2007 Journal
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01/02/07 - Approaching our 7th year of life on Valentine's Day. During this time we have
completed a 12 song CD and are 1/3rd of the way through the 2nd. We still have 10 songs that
are essentially just drum tracks. I am hopeful that we can have these tracked, mixed and mastered
by this time next year. A year and a half is likely more realistic.
Agreed to play at a party in February and worked on a set list and a rehearsal schedule that won't conflict with tracking. Pat's supposed to send me the finalized list tonight.
Pat tracked 2 more vocal takes for Blunderbuss using a microphone that he not only insisted that I photograph but also demanded that I mention it's name in the blog. This is also supposed to be sent to me tonight.
Steve read the hippy book while I read a book (mostly pictures) about Studio 54.
Mani gave us each an apple an orange.
01/03/07 - (from Patrick) Practice on Saturday is set at 11:30…but if UMKC comes calling then we’ll move practice to 12:30 on Sunday.
Tentative set list for 2/10/07:
Terry the Pirate
MPC
Wrong Star
Blunderbuss
Honey Pie
Flap
Williby
Hey Paul
Spider’s Last Stand (rehearse only?)
Microphone used to record Blunderbuss vocal: AKG C-414 B-XL II
01/03/07 - Posted a fistful of pictures from the last few weeks.
01/04/07 - We made Lemmingtrail's list of ridiculous band names. We're right between
Woodleg Odd's and Happy Ashtray.
01/04/07 - We listened to the latest Blunderbuss mix, which was beautiful. Patrick had a few suggestions for vocal track substitutions. Also listened to Wrong Star and contemplated changing the pattern for either the drums or the bass. Will listen to some mixes on Saturday.
Spent the bulk of the session running through the setlist with Thomas. Identified potential guitar and vocal parts. Dragged some gear to AudioFaucet which is where we will be rehearsing.
Mani gave us each large pear.
01/06/07 - Set up at AudioFaucet in the morning and ran though the list until about 3 PM. New list:
Terry The Pirate
MPC
Honey Pie
Brother John
Wrong Star
Flap
Hey Paul
Spider's Last Stand
Took pictures but they came out dark and smeary because of the lighting. Still posted a fistful.
01/09/07 - Thomas wants us to replace the primary guitar and the backing vocals in MPC. Patrick recorded two tracks with the Parker Fly. I suppose that we'll do the vocals on Thursday.
I read From Velvets to Voidoids. Steven read a guitar catalog.
Did a little microphone shopping before leaving.
Lady Brown has been leaving our goodies at the top of the stairs lately. Tonight we found some excellent gum in our stockings.
01/11/07 - Patrick was sick and had a difficult time nailing a rhythm track for Brother John. He was using the Parker Fly through the Marshall. All of the settings on the Fly were at 11.
I read about Television. I really love what they did.
Mani gave us an apple, gum and ginger tea.
01/13/07 - Ice on the streets but we managed a hastily rescheduled Saturday practice. Patrick was still sick so it was difficult for him as he is singing all but one song in the set. Thomas is singing Hey Paul. He is starting to get down all of the vocal bits and guitar noodling from the recordings and it makes playing the songs more rewarding to play than as a 3 piece. Patty wasn't the only one in pain - Thomas claims that the Les Paul hurts his back.
Patrick and I had a rare sparky moment. I could tell you more about it but why bring it up again?
01/16/07 - Ran through the set a few times. Many of these songs we rehearsed for a year before starting the recording process. Some of the songs have undergone tempo changes, have been shortened or lengthened, or have had new sections added. Erasing old muscle memory and replacing it with the new parts has been a little bit of a challenge. Should we be faithful to the original or recorded versions?
Patrick's voice is back.
01/18/07 - Thomas listened to the drum tracks for Careful, Dingus and How Do You Sleep for tempo issues.
Mani gave us a variety of apples, oranges, gum, miniature Twix bars and some delicious rice. She also fed us blackberries and potatos fried in curry, butter and olive oil.
01/30/07 - I was scolded for not posting last week's notes so I can't post this one fast enough. Last week we ran through the set 3 times and recorded the 3rd effort. I took the tape home for some help cementing parts.
Tonight, Patrick took the tape and we recorded another for Thomas. In addition to doing the set we also honked and fluttered our way through Careful, Willaby (or Willoughby) and Come On Out.
Mani got me hooked on saffron. It would be cheaper to have a cocaine addiction.
02/01/07 - Ran through everything twice. Spent some time fine-tuning parts. Took a break at one point because Patrick was getting woozy. He never really stopped feeling woozy. Thomas felt his neck to measure his pulse. This sparked passing out stories from Steven and Thomas.
Decided to continue playing for a week or so after the 10th. We also decided to re-record the drums for Spider's Last Stand at AudioFaucet.
02/03/07 - Very productive 2 hours. Ironed out some bugs and sexed up some previously lacking bits. Two rehearsals remaining. Will send out a notice once I get my hands on the address.
Just got the flyer for the Shake A Leg next Saturday. Details:
Saturday, February 10th
7PM to Midnight
Creekside Bar And Grill
99th And Holmes
Kansas City, MO
02/06/07 - Ran through the set a couple of times. Added Careful to the list. The current now consists of:
Brother John
Hey Paul
MPC
Blunderbuss
Flap
Wrong Star
Honey Pie
Terry The Pirate
Spider's Last Stand
Careful
02/08/07 - Twice through the set, if the answer is no.
Starting at 8PM on Saturday
Mani sent Steven with gift bags with lemons, apples and tea.
02/10/07 - Under mostly optimum conditions (didn't have to carry or set up anything, crowd comprised of large piles of loved ones, no snow etc.) my comrades and I mounted the tiny stage and roared through about 30 minutes of songs from "12" and "Sleep Novox." There were a few minor mishaps but overall I think that we did a fine job. Thanks to all who took the time to come out and a special salute to the birthday boy who handled all of the logistics and played a dandy set before and after us.
Next week we will continue playing at AudioFaucet so that Thomas can learn the songs we've yet to track and re-record the drums for Spider's Last Stand. After that it's back to AquaSound.
Pictures and maybe video from last night coming soon.
02/13/07 - We were so focused on getting ready for last Saturday that it feels funny now to go back to recording the last half of this album. We ran through Spider's Last Stand, Willoughby, Dingus, How Do You Sleep and Robins Poking In The Yard.
Thomas laid down a bunch of vocal tracks (15) on the outro Hey Ma.
02/14/07 - On 02/14/00 I put the first ad in a local newspaper looking for musicians to build Girl for Samson with. Steven and Scott became Girls on 03/08/00. I moved to drums on 06/24/00 and Patrick was in on 06/26/00.
02/15/07 - Ran through the "yet to record" songs. Battled yet another attempt to lengthen Careful. Committed to coming up with some new words for Marbeck. Thomas and Steven, both excellent bass players, are working through who will play bass on what. Steven has incorporated, or is considering incorporating, some of the lines Thomas used to play on a few of my songs when we playing together in Hangin' Willy.
Spent some extra time working on the rhythm section for The Great John Doe and debating how best to record Spider's Last Stand. I think we are back at recording it live and letting it speed up.
Supposedly there were 3 or 4 video cameras running at the performance last Saturday night so we should be able to post some streaming video of a few songs if they come out.
Mani gave us individual gift bags. Mine had a peach, a chocolate heart and a heart-shaped cookie in it.
02/20/07 - Blasted through the unrecorded songs. Patrick recorded a scratch track of The Great John Doe for Thomas to work up a bass part for.
Put some more pictures from 02/10 up on the sites.
Thomas admonished me for spelling Willie's name W-I-L-L-Y.
02/22/07 - I had a burst of half-asleep inspiration and came close to finishing the words for Marbeck. I proudly handed them to Patrick who immediately looked baffled. He and I were hearing the third line in the verses differently so he suddenly had 7 more syllables to work with. We are negotiating a settlement.
Played around with a brushes part for The Great John Doe. Thomas had an idea for a three strike pattern that is as foreign to me as surgery.
Afterwards we talked about having dinner sometime soon. We've never broken bread together. Even pre-Thomas.
Mani gave us apples and bananas.
03/04/07 - Rehearsed on both the 27th and the 1st. On the 1st we started playing to click tracks to get ready to record drums on the last week of the month before I leave on the 30th.
I generally bicycle to Audio Faucet, since it is only a few blocks from my home. I was speeding home after Thursday's session and had to suddenly apply the brakes in order to avoid plunging into an oncoming car - see "Stop Me If You Think That You've Heard This One Before". Predictably, the front brakes were so tight that I was tossed over the handlebars. I only ended up spraining a wrist and dinging up a knee. Very fortunate. Today I am able to type without swearing. I am optimistic that I will be able to dress (t-shirts are an issue) without swearing by mid-week.
03/08/07 - Ran through several songs with click tracks. Much debate on how to proceed with process of recording drums and tracking on the songs that already have good drums. Didn't resolve much. It's dangerous to not have a plan.
03/09/07 - Saw the first of the videos today. It's missing Brother John, Spider's Last Stand and the first part of Terry The Pirate. Will try to create something for the page and or YouTube this weekend.
03/13/07 - Ran through a handful of songs with click tracks. Worked on some arrangements. You know, mostly bandy stuff. Still planning on recording drums on the 23rd.
03/15/07 - Posted a video of Careful on MySpace from the show on the 10th. It's a handheld from the crowd but you can still see how pretty Patrick is. Posted a few on YouTube too. Just search for Girl for Samson.
Thomas listened to the remaining drum tracks and determined that the only things that need to be re-recorded are Spider's Last Stand, Marbeck and Willoughby. And those are the songs we worked on.
03/20/07 - Got together with Steven and Thomas to have another go with the click track. Thomas bravely shouldered the singing duties.
Mani produced bags with a pear, apple and 2 miniature limes. I got Patrick's bag too.
03/22/07 - Last rehearsal before recording on Saturday.
Keywords: hot,sex,girls,blog,anna nicole,stern,birkhead,opri,gore,chocolate
03/24/07 - Spent the first three hours agonizing over technical issues. Finally finished Spider's Last Stand at 5:30. Knocked off Willoughby and Marbeck (with extended outro) by 7:30.
I asked Thomas if I could mention that the toilet in the studio had functionality issues in the blog. He didn't care but did ask me to stop referring to AudioFaucet as Audio Faucet or Audio Faucet as AudioFaucet. I've already forgotten which.
Mani told me to stop referring to the miniature limes that she has been sending us as miniature limes. They are key limes. Not miniature limes.
04/10/07 - Mostly talked. Topics?
Rendering Plants, Selling Houses, Saltpeter, Rainbow Trout, Oklahoma, Identity Theft, Vintage Guitars, Coyotes, How Much Time Has Passed Since We First Started Recording Sleep Novox, Drugs, Brother John, Strategies, Cheese, Sonar 6 & more.
Mani made us a beautiful snack tray and then admonished me about my Ludwigs being in her way.
04/17/07 - Back at AquaSound for tracking after several months away while we prepared for the performance and recording drums.
Patrick sent Thomas scratch tracks for the 3 re-recorded drum tracks so that we have something fresh to work on.
Thomas tried recording some guitar lines for Willoughby using the Musicman and a microphone in a metal trash can. Steven uses the can for storing bird seed and just happened to be out.
Mani made an excellent snack tray with strawberries, almonds, walnuts, chocolate cheese, cheese, mangos, apples and apricots.
Mani made an excellent snack tray with strawberries, almonds, walnuts, chocolate cheese, cheese, mangos, apples and apricots.
04/19/07 - Steven recorded the bass for Willoughby using the Fender Jazz. As usual we heard some additional bits on the day of and Steven, as usual, patiently added one of the lines and Thomas added the 2nd. We listened to Marbeck.
04/24/07 - Steve recorded the bass parts for Spider's Last Stand using the Fender Precision that Thomas brought over.
Mani made us a yummy plate containing sliced mango, pears, apples, oranges, almonds and rice crispy squares. There were also two uncut peaches.
04/26/07 - Listened to the current mix of Blunderbuss, which was beautiful.
Reviewed Steven's work on Tuesday and found it to be good. Dragged out the 1972 Rickenbacker 4001 for a go at Marbeck. Worked up a few changes and will take an earnest stab at it on Tuesday.
Thomas admonished (he didn't yell) me for suggesting that he "tried" a guitar part a few weeks ago rather than "he recorded a guitar part."
Mani outdid herself with seasoned chicken and shrimp surrounded by strawberries, orange slices, candied papayas (which I failed to identify as present on Tuesday's tray), apples, almonds and cashews.
05/01/07 - Steven ran through Marbeck several times with the 4001 and then punched in some turn-around parts with the P-bass. There's a long outro that we are still experimenting with.
Mani made us a tray of Iranian treats and then sent us home with grapefruits, rice, Chinese tea and saffron.
Thursday we are going to record the rim shots and snare builds for Willoughby at Audiofaucet.
05/03/07 - Thomas and I went to breakfast and were joined by Steven and John. Steven was improvised and John was a suprise. Afterwards, Thomas and I tramped over to Audiofaucet and laid down the ratatattat parts for Willoughby. Considered re-recording the rim shot parts but Thomas decided that he liked what the overheads had picked up from the first recordings. Talked about some piano hooks.
05/08/07 - Thomas played us as an idea he had for Willoughby. He removed the rim taps from the intro and took out the build-drums leading into the first chorus. I added a guitar part (Steven's Telecaster) to a section of the chorus to make it a little stronger. Jury is out on whether we will keep it or not.
Mani made us little strawberries and cream on shortcake snacks and sent us home with papayas/mangos. I can never remember which is which and who is who. (who is who, who is who, who is who...) Forward they cried!
05/10/07 - Just one of those sessions. Steven had just finished putting a neck on a guitar when we arrived so there was some clean-up time before we could get settled. Another 20 minutes of discussion followed. Thomas played around with adding some trippy keyboard sounds to Spider's Last Stand and reversing a guitar in Willoughby. Then we left 20 minutes early because I was hungry.
Mani made us bags with oranges, Chinese tea, white tea, a candle, a mango/papaya and some garlic.
05/17/07 - I have been bouncy because I had a flying dream (beaming when you told me but that shit ain't deep) a few days ago. Steven says that it has something to do with pressure and the inner ear. We talked about possible techniques that would create the optimum conditions for regular flight dreams. Also talked about sleeping tablet dosages for when you want to kick it up a notch.
The boys let me lay down little bits on Spider and Marbeck. None of the performances will be kept but I think that there were some good ideas.
Next Tuesday Thomas and Steven are going to do some computer housekeeping at AquaSound. I have asked to be excused.
Mani made us a yummy tray. My inventory will be incomplete since I did most of the noodling and Thomas and Steven took care of the nibbling. I recall cantaloupe slices, grapes, strawberries and pine nuts.
05/24/07 - This week was dedicated to upgrading the computers at both studios. I did not attend as I was not interested (overly) in watching Steven and Thomas wave their bums at me from under the console whilst swearing colorfully at cables and such. When I DO happen to make my way back, I will be delighted to find that both studios are now wifi enabled. This means no more pawing through boring Guitar Player magazines (yet another picture of David Lindley and his pretty guitar collection) while Thomas and Patrick edit. Now, when my talented ears and fingers are not required for employment, I can watch Trailer Park Boys and buy stuff on eBay from my wood-slatted chair in the back of the room.
05/29/07 - Caught up (socially) and then prepared to listen to the noodling on Marbeck and Spider from a few weeks ago. Ends up that the bits are on the wrong hard-drive so I made a rare constructive appearance in front of the console and added the required drive to the new computer.
Mani gave us some apples. I ate mine on the way home.
05/31/07 - Thomas did a lot of editing while Steven looked for a power supply and I goofed around on the computer.
Mani offered us some delicious smelling rice but Thomas and I went to dinner afterwards.
06/05/07 - Spent most of the evening searching for ambient noises for Spider's Last Stand. Both Thomas and Steven added some growls and honks. We also ressurected the outro tone on Two Pale Blackberries for some surgery. I tuned up the Telecaster ala "Beating Of Hearts" but did not end up recording anything.
Mani's in school so the session was snackless.
06/07/07 - Reviewed the bits we've added over the last few months. Installed Sonar 6, including 6.1 and 6.2 upgrades.
I was reading an old review of a Nickelback album (selected at random, he added nervously) and the reviewer, referring favorably to the song or album "Someday", said "Someday pushes all the right buttons." Isn't that a wonderful line and an unlikely collaboration?
06/12/07 - (entertainment courtesy of Steven)
Don was absent this session but Phil joined us to twist amp knobs and nod
approvingly when he heard something he liked. We decided to devote the
session to guitar bits for MPC. Started by looking for a BIG guitar sound
for the chorus in MPC. Started with Patrick playing Phil's Malden through
the 5150 and Soldano cabinet. We got some cool sounds with this setup but
none of them seemed to fit the song. We next tried the Smith Strat through
this rig but finally concluded the issue was with the amp, not the guitar.
Switched to Patrick's Marshall (JCM2000) and found the tone we wanted for
the chorus. Patrick suggested we add an arppegiated bit to the verse using a
tone he had discovered while toying with the Malden/5150 setup. We decided
the part works, but I think Patrick wants to make another run at a keeper
take on Thursday. We took this picture of the amp settings just in case
knobs get tweaked between now and then.
Thomas added a dadada.
06/14/07 - Listened to last week's work. Patrick recorded acoustic guitar bits for MPC. Steven and I took turns searching online auction sites for treasures.
Mani provided a plate of dried apricots, cashews, walnuts, raspberries, sun chips and lime halves.
Thomas and I got ice cream afterwards. Peanut butter and chocolate shake for me and chocolate chip for Thomas.
06/19/07 - Thomas processed data whilst Steven and I shouted slogans. He essentially hacked up and Thomasized some of the wandering parts I did with the ebow during Marbeck's outro and squished them into sexy moments.
Mani forsook us in favor of higher learning. Thomas wanted to stop for ice cream on the way home but I arrived with a green tea frap and wasn't in the mood.
06/21/07 - We tried to lay down an approximation of an idea that Thomas had for Spiders. I plopped down an amped and a straight-in version using the Smith Strat. We then scurried over to Audiofaucet to doctor it up but the engineer copied off the wrong version so we sat around and listened to music instead - Lou Rawls, ELO and a new band that uses that singingthroughaguitaramp effect that everyone has used since 1999. I got admonished for throwing sticks at the cat - "If you put his eye out..."
06/26/07 - Listened to MPC mixes. Thomas made some adjustments.
Patrick tried the Rickenbacker 360, Dan Electro and Malben for the primary Marbeck guitar part. The Dan Electro was eliminated because of an issue with the pots.
Mani gave us 8 washed plums.
(I was scolded by Thomas and Patrick because I completed this blog with a half-hour remaining in the session. They
insisted that much could happen in that time that would go undocumented. Let the record show that this was the
only addendum made to the original entry.)
06/28/07 - Patrick worked on the primary guitars for Marbeck using the Rickenbacker 360 through the Fender Deluxe. He had to cut his nails with scissors. I might have mentioned this but he made a point of telling me to add it.
Steven has a scratchy throat.
07/03/07 - Patrick recorded two guitar parts for Marbeck - one using the Rickebacker 370 and a crunchier part for the chorus using the Smith Strat. At one point Thomas made a Pete Townshend guitar swoop gesture to accent a point he was making about Patrick's part.
Thomas asked me to put a suggestion that I had in the blog for later consideration. I wanted to duplicate the bass intro track and pitch it up an octave to accent a fretless-sounding twang.
Steven and I sat out by the pond with Bone for part of the session. Bone was eating ribs and keeping an eye on the squirrels and the bird feeder.
Mani left us apples. One of them was very large.
07/05/07 - We met at Steven's on the 4th for delicious grilled food. It rained violently and made the pond look lovely.
Today Patrick worked on Brother John. He recorded some crunchy guitar parts with the Musicman. Bone used the Musicman on Hey Paul. Did you know that?
07/10/07 - We listened to Marbeck (actually spelled Mar-Beck) and decided that it needed a more rhythmic guitar part so we got a wah-wah and the Smith Strat and laid down some whackawhackas during the verses. Thomas wants to do something on Thursday with a hollow, dry bell.
Mani left us cantaloupe slices and Fig Newtons. Thomas ate Patty's Newton.
07/12/07 - Very good session. Thomas built some deliciously queer harmonies out of the ebow parts during the chorus. He also built some patterns for the long outro. We also came up with some tasty guts of a bassline for the outro.
Mani left us bing cherries and watermelon slices and sent us home with fruit and more Newtons.
07/17/07 - Still working on Marbeck. I added a tremelo-y part to the outro using the Smith Strat, an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff and the Magnatone. Thomas added another outro part using the same setup. I added some atmosphere by adding an MXR phaser and riding the E string. I actually tuned the A string down to E so that it would be more flappy sounding. We recording two sets of these at different phaser settings.
Mani left us 2 apples each. They were pink ladies. I loathe the word "lady." It's a fake smile short of bitch.
07/24/07 - (submitted by Thomas)
Patrick returned to the fold with stories of his trip to Nashville. Don was absent and we expect juicy KCI Airport stories from him next week.
We spent the session listening to the progress made on various tunes. First up was my approach to the MPC tracks. It was decided that we re-cut the vocals and I will continue to work on finding the right "banana fingered" piano tone. The chorus still lacks some punch despite Patrick's stellar guitar tracks, we talked about what might improve the section; additional vocals, more ride cymbal?
Don's Marbeck wah-wah guitar part got a seal of approval from Patrick but he balked at the thought of Don's backwards E-bow parts being "keepers". I found it easier to concur with Patrick considering Don's absence. Steven agreed, the spirit and idea are right, but tonally the tracks are lacking. Discussion about the outro of Marbeck from last week which included Don but not Patrick was now discussed with Patrick but not Don. We thought about the outro going straight into the "double time" section. I edited out the appropriate section and we listened. The jury is still out. We finished by trying to find some touch tone phone sounds online to replace the synth idea we put down in Marbeck last week.
07/26/07 - Thomas played us some work he had done on MPC. He made the guitars crunchier and more defined in the chorus, added some organ bits and stripped down the outro.
I had a Marbeck idea that we experimented with and then evolved into something else. I wanted to tune all 6 of the strings on the Smith Strat to E and then get Steven to play his old bass melody during the outro. Didn't really work because the song is too fast. I did a little noodling with the same tuning that Thomas turned into whizzing rhythmic insects.
Patrick said that I was handsome and I returned the compliment. While writing this, I wanted to add that "Thomas and Steven leaned forward expectantly in their chairs but Patrick and I looked away." but it would be a falsehood. They both know they're pretty.
Mani gave me some raspberries.
07/31/07 - Thomas spent the first part of the session working on a phone tone pattern he wants in the parts of the first half of Marbeck. Afterwards we worked on some screaming bits for the outro. We used a megaphone and a microphone in the Magnatone. Patrick recorded a roar that spanned measures. It was biographical. Something he did gave Thomas the idea for some more percussive vocal parts. Both he and Patrick laid those down. I recorded one "Wahhhh!" that was clearly inspired by the old Disney Halloween sound-effect records. More witch-like than Patrick's effort. Thomas did some mixing at the end and then we listened to Spider's Last Stand. We determined that once Marbeck was finished we should work on something more straight-forward before doing another old-school Girl for Samson song.
08/02/07 - Listen: Kurt Vonnegut used to say that and I loved it.
Listen: Thomas brought over the latest mix of MPC. It was beautiful. We discussed backing off the descending guitar part in pre-chorus (Patrick's first growl), using a warmer piano part in the turn-around so that the end of the melody is more audible and making the backing vocals softer.
There was a point where Thomas announced that Patrick needed to recut all of the backing vocals and Patrick bristled. Then, Thomas isolated all of the current backing vocal parts and Patrick relented. You may recall that we dashed those off as scratch tracks and felt like they worked in the song.
Back when we were first developing Spider's Last Stand, Patrick wanted to speak through the song. I was mortified and hastily lectured him on all of the songs in rock and roll history that are marred by spoken-word parts. Again, he relented but worked up the courage today to ask about adding a mostly inaudible part to Marbeck. It was my turn for relentation. (credit Bo Deitl) But what to say? I selected one of the worst spoken sections that I could think of and it actually fit the song conceptually. Patrick had never heard the song but did his best impression based on my coaching. Thomas left the studio while we were doing this in order to smoke a cigarette and Steven left so that he wouldn't spoil the session by giggling.
When they returned Thomas worked on a break-it-down section that I was hearing in the outro. And it was good.
Thomas and I drank beers today. That may have been the first time ever that alcohol was consumed during a GFS session.
I nearly forgot to mention that Patrick and Thomas nearly came to blows over the true definition of flange, and how it differs from phase-shifting.
08/07/07 - I couldn't find my hemp clove chapstick all week and hoped that it was at AquaSound. It was!
Thomas played us the latest mix of MPC. It was gorgeous. Afterwards, we talked about propagating the MySpace page with more current bits of songs. For freshness.
I had an idea about chopping up some of the narration that Patrick did last week and placing it in the break-it-down section of the outro. Thomas went to work while Steven, Patrick and I discussed:
* The rumor of Lennon/Epstein sexual escapades (Patrick reminded me to put this in the blog by making an obscene/romantic gesture with his hand and mouth.)
* Prostate cancer and DNA manipulation
* Genetically altered food
* Buying some lakefront property
* "Ambition makes you look pretty ugly" vs "your rotten thoughts, yuk!"
* Why Bonanza suddenly was Adamless, with a newly mixed theme song and Michael Landon's inappropriate Little House haircut.
* The mellotron in Mercy Mercy.
I was called away from the fireside to record some stick-clicks during the outro. Got 'em in one take. Thomas then lost them in a computer malfunction and I re-cut them in 3 takes.
We all heard conga parts in the first half of the song. Thomas culled the congas from Babble and played around with making them fit.
Mani prepared plates of strawberries, large green grapes and Bing cherries.
08/07/07 - I neglected to mention that Patrick brought over a version of Spider's Last Stand that he did for a project that inspired lots of idealies.
08/09/07 - Still fussing with Marbeck. Firstishly, we agreed that the 1st half of the song should have a conga part. Thomas made an effort to capture some bits from Babble to recycle but it didn't work out. Next, we rang up John Bara to see if we could use his set, since he lives near by. They were employed. So, we searched the samples disk and found some good bits for Thomas to tap on. He also added some little tick-ticks with a wood block or summing.
There is a guitar part that used to be the primary bit but now seems to muddy up all of the action. We first just experimented with removing it in portions and entirely. Patrick then mounted the sampler and tried to mimic it with a harpsichord and some other sounds. Decided to leave it for the moment.
Taking next week off so don't come calling.
08/21/07 - I asked Patrick to bring me a Green Tea Frappuccino and he brought me a Green Tea Frappuccino. See, it's the little things.
We listened to the current mix of MPC. Thomas wants Patrick to re-sing the lead vocal and Patrick agrees. I think that this is scheduled for Thursday. He is also going to try to knock off a take of Marbeck. Speaking of Marbeck, Thomas demonstrated a keyboard pulse that he heard in the break between the two halves of the song.
We listened to Spiders and talked about what still needed to be done. Steven is going to fool around with learning a bass part that Patrick heard.
Last week, Thomas and I talked about releasing this collection of songs over 2 separate CDs. It's somewhat cost prohibitive but it would be nice to share a little bit of the music instead of waiting another year. Steven suggested that since the balance of songs were born and bred at the same time it would be good to keep them together. We all nodded in solemn agreement.
08/23/07 - Talked about abandoning the studio once a month in favor of playing together. May start in a week.
Patrick re-sang the verses in MPC. Thomas suggested starting off quietly, as if in confession. This introduced a short blast of inappropriate joking that included a re-introduction of Patrick's now-famous hand and mouth gesture. Anyhoo, it sounded like we got good takes.
In a curious display of boyishness, perhaps brought on by the Catholic joking inside the studio, I tossed a pine cone accurately at Patricks lovelies. He bent over and picked it up, not to retaliate, more out of confusion. In doing so he quickly discovered that he had gotten sap all over his hands. As the thrower, I examined my hands only to discover that they were also sticky. I tried to demonstrate the potency of the sap by using it to pick sticks up off of the ground. Pat, being more level-headed in some ways, used it more successfully to pick up leaves.
08/27/07 - Replaced Blunderbuss and Flap MySpace samples with latest mixes of Marbeck and Brother John.
08/27/07 - (from Thomas, after some nudging)
The girls met at Audiofaucet today to record Patrick's lead vocal on MPC. We got some nice results on the verses once Patty's voice box was warmed up. However the 414 (microphone) we used came across a bit harsh during the chorus. Everyone had been happy with Patrick's original performance on the chorus so Thomas agreed to comp the new verses with the previously recorded chorus' to create the lead vocal track.
Steven played Thomas' strat the whole session. Coming in and out of the studio to listen in between takes, his morale support was invaluable.
Donald was suspiciously absent.
09/13/07 - Thomas and I had breakfast. We returned to AF to listen to some mixes. Reviewed the recently added castanets in MPC and some parts that Thomas added to the Hey Ma outro. Played around with an alternate ending. Thomas hears a guitar striking on the snare beat that we can try during our next session. Also reviewed Wrong Star and determined that it could be sexed-up with some kick drum editing.
Four hour session scheduled for Saturday.
09/15/07 - Thomas wanted me to mention that the some of the song samples we have up are not early mixes. I mistakenly referred to them as such in an early entry.
We started off working on Hey Ma. We added a rhythm guitar to match the snare during the outro. We also recorded a guitar splash to match the acoustic splash at the start of the song. Thomas removed the actual chord and just left the tail of the sustain.
We added some talking drums to Marbeck and made the intro to the verses purely percussion.
Next weekend we intend to have everything but the vocals finished on Marbeck and Spiders.
09/22/07 - Listened to Marbeck and decided to try some low voices in the sections leading up to the chorus. Listened to She Was Vibrating for inspiration.
Thomas and I re-recorded all of the guitar parts for Spider, making scratch parts into keepers. Used the Les Paul and Strat. Tried tuning the Les Paul down to make the bar part easier to play but it didn't work. After lunch we added some backing vocals at the end and Thomas added some Fender Rhodes parts. All that's left is Patrick's vocal and the new bass part.
Next week we are re-cutting the doodoodoos at the end of Hey Ma and working on the Marbeck outro and low voice builds.
09/29/07 - Thomas was fooling around with Spider and ended up adding a new bass part. He also added a timpani and I added some harmonies to the chorus.
Shannon came by and had a go at the doodoodoos during the Hey Ma outro. It's the fifth voice recorded for this section. Thomas seemed confident that he has enough to work with now.
Thomas began and ended the session by playing Lou Rawls' "You'll Never Find." On the way home I played with replacing all of the verbs in the song with SMURF. "You'll keep smurfing and smurfing, your whole life through." And so on.
10/06/07 - Experimented with how the instruments fade/die during the break-it-down section in Spiders. Thomas is going to do some kick drum editing.
Thomas cut some pre-verse sections of music out of Marbeck/Mar-Beck. This song still needs some work on the outro. Mostly editing and a keeper bass part.
Ate some sandwiches and sort of watched a Western.
I sang a set of doodoodoos during the Hey Ma outro. Thomas thinks it's done now.
We reviewed Robins/When It's Over to see how much work it would need before we could start laying down parts.
Steven's judging a Battle Of The Bands this evening.
Mani gave us a giant bag of fresh basil.
I saw a freshly mashed squirrel while bicycling back home. It's tail had not been run over yet and was waving defiantly.
10/13/07 - Thomas and I were both grumpy from being sonically jostled by the thunder all morning. Still, Thomas managed to prep the drums for Robins/When It's Over and fix an annoying kick pattern shift in Wrong Star. I sang a harmony in the chorus in Marbeck and then we whooshed off to Jun's for sushi.
10/20/07 - I missed this Saturday session and the designated note-taker was feeling poorly and did not fulfil his/her duties. I was afforded a detailed verbal description of the session and I shall summarize it for you here today.
"Listened to current mixes. Much editing. Promises were made to rehearse new and replacement parts by next Saturday."
11/02/07 - Thomas added some new listening samples to the MySpace page - the outros for Hey Ma and Marbeck and a chunk out of the middleof Spider's Last Stand.
11/03/07 - Thomas put down piano and organ parts for Robins/When It's Over. Steven added bass. I think he used the Percission. Patrick recorded guitar parts for Brother John.
11/10/07 - Patrick recorded vocals and guitar parts for Willaby/Willoughby. John recorded a tambourine part during the chorus.
11/17/07 - Spent the whole session on the 2nd half of Robins. We added an assortment of guitar bits using the big red Conquerer.
11/21/07 - Recorded the guitar for the first half of Robins using John's Les Paul. Thomas played around with a variety of shimmering vibratos. Thomas has a hard drive with a jillion albums on it that we reference all the time. Today we referenced Grand Funk Railroad's "I'm Your Captain" and XTC's "She's a Little Lighthouse."
I sang the first half of the song. I did a half-dozen takes so that Thomas can stitch each usable syllable he finds into a proper part. "Comping," he calls it. Starmaking says I.
We talked about making the piano jumpier.
11/24/07 - Very productive day. Thomas recorded a harmony for the first part of Robins and then sang the verse section at the end. He also added a nice turn around chord between the two halves of the song. Steve arrived afterwards and recorded the bass for the first half using the Fender P-Bass. After lunch, we listened to Wrong Star, Marbeck, Willaby & Spiders to determine what was left to do. I think we are 4 songs away from having guts for everything. Could we finish this by the Spring of '08?
12/01/07 - Another productive weekend. We spent most of the session futzing with Spider's Last Stand to get it to ebb and flow properly. It's as close as it's ever been to being done. Patrick took mp3s of SLS and Marbeck home so that he could record the vocals on his own time.
Re-amped the guitars in the first half of Robins. We originally recorded them straight into the console and this made them sound more natural. Thomas did some bass editing to make it jumpier.
Auto tuning was employed on two occasions today - on a vocal and on a guitar part. We only used it once on "12."
12/08/07 - A glaze of ice over everything and still they came. Not sure if they made it home though.
Did a listen-through and made some edits that resulted in parts of the song being much more sparse. Very un-GFSish. Spent the next couple of hours attempting to re-amp the guitar that I recorded straight in for the first half of the song. Started off using a Fender Blues Jr. but got the best sound out of a Ampeg bass practice amp.
Next Patrick and Thomas laid down some Elton Johnny ahhhs during the turn around parts and Patrick replaced his scratch oooos at the end of the song.
Note - Thomas (our eyes, ears and conscience) insisted that I point out that we were working on the song Robins, that has now been uploaded to our MySpace song list, and that we ended up reverting back to the Fender amp for the guitar. Steven and I were talking about stuff and I clearly missed that little detail.
12/15/07 - Thomas prepped the drums for Careful this week so I had a go at recording the rhythm guitar on an acoustic. We decided that adding an electric will work better and someday that's just what we'll do. One of these days these boots...
12/08/07-12/10/07 - (from Thomas)
Went back and listened to Blunderbuss, Hay Ma, Mar-beck, MPC, Spiders,
Robins & Willoughby to see how the continuity of the mixes sounded. As time
has gone on I have found favor with certain gear, reverbs in particular,
which we use more exclusively now than we did when the recording for Sleep
Novox began. I decided on some of the early tunes; Blunderbuss, Hey Ma and
MPC to swap out the old reverbs for some new ones and liked the results. So
with some "minor" tweaking to each of the songs mentioned, the project seems
much more cohesive to my ears. While working on Blunderbuss I recorded a
harmony background vocal on the last verse which I have had in my head and
which I sang when we played it out in front of real people. Kind of risky
as it was 4am and I was alone, left to my own devices. I will seek the
girl's approval for the track on Saturday.
12/22/07 - Third Saturday in a row that featured inclimate weather conditions. I walk to the studio and did have the misfortune to mash a dog sausage with my boots. I did as much work with a stick and snow as I could, even using Patrick's tea water to try to rinse out the remaining smears, but was not successful enough to wear them inside. Patrick also had an unfortunate adventure but everyone made it safely and work was under way.
We began by listening to some vocals that Thomas added to Blunderbuss. We all loved them. Patrick expressed some dissatisfaction with a ride cymbal pattern that was added earlier this year. An appropriate ride was selected from the cymbal tree (John!) and I was called to duty.
I then recall that we gave Willaby, I believe that this is the current spelling, a listen. Patrick, again, expressed his dissatisfaction with the guitar tone. This somehow lead to his wanting to add feedback and anvils to the chorus. He was planted in front of the Blues Jr. with the Conqueror and a roaring and a squealing (much like our empty stomachs) he did go. Thomas shoved it around some and then went to work on the anvil sound. The final source for the sound will remain undocumented.
Inspired by Patrick's complaints, I decided to voice my concerns about the sound of the guitar in the Robins into. Thomas good-naturally (and despite his reservations) experimented with some alternate tones and introductions.
12/27/07 - Thomas and I had breakfast. Of course there was a fresh layer of snow to contend with. Afterwards, we returned to 'faucet where Thomas played me some bass and drum ideas he had for careful. I had a go at recording the primary guitar, using the Strat straight in.
12/29/07 - Four hours on Careful. We were anything but.
Patrick added a swooshy build part on a large crash cymbal using fuzzy paint rollers.
My 6 note guitar intro was introduced to a banjo and cello. The banjo was Patrick's inspiration. He wanted to mimic a bit from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which he spent a half-hour looking for online.
Thomas drafted the first bass line for this song before he became a Girl. It was low and swoopy. Later, Steven developed his line from bits of the original line that I hummed to him and his own juices. His line was high and punchy. We had Steven's scratch track (from 3 years ago!) and a recent track that Thomas added to think about. We decided to keep the low parts and transpose Steven's line to strings or equivalent. Here's what happened next:
Madman Across The Water strings were added to the first change.
The build leading to the change from 6 to 4 got plucked strings, an arpegiating banjo and an urgent telegraphesqe beepbeep ala You Can't Hurry Love and Lineman For The County. It was originally done with a keyboard and then replaced with the Tele. We listened to a few Jackson 5 songs beforehand, which provided Patrick with some inspiration and perspective. I made myself laugh when I referred to him as Pita Jackson, the illegitimate but later adopted son of Joseph.
We added French horns and a slide guitar (Thomas) to the 4 section.
Thomas added a harmonica part at the end to the tune of Christmas Time Is Here Again, but in the sprit of Gilbert O'Sullivan's Claire.
We listened to the song with an earlier National acoustic track instead of the Strat. I liked the idea but the Girls thought the part too clicky. Decided that Patrick would bring his Alvarez next week for another go at it. Will also bring the recorder made famous in Flap to possibly replace the harmonica part at the end.
Go to the beginning of the journal.
