soul eXistence
@soul-existence

The Week in Recording - Week 1 (by Jam)

soul eXistence » Blog » Recording Blogs » The Week in Recording - Week 1 (by Jam)

2009-02-13
By: soulexistence
Posted in: Recording Blogs

Monday Dec. 15 – “In the A.M.”
 
Well it’s been a long wait. Life has been passing us by and we’ve been caught in a current, but we could never give up even through loss and uncertainty. Soul eXistence has always stood for an expression of life within the escape and creation of music. Life is progressive waves through time and has shown such in the music we’ve all created these past sixteen months. Unknowingly, and at times, very frustrating amounts of passion and loss have seriously affected this band. Our combined passion is like an unstoppable force meeting an unmovable object.
 
This album is dedicated to everyone who has stuck around with love, patience, and support through these crazy times. We also would like to thank the past members, mainly Jeremy Barragan for sharing our time together. Thank you everyone who has given us an ear, we give our hearts to you. The album is still untitled, but it’s a full L.P. set with thirteen tracks, all of which have been previously posted on our site and on the previous blog. In the following months after the release of the full length L.P. we will be releasing a few E.P.’s with some extra material not released on the L.P. Some of the songs we’ve done on the past two demos we will be redone with our new lineup, and with better production and performance. They will be part of the E.P.’s, but the exact songs still aren’t decided. Look for about 3 to 4 upcoming E.P.’s after the release of the album.
 
Pre-production has come to its tail end, by mid-afternoon Monday we will be at “The B House” in the process of setting up drums, tuning heads, setting up mics, and taking footage for our DVD that will be released with our L.P.
 
We will be posting weekly updates of the recording progress written by Jam. We’d like to hear feedback on what people are looking forward to regarding us, our upcoming release, or anything in general. Please keep up the support and we’ll continue to give you our complete soul existence……
 
 
 “Just before we hit the record button to light speed” - Monday Dec. 15 2008
 
Our first day at “The B House” was rather efficient. We moved all the drums inside right before it started to rain. Once Billy arrived, we a room that seemed quite suitable for our needs. Billy’s rug was laid out, the drums got set up, and Billy began getting everything where he wanted it, then began to tune as Matt and I went back to my house to get his stereo so we could have something to hear the tracks through. We got back and Billy played us his drums now that they’re tuned. They sounded huge! So Matt got the mics set up and positioned where he wanted them. Despite our efforts and our eager attempt to get started, we weren’t able to start recording today. So we made due with the time we had and started testing 4 different mics for the right sound of the snare. Matt has amazing ideas for the type of financial setting we’re in as far as equipment goes. We have done well so far with Matt’s Frankenstein computer and pro-tools guided by the ears and minds of the band.
 
Months of practice along with hours of setting and correcting metronomes and scratch tracks we are finally ready to get started tomorrow. If all goes as planned, Billy should be laying down “Flagrant Disregard”. Just being in the studio at this point in our lives, makes us very determined and focused on what needs to be done.
 
 
“A Day of Flagrance” - Dec. 16 (Our sixth year of existence)
 
After a nights sleep, I think we’re all ready to go strait into the studio at 6PM. Matt, Billy and I walked into “The B House” at around 6:30 PM with all remaining equipment needed to commence recording. We took a few moments to listen to the scratch track and the practice recording we did a few months earlier. We were finally set to start. Though we had less than an hour to record, it seemed as though we could get the song done before we had to stop for the night. Of course, we hit a temporary roadblock as we reached the middle of the song. The metronome count for that section was faster than it needed to be. That type of stuff almost always happens when we actually start doing takes. So with little time left to record we decide to call it quits for the night so Matt could redo the sections that needed to be redone before we started the next day.
 
 
“Exit the Day” - Dec. 17
 
Matt and Billy decided instead of finishing “Flagrant”, they wanted to start “Exit the Excoriated ****”. This is one of the seven songs we wrote with Billy after the departure of our former singer Mark Burnett. This song is kind of a sarcastic tribute to him leaving the band the way he did. This is to be the first song on the album with it’s sister song “Through a Maggots Eye” second.
 
This was definitely Billy’s time to shine. He did an amazing job laying the drums down in a timely manner and very efficiently. It was really fun and we got some great footage of Billy out of it. During playback everything matched up to the metronome and altogether sounded really sweet. So with one song finished, and another day in that bag, we’ll be returning tomorrow after Billy gets off work to finish “Flagrant”.
 
 
“Day 4 – The Continuation of “Flagrant” - Dec. 18
 
Today was pretty fulfilling in the means of recording. To start off the day we finished “Flagrant Disregard” with great and proper timing. Since that was out of the way, we were able to begin “My Only obsession”. We ended up making it to the halfway point of the song with what time we had left in the day.
 
After reviewing what we had done so far, we all felt like we were very productive with the time we had to work with, which wasn’t very much. We also have been able to get some really good footage of everything that has been done so far for the DVD.
 
“Obsessed” – Dec. 19
 
Today was pretty much a finishing up day for “My Only Obsession”. Billy was blazing through takes with precision and finesse. The ending did prove to be a little annoying when we realized that that guitar with the click isn’t good enough for everything. During the end Matt and I play a double lead while Billy and Luke keep the rhythm strong. So with out the bass track, it’s kind of hard for Billy to decipher exactly where he was at because it changes during the lead and those changes aren’t quite there without the bass line. With a break needed, we decided to listen to the practice version to make sure we knew exactly what patterns Billy played at the end of the song. We also wanted to see if he wanted to make anything different. Matt decided he should record a scratch version of his lead at the end so Billy knew where he was going since we couldn’t get the bass in there. It seemed to be the only other option. In no time our little dilemma was dealt with and we finished the song.
 
We’re pretty eager for day six, the recording of “Another Day in Paradox”. Tomorrow will be the last day we can record before Christmas. We all have the family thing to do, for the holidays.
 
 
“Just Another Day in Paradox Before the Break” - Dec. 20
 
Day six of drum recording was the longest, but the most fun of all so far. We started at 12:30 PM, not stopping till 9:30PM. With an enthusiastic will to return, out first week’s work was the greatest recording experience we’ve had in a long time.
 
Billy and the rest of us insisted on mapping out the entire structure for each song so he knew exactly what he was doing for each part. From his fills, to his thunderous double-bass beats, and his change-ups, this song was turning out beautifully. Of course once we get to the end we find out that it’s a little too slow. So Matt and Billy immediately started listening to the practice version, and Matt quickly redid the metronome count, and then recorded the scratch guitar track. We got a perfect live feeling, and with the extended album version of this song, it turned out amazing. It was the perfect way to end the week of recording.

You must be logged in to post a comment

The Week in Recording - Week 1 (by Jam)

Tags