The Liquid Casing Recording Way of Truth and Justice

Another take for Jim, with his prized Staalsen "Stet" bass.

Got some more recording done.  It feels great to keep chipping away at the new album.  Jim fixed some of his bass lines to a song called "An End to a Means".  This brings me to the Liquid Casing approach to recording. Our approach is basically, record the four of us playing together, essentially live.  I think this is so very important to get the most energetic sounds.  I deeply believe that if you can hear your brethren rocking out and hitting their stride, it brings the best out of your own playing.  However, the downside is that you tend to foresake a bit of perfection.  This is especially a big deal for us, since a lot of our songs are lengthy (i.e. > 5 minutes).  Playing "perfect" for a long time becomes nearly impossible.  There will be squeaks and nicks and oddities and dogs barking (don't ask).  I deal with this by isolating all of the different instruments using three different rooms (big room for drums, small ones for guitar, sax).  Once, we have recorded several takes, we will go back and listen for the best take with the most energy and feel.  Then, I will listen very closely to all of the instruments and look for any peculiarities that stick out and become distractions from the song.  From there, we can go and punch in fixes to the small imperfections.  The idea is that fixing these small distractions does not impede the feel or energy of the live take.  After all of the little things have been touched up, then we add/overdub additional instrumentation to meet the vision of the song.  Sometimes this means a ton of guitars layered, other times it is orchestra stuff, synthesizers, or a room full of monkeys (there is a song somewhere that needs 'em).  The last thing I add are the vocals since they need to be able to sit properly in the mix with everything else.  In a future post, I will go through some of the recording setup and geek out on that shit, which will likely bore EVERYONE.  I can't wait!

The New Album Begins...So Much Uncertainty!

We are still in the beginning stages of recording the new album.  Anytime we start this process, there is just so much uncertainty about what the finished album will be like.  Will it match up to our own expectations?  Do the songs really represent a leap forward?  Is it going to sound OK?  I think I drive myself crazy sometimes thinking about that non-sense.  It's only heightened by the fact that Liquid Casing does EVERYTHING for each album.  Writing, arranging, producing, recording, mixing, mastering, scheduling, artwork, printing, folding, and cutting those fucking little annoying u-cards for the CD trays.  I know that in each little area, I want the new album to be better than the last.  (That's right, the next U-card is going to beat the shit out of the one from An Empty Sparking Light.)   The only way to stop thinking about the uncertainty of what the new album will bring, is just to put our heads down and start doing it.  At some point, we might look up and realize, this is starting to make sense and the vision has become clear.  Unfortunately, we're just starting and there is a long road ahead.  But, on the bright side, I like the songs we are playing, and we've played most of them live, so it's not a mystery as to what works.