The Germans are coming!

Greitje Smid, violinist extraordinaire, has come by to add her dulcet tones to the Faramarz Aslani tracks I'm working on. Beautiful stuff. She also brought her friends from home Mad Minority, who are here on tour from Germany. As soon as we're done tracking, I'm gonna learn me some Gerry curse words.

You know, like the dolphin.

10/14/12
Haus Of Leaves
3:38pm
Today I have the pleasure of recording doomsters Ecco, which is 3/4 of Chaos Destroy and an ex-Lotus Fucker. We're underway on the first take, and it will be about 10mins before we listen back (if all goes well).

10pm
3 songs, 10mins+ each,  all tracked and mostly mixed. Tomorrow, we finish!

Update Wolf

Several days late, here's a link to the finished Queen Wolf demo. Enjoy! Queenwolf.bandcamp.com

I'm also working on a track for Faramarz Aslani. Tonight is a cello/violin session for one of the songs, which should be exciting. I also have a vocal session for the Invitational jams tonight. Packed Haus!

Demo Wolf

I write to you from the center of the QUEEN WOLF demo recording process. We have a handful of vocal lins to record tonight, then mix/master/release. We did the instruments live in our tiny practice space, with all the mic bleed that suggests. We have methods for alleviating these headaches though, and it sounds better than it should already. Huzzah!

I'm also like a third through mixing the Sweat Life album. Skunk Jamz for the young youth, ya hurd?

Blog Break

A month and a half of no posts...yikes! In that time, I mixed and mastered the second Lotus Fucker lp, mixed a song by th band Sweat Life for a movie soundtrack, played two shows with Queen Wolf, got violently seasick, watched Thejus build a new recording pc, and moved my gear back to Haus Of Leaves. Being based at The Bambou is too inconvenientt, though I maintain a relationship with them and have an arangement  fffor booking their facilities. Sometimes you just wanna mix in your underwear, you know?

This weekend we'll be testing the new pc by mixing more Sweat Life tracks. Gonna have to keep the eye strain minimal and take breaks though. The crazy seasick barfing kind of exploded my eyes.

Midnight Crew Studios

Next week, I'll be recording DVD commentary with Chris Lamartina and Jimmy George for the triumphant DVD release of "President's Day". In the meantime, feast your eyes on an interview with the dudes about upcoming projects and their Artscape installation!

http://m.citypaper.com/film/red-tape-1.1344793

Lotus Fucker LP#2

Watch "Lotus Fucker tracking session 7-14-2012" on YouTube

There was a much longer, cooler video that was accidentally erased. Weak. We still have this lovely video of Dan doing vocals in the control room. 4 words:
Kung
Fu
Pan
Da

I'll have some pictures from this soon. Tonight, we worked on constructing the intros and outros, which involved varying degrees of sampling, musique concrete, guitar and synth playing, editing, and mixing on my part. I am Doctor Session.

My band Queen Wolf makes its debut on Sunday July 22nd at Ratscape. Stoked to melt faces.

More Mary Christ press! Also, Hivebending!

I like when people like stuff I worked on. :)

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/42965/one-track-mind-mary-christ-listen-to-absent-minds/

I also tracked bass for the new Hive Bent ep with Steph Fogle tonight. Sick lixxx were had, and rough mixes were made. I don't think I've posted about it at all, but last weekend we tracked drums/guitar/vocals for four songs. These are likely to appear on a cassette ep later ths year. It's coming along rather quickly, and I even learned a new room micing trick! Yay!

And on top of all that...I have a Soundcloud now! http://soundcloud.com/audioesoterica

Witch's Brew screening

If you live in California, take the chance to see Witch's Brew, a lovely horror comedy that I did some sound stuff on.

https://www.facebook.com/events/341130109295390/

There is no film with a finer dickripping scene that I'm aware of.

Mary Christ has the DCist Song Of The Week!

Http://goo.gl/YGLcj

Check this hotness out! This is the last record I did at AEhq before moving to the new studio, and it's one of my faves. Comes out July 30th, snap them shits up!

Studio has had no power since the storm, so twiddling my thumbs and waiting to finish HOTL....not to mention start Hive Bent on Friday (c'moooon BGE).

A moderate week

On Tuesday I did a mix of the HOTL tracks.  Mastered it yesterday. Needs some tweaks, but I feel like it's 80% there. Feeling strong.

Tracked more vocals with Chris of Invitational last night. We got two leads down, with doubles for that "Dave Grohl" lead vocal texture. Every time I listen to this, I long for an empty warehouse of my own. ::sigh:: How I love giant drum sounds.

I also met the dudes from SweatLife, whose record I will be mixing and mastering this summer. Funtime summertime ska jamz for all you Sexy Babies out there.

Phase I complete

We have wrapped tracking for these HOTLoad songs!  Brent killed it last night, even getting a sweet fake 12 string acoustic on disk. Next up.....mixing!

July is going to be busy. Hivebent the first weekend, Lotus Fucker the second, and then my band Caestles plays Ratscape the third weekend. If you're looking to book time, I hope you were thinking August.

Brentocaster

Started tracking Brent's guitar for the HOTL project last night. Neither of us is entirely satisfied with the tone. Research continues. That is all.

This week's work thus far

Monday: guitar tracking with Scott of Heaviness Of The Load. Got an awesome tone, got some sweet takes. Layering of distortion continues apace.

Thursday: Vocals with Chris of Invitational. Ended up choosing a large ribbon mic over the others. Looking forward to really digging in to these songs.

Saturday, more HOTload guitars. FUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

HOTL "dress rehearsal session" one.

On Saturday June 9 at 4pm, Heaviness Of The Load and I officially broke the seal on the new Audio Esoterica headquarters, located inside the lavish. Bambou Entertainment complex in west Baltimore (next door to Studio 14). In 8 hours, we tracked drums and bass for 4 reasonably long songs. Drums were done together with a scratch guitar, bass overdubbed. Scott worked the hardest, as captured below.

The new studio sounds sah-weeeeeet! With the curtains and reiforcement panels up, it's tight and punchy and focused.....perfect for HOTL's percussion assault. Stoked to put guitars down on Monday! I believe some Soundcloud samples will have to follow.

Moving In

No pics yet, sorry. Too busy MOVING INTO THE NEW STUDIO!  Re-ran the cable snake to the live room last night, did some test tracking with Orvil and James. Silly times were had. Tonight we cleared out the live room, set up the headphone preamps, put in some power, and acoustically treated the space. So long, flutter echo! I'm super stoked to do my "dress rehearsal" session with Heaviness Of The Load this Saturday. Pictures, and hopfully video, to follow. In the past week I've also remixed and remastered the Mary Christ 7" (much improved), seen several milliseconds into the quantum future, and received the second worst sunburn of my life at Playa Del Fuego Spring 2012. A solid start to Summer 2012.

Deplorable at updates 5/13/2012

Had a great meeting Friday night. On to step two, and then.....?

I spent Saturday recording the talented ladies of Mary Christ. Their guitar player Diana likes old thrash, fuzz pedals, and scifi. We're besties now. Great nasty fuzzy tones all around; We biamped Diana's Fender/FuzzWar with my Silvertone/SwollenPickle and miced each with one of a pair of Nady ribbon mics I seem to under-utilize.

We did four songs, all tracked and maybe half to three-quarters mixed. They played tight as fuck, and I had an awesome time hanging out with them, so much so that I took zero pictures. My B. Hopefully they did and I can score some.

Mix and master tweaking continues apace on the Extermination Angel record. The final notes of this revision are ringing out right now, and it's the best so far. I'm off to make sure it passes the loudness test....this is due to Joe at Black Mess Records on Tuesday, for a rush pressing to meet DeathFest. No time to waste!

Busy-ness

This week, I did the vinyl master for the Extermination Angel LP, the mix & master for the Mary Christ 7", and the mix & master for the two Lotus Fucker tracks bound for a MaximumRockNRoll comp. Awesome.

I'm also finalizing my move into the new studio digs. I'll be working out of a studio in the Baltimore Bambou entertainment complex in West Baltimore. Details and pics to follow. VERY EXCITING!

Soon, I can start booking sessions for the summer, and around that, work on incorporating the newest member of Caestles into her vocalist role.

The good times keep rollin'.

Mastering of Puppets

Mixing and mastering on the Extermination Angel record continues. Between my tendancy to be very conservative on first passes, and the learning curve of my new monitors, I've not nailed it as directly and firmly and quickly as I'd like. Progress is being made though, and we're getting closer to "right".

Tonight, I have a meeting that will, at the very least, be interesting. Fingers crossed that it's also Awesome.

Tomorrow, I take a break from death metal to record some songs with DC's Mary Christ, I believe for a tour 7".

Sometime next week, we get back to vocals for Invitational and Hive Bent.

The train, she does not slow.

Cheat Mainsaw

In a barberous pair of session, we finished off vocal overdubs and the bass between Friday night and Saturday afternoon. I spent my Sunday night doing general tweaks on all songs, then focusing on the easiest one. Having nearly mixed and mastered that to completion, I think I have a "template" of settings to apply to the remaining 8 tracks. The plan for tomorrow night is:
-finish perfecting my mix and mastering"templates"
-apply the mix template to the other songs
-begin tweaking and customizing the mix of each song

I expect to be working on the individual mixes Tuesday night as well, followed by mastering everything. Then I and the band will have Wednesday to listen and either approve, or suggest and implement changes.

It's all due Thursday May 10th, so I've gotta work FAST.

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.

Saturday Session

11:38am Today, Lotus Fucker is coming up from DC to record a split 7" and tracks for a Maximum RockNRoll comp. We're trying a new setup at Haus Of Leaves today, as well as some new mic choices and configurations. I'm considering a Blumlein array for drum overheads...

Until they arrive, I'm working on the audio commentary for the Witch's Brew dvd release. Chris Lamartina and Jimmy George came over a few nights ago and recorded a lot of interesting trivia and info about the film (and film making in general), and I'm stoked to be working with them again.

Donde esta el Kamikaze Dan?

2:46pm all set up, working on takes of song 1.