Sunday, February 28, 2010

Exploring The Tropics @ Shipwreck Studios

Yesterday we finished up another two day stint at the wonderfully spacious shipwreck studios, with it's cornicopia of wonderful vintage keyboards.......and we didn't use a single one of them. The first day was just our engineer Jonah and I working on recording the lead vocals for a number of songs. Recording vocals can be one of the most frustrating processes because it seems like it could always be better, but we got it done and I'm pretty content with what I did. We also picked from a number of drums, a kit to use for the following day that fit the sound we were going for. Rob joined me on Saturday (that next day i just mentioned) and after a long long time getting everything set up and ready to go, we spent a couple hours recording the rest of the drums that will be on our album. Two songs with Rob behind the kit and two for myself. It was very clear who was the qualified drummer out of the two of us, but we both got the job done, even if I did it in a much messier fashion. With so much down time in the studio I stumbled upon this great video of the Brazilian goliath, Caetano Veloso doing a live cover of Billie Jean and Eleanor Rigby which was pretty awesome (check it out bellow). I've just started reading a book written by him about the Tropicalia art and music movement in Brazil in the late 60s called Tropical Truth: A Story of Music & Revolution in Brazil. It's pretty interesting to read a perspective on modern pop and rock music (among other things) that isn't based out of the US or the UK. His self titled album from 1968 is worth checking out for anyone who is interested. Now we'll be working for a while on recording extra parts outside of the studio until our return in late March. Stay tuned for the progress report. Thanks to everyone that has been supportive of what we've been doing lately.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Rick Wakeman's in Training

We recorded a bunch of keyboards this last weekend. 3 different models I think, although there were so many more to choose from. The songs are sounding more and more full each time we go in (naturally), and it's a pretty nice feeling. Wish I could take a break from school to concentrate on the recording process though. Here is a little wankery to give you an idea of the how we roll in the studio.