All posts by Dan

Addendum

So, previously I mentioned that Grant really stepped up his game this time around. It would be unfair of me to not note that James has also brought his A game. I may go back and re-record all my parts just so I don’t feel like the slack one.

Now where was I?

This is becoming a theme. Blah blah, progress being made, OH WAIT HIGH PROFILE GIG, that was fun, now try to recapture momentum…

This time, it was again a PAX. PAX Prime in Seattle, to be exact. I really kind of thought I’d be used to this by now as this is the 5th one Metroid Metal has done, but this one was no less hectic and exciting. I’m not as nervous as I was for the first couple, but I somehow managed to not actually go to the expo itself. I spent most of the time either at our table or at the venue. I did get a little hang-out time and that was cool. Actually, one of my favorite parts about this one was an increased sense of camaraderie between all the bands. I really appreciated and enjoyed that. But now it’s back to the real world and that means trying to get back into the groove of recording this album.

By my count, there are 6 songs with drums recorded. Most of them have at least a scratch bass track recorded, and one of them has guitar and vocals! I’ve got several more songs in the works, and it’s just a matter of getting them practiced and recorded. Kevin has been unavailable lately (at least when I’ve been available) but things are in flux in his world, so hopefully it’ll all settle down soon enough.

The good thing about being away from all these songs for a little while is they’re exciting and fresh now that I’ve come back to them. The bad thing is I may have forgotten how to play a couple of them.

How much? Too much.

I bought some package from Musician’s Friend that included a whole bunch of free XLR cables I’ve been using for my drum mic setup. I’ve only had them a little while, but I’ve already replaced two of them because they just sort of go bad and introduce all sorts of noise and distortion into the recordings. I’m going to end up replacing all of them because another went out on me during the last couple of recording sessions. So, free is more than I can afford apparently.

That said, I’m now up to 4 demos recorded with a couple more songs ready to be worked out. Since I don’t have all the songs worked out completely like most of them were for the last album, I’m taking time to record, listen back, and live with them to decided what changes I need to make rather than just rush to tracking like Kevin wants to do. It gives me a chance to get James and Grant involved in the process a little more as well rather than just handing them finished tracks and saying “make a guitar noise here.”

So, I guess the moral of my story is, if you purchase a package from Musician’s Friend, and they offer to include free XLR cables, don’t expect to rely on them for anything other than maybe a clothesline.

Demoscene

No, the next album isn’t going to be Commodore 64 music as much as I may wish that was the case. However, demo recordings are finally underway. MAGFest was later than normal, and PAX East was earlier than before, so they kind of ran together and prep for them pushed Yes, Mayhem stuff to the side momentarily. It feels good to get back on track.

I’m also working on a radio edit/press kit for the first album. I figure SOMEONE might want to play it, so why not put it out there?

Blasphemies

I’m doing something different this time around, and it’s a pretty drastic change. I’m using click tracks.

Ok, actually, this isn’t new to me, I’ve done this for years, but Kevin doesn’t generally need them, and doesn’t like using them. As I’ve mentioned before, we would practice the songs to be recorded, then when he felt ready, he’d just play the songs unaccompanied and I’d record him. He did this for the Yes, Mayhem album, both Metroid Metal albums, and the unreleased Life on the Blue Dot album (I really need to finish mixing that), so it’s been standard operating procedure for some time for us.

No more!

Kevin wants to do professional session drumming, and he’s certainly got all the chops to do that, but click tracks are a certainty in that environment – especially if he hasn’t established himself yet. So, we’re doing that as practice for him.

I don’t actually mind the inevitable ebb and flow of the tempo when he’s playing without a click. I think it lends a more live feel to the whole thing, but it can be difficult down the line for other people to track on top of it – especially other people who aren’t used to playing with Kevin. That said, there were a couple of places on the first album where tempo variations made overdubbing very difficult, and I almost had to scrap a song because of it. I worked it out in the end, but I hope to avoid some of that this time around. I’ll probably create a whole host of new problems for myself but c’est la vie.

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Once more, it begins…again!

I’ve broken ground on this thing, finally, again. Last night, Kevin and I had our first official practice/recording session for the new album. We worked on an old song of mine that I’m tearing apart and rebuilding into something I can finally be satisfied with. We recorded some loops of some of the parts just to kind of get a sense of how things work together and to give me something to listen to/think about until the next time we get together to play.

Taking shape

I’m now listening to a playlist of 10 songs. 9 of these are “final” bass/drum takes. One is a demo of a track to be recorded next week. Kevin and I have been at work now that he has adjusted to his new schedule.

We’re working to get all his drum tracks done before we have to shift gears and start working on the next set of things we have to do for Metroid Metal. We have a show coming up (MAGFest) in January, and the plan is to add some new songs to our set, and add a couple of special surprises. We managed to record two songs this week, and I hope we can pull the same thing off next week. That’ll put us ahead of the game.

It looks like I’ll have 15 songs by the time we’re finished, and it will just be a matter of fleshing those out with the other instruments. All 15 of those songs may not make it to the final album though (in fact, they probably won’t), but I’ll have enough to pick and choose the ones that go well together.

Almost all of these songs are in the 3 – 4 minute range. That wasn’t intentional, so I’m not sure what’s going on. I may try to squeeze in a 14-minute prog epic just to cover all my bases (do not bet on that).

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Get equipped

Since the first album, I’ve picked up a number of upgrades for my recording setup.

The first album was recorded using James’ 4 track Fostex digital recorder using whatever mics I could scrounge. I picked up a PreSonus Firepod and some dedicated drum mics. I’m now using 7 mics on the drums instead of just 4, and the results have been pretty good so far. I used this same setup to record drums for Metroid Metal’s Expansion Pack. I picked up some Audix drum mics – a special kick drum mic, 3 tom mics, and two overhead condenser mics. I’m still using my SM57 on the snare. I’m also recording in a carpeted room in the basement of my new house instead of Kevin’s brick and concrete cave. I haven’t installed any sound dampening stuff on the walls, so I’m close-micing everything and making sure the overheads are pointed so they don’t pick up reflections from the walls. The first drum tracks I recorded sounded awful because the slapback was almost as loud as the original hits. I’ve sorted all that out now, and the drums are sounding better than the first album, which I guess is the point.

I will try really hard not to ruin them in post. No promises though.

I now have 10 drum tracks recorded, and at least rough bass tracks for all of them. I let you all hear works in progress previously, so why not now. Here’s a drums and bass mix that gives a decent idea of where the album is at this point. This song is fairly representative of the direction this album is taking, I think. There’s very little “production” done on here. I think volume mixing and panning is about all I’ve done with the drums, and there might be some compression on the bass.

A Thing – a work in progress (bass and drums)

This is just Kevin and I, but I’ve started sending out tracks to collaborators, so I’m eager to start getting stuff back in the not too distant future.

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