. Brandi recorded the guitars direct, so I used amp simulators and effects pedal simulators to approximate what she used to sound like through an amp when I played with her in Sigmund Blue.
Then I asked Kevin Shima to play on track 4 (Fully Engaged). This song really lent itself to his style, and I knew he could write guitar parts for it that would expand and complement the feel of the song. Kevin used to play guitar in Homunculus, and is now the founder and front man for Fokushima. Fokushima's debut album, Worried Well, is Kevin's brainchild and really a wonderful sounding collection of songs. He really knows how to compose supporting guitar parts. Kevin sent me some rough drafts the other day, and I sent him some feedback yesterday, so we'll see where that goes. I'm excited.
Meanwhile, I have been periodically mixing the album to mp3 and putting it on my iPod so I can hear it on various systems. I've made lots of adjustments to the mixes, and will probably continue to do so until Kevin's stuff is all done.
I also have an album cover and title now. On our honeymoon, my wife Liz and I went to Watkins Glen state park, an amazing natural wonder, and I got some great pictures of the scenery there. Several of the pictures I took on our honeymoon actually ended up looking like good album covers, so I narrowed it down to 4 contenders, and then asked Brandi to help me pick the best one. I also suggested several potential album titles and asked her to pick her favorite 3 or 4. I like getting her opinion on these things because she has a good creative mind and aesthetic sense. Then she helped me get a title placed on the album cover.
I'm posting some pictures of the studio, and also the album cover here. You can really see the low budget I'm working with in this studio. Thank goodness for software!
When the album comes out, it will be available on iTunes, Rhapsody, eMusic, Napster, and other online music sites. iTunes is already carrying my last 2 albums, Volume I and Volume II. Look for it soon!
posted by Greg Goldman at 12:37 PM
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