Tracking Days Five & Six...

in the short time since our last post, Devin has been replaced by Sparkling "Mike", a tin wind-key robot with real! sparking action, we needed someone who could get the job done for us and "Mike" stepped up to the plate...


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flute, done!


xylophone, done!




guitars, done!

in all seriousness though, Devin is really rocking this shit
since we moved from Inner Ear to Silver Sonya, we have been double-timing these overdubs and it finally feels like it is all coming together
songs are beginning to sound whole and we are growing more and more excited to finish this record

quick re-cap...
Friday: Kiley knocked all of her tracks out like a champ - keys, flute, vocals... + we did group vocals/stomps/claps for three songs
Saturday: Eric E., Mike and Steve's guitars were finished as well as Mike's xylophone parts

here is what is left on our list, we are so close, but there is still a tremendous amount of stuff to do...
Stephen and Mike's last few percussion overdubs
Steve's trumpet and keys
Eric E. and Steve's vocals

week #2 is going to be great - tracking will be finished and mixing will begin

back at the condo we have all started watching Entourage Season 1 - Jeremy Piven is so awesome
we have also taken to listening to the new Radiohead album independently, as opposed to all together in the van on the way to and from the studio - this methodology should make it very interesting on the long drive home when all of our opinions coalesce at once

hopefully we will have some photos of the sites next week when Chad kicks us out of the studio to start mixing - we are all very excited to see the Smithsonian

Ryan and Stephen leave tomorrow to head back to St. Louis, leaving Eric E., Steve, Mike and Eric H. here for the remainder of the week - let's wish them a safe journey home

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we found this place to have some really cool crossword puzzles...
www.bestcrosswords.com

TEAMWORK

As Kiley sits at the airport waiting for her flight, which has been delayed almost 5 hours at this point, and Stephen and Ryan plan their Monday morning departure, it becomes apparent that our first week here is slowly drawing to a close. The tracks sound great, but we still have a lot to do. Mike is currently banging out the remainder of his guitar parts, while vocal tracking still looms large, and Steve has yet to track anything. Luckily, the guys here are total champs and are dedicated to doing this record right and not sacrificing quality for time, so we've adjusted our timeframe to comfortably accomodate the rest of the recording process - making sure we're not rushing things and regretting mediocre takes.

Looking back to Sunday, when we first loaded our gear in and got acquainted with the studio space, it doesn't seem like we could have even anticipated things going as well as they have. Yes, we've been running behind, but anyone with a halfway healthy sense of reality had to have expected that to happen - the most important thing is that everything is sounding great. Really great. Almost TOO gr-- naw, never mind.

Anywho, here's our "Go Team!" moment from Sunday night:

Tracking Day Three...

day three...


bass = done!


guitar = almost done (eric's that is)

it has been an incredibly long week thus far - 12 to 14 hour days worth of GAH played repeatedly over the speakers

that being said, everything is sounding incredible
Devin has proposed some minor changes here and there with the rhythm section and it has paid off tremendously - sections of songs that we have grown accustomed to have now found a new life

today's schedule is a daunting one...

a) the remainder of Eric E's guitar
b) the remainder of Stephen's drums
c) some piano
d) stomps and claps
e) and if we have time... Steve and Mike's guitars, trumpet, etc.

today also is the last day that we are tracking on the Inner Ear side of the studio, as we move back into Silver Sonya tomorrow to finish up the tracking and to start mixing on Monday

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it has been weird to hear a familiar sound coming through the walls as we sit in the lounge

TJ Lipple, from Aloha, has just started mastering the forthcoming Headlights LP and it sounds amazing - these guys are such good friends of ours and it is just another point on a long list of fateful happenings with regards to making this record

So Many Dynamos are in town tonight - hopefully we can figure out a way to make it over to catch their set

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Watching:
eachother sleep

Listening:
Headlights "TBA"
Hawksley Workman "For Him and The Girls"

Tracking Day Two...

previously on the GAH Recording Blog...

drums, for the record have been tracked, save for a series of Stephen's overdubs and one "mystery" song



Devin presented us with a 9x12 grid (songs down the left, instrument cataegories across the top) - this means that we are not "done" with this record until we have filled up all 108 boxes on the grid, which does not account for any experimental indulgences we may make later on in the process and is somewhat vague considering that one column called "drums" is supposed to account for two members of the band, thus causing many blocks on the grid to be divided into two seperate smaller blocks

which brings us to day three...
1) we're gonna get bass'd in the face by eric h.
2) eric e. will most likely come back with and equal and opposite reaction on guitar
3) stephen's gonna bang Rhianna on a cookie sheet
4) and... maybe some other guitars, keyboards, items from the briefcase o' percussion, vocals?, etc....



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Watching:
The Sarah Silverman Program

Listening:
St. Vincent "Marry Me"
Radiohead "In Rainbows"