Hey guys. Last night was a total success. We have a U.S.D.A grade A recording studio built. All systems go and ready for launch after first of the year. One minor component on order, a mic stand mountable personal headphone amp for guest performers. That’s it. Each performer will have full control over mix via IPad. I’m excited!
Awesome, my dad recently joined a band, he plays bass and they practice at a brand new studio, I’ll try and get some photos of it
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Thank you @Grubby! Got me own thread! You’re dad and I may have a lot in common. Two geratrick bass players still lovin playing. Would love to see pictures! I’ll try to get a few snaps to share myself. Ours is not fancy, but functionally it’s really nice. Good sonics in both the performance area and the control room.
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I confess, I’m ecstatic. Ran white noise calibration on the control room and it was damn near flat without any eq. I could hardly believe my eyes. All the networking came right up in all the recording software without a hitch.
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First out of the hopper. Rather than try to explain my sporadic attendance I’ll just post my adventures.
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Pretty good. We have hit a bit of a snag. We were getting pretty close in my mind with our second song, Locomotive Breath and our drummer brought in a recording by the Black Crows and demanded we make Loco sound like Black Crows. I’m not sure how that’s done. Entirely different sonic make up. This could be difficult.
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Sorry, my answer was a little short. The project has become a substantial endeavor. First and foremost we as a band are learning how to go about this. My thought was that the rules to the game were that each musician would pick their own sound and we would make the best of it. The other band members thought I could turn flutes into tubas. Through this latest forae, we have learned about garbage in and garbage out. This is a very positive step. They had to go through it to get it. Ya just can’t use the same “voices” on instruments for recording that you do for performing. We’re creating an “image”, a mirage if you will that comes out of a home stereo and gives some sense of a live performance or moveover, a stand alone piece of artwork. We did some critical listening to recordings that they really admired and learned that the songs were written or “engineered” to support the end recording before any recording was done. Each voice was picked for it’s ability to present a certain way in a recording not a live performance. A lot of light bulbs are going on right now and a lot of really productive work is being done. Ya can’t just pick some “really cool” sound off the cuff and expect it to pan out in a recording. That “really cool” sound may project through our PA system just fine but it will cause havoc in a recording played back through a consumer stereo. Now they are thinking about where their sound will “sit” in a mix and if it will be isolated enough in frequency band to retain it’s quality without masking something else in the mix. They are also learning about the difference between blending and masking. Sounds like mixing e-juice doesn’t it? A lot of similar postulates. They are hanging in there real well. We’re building an impromptu vocal booth next. Love working with these guys. We have occasional heated exchanges but it’s all with the same end product in mind. We are also doing great at keeping everything non-personal as it is. Every scuffle has projected us in a positive direction. We are learning a lot about the art, each other, and ourselves.
We cleared the snag with Loco Breath as I got an ass kicking render just today. That has spurred a number of changes to voicing that we will make to take it to the next level. Pretty crazy to be doing this at my age but I’m having a blast.
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That’s just awesome man!!
There’s SO much you’ve covered there that so many never ‘get’, much less know about/understand!
I’ve got a solid understanding, but still have tons to learn in these areas as well. Though I’ll likely never get the chance or time to.
Kudos on the leaps and bounds!! And to the lot of you for not letting it get personal. (That’s a tall order among many musicians, and speaks highly about all of you!)
Living vicariously over here with fond memories of actively being in a band and home recording! /thumbsup and cheering
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I very much appreciate your response and I love being able to share the experience(s) with someone who “gets it”. There really is a lot going on and on so many planes.
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Ya, the Black Crows thing really threw me. He played it for me and said he wanted us to sound like that. I had no idea what aspects of the recording he is talking about because the sonic make up of the two songs have no commonalities. I went back into the mix and went for separation of instruments the best I could. I think that was it. He loves the mix. That was a tall order. Black crows use a minimalistic kit, two guitars (one background) a keyboard (right hand only) and a bass. Our version of Loco has three keyboard parts, three guitar parts, an extended kit, bongos, and bass. Of course both have vocals. Then of course there’s voicing. Black Crows us toms that are all transient attack. Our drummer chose toms that resemble tympany. Booming. blooming voices that resonate forever. Once I explained the characteristics of the problematic voicing, he got it. It helped that he had done a recording at a professional studio and hated what the engineer did to his drums. Once I explained that the poor engineer had no choice but to alter them for the mix it all made sense.
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I have to tell you… as someone who does not ‘get it’, I certainly have a lot of respect for the process. So many of us folks who are just ‘listeners’ pretty much think “Well, if you know how to play an instrument, and carry a tune, then all you need is a couple good songs and a lucky break.” It’s really something to get these sneek peeks behind the curtains that show us gleeps just how much there really is to all this magic.
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I think you might be a little hard on yourself here but I’m thrilled that you are getting something out of this. Engineers and producers with tens of thousands of hours of listening time will go WAY beyond what I know to listen for. They will pick up on subalties I’m incapable of perceiving. Then of course there are the “fashion designers”. Those who predict and create trend and direction. Thankfully, that is something I don’t have to deal with. We’re making an album for us not to try to sell to the public. This project is void of promotion which is another complete industry in itself.
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Its like the best sex you ever had except with instruments and music. Those few special times when everything everyone plays and improvises is perfect. Its that total zen thing where there is no thinking or premeditation… you feel every note and it all just flows.
Its really gratifying to get a big crowd to its feet. On the other hand, some of the best music I ever played was with an incredible guitarist who had no ambitions other that to play because he loved it. Its a shame he didn’t share it with others. Just me and him playing to an audience of nobody.
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and @anon96069639
Had dinner with the keyboard player the other night and we were marveling over this phenomenon. I picked up the word “crystalize” from another author to try to explain it. Total immersion into the music. Everything else is gone. Time, space, surroundings are all warped. It’s the closest thing to what I have heard described as an out of body experience that I have had. The music becomes life of it’s own. To share that with others that appear to understand the experience such as a responsive audience is nice but tangential to to the experience of creating the “life”.
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Thanks for the shout brother Pipes!!! You know how a band goes, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Still moving along on schedule with the recording. Had a two night show last weekend. First night was meh. Outdoor shows. A lot of folks showed up the first night but they were pretty lethargic. Second night had fewer people but they were on fire. Had a great time that night. Booked a couple of new shows as well. We took on another member. He wants to do sound for us. Something we have been looking for a long time. He a masters EE but did not practice in sound. I hope he can make the transition. He wants to pull out pencil and paper and work math and I’m like NO!!! You’re not designing the system. Open up the right brain, listen and adjust. The wheel is fine. His background can help him to understand how the system works but not so much in actually performing. When he wanted to stop the show to analyze a small hum, he almost became dinner. Normal friction stuff. One member smokes a little pot for pain relief (real…disk problems) and the other doesn’t think that’s ok at a show. The one that smokes is also nearly prodigy on his axe. Good God folks! Give it a break. There’s no impact on the show. Hell, I’m the alcoholic. One would think I would be the stoner Nazi.
So ya, the beat goes on. At a macro level it’s going really well. We continue to get tighter and take on new music. At the end of the day we share the same vision.
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Glad to hear you got some play time in! I played for an hour today as well. I try to play most every day. Makes a big difference for me. Doesn’t take long and I loose the edge. To be honest, it also brings balance. I feel like is something is missing at the end of the day if I haven’t played.
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Here’s one we just did for Doug’s (drummer singer) wife for their anniversary.
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That was beautiful Walt.
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Touching and very well performed/executed/presented.
Very cool Doug. Many happy years to come!
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Thanks, @anon96069639, @Tworrs, and @Sprkslfly for the listen. I like it as well. Doug even did all the back up vocals with his new Vox Box. Pretty amazing in my books.
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