Into LA

Hey everyone,

So I know its been a while, and there really hasn’t been all that much to write about.  We are well into putting the final few parts on these songs with some great studio musicians.

Mr. Rae has done an unbelievable job at adding pianos and a few specialty keyboard parts to the songs.  The part that is most incredible to me is that, if he wanted to, he could play the most technically mind numbing part, but he doesn’t.  He plays the part that supports the song.  He has really added a lot to the musicality of this record.

Here some piano micing shots for Bobby:

Piano 1

Piano 2

Hope to update you again soon.

So I was fortunate enough to get a day off yesterday, which was much in need.  In addition to being able to sleep in I had about three weeks worth of errands I needed to catch up on.  When you work 12+ hours a day you aren’t really thinking about going to the grocery, doing laundry, etc.  I am just fortunate enough to have enough time in the morning to get a quick workout in and my lunch packed up.

This weekend was good, I got sent on a massive errand to replace a blown NS-10 speaker.  We located one on craigslist and because of its condition I was able to talk the guy into letting us have it for $20.00. The only thing wrong with it was a blown tweeter, but we were going to use it to fix our torn woofer anyway so it all worked out.  On the way back I took the coastal highway up north from the Laguna Beach area and pulled over to take this shot:

Totally Worth the Trip

Sunday afternoon I went out for a great run in the sunlight and heat through Runyon Canyon.  It was a little bit crowded but the view over the city was great.  Just getting out and exploring a little bit improved my outlook on LA immensely.  Check out the view:

Skyline...

I’ll try to be better about posting.  Sorry!

The past couple days have been pretty busy for me.  I’ve been pressed for time but due to certain individuals making threats (Kim), I decided to post another entry today.  So we’ve basically put drums on hold for a few days and brought in a bassist to start filling som of the tracks out.

Flat out this guy is the best bassist I have ever seen. He’s playing a 1970’s era Fender P-Bass, complete with bottle opener screwed into the body.  Needless to say this bass has seen a few tours.  The amp rig he’s using is a classic Ampeg B-15, for those non-musicians out there, a really cool tube amplifier.

Tracking is pretty basic, we’ve got a tube DI on the bass, then a splitter to a stomp box where there is a second DI, and then a U87 on the bass cab, and an NS-10 in front of the rig.  Through blending these 4 inputs the bass tone can really be catered to the song.

So far it’s been going really well.  The songs have really sprung to life with the addition of these tracks to the point where, I think you could listen to a few of these songs with just the drums and bass and be completely entertained.

On the less cool side of interning I’ve been running a lot of errands lately, Including taking the producers BMW 3 series to get it washed. Oh well, guess you have to balance out the really cool with the not so cool.  Hope all is well.

It’s been a while since my last post, things have been a little busy around here.  So we’re about a week and a half in on th Secondhand project and things are going great.  We’ve got 14 basic tracks done, and are using the next few days to put the basic comps together.

Let me tell you a little about the kit we used to record. The kit was made of plastic…yes that’s right, blue plastic.  It sounded absolutely phenominal.

Plastic Drums...

There really is no secret to getting good drum sounds.  We made sure there were new drum heads, and that the kit was tuned properlly.  Also we spent some time choosing the cymbals carefully.  They kit needs to sound like the pieces belonged together.

There were two snare drums used, a Ludwig late 70’s Supraphonic and   Beauty.  The Supraphonic sounded great where ever it was tuned.  High, Low…you name it, it sounded good.  Cymbal wise we stuck pretty close to vintage zildjians.  The goal was to choose cymbals that sounded like they had already been processed, just because in the mix you end up hacking off some of the top end anyway.

So that’s what we’ve been up to.  Lots to do, and apologies for the lack of postings last week. Stay safe.

Hey all-

Began week two today, it was a good day.  We tracked two more drum tracks today, which brings our grand total to five tracks.  It’s going really well, and everyone is in good spirits.  While they were figuring out parts today I spent most of my day working in the mix room.  They’ve got a really cool old Neve console that’s going to have some work done to it.  Some custom build 1176 modules, limiter conversions, and a speaker selector.

On top of that it’s pretty much just the daily grind, but it beats going to a cubical everyday.  You just have to find something new to learn about.  Sometimes it takes some doing, but if you’re really looking you’ll find it.  Going to get some sleep.

Apparently the economic recession is hitting everyone hard.  I ordered a pizza last night and, well…check out who made it.

Well, here I am at the end of the first the week and what a week it has been.  I’m exhausted but really glad to be doing what I’m doing.  We started work on the new Secondhand Serenade LP this week, and things have been going really well.

The LP is being produced by Aaron Johnson, with Warren Huart doing the engineering.   In my opinion the combination results in a very talented production team.  So far we’ve done three drum tracks in two days, which puts us ahead of schedule.  There was no preproduction on this record, so these songs are being put together on the fly.  Everyone is doing great and bringing something to the table, so I think the final product will reflect this.

Warren giving the 1176 the eye...

Tom taking a break from adding moisture to the situation.

Tomorrow is a vocal session for someone from American Idol stay posted….