How so very naive of us to only post about sessions that go flawlessly. We paint the inaccurate picture of tranquility, that aside from a problematic snake, the recording studio is nothing but sunshine and ribbon microphones.
The scene is last Sunday. The We-Verb staff, already tired from a long-term project session the previous day, show up to record an emo-hard-core band. At first glance everything appears normal, kids setting up drums, someone banging around on drums, also instructing placement, of aforementioned drums. You would think that this person was in fact, the drummer... think again.
The real drummer was in Pleasanton, at work, and would not be arriving to the session until several hours later. For those of you unfamiliar with the ideal recording chain, it's drums, bass, guitar, vocals... all elements tracked separately for sonic isolation.
Yes, it is at this point that the band informs us they would like to track guitar first. Begrudgingly, we mic up the cabinet, give each other the "Oh shit" look, slink into the control room, quadruple checked that the click was playing and clearly audible, and pressed 3 on the numeric keypad.
[Let this be a lesson to you rebels! Just because that piercing rhythmic click is slicing through your headphones directly into your brain DOES NOT mean that you have to play your instrument in time with it! That would just be silly.]
We managed to track two, 2 minute songs, and proceeded to track bass guitar DI.
Shortly after we have spent a couple hours with guitar and bass, doing multiple takes and various punching in, we then hear the drummer is en route. We proceed to mic the kit, taking up all 9 working channels on the snake. The drummer arrives, sits down, we start recording... about 20 seconds go by and he stops: "I can't play to this." (OF COURSE HE CAN'T PLAY TO IT. The entire session is referencing a foundation track that is full of wayward rhythm changes. That is why, my friends, you start tracking with DRUM AND BASS FIRST.)
So then a request meekly surfaces: "Is there any way we can record and all play at the same time?"
With a half an hour left in our session, we all break off and scramble with inputs and musician placement. Making quick decisions on what mics to take off of the drums to free up inputs, moving baffle walls between the drummer and the guitarist, shoving the lead vocalist into the storage room with an SM57, plugging the bassist DI in the control room, and trying to figure out what input has been changed to what in Pro Tools.
Yes, we did track the two songs they had wanted to track with the band playing simultaneously. Coincidentally, it is the exact two songs that were the catalyst for this We-Verb post, because I am procrastinating on mixing them.
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Now that the semester is over, we actually have time to post here! We have some backlogged recording sessions to detail, the best being the track that Will played drums, bass, and guitar! (AKA: We heart tube amplifiers!)
Also, our DIY audio projects are almost complete: We painted our Green Ringer Octave pedal, and will be posting about the long term, multi-mod Crybaby wah pedal.
We are going to dive right in to building our own preamps, via
Seventh Circle Audio. To answer your question: Yes, yes we are in fact, so badass, that we build our own preamps.
I might accidentally post a Top Ten Albums of the Year list... because you all should at least know what is worthy of the music industry offerings. And like the economy, this was a frugal musical year.
Most importantly, PRO TOOLS 8 COMES OUT THIS WEEK. You can expect that post to contain nothing but random characters on the keyboard, because I'm going to be so excited and speechless that no articulate language will be able to escape my fingers.
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