Vocals all day long...and tomorrow night

I recorded vocals all afternoon and evening.  Of course most of the primary vocals have been recorded, but I was able to color a lot of passages with different background phrases and harmonies.  I also added a nice line at the very end of "Beg the Past" which of course rounds out the tracks.  I'm very satisfied with it being the final line of the album...very satisfied.  I called Joe immediately afterward, since it's his song, and I can't wait for him to hear it.

My good friend Dawne will be laying down vocals on "Lustre"soon, possibly even tomorrow evening.  She'll also be singing on "Evenstar" whenever that gets tracked.  I'm supposed to have another vocalist coming in for "Last Screams" and "Tremble Bare," but if scheduling doesn't permit, then I'll see how Dawne feels about taking them on.

Joe and I agreed that surely we have no more than 10 more hours of tracking to do.  As I've said before, "Ardor" and "Restore" have yet to be tracked, and "Evenstar" is still nothing but drums.  But those will go quickly, in my opinion.  Then it's just mixing and mastering.

Up next...some rehearsals for a summer date...

What I Know

I talked to Scott on the phone just a minute ago. He said that Oliver and Joe both tracked guitar on "Beg the Past" and got some really nice stuff down. I believe he said Oliver has been working four to four shifts, so my hat is off to him for staying consistent in his studio efforts.

We talked much about how this is comparing to The Smartest Wall as far as the approach and the sonic element and can it even be said that this project will sound better. Scott's opinion is that it's like comparing apples to oranges. He said that this being a more rock oriented album, the drums with the harder attack when matched up against the other instruments aren't pulling as much tone as what was evident on the former album. Of course as this is something that he is aware of, he said that we're going to go less on final compression to try and warm things up a bit. He talked a lot about taking the "smoosh" out of the final mastering, which might sacrifice some volume, but will open things up a bit.

We also talked about setting things up here at my house, so I can go down the list and wrap up all the loose ends vocally, both on my end and the additional vocalists. I'll also be able to track my piano for "Evenstar" which will allow for the completion of those vocal parts as well. With my new summer class schedule, I have large windows of time in the afternoons to do this work, so hopefully next week I can knock it all out.

We may meet up tonight so that I can do some tracking --probably guitar stuff through a POD, to hold up against my Vox tracks. It all depends on Scott's schedule. Until next time, Derek

Update?

There's not much to post in the way of a studio update, but I'll write something, since a good many of you have asked. To my knowledge, Oliver has been the only one tracking as of late. I've received messages on several occasions from Scott saying that he had recorded more guitar tracks, so that much is encouraging! I personally have been so busy for the past month, I have not been able to get in and do any recording. Now that things are somewhat slowing down for me school-wise, I'll be able to get back to work on the album. Believe me, we don't have much more tracking to do before we start mixing. It's true, we have yet to track "Evenstar" and "Restore", but it will happen. Also, we don't have any shows on the books as of right now, but that will change as well. Don't forget that the single mix of "Tremble Bare" is up on the MySpace page so check that out if you haven't done so already. Just hang in there, enjoy the summer, and the album will be complete before you know it! Hugs, DGC