Double Duty

SpeakerSonic

Killy Mockstar came in the other day again to sing the final song of her EP and to mix up some tracks. We've shifted gears away from it sounding like a live record and we've headed full on into the world of effects, and Kenny G. Its true, our sax man was adamant about the Soprano Sax having a big, soft sound like that of the rarely mentioned Kenneth. Such is life.

Poison, a rollicking, punk racer of a song, was the final vocal performance and Kelly made quite a time of it. She is used to cueing the band for some of the changes which made our life a little harder since on this day, we have this Kelly and on cue/record day, we had that Kelly. One of the changes took some doing, counting, figuring and finessing. Once we got thru it though, we were home free and into the process of high fiving and talking about how awesome we are. Its what we do.

Add, Subtract, Multiply photo by Craig Schober

The psychology of voice. You have to be there for the singer. You have to make sure they feel confident and empowered. You have to tell them how good its going when it is, and how to make things even better if they need some coaching. Singing is a powerful force to wield. It takes a sophisticated delivery to tell someone what you think will make them feel or sound better. Tough stuff. Trust is where its at. If you both trust each other, things go very well. 

Mixing these tracks has taken on many forms. This record is very colorful. You have players in this band with so much talent and you want each person to be represented and even pushed forward on certain parts. I'm doing my best to get everyone's voice heard. We're getting towards the end and I believe it to be going very well.

No Time For Rest

Shifting gears.

Dan & Rachel have been in the last few days as well. The goal: Record and Mix one new song for an upcoming tour. We've been recording this track in bursts. They came over after my Killy Mockstar session on Friday. No break for this guy over here. As soon as Kelly was out the door, I was in it thick asking about what they needed and setting it up for the session.

Multiple timing shifts on a tempo map, plus a reference guitar and vocal for starters. Live drums, two electric guitar performances, piano, synth bass, double vocals for Dan and a super clean and delicate vocal for Rachel.

Casey Holford came in for the 4 hour band recording parts. He got a look at the new set up over here, which is nice for me to show off, and helped out a lot with the guitar tone choice. I put together a pretty big drum sound. Rachel is playing a steady kick and snare for the track, so I close miked both and then put in a few room mics for depth. 

Tech Talk: On the snare I used a pair of MD 421's top and bottom with LA3A inserts, on the kick I used an AKG D112 with API 550b & 527 comp insert. Placed middle into the port aimed at the beater. For the room, I used an AKG C 414 about 4 feet from the front of the kit, and then high in the room and 10 feet back, another C 414. For the guitars we chose the Mesa/Boogie Mark III. It has a full range of sounds and is easy to dial in quality tones. I put another MD 421 on the cone, and again used the C 414 for the room a few feet back. 

Daniel Voicing

At the end of our four hour session together, we had finished with the drums, guitars, bass and piano. The next day, yesterday, we spent about 2.5 hours on vocals and a percussive 1/4 note decaying delay sound that pops in and out of the track. I get such a great vocal sound over here. I know Dan and Rachel's voices so well, that I had already chosen the setup prior to their arrival. Here we also worked together on finding the right delivery. Rachel and I directed Dan, and then Dan and I directed Rachel. The outcome is impressive. 

Those two had to run off before we could mix it, so that is happening a little later today. Its mostly mixed at this point, it just needs a little fine tuning in the sense of vocal placements and levels. I added a wonderful gated reverb to the drums and then added the 1176 all buttons in technique to the drum bus. They sound HUGE!