Mungus in the Studio, Day 5 (I have no idea, August 17, 2008)
Adam, Stephen, and I arrived before anyone else today (Michael drove separately because he has to leave early for some reason).
We're starting off the day tracking guitars for "Jade" and it's so wonderful to hear something I've lived with for just over ten years fleshing out like this. I wrote this bass line when I was still living in Iowa, a lifetime ago, playing with another band (Judy's Baggage). Christine Ingaldson, aka Flutter, was the original singer and she did an absolutely stellar job. Guitars were by Jeff "Shamus" Fisher and drums by Colin Crazy-Bastard (not his real last name). The overall vibe was shoe-gaze (as was most of our music at the time). The bass line was just something for my fingers to do when I was holding the instrument, something melodic and chord based. The new version has new lyrics (though Adam mined my original lyrics, some lyrics by Stephen, and then brought it all together with his own material), and just a couple of layers of really stunning guitar work (I'm talking tapping, people). It's going to be the album's epic track, according to Duane.
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11:51 and we're tracking "Flame On". None of us can stop doing the voice of the creepy old man from Family Guy. Directions are given as this guy, answers returned as the old man. It's a foul and disgusting and terribly funny environment. We have some of it on video for your enjoyment.
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12:08 I think we have the title of the album. Now we just have to come up with cover art.
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It's 1:50 and we're tracking "Get Some". The guitars still sound huge. Also, we filmed some remarkably incriminating statements made by just about everybody in the studio speaking in the Herbert voice. I might ought to delete that....
"Get Some". Main guitar line. One take. Boom. Now we're setting up the talk-box for the guitar solo (videotaping the process on the DL, which I'm sure Stephen will appreciate... eventually). It's 2:27.
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3:42 and "Swing" is roaring out of two different amps (his own and the Marshall). It came in with with a funk guitar vibe and is now being recorded with a, to quote Duane, "balls out rock" vibe. The funk undercurrent is coming from my bass, but the guitar is just full forward monster rawk.
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4:12 and we are reconsidering our album name.
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It's now 5:59 and we've been playing "Remora" pretty much non-stop for the last hour or so. Stephen finished recording his guitar tracks for just about everything else (there will be some acoustic tracks, but not until next week). We're tracking the drums now, stripping out the extra kicks and sharpening the whole experience, as we've done with many of the other songs.
Now we have two days off.
More soon!
~Benjamin
Adam, Stephen, and I arrived before anyone else today (Michael drove separately because he has to leave early for some reason).
We're starting off the day tracking guitars for "Jade" and it's so wonderful to hear something I've lived with for just over ten years fleshing out like this. I wrote this bass line when I was still living in Iowa, a lifetime ago, playing with another band (Judy's Baggage). Christine Ingaldson, aka Flutter, was the original singer and she did an absolutely stellar job. Guitars were by Jeff "Shamus" Fisher and drums by Colin Crazy-Bastard (not his real last name). The overall vibe was shoe-gaze (as was most of our music at the time). The bass line was just something for my fingers to do when I was holding the instrument, something melodic and chord based. The new version has new lyrics (though Adam mined my original lyrics, some lyrics by Stephen, and then brought it all together with his own material), and just a couple of layers of really stunning guitar work (I'm talking tapping, people). It's going to be the album's epic track, according to Duane.
---
11:51 and we're tracking "Flame On". None of us can stop doing the voice of the creepy old man from Family Guy. Directions are given as this guy, answers returned as the old man. It's a foul and disgusting and terribly funny environment. We have some of it on video for your enjoyment.
---
12:08 I think we have the title of the album. Now we just have to come up with cover art.
---
It's 1:50 and we're tracking "Get Some". The guitars still sound huge. Also, we filmed some remarkably incriminating statements made by just about everybody in the studio speaking in the Herbert voice. I might ought to delete that....
"Get Some". Main guitar line. One take. Boom. Now we're setting up the talk-box for the guitar solo (videotaping the process on the DL, which I'm sure Stephen will appreciate... eventually). It's 2:27.
---
3:42 and "Swing" is roaring out of two different amps (his own and the Marshall). It came in with with a funk guitar vibe and is now being recorded with a, to quote Duane, "balls out rock" vibe. The funk undercurrent is coming from my bass, but the guitar is just full forward monster rawk.
---
4:12 and we are reconsidering our album name.
---
It's now 5:59 and we've been playing "Remora" pretty much non-stop for the last hour or so. Stephen finished recording his guitar tracks for just about everything else (there will be some acoustic tracks, but not until next week). We're tracking the drums now, stripping out the extra kicks and sharpening the whole experience, as we've done with many of the other songs.
Now we have two days off.
More soon!
~Benjamin