Recording Blog 2 (October 18)

Well, with everything already set up, Adam and I were able to just get straight to work. Adam showed up about 12:30pm. Before he showed up, I did a little work by myself - after I finally got the computer to turn on. I must explain that I am horribly computer illiterate. Now, I have no problem learning how to use certain programs...I've learned to use Logic very well and find my way around most stuff. But if something goes wrong with a computer, I have absolutely no idea how to make it better. But before Adam got here, I got the computer on and started to lay down some wierd synthy stuff for "Closer". I got some really cool sounds by running a synth pad through my Line6 Delay pedal and turning knobs until they made wierd noises. I also re-recorded my guitars for "Hero" because I thought the tone I had on "Closer" would fit well with what we had going on in "Hero".

Adam showed up at 12:30pm and we got straight to work. We were supposed to do lunch with our good friend Don, but he never called. So, we worked on, waiting for his call. We started off working on "Waiting", which is a holdover from the old HPF days that has received a recent makeover. The new version of "Waiting" is pretty kick butt and (once again) the guitar tones we got just blew our minds. I quickly laid down my 2-3 tracks, then headed over to my playstation (in the same room) as Adam laid down his lead tracks. As usual, Adam played the perfect part and after he finished we discussed the state of our stomachs - we hadn't heard from Don and we were hungry.

We tried to call Don again, but got no answer so we decided it best to head to Zaxby's and receive nourishment. We decided on our way out that we should mount the external hard drive into the inside of the computer to save reaction time for the computer, so after lunch we headed to CompUSA to pick up the part. We got the part and headed back to the house to start work again.

Adam installed the part and we got back to work, this time working on "Convenience". This is one of my favorite songs (if not my favorite) on the album and it is absolutely the strangest song on the album. It has a Muse/Radiohead vibe along with a MuteMath-type delayed Wurly part. The chord progression is a very classical progression and it's overall just a cool song. I had recorded my guitars a few weeks ago, but after listening to them, we decided to go ahead and re-record them. I did my stereo tracks (once again - killer tone - have I said this before?) and headed over to Madden as Adam recorded his parts.

On "Convenience", Adam has several cool parts that he did and everything was just perfect. I've worked with several guitarists in the past, but Adam just plays everything I think of. Adam has a solo on "Convenience" that is just killer. He did this cool thing at the end of the solo...it's just the kind of stuff you only hear on major label stuff. He really is a fantastic guitarist.

We decided about 5:45pm to take a break for dinner and Adam headed out. I didn't eat, but instead just checked my email, checked myspace stuff and then played some more Madden. Sarah was gone all night running errands for the church, so I was on my own. I played a little with the dogs, then decided to do some work on my own. While Adam was gone, I did put a fan in the doorway of the control room (my front bedroom) to get some air circulating. For some reason it was like 1000 degrees Celcius in the control room and no one likes to sweat while they work.

Right before Adam came back, I started working on the guitars for "Rise". "Rise" is one of our more upbeat pop/punk-ie type tunes, so that was fun. I tried some different things with the amps and used a different amp to get a different tone for this song than I had had on any previous song. I used a smaller amp and used the tube distortion from the amp, and I played through Cole's Telecaster - and once again - fabulous tone. As a side note: I am really excited at how great the guitars are sounding! The guitars really sound great and that is key to mixing down the road. We really will have to use minimal effects in mixing to get stuff to sound great.

For "Rise" it was nice because we have played that song so many times, that it was easy for us to lay down our parts. Adam quickly laid down his leads and we were ready to move on.

To end the night, we decided to work on Naive. This is a favorite of mine, too. It's very MuteMath-ish, relying on a distorted and delayed wurly riff and minimal guitar work. We listened closely and decided my original keyboard part was good enough, so Adam went to work. Of all our songs, this one is definitely the coolest right now. Adam played all the guitars on this one and did all kinds of cool contrapuntal stuff over 4-5 different guitar parts. It really was cool. We used cleaner tones on the guitars (less distortion), but still got these really big guitar sounds. It really was very, very cool. I came up with a cool rhythm part that moved downward through different inversions of the chords...I couldn't play it though, so Adam pulled it off....it really was freaking cool.

So, we got a lot done. I can't wait for you guys to start hearing this stuff.