Ehem... Video Blog 3

As promised, I present to you, without further adieu... The Family Crest video blog no.3

enjoy...

 

Oops... sorry.

I'm uber sorry about the delay on the blogging kids... drums and bass have been waaaaay more work than I ever imagined.  We've been working them both for about 2 weeks now without much rest... it's sounding great though, so I guess greatness takes time.  Still, we'll have a video blog coming your way very soon, as well as some images from the studio.  I'll write more tonight... but right now... onward to bass tracking!

PS - Check out the band The Good Players . Specifically the song David's Lamentation. Awesome. They're pretty great and are giving me a little more faith in the music industry right now...

Day 11 - Video Blog 2

First off... NEW VIDEO BLOG!!!

Second off... Okay... uber sorry for the tardiness in blogging. Von, Cecil and I took a trip down to my hometown area (Calaveras and Amador Counties) to check out some tones for the record. The trip was a fun one where we realised that our friendships are totally based around 3 things... food, woman and music. I swear, that's all we talk about... so yeah... bffsfosho. Anyway, our first stop was the Hotel Ledger, a 158 year old haunted hotel tucked away in the middle of the small town of Mokelumne Hill. One of my oldest and dearest friends parents own the joint and when asked if we could use their saloon, they were more than happy to oblige. So yes, it was nice seeing Shawn again, and checking out what we had to work with... no joke, the place is perfect. It's going to be so rad for the saloon/bar sounds/drunken singing that we need for a few of the tracks... brilliant. Anyway, after a quick drink we made our way to Jackson, another small country town, to check out the church. As you might remember all of the vocal tracks on our record are to be recorded in St. Patricks Church, a 150 year old church... the acoustics in this place are unbelievable and when we throw a choir in there for a few of the tracks, I believe it may just be magical... ward. Anyway, the head priest, Father Tom, let us in and was insanely hospitable. He left us with the keys and allowed us to do some recording until about 2am. So yes, it was amazing. Anyway, we head into the studio for some drum tracking in the next 20 minutes, thus I must finish getting ready... gotta get some Starbucks before the toning. So yes... until tomorrow...

Day 5 - Video Blog 1

As promised... here is the first video blog from the studio.

Just to update and whatnot... yesterday we knocked out the electric guitars on:

I've Got Nothing to Say to You

Before Your Father Hears Us

and

I've Got Soul

as well as the rest of the acoustic tracking on:

Age Old World

I've Got Nothing to Say to You

Before Your Father Hears Us

I've Got Soul

We're pretty amped as today we're begining tracking on the final Electric tracks and starting the glockenspiel work.

Ahhh yes, things are coming together...

Day 4

We've officially finished nearly all of the acoustic tracks on the record. We managed to knock out:

In the Avenue
Upon Cobblestone Streets
and
Falling off the Wagon

as well as the secondary acoustic tracks for:

North
Sell Yourself Lightly
Age Old World
and
Rue Phillippe de Girard

All in all we're pretty stoked. Before we started tracking yesterday John Von and I headed over to Berkeley to The Starving Musician (... a music store) to pick up an amazing ZVEX Octane pedal. Sounds so great. Seriously... like woah. Good trip over... good conversation all around.

Anyway, we headed back to my place to go over the two tracks that have strings as their primary instruments, In the Avenue and Upon Cobblestone Streets... we needed to see what kind of guitar lines I should play to get the appropriate feel for the tunes. So yes, after about an hour of deliberation, we grabbed some din din and did some recording.

All told we put in about 8 hours of studio time yesterday, as well as about 5 hours of other work for the record... things are moving along smoothly so far... knock on wood. Anyway, thats about it. I'm currently sitting in the studio listening to Cecil and Von set up the Les Paul tones for Before Your Father Hears Us... so far so good. Alright... till later...

DAY 3

So I met up with one of our potential string players yesterday.  Her name is Sarah and she plays with the SF symphony... cool eh?  Anyway, she's pretty interested in being apart of The Village, which is pretty bad ass.  Anyway, we knocked out 4 tracks last night:

Age Old World

We've Got Soul

Sleep When I'm Dead 

and finally

Rue Phillippe de Girard

This brings our grand total of main tracks to 10... pretty exciting for 3 days of work.

So yes, John Von and I are off to Berkeley to purchase a ZVEX Octane pedal for We've Got Soul... that we will promptly return after we use it... hehehe...

Anyway more later...

DAY 2

Oh so much tracking.  So it's the morning after the second day of tracking for The Village, and I'm pretty exhausted.  My fingers are a little numb.  We knocked out 5 tracks yesterday (which is pretty damn exciting), and we're hoping for another 6 tonight.  So far we've completed:

1.  North

2.  Sell Yourself Lightly

3.  The Bells

4.  Like Passing Ships

5.  I've Got Nothing to Say to You

6.  Romeo

7.  Before Your Father Hears Us

They all sound pretty effing fantastic (tonally), and I can't wait to add other instruments on top of them.  Still, as good as they sound I'm not going to be completely satisfied until I've added the strings to the mix.  After hours of composing and working on finding a quintet I think I've finally found one.  So yes, once we place them on the record, I think not only will I be a lot more relaxed, but everything will go a lot smoother.  Anyway, I'll be posting a video blog sometime in the next few days so stay tuned for that.  Hope all is well wherever you're reading from...