Sure, I know Rock's place. I think I recorded there years ago with a friend of mine. We recorded in a combination of places. We did the drums and bass at Sugar Hill's Studio B with Josh Applebee - really good young engineer. We did all the overdubs except violin at Rogers Recording, the studio my guitar player owns - basically a small digital room. We went back to Sugar Hill to record the violin. We probably won't do that next time. We improved our mic selection after that session, so we can do it ourselves next time, but it was nice to have SH available for that this go round. Finally, we mixed back at Sugar Hill in the Pro Tools room with Steve Christensen, a GREAT mixdown engineer. If anyone wants to work with a seriously top-flight engineer, Steve is it. He's the shiznit. We're mastering at Terra Nova in Austin.
I learned some critical things during this... 1. Pay to get great drum sounds. Record them in a great room. Get someone who knows how to tune drums and pay them well. We paid Robbie Parrish to do our drum tuning and it was worth every penny and then some. He not only tuned drums for every song but we used about 8 of his snare drums. Paying for great drum sounds, especially if you are a rock band, is so worth it. 2. Overdubs, particularly guitar and vocal, are best done in a small room. They are usually cheaper than a big studio meaning you can spend a lot more time on them - critical to getting great performances - AND they are more comfortable most times than a big studio, which can be intimidating. 3. Take time to listen to things before making final decisions. Space out your recording and mixing days so you have a chance to listen to things, take notes and make adjustments. It makes a HUGE difference. We spent six months putting this together and we had intended to do it MUCH faster. Now, I'm glad we didn't. 4. Take extremely good notes. Keep track of everything. You have no idea how much time and money it will save you later. Trust someone who made the mistake of not doing that. 5. Keep back-ups of everything in multiple locations. Seriously. 6. Experiment. Don't be afraid to try things. Most bands play it way too safe in the studio thinking they need to be perfect. Unless you are a trained session musician, you aren't going to be perfect, but that is the nature of rock music anyway. Try things. Screw up. Use your mistakes. They often lead you to better ideas than you had to begin with. 7. Be patient. It takes time. Don't freak out. 8. Hire great people. Musicians, studios, engineers. Listen to their advice and take as much as your ears allow, but stand up for yourself when you want something. 9. Finally, listen to other bands that are out that sound like you. These are not necessarily bands that you LIKE. That can be misleading. I love the Foo Fighters, but we don't sound anything like them. Pick bands with similar styles and listen to what they did on their recordings and use that as a guide for getting your own sounds.
This is the absolute truth. A good drum sound is like clean wheels on a car. It makes all the difference in the world. Again...this is sooooo true. We bounce down tracks after every session and burn a CD just to listen to in between sessions. Even seemingly worthless tracks can be real helpful. Plus you get to criticize yourself. Those are the two that I feel most strongly about although everything you said will be helpful to musicians on the board. I can't wait to hear it!! clm
Who does your band sound like? And how much do you think the cd will cost,more than likely I will pick one up.
Not really sure. I've heard the following comparisons...Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen, Counting Crowes, Fountains of Wayne, Toad the Wet Sprocket, John Cougar Mellancamp, among a number of others. Those are probably all in there in some form or fashion. CD's will likely be $10 at shows at probably like $12 at Cactus or online.
I've worked with Josh before, he's the man. Unfortunatly for me, it was on a project that my heart really wasn't into (understatement of the year) so I didn't really get a chance to soak up a lot of his knowledge. I don't know a lot about mixing down but I know that's the guy that mixed down our demo and you ain't kidding. It sounded great. So is SH still a mecca to Destiny's Child? BTW, congrats!
hey jeff, congrats! nothing like throwing a little piece of your soul out into the world. i like the album cover in general but it's a little obvious if you want some criticism. i love the license plate though. anywho, not trying to rain on your parade, i just think cover art is EXTREMELY important. here's a little one-off that's a little weirder for example.
Not really. I'll give them a lot of credit. They are working to get more involved with local music and musicians. They have good rates now at night and they encourage bands to do things like we did - record drums and the bigger stuff there, do overdubs in a smaller room and come back to mixdown. They are trying to embrace the home recording boom, which is very smart. I've known Andy Bradley for years. He was literally one of the first engineers I ever worked with back in the late 80's. He, Dan Workman and Rodney Meyer own the studio and have done a good job with it.
That's cool. It doesn't bother me. We wanted something that had a deconstructed vibe to it and this made the most sense for us. I like your version though.
he he...nevermind One thing we are doing is making a Flash player for our website that will allow streamed versions of the MP3's to be available. We'll also have samples on MySpace.
Congratulations. Must be great music... Listen, pal, I don't want to rain on your parade, here, but... ummm... your logo is missing from the front of the CD. Maybe it's on the inside? I would prefer to see your face and your band member's faces instead of a reminder to not drink and drive. What's next, a baby almost grabbing a dollar bill inside a swimming pool on your next CD?
The way the CD is set up, the binding on the side will be clear and the band name will be in it like this... The back has the band on it.
