Vocals

Sometimes they go. By quick. 9 tracks in 4 hours...beastly. Next up is bass, then some vocal overdubs, then (very likely) mixing/mastering. Our delivery date is May 10th, so it's a dash from now til then.

Whirlwind Guitaring Spree

Tracked Extermination Angel guitars with Lenny last night. All 9 songs in a brutal 5hr session. The man's a beast. Next up: vocals, followed by bass. The train keeps rollin'.

We used my new Nady SM120 monitors (with a Samson Servo 240 power amp), and I couldn't be happier with 'em. For the price, they're outstanding. Now I don't need to cart my sub around!

My brain is far too liquid, and my body is made of meat that hates. Late night sessions + dayjob = dead guy.

Oooo, now I wanna listen to Deadguy.

EAs1 completed

The drums sound pretty pounding and aggressive (think Slayer's "South Of Heaven" + Melvins' "Houdini"). I used yet another new overhead technique and room mic configuration, as well as a third snare mic, all with very pleasing results.

The Pyle PDMK7 drum mic kit got its first blood today, and I'm very happy I bought them. total steal at around $100 for 7 mics with mounts. Comparable to many of the Shure mic packs.

Well, that's settled.

Found a pair of Nady sm120 monitors for cheap. PURCHASED.

Currently awaiting the arrival of Jim Zill so we can start setting up for Extermination Angel drum mania.

The Gear Is Too Damn High

I can currently record 16 tracks at once. To add another 8, the most cost-efffective solution seems to be an adat bridge (like the Presonus Lightpipe) and another 8 channel preamp and a/d box (like the Digimax I currently have).

So many costly boxes....it'd be awesome to have 24-at-once, especially since I just got a new Pyle drum mic kit. I've read reviews that claim it mimics a much more expensive Shure Beta set, claims that I shall test tonight.

And then, I want new monitors.......

Saturday session with Invitational

This past weekend, I loaded up Glenn the Esotericar and went to the wharehouse Invitational practices in to do a demo session. So far it sounds tasty...big giant RAWK drums (with what Steve Albini calls the "correct" number of toms) were achieved with a Recorderman overhead config and a pair of distant ribbon mics. Next up will be finding the right vocal mics.

Tonight I'm recording voiceover for a corporate client. Tuesday begins the whirlwind process of starting AND finishing the Extermination Angel record in 14 days. Buckle up, Abagail May.

Booking

In case anyone was wondering, I'm booked through mid June.

Aptil 13-15 Invitational
April 20-30 Extermination Angel
May 12 Mary Christ
May 18-27 Heaviness Of The Load
June 1-3 Matt Beale

These are tracking dates. There will be mixing/editing/overdubbing on all of these past those dates, save maybe Extermination Angel (which has an April deadline). If you wanna get some recording done, July may be the next time I'm free. HOLLER!

Hive Bent: weekend edition

Thursday night, Dan came up to do some work on the new Lotus Fucker 7". Good times were had.

Friday night, Kyle and Steph came up to load in for the Hive Bent session today. We set up gear and placed some mics, but mostly talked shit about The Slender Man.

In between, I mastered Matt Beale's demo.

Right now, we're setting levels and tuning drums.

1:56pm
Well that didn't take long. Turns out we made all the right mic and placement choices....drums are sounding Albinilicious!

3:46pm
Kyle did a few solo takes of the most difficult song. There's one we like, but we'll try again once Steph gets here.

5pm
We're well into takes with Steph and Kyle. Steph's amp was too brutal for the neighbors at first, and we had a visit from The Phantom Of The Mixing Board, but now it's full steam ahead.

Post-Mortem:
The drums sound a lot like a certain Jesus Lizard album, and the guitar is vicious. We're all pretty stoked on these rough mixes.

Tuesday Night Demos

Matt Beale is putting some ideas down on magnet tonight at AEhq. Pre-production demos are both fun and crucial.

I bought a new. Headphone preamp today in anticipation of a potential future opportunity. Fingers crossed.

*update*
Ardour crashed and ate shit, taking 2 of 5 mic tracks with it. Result: 3 of 7 songs we only have through the distant room mics. Things are audible, but not as clear as i'd like. Matt doesn't mind. I am sad. C'est la ordinateur.

Weekend post-mortem

The Lotus Fucker sessions went very smoothly. 5 songs, one intro-lude, overdubs and all. We tried a Blumlein array for drum overheads this time, and placed John's kit in a different part of the Drum Room, with excellent results. New favorite OH setup? Gonna punch out some rough mixes for the duders this week. Also re-mastered the forthcoming Chaos Destroy "Lightening Strikes Twice" lp. The original mastering wasn't gnarly enough, but I assure you, it is now quite Gnarled.