Well, it's finally here: our latest recording. We've been working on it for … well, a long time. Depends on how you count:
We've been promising it since we recorded our first demo, within the first few years of the group's founding. So, seven or eight years?
We started it about a year ago when we laid down a scratch track of each song. (We're all performers first and foremost, and find it much easier to get into a song if we can interact with each other rather than the blank wall of a recording studio. So we got together and recorded a live performance of each song. This four-track recording was our scratch track.)
We've been working on it for months. (Each person had to come over several times to the "recording studio"—apartment—where I was set up with my computer and a microphone. Each singer recorded their part, several times, section-by-section, until we were happy with the results. After the singing was done, Nic came back to record the vocal percussion tracks. Yep: that's a special treat on the CD. You get to hear Nic's amazing vocal percussion!)
We've been finishing it for a few weeks. (I processed each part, choosing the best takes, lining up and cleaning up each track and balancing the mix. Then Nic and I met to figure out what effects to apply. Could the vocal percussion benefit from some extra sizzle in the cymbal crashes? Tweak the EQ. Need a little more depth in the vocals? Add some reverb. This is where Nic came up with the idea of making the backgrounds at the beginning and end of Zombie "ghostly", which I did by turning up the reverb on the voices while turning down the actual microphone input.)
Final touch-up took a few days. (A few very long days. I finished tweaking parts, applied effects, and shifted the backgrounds left and right in the mix to widen the stereo effect. Then more volume adjustment, re-checking the balance, and constantly trying to get maximum volume while avoiding distortion, or "clipping". With the individual songs finished, had a little more work to do to put them all together and make sure they matched each other.)
And, in the last few hours, production. (Putting together the cover and label from Lindsay's designs. Uploading them along with the completed tracks. Then, waiting … waiting … and, finally, receiving the email with a tracking number: the discs are on their way!)
After all this time, the CD arrived. It looked great. It sounded good. And it was done!
We hope you've had a chance to check out the album. You can hear samples here. We'll be selling the disc at our performances, or you can message/email one of us for a copy. Just $5, cash or credit. Digital versions of the songs for download should be available at your favorite online music store soon!
—Tom
We've been promising it since we recorded our first demo, within the first few years of the group's founding. So, seven or eight years?
We started it about a year ago when we laid down a scratch track of each song. (We're all performers first and foremost, and find it much easier to get into a song if we can interact with each other rather than the blank wall of a recording studio. So we got together and recorded a live performance of each song. This four-track recording was our scratch track.)
We've been working on it for months. (Each person had to come over several times to the "recording studio"—apartment—where I was set up with my computer and a microphone. Each singer recorded their part, several times, section-by-section, until we were happy with the results. After the singing was done, Nic came back to record the vocal percussion tracks. Yep: that's a special treat on the CD. You get to hear Nic's amazing vocal percussion!)
We've been finishing it for a few weeks. (I processed each part, choosing the best takes, lining up and cleaning up each track and balancing the mix. Then Nic and I met to figure out what effects to apply. Could the vocal percussion benefit from some extra sizzle in the cymbal crashes? Tweak the EQ. Need a little more depth in the vocals? Add some reverb. This is where Nic came up with the idea of making the backgrounds at the beginning and end of Zombie "ghostly", which I did by turning up the reverb on the voices while turning down the actual microphone input.)
Final touch-up took a few days. (A few very long days. I finished tweaking parts, applied effects, and shifted the backgrounds left and right in the mix to widen the stereo effect. Then more volume adjustment, re-checking the balance, and constantly trying to get maximum volume while avoiding distortion, or "clipping". With the individual songs finished, had a little more work to do to put them all together and make sure they matched each other.)
And, in the last few hours, production. (Putting together the cover and label from Lindsay's designs. Uploading them along with the completed tracks. Then, waiting … waiting … and, finally, receiving the email with a tracking number: the discs are on their way!)
After all this time, the CD arrived. It looked great. It sounded good. And it was done!
We hope you've had a chance to check out the album. You can hear samples here. We'll be selling the disc at our performances, or you can message/email one of us for a copy. Just $5, cash or credit. Digital versions of the songs for download should be available at your favorite online music store soon!
—Tom
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