Jagged Leaves Vocal Day

SpeakerSonic Studio

Short day with Dan Penta, laying down some vocals for three of the four songs we've been working on. I set up a few acoustic panels and a room splitter to get a tight sound. We've got a little bit of room bleed from the initial band recording. It was important for Dan to be in the same room with his drummer and bass player. He also wanted to have some bleed in the instruments, so I put them in a circle and placed a small sound barrier between the drums and bass to maintain the details of the instruments but also allowing for a modest bleed. I've got such a great drum and bass sound from this session! Woot Woot!

Dan wants the record to have a very live and performancey feel ala The Grateful Dead recordings from the 60's and 70's. This is a great space for that kind of sound and I find myself doing this style of band recording quite often. The Telethons, Kung Fu Crimewave, Crazy and the Brains, Ifrit, and the band I'm working with tomorrow, Whitford Five, have all requested this setup.

After the vocals,  we put together a quick mix of a few of the songs for notes and overdubs. You can record a million different ways to achieve a great sound. These songs all have very lively dynamics and its important to maintain that on mixdown. I've found a real nice reverb for the vocals and guitar, but as of now the drums are live and uneffected. The bass too is uneffected. What does uneffected mean? Basically, no reverbs, chorus, delays or ambients. I've added subtle compression on a few inputs and rolled off a little mud with EQs, but that's it.

Most clients I work for want a clean and professional sound. So I go with what I know will work and that helps save time, and therefore, money. However, if I come up with an experimental idea, I can always find a way to put it into motion. For instance, I've been kicking around this low-fi recording idea and thinking about the right project to put it towards. Instead of waiting for someone to come to me, I've asked Jesse Cannonball Statman to be my guinea pig. That will commence on Wednesday. Should be fun! Details to follow. Its really hi-fi, with a low-fi twist.