off to the studio

[phatduckk]

off to the studio (MP3s POSTED)

I'm off to my first studio session with my MM basses in about 7 hours. (f*** i should sleep). we're gonna try and pound out about 4 songs this weekend.

i still havent decided which bass to use so i guess im gonna take both the ray and sterling ...

wish me luck.

with some luck ill have some mp3s to post by monday

 

[Morrow]

have fun. Take both basses

 

[phatduckk]

after 4 hours of tuning the damn drums we finally started tracking ....

I eneded up playing the bass for 7 hours before i started putting the bass on tape. i was tired as hell. the sound guy f'ed up my tone and i couldnt wait to leave.

I guess we'll see how it sounds after mixing, but im pretty damn disappointed.

 

[nismaniac]

after 4 hours of tuning the damn drums we finally started tracking ....

I eneded up playing the bass for 7 hours before i started putting the bass on tape. i was tired as hell. the sound guy f'ed up my tone and i couldnt wait to leave.

I guess we'll see how it sounds after mixing, but im pretty damn disappointed.

I'm sorry to hear you are disapointed. I have done a few albums with my band and let me tell you, don't leave unhappy with your sound. You are paying good money and spending your time to get a product that you need to be happy with. You are going to have to live with that recording for awhile so while you are there, get it done the way you like it. I believe the band should be in charge of the way the recording sounds so don't let the engineer talk you into a sound you don't want. I hope it works out for you.


P.S. If you can't get it worked out with him, leave and find somewhere else to record.

 

[shaver]

yeh serisly, stay untill he makes it right... think of it this way, if an studio enginer can make a bass sound like an airplane or anytihng else computers and effects can do, he can defenitly make it sound like a bass, and to your pleasing.

and if he cant, track your bass at a different studio but keep the stuff the other guys did there. now, studios can send other studios tracking takes for mixing or recording.

 

[phatduckk]

well ... its all done now.
I definately agree with you guys re: staying untill youre happy with how it turns out. main problem is time ... we really wanted to start and finish this weekend. plus, its really not the engineers fault that our drummer swapped a million snares and kick drums paddle things

now that im listening the final mix im pretty stoked about it ... my bass actually sounds pretty nice (i used the sterling).

there are 2 spots i dont like ... but for a low-cost weekend demo i can live with it
1) we're off time (drummer f'ed up & we didnt catch it)
2) we all slow down down on the 2nd verse of a song, but were all in time

ill post some mp3s pretty soon

 

[JB1]

I think 4 in a weekend is ambitious man, but it's all part of learning.

We tried doing 3 the first time we recorded & it was a rush job. Next time we went in we set up on Sat (drums again!), recorded 2 tracks on Sun, then spent weekday eves mixing/mastering etc. Worked well for us.

We decided that this approach would put less pressure on us/engineer, even if it did cost a bit more and we'd be happier with the end result, which we are.

Look fwd to the mp3's.

 

[Ben Clarke]

Often, musicians think their sound is crap when tracking, only to find that the experienced engineer was right, and it sounds great when mixed with the other tracks.

Other times, the engineer sucks, and makes you sound like crap. Such is life.

Keep at it. As your band becomes more familiar with the process, you will become more efficient.

 

[shaver]

glad it turned out alright... yeh 4 songs in a weekend is ruff... i remember my band did a full length (10 tracks) in like 4 days.... my god that was hell, but alota of fun too... i still dont know how we did it.

 

[MingusBASS]

Ahhh Recording! At my school I am in a Studio Recording class where we have to learn a new song and record it during the class time. We use about an hour to learn the form of the song and write charts(Nashville numbering system) and to decide an arrangment. Then we use the remaining 3 hours to record the song. We play all styles and all levels of difficulty. We mostly do original songs written by local song writers but occasionly we do a standard. I love the class but it can be really stressful to get the song done in the time we are given. Luckily everyone comes to the session ready to work hard(only a sellect few are chosen to be in this class and I'm the only bass player.) My teacher is Mike Elliot an amazing studio guitar ace that has played with whos who in music. A hard class but I know that when I get done I'll be able to go into the "real world" of sessions and hold my own. Plus the studio is where the real money is for working musicians. Unless you are a rock star you'll make way more in the studio then playing out.

 

[phatduckk]

glad it turned out alright... yeh 4 songs in a weekend is ruff... i remember my band did a full length (10 tracks) in like 4 days.... my god that was hell, but alota of fun too... i still dont know how we did it.

my last band (from 2 years ago) did 12 songs in 1 day
we played live, ovcerdubbed guitar solos, then vox, then backups, rough mix ... it came out pretty decent

 

[Morrow]

It's nice to have some pre-production worked out so you can make the most of your time but most of the sessions that I have done have been situations where you learned the song just before it was recorded.

 

[phatduckk]

OK ... so I've got the MP3s online for you guys to check out.

As far as gear goes:
- All the tracks were recorded with my Sterling thru Ampeg SVT CL w/ 2x10 + 4x10 ...
- at the last minute i cooked up a wah/distortion intro and ended up using a MIM Jazz for that (i was too lazy to walk to the other room to grab my bass ).

OK ... so here's the links for the 4 songs. They're far from perfect, but i'm pretty happy with it and hell, it was fun to do. Enjoy:

Let the Fools Die
Attention
Black Pearls
Starfish​

 

[oldbluebassman]

Bass sounds pretty good to me. Are you a UK band?

 

[phatduckk]

Bass sounds pretty good to me. Are you a UK band?

ya ... i ended up pretty happy with teh bass sound after the mix etc ...

nope .. i'm not in the UK, I'm in california

 

[oldbluebassman]

nope .. i'm not in the UK, I'm in california

OK. It was just that your vocalist sounded like he came from the SE of England. I must confess that singing does disguise accents. Now you'll tell me was born and bred in California.

 

[phatduckk]

OK. It was just that your vocalist sounded like he came from the SE of England. I must confess that singing does disguise accents. Now you'll tell me was born and bred in California.

yup he is