Damn I'm Tired.
Well, last night was the first night in the studio with my band.
Officially, we're now called Five Foot Nine.
Because the lead singer and songwriter is 5'9".
No, I wasn't consulted. Eh, whatever. I don't care.
What I DO care about is that I think this album is going to be awesome. Last night was all about laying down "scratch vocals" for the studio musicians we have coming in this week and next, so they know the actual melodies of these songs.
Neal, our producer over at B-Side Studios, is incredibly nice. And really good at what he does. He was really doing a lot of directing, which is really nice for those of us who have never worked on a real record before. Although, I gotta say, I kept thinking about that scene in Boogie Nights with John C. Reilly in the studio helping Dirk record "You've Got the Touch"...and the poor producer putting up with those assholes. Were we that bad? Was I that bad? Jesus, I can hear myself through these goddamned headphones that are creating a vacuum in my ears and making them pop...do I really sound like that??? Dear God.
The good news is that this was just a practice run, and I have a copy of what we did to start really thinking about how I want my parts to sound for real.
The really cool part of the evening was when we got to talking about the philosophy of recording versus playing live. I'm of the opinion that a recording should be pretty close to what a band actually sounds like, and not some over-produced deception. We kind of went round and around as both our singer and Neal tried to convince me that it is ok to use studio performers if the actual band members aren't up to the task of making the album sound good. I completely disagreed because then, THAT'S NOT THE BAND is it? We were agreeing on a bunch of points but there was a disconnect until Neal said the following:
"Well, look, if you guys were signed with Warner Bros., and I was once upon a time with my band, and the studio was putting up all kinds of money for recording, and one of you wasn't playing the way you needed to play, I could say 'You're not ready', and send you away for a couple of weeks until you are.'" And the disconnect was fixed. Ideally, most bands rehearse just as hard fro recording as they do for a live show. We're not necessarily doing much rehearsing, so...we better just get it right away. I realize that there is in fact a huge disconnect in this entire story. However, I didn't get home til midnight last night, I've only had one cup of coffee, and my brain is ground up sushi right now.
So, as soon as this bitch is finished, we'll have a myspace page set up so's y'all can hear the greatness that is Five Foot Nine.
Officially, we're now called Five Foot Nine.
Because the lead singer and songwriter is 5'9".
No, I wasn't consulted. Eh, whatever. I don't care.
What I DO care about is that I think this album is going to be awesome. Last night was all about laying down "scratch vocals" for the studio musicians we have coming in this week and next, so they know the actual melodies of these songs.
Neal, our producer over at B-Side Studios, is incredibly nice. And really good at what he does. He was really doing a lot of directing, which is really nice for those of us who have never worked on a real record before. Although, I gotta say, I kept thinking about that scene in Boogie Nights with John C. Reilly in the studio helping Dirk record "You've Got the Touch"...and the poor producer putting up with those assholes. Were we that bad? Was I that bad? Jesus, I can hear myself through these goddamned headphones that are creating a vacuum in my ears and making them pop...do I really sound like that??? Dear God.
The good news is that this was just a practice run, and I have a copy of what we did to start really thinking about how I want my parts to sound for real.
The really cool part of the evening was when we got to talking about the philosophy of recording versus playing live. I'm of the opinion that a recording should be pretty close to what a band actually sounds like, and not some over-produced deception. We kind of went round and around as both our singer and Neal tried to convince me that it is ok to use studio performers if the actual band members aren't up to the task of making the album sound good. I completely disagreed because then, THAT'S NOT THE BAND is it? We were agreeing on a bunch of points but there was a disconnect until Neal said the following:
"Well, look, if you guys were signed with Warner Bros., and I was once upon a time with my band, and the studio was putting up all kinds of money for recording, and one of you wasn't playing the way you needed to play, I could say 'You're not ready', and send you away for a couple of weeks until you are.'" And the disconnect was fixed. Ideally, most bands rehearse just as hard fro recording as they do for a live show. We're not necessarily doing much rehearsing, so...we better just get it right away. I realize that there is in fact a huge disconnect in this entire story. However, I didn't get home til midnight last night, I've only had one cup of coffee, and my brain is ground up sushi right now.
So, as soon as this bitch is finished, we'll have a myspace page set up so's y'all can hear the greatness that is Five Foot Nine.
posted by LC Greenwood at 7:42 AM
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