the home stretch

STUDIO DAY #14

Back in the studio today. It's good to be back. Now is the time where I start to worry about whether or not we'll get the album done in time. We'll be in the studio every day for the next 8 days (counting today). Todd and Toby assure me we'll get everything done, and I know in the back of mind we're doing just fine. But me being "the artist" - I find it my duty to worry about these things.

We finished doubling vocals for "Overrated" and "It's Not Over" - then finished out the rest of the day doing tambourine parts. This was Toby's domain. Todd bet me $10 that Toby would mention 'Davy Jones Tambourine Camp.' He never did which was kind of a let down. For those of you who don't know who Davy Jones is, go listen to the Monkees (a guilty pleasure for us all).

Tomorrow we'll be tracking some keyboard parts. Joshe Goode of the Josh Goode Band will be laying that down for us. I haven't met him yet, but I'm sure it'll be a good time.

... and we're back?

For some reason Blogger decided to put this blog under suspision of violating their terms of service yesterday, so I was unable to post a new entry. But we're back now so we can get back to business.

Yesterday we started doubling up vocals. This is where you sing certain parts of the song twice so it'll sound thicker in the final mix of the song. I haven't ever done this before and wasn't sure if I could pull it off - the main objective is to sing it almost the exact same way twice - but apparently I did really well at it according to those in the studio. Hurray for that.

After our sessions yesterday Todd and Toby packed up with their band for a mini-tour this next week, so I won't be heading back to the studio until they get back on the 24th. They will be in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois so I encourage you to check them out if you are in the area. DEEP BLUE SOMETHING'S MYSPACE - check it out. I'm sure you remember the song "Breakfast at Tiffany's" - well, that's them.

For the next week I will be doing some home recording, and also listening to a rough mix CD of the songs we have been working on. If I accomplish anything at home I'll be sure to post it. I've been messing around with a cover of Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed." Maybe I'll share it with you soon.



UNTIL NEXT TIME!!

rockin' the suburbs

STUDIO DAY #12

Finished up with electric guitar parts as of right now. If we think of something we want to add later, so be it, but at the moment it's time to move on. Tomorrow we will try our hand at harmony parts for the vocals. This was something I always felt the last album lacked in, so this time around it's gonna get done right!

I'm still trying to figure out what will come of the bonus disc for Brighter Side. It might be an "Acoustic Sessions vol.2" as I mentioned before, but I also thought of the idea of putting together a bonus CD while on the road from August - November. I thought it might be cool to compile recordings done in hotel rooms, live shows, and then also extra tracks from the Brighter Side sessions. There's also the possibility of doing a DVD. I'm interested to know what you guys would like for a bonus disc. I want to give you the most bang for your buck once the album is released. let me know...

bringing out the goods

STUDIO DAY #11

Today we started tracking electric guitar parts for the album. I brought in a couple of my own electrics, which was nice because one of them I haven't used much since 2003.

Songs worked on today :
Beautiful Girls
Overrated
It's Not Over
One Way Road
Sunrise
Giving It All To You.

Other than that there's not too much to report. My cousin John came to visit for a little bit. Later in the day Toby and Todd and I had discussed certain things wrong with the music industry.


Enjoy the weekend and I'll see ya Monday

so... go green?

STUDIO DAY #10

We finished up vocals today and we are getting ready to rock the electric guitar tomorrow. Today would have been an un-interesting day to film, but luckily we had a visitor come in named Jesse. I never met the guy until today, but Todd took it upon himself to interview Jesse for the blog. Without any warning, Jesse deemed it a good time to discuss his thoughts on politics, needless to say he's voting "Green" .. and why? Because... they're... about green?

big wheels keep on turnin'

STUDIO DAY #9

I'm starting to find it difficult to report things other than "the drums are done" - "the bass is done" - "we are working on vocals now" - "vocals are almost done" but surprisingly that's pretty much how things are going at the moment. Todd mentioned today that the album has actually been annoyingly easy so far, which is a GOOD thing. A lot of bands go into the studio un-prepared which can cause difficulties in the album making process. I started writing songs for this album about two years ago so I've had some time to get to know them pretty well. We're knocking them out without any problems, but I don't want to jinx us - hopefully we don't run into any problems.

Vocals are almost complete. We have three more to finish tomorrow and then we'll start adding the extra stuff that will fill out the record (electric guitar, keys, background vocals, etc...)

One of the songs we tracked today is called 'The Good Life,' which I actually started about four years ago. I never finished it because I couldn't ever think of a chorus for some reason. Low and behold, a month or so ago I finished it and is now ready for pop music super smash hit stardom. For the hardcore fans of 'Better With You', this one knocks it out of the park.

Enjoy the video and the "bonus" footage at the end...

the emoto-transformer 3000

STUDIO DAY #8

We started vocals today, which means all eyes are on me. If my vocals aren't good, the whole record goes down the tanker. I've decided to skip over my worries by purchasing the emoto-transformer 3000. A new piece of studio gear where all you have to do is speak the words and then program the melody in the computer and choose which emotion you want to convey in the song, and you are all set with perfect pitch! Just kidding, I made that up. I will not be pulling any cheap stunts like that - you get the real deal baby!

Anyway, we tracked vocals for Who You Are, One Way Road, Beautiful Girls, Giving It All To You, and started on Here. As we started to work on Here I realized I was getting rather hungry, as I had previously informed Todd and Toby my interest in eating a Chicken Fried Steak. My two PB&J sandies and bag of Sun Chips didn't hold me over throughout the day as I had planned.

I do realize my lunch menu is a normal part of my recording blogs, but I should stress that food is an important part of my day. I like it, it tastes good. It makes me work better. It also fills in space for the worded portion of these blogs :)