We Laugh At Danger and Break All The Rules

"All we can do is what we've always done, and on and on on and on on and on on and on" - Against Me!

(Because there's nothing more punx than following all the rules and going through all the proper channels.)

I spent upwards of 30 hours last Friday-Tuesday in the recording studio Daviding the Goliath that WAS guitar on this silly record. I also consumed what can only be described as a shit-ton of ice cream over those four days. Does ice cream make the recording process go more easily? Possibly.
So here's the beautiful new guitar. A Mexican Telecaster, just like in that one song! I won't bore the blogosphere with all the gritty details, but using alternately a Boss Overdrive pedal (Guitar 1) and a Pro Co Rat (Guitar 2) through my Fender amp (sitting like a big boy on a chair), close miced with a Sennheiser 421 (which sounded way better than an SM57 -- way more body and, as Sean would say, "man"). I used an AKG C1000s as a room mic, because why not. I also took a DI track from everything I recorded for reamping purposes, mostly because people on a metal production forum I read say you should if you want it to sound brutal. Apparently Okkervil River reamps their vocals in the studio. Crazy. At the end of the marathon 5 days, a lot of things had happened. Like I said, a lot of ice cream was eaten. I may have laid down a few solos, and what started as a joking tapping part may make the record (although the track is still going to be called tappinglol). I must extend my gratitude to Keegan and Sean for hanging out in the studio, providing moral support during these long hours and trying time.


I've got to do some pretty generous mixing to make all of the raw stuff listenable. Something about 6 distorted guitars blaring at once gets a little difficult to listen to. I shall leave you with a cryptic picture of my future plans, DJ Khaled style.

Ch(art) 2

I Worship Raw Beats

I'm crushed by the weight of waiting / And I'm plugged into new machines -- Weatherbox

Progress! But first an anecdote about carelessness and naivete and how Guitar Center employees don't necessarily need to shred on my new guitar for as a long as that guy did. So I bought a Telecaster with the help of the sagely Dane Resnick and it's beautiful (as is he). (pix2come) We went to start recording it and GODDAMN was there a buzz through that amp or what. Is the new guitar broken? Drive to guitar center, aforementioned shredder shreds for a bit too long. Nope. Is it the amp? Spend a bit of money on a Union Music repair consultation, nope. Oh, so it was an unshielded patch cable? FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUU. All is well now.

Plus, in the meantime, I recorded all the bass for the record in one 6 hour spasm-and-arthritis-inducing session. I miced Keegan's cab with an AKG D112 and DI'd the signal as well. They are perfectly out of phase. Just gotta flip it, no worries guys! A day? Two days? Some time after I recorded all of the acoustic 1 parts. I stereo-miced the acoustic with a matched pair of AKG C1000s's and used an AT2020 as a room mic. I think it sounds pretty good.

The next four days should see a generous spike in productivity, hopefully resulting in finishing up acoustic and possibly even electric guitar(!). Could it be? You'll have to stay tuned! Plus, pictures! New guitars, old guitars, microphones, the works.

In the meantime, I've been thinking a little bit about artwork. Just sayin'.

Ch(art) 1

Steady Rollin'

Me, I'm a sucker, just a slave to sound / Death's comin', I'm still runnin' -- Two Gallants

The battle against flabby, wimpy, nebbishy guitar sound continues. My meeting with Tom was definitely helpful. As it turns out, Tom's guitar through a Pro Co Rat through my amp sounds great. My guitar in the same setup, not so much. It's closer though. I think I may have unwittingly found myself in the market for a new guitar.

I'm heavily considering a Telecaster. $$$$$$.

No music to listen to this time. Maybe next time.

Gold Soundz

I will complain very quickly: Impass #1: A good guitar sound.

This happens more or less every time, although I can't remember what my thought process was for "Burning Up" (the guitar was recorded DI and then put through Amplitube) -- probably something like "good enough." I have promised myself that this time around there is no "good enough." Daniel and I do it every time we record with drum sounds: "next time we do this, no more compromises; we're going to perfectly tune the heads, spend hours and hours on sounds, etc.." The thing about the process is that once you're actually doing it, you just want to be done. Some people love nothing more than turning every little dial on an amp connected to six pedals, all with at least three of their own dials. I am by no means one of those people.

COMPLAINT OVER

I spent the better part of last week in the studio trying to find a good guitar sound. My ideal sound is something between Say Anything (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfOL8VfC7kk), Weatherbox (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUrlJgQwq64) and Gatsbys American Dream (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgrq6d4bFuw&feature=related). I'm currently using my Epiphone Sheraton II being played through my Fender Deluxe amp, with only a Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive pedal. I have had that guitar forever and I don't remember buying it.

The mic situation looks a lot like this
We are looking over the shoulder of the Sennheiser 421. There's an SM57 on the grille. Using this configuration, I've gotten more or less this far: http://soundcloud.com/fivekidsdown429/guitar-mixed-1

I'll be updating that soundcloud account with more things as they are recorded. I have had a little bit more success with the sound, but it's still a long way away.

I'm basically looking for a distorted, but very clear, crisp tone. If I play a chord, I want to be able to discern each of the notes in the chord. Also very important: when I palm mute, I want it to sound much thicker than it currently does.

Tomorrow I'm going to meet with the guitar genius Tom Hamill (lifeguitar.com) for his input. Is it the amp ruining everything? Is it the guitar? Is it my lack of pedals????? Stay tuned!

Where We Stand

Sup?

So check it out: I have a lot of work to do and part of me thinks that chronicling the process will be somehow useful or rewarding. So thanks to the Google, I registered a blog, named it after a really melodramatic Bright Eyes song with the lyric "working on the record seems pointless now / when the world ends who's gonna hear it?" and then named this post in partial reference to a Yellowcard record because I can and because it makes sense.

This is where we stand:

- I have two (2) Sister City records to make. They are called "Carbon Footprint" and "Small Talk" respectively. They have been gestating for a long time. We will not be looking to the past, only to the future.
- I have one (Person) (Noun) record to make. That will be called "Reconciliation."

The drums for "Carbon Footprint" and "Small Talk" are recorded and saved, although they are not currently backed up on another hard drive. I will do that, I promise. Nothing else is recorded. Once it is recorded, I have to mix it and master it.

As a starting point, I have posted the demos for "Carbon Footprint" and "Reconciliation." "Small Talk" is a secret.

Carbon Footprint Demos (forgive the snare drum): http://www.mediafire.com/?5fbcje6ol2o7m89
Reconciliation Demos: http://www.mediafire.com/?kindsu6f4xmvtav