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