And I Turned My Amp Up Loud And I Began To Play

This may possibly be the single-most amazingly awesome device I have ever owned. I guess since a bottle opener is technically considered a lever and the automobile is a machine. I just got this little baby and have yet to harness it's potential, but oh the possibilities.

I own two amplifiers and imagine my chagrin to have one of them sit there all cold and lonely as the other one got all the attention. Those days are over friends.

I just tested it out a little bit after the last recording session we had and was so thrilled I could hardly contain my joy. Unfortunately, it was late in the evening, and all the music's seeping through... the ceiling that is. So I never got to really tweak around with the settings on both my amps. With upcoming practices, I will try and see what I can do with it and I look forward to the addition of new tones and a fuller sound. I think I need to now invest in a volume pedal as well to go between the A/B selector and the second amp so I can basically always leave it on the setting where both amps are on all the time, but I can gradually bring in the second amp at times with foot control, or turn the volume pedal off while only channel A is on, and then stomp on the "Both" button for a huge volume and tone boost.

I was always fond of the sound that I got out of my primary amp. A 50 watt Marshall JCM900 head and a '71 Orange 4X12 cabinet. Never a complaint. Then that one night when I played with the A/B box, I had the Marshall going with my normal sound and I added in my Line6 Flextone 60 watt combo with a setting that emulates a Matchless Chieftain. Well... let's just say that I thought I had a good sound before. The addition of the second amp rounded out the overall tone unbelievably well and I was blown away by the sound I was getting.

This sounds like a good thing, right?

Well, it's tricky. It IS a good thing, but too much of a good thing can be bad. There's a careful line to walk when it comes to this. I have to bear in mind that I'm not the only guitar player in the band. And quite honestly, the addition of the second amp, sort of emulates what the overall sound would be like if two guitars were playing. Two different sounds playing at the same time and completely compatible. Sounds great right? Sure... except that we already happen to have two guitar players already doing that. Charlie's sound IS the balance that evens out the overall tone essentially. Generally I tend to play on the heavy side, where he plays more cleanly. A balance. As it should be.

By now (if you're even still reading) you may be wondering why then would I want this thing at all? Because it's still awesome. And all this means is I have to learn how to use it properly and in the right capacity.

With great power, comes great responsibility.


MM
DP

Bye Week

The "Audio Farm" is closed this week cuz Big Ed's outta town, so DP is taking some time to think about what we've done... and what we're going to do. We have a gig in February so we're gonna have to rehearse. Recording of the album will be put on hold while we learn a few covers (our choice, not by request) and dust off some chestnuts for the kids. It's our first proper gig in quite some time as we've been concentrating on teaching ourselves the fine art of studio wizardry. Since we purchased the Tascam 388, we've added microphones, a new (to me) drum kit, a guitar pedal which allows Michael to play out of 2 amplifiers simultaneously, a small reverb unit (with many knobs!) and most recently a "Meequalizer" (aka the "Kompressor") which has helped greatly in evening out the vocals.

What little I've read about home recording has led me to believe that the most important part of the whole process is equalization. Each track (we've got 8!) has it's own set of EQ knobs, and each knob has it's own frequency. The key is to make sure those frequencies aren't cancelling each other out. It takes patience, and thanks to Big Ed and his hospitality, we've got nothing but time.

There's a cliche in recording: "We'll fix it in the mix". DP jokes about it, but with technology being what it is, polishing the proverbial turd is easier than ever. Not that what we've done so far has been anything close to "shit", but there are limitations to the Tascam 388 (there are also limitations to our "skills" at this point, but we're learning).

"Stars Of Mendocino" is the most recent song recorded and mixed and it's our best yet. It's the first song we've finished that I didn't say "I'll put this up on the website right away". Why? Cuz it's too good to give away. I honestly think it should be held back until the release of the record so listeners can experience it in context. It's gonna stand out, both style-wise and sonically.

I know we're getting the hang of this recording thing because I usually bring mixes home and end up EQing them some more, removing hiss (yay analog!) and boosting the level so it's a little closer to the music usually coming out of my 3 inch computer speakers. I didn't have to EQ "Stars..." anymore than it had already been, and the hiss and volume were minor adjustments. Good job all around.

I don't know how I ended up being the "post" guy. Maybe it's cuz I'm a borderline insomniac, and since I'm gonna be up anyway... Maybe it's cuz I've wanted to work in or own a recording studio from the first time I was in one back in 1988 ('89?). Maybe it's cuz I'm obsessive/compulsive when it comes to anything I've had a part in creating. Whatever the reason, I'm happy to do it cuz, as the saying goes, "I know it's being done right". Taking it to a "real" studio for tweaking would mean a fifth pair of ears and another assho- I mean opinion. We've got well over a hundred years of music-listening experience between the 4 of us. That's a lot of tunes. We know what we like, we like what we know, and we know if we don't like it, we can fix it. We're beyond the days of someone from "the outside" telling us something is "good" or "no good". Complete control. It's a nice thing.

Lately, I find myself listening to music differently. I'm picking out how parts may have been recorded, how they're mixed, how they're panned ("left" or "right") and how they've been mastered. I compare it to what we're doing and wonder how we may be able to achieve a similar result. I have faith in us. The recording of "Stars..." has convinced me that we can create something that won't end up sounding like it came out of somebody's basement (which in some cases fits the music, but that's not DP).



For anyone interested (who may not check our website), here's the skinny on that gig I mentioned:

Saturday February 19th
The Boca
415 18th Avenue
Lake Como (fka South Belmar)
New Jersey
with
FRANKENSTEIN 3000
TICK NON STOP

DIGGER PHELPS goes on 2nd at 11:00pm

Ahem.

Testing... 1... 2. Is this thing on? This is the drummer checking in. I have nothing to add.

Yet.

BTW, Michael forgot to mention the McSorley's recent appearances at BEAF. Now available in handy take-home 6 packs.

I guess I did have something to add.

Track Sheet...

Track sheets. Guitarsbassdrumsvocals. Emergency Slim Jims. Too Handsome. Idiot Brother-In-Law. Vintage Analog equipment that only works right sometimes. Fridge Beer. Herbal-Jazz Cigarettes. It's fucking cold in that basement, even in summer. Some great tunes. Tantrums. The Silent Treatment. Kiss & Make-up. We like to pick on Big Ed when he fucks it up, but who else would put up with all of our bullshit diva-moments? "Mr DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." What makes a great recording? Fuck if I know.

I've Got Spittle In The Corner Of My Mouth

Hey kids, there's a new author joining the DP blog. Your's truly, Michael Martin. Some may know me by other names: Atami Chimpo, Chimpo Atami, Asshole, MM DP, that drunk guitarist playing way to loud... ahh the list goes on. But I have become co-admin of this blog because CT doesn't update nearly enough and I've bid farewell to my personal blog because it ended up being posts about me whining about life sucking and then on the flipside the good times I have recording with the DP. So this will be a new outlet. I will keep it mainly focused on the inner goings-on at Big Ed's Audio Farm and the highs and lows of the DIY style of recording an album.

Recording an album...

There's a novel idea.

I wonder if that's just a sign of my age, or just a concept that has since been thrown to the wayside? Recording an "album".

The kids today have no idea what an "album" is. They get money from their parents, or some summer job to buy a "CD". Truthfully, that's what we're making. A "CD". Somehow telling people that you're working on a new "compact disc" doesn't seem to have the same effect as saying that you're working on a new "album". But that's just a sign of the times. I'll be honest, it's not like I've ever been in a studio where the work we were doing was going to be pressed to vinyl, but we are definitely trying to capture as much of the feel of recording an album as possible. Besides, more than half of these kids aren't even buying CD's anyway, they're just downloading singles. Then again, I don't think what we're recording is really for the kids anyway. We fit more towards the thirtysomethings who made it through the age of classic rock, to punk, to new wave, to alternative, to grunge, to that indescribable mid-western kind of folksy rock, and then have no idea what happened to "un"popular music at all. What we're doing seems to include a little taste of all of the above.

Which is why I truly feel as though we're recording an album.

It will have a beginning, a middle, and an end. It will sound different from song to song, yet have a sense of continuity. Each song may sound different, but you'll know it's the DP when you hear it.

For example, consider Exile On Main Street by The Rolling Stones. Bear in mind, I wouldn't dare compare us to them, or claim to be recording the next great double album of all time, but the idea behind that album is along the lines of what we're doing. Recording what we want, on our own terms, at our own pace, mixed and engineered by us, with a different feel from song to song, yet you know who it is you're listening to within the first 10 seconds and there is a fluidness from song to song.

Except we don't have a French villa, scores of extremely talented session players, loads of narcotics and booze, floozy groupies and a few million untaxed dollars. Maybe someday we'll have the Big Ed's Moblie Unit, but 'til then, we'll just keep trying to find different places to position microphones, work on writing down what we had done before when it comes to levels, figuring out if what we had done is in stereo and reading FHM magazines.

But to our credit, we do have some vintage recording gear, a set of 8 good ears, a pinch of talent, a cooler full of beer, Danny's pizza and an Emergency Slim Jim thumbtacked to the wall.


And that my friends...

Is how you record an album.




Recent beverages seen around the Farm:
Amstel Light, Abita, and the new addition of the Emergency Schaefer Six Pack (one down)

MM
DP

A Safer Hiding Place – Extra Sludgy Mix...

Work on the new album continues…

We were in the studio listening back to the rough mix of ‘A Safer Hiding Place’ a couple of weeks ago, when we began experimenting with the pitch control on the mixing board, seeing what the song sounded like when we slowed it down…waaaaaay down. To our surprise, the results were quite interesting. After laughing about how sludgy and retro it sounded, we decided to keep this version as an alternate to the regular speed ‘A Safer Hiding Place’. We dumped a copy onto CD, then I added a couple of vocal tracks, Michael brought a cool fuzz box from a time long forgotten and added some more guitar, relearning how to play the song in a completely new key…then Brian added some finishing touches with a noisy guitar solo of his own. The result was a song that sort of sounds like Dinosaur Jr covering a Hayden song. We’re now considering the idea of either including this on the next record as a hidden track, or perhaps bookending the two versions of the song at the beginning and end of the record.

This past week, we took some time out to rehearse. After sanding some of the rust off…we started sounding pretty good. It’s been quite a while since we’ve played a show – so that might have to be something we consider in the near future.

The studio sessions have been pretty interesting to say the least. Packing four people into a tiny control room for a few hours each week can sometimes result in conflicts or differences of opinion, but nothing that hasn’t made us a stronger unit and better friends. Rather than letting our differences boil beneath the surface, we’ve learned that it’s better to get things out in the open when something is bothering one of us.

I’m learning that it is becoming increasingly difficult for me personally to be productive, or feel creative after working for a full day. At that point, you’re burned out – and sometimes easily distracted. At this point, I must mention that Brian is the band’s savior at keeping us on track. While the rest of us usually have some downtime, looking at FHM mags and such, Brian manages to move things along and really takes charge of the proceedings. Not to mention, he does much of the prep work behind the scenes before we arrive at the studio.

We’re hopeful that we can soon schedule a Saturday so that we can get drum tracks for a few more songs. Then we can really get this recording into full swing. Overall, I’m very happy with the way things have been sounding, we’re certainly getting some different sounding tunes --- both musically and sonically.

I’m starting to get that ‘itch’ to begin writing again --- I may have to bring the digital four track home to start working on some ideas. It’s been awhile since I’ve written anything…

CT
DP

Recent Beer Seen Around the Studio includes: Beck’s Light, JW Dundee’s Honey Brown Ale, Yuengling Lager, and of course Brian’s “fridge beers” which vary in quality from some of my leftover Miller Lite to some nice Fuller’s.

Number of Emergency Slim Jims Currently Hanging On the Studio Wall: 1