Somewhere in Between

Working (Posing) Really Hard for the New Album

The record is well underway now.  We have 4 songs pretty much all recorded, including: "Checkpoints and Borders", "An End to a Means", "Fingerprint Armada", and "Surrounded".  It has taken quite a bit of work just to get to this point, but in the scheme of things we are just about 30-40% of the way there.  Even those songs are by no means completed, though the major recording for them is done (basic tracks plus overdubs, vocals, animal tracks, harps, bitchin' solos!, etc.).  There is some cool percussion sounds missing, a couple "oohs" and "aaahs" and "doo-waps" that still need to find their way into the recording (or maybe not). 

Our recording setup (yeah, it's about to get geeky here) is nothing really special, but we put in some forethought to help make the recording process more about capturing an awesome performance and less about the hardware and software; equipment and dials.  Since recording our previous album, An Empty Sparking Light, we have moved to a computer based recording system.  We had used stand-alone recording hardware and mixers, but moving back and forth between monitoring and playback was always a buzz killer.  Pre and post setup was a pain too.  For the longest time, we had used Reason by Propellerhead for our live synth/keyboard sounds. We were really comfortable with its interface, sounds, and reliability.   Propellerhead then folded in a total audio production capability as part of Reason, which made it a no-brainer for us to move to Reason for our recording software.  We now use a Tascam US-2000 audio interface, a critical tool because we record all of us together and it lets us record 16 tracks simultaneously.  We use 14 tracks just for basic tracking, because John's drum setup uses 9 individual mics, leaving 5 to split between sax, bass, and guitar.  On the snare drum, I use either an Octava MC012 condenser mic or a basic Shure SM57.  For the all of the toms, I use sennheiser e609 flat capsule mics.  I had previously used the e609s for guitar, but holy shit, they kick as on toms.  Collecting enough e609s for all of John's toms was daunting.  Drum overheads use AT2020s (cost effective large diaphragm condenser mic). !! GEEK OVERLOAD WARNING!!  For guitars, I use the sennheiser e906 (an improvement over the e609) and a groove tube condenser mic. The combination of those two mics in the mixdown makes the guitars sound HUGE! We use a wide spectrum (read: mainly cheap) of individual preamps (bellari, pre-sonus, and a wonderful UA 610), but beefed up some top notch vacuum tubes.  It has taken us awhile to figure out how to record the sax properly.  We dual mic the sax using a Blue Baby Bottle condenser mic in front over the sax (not too high), and then use an AT4040 (really pleasant darker sound) off-angle towards the side of the sax.  !! FULL-ON GEEK CORE MELTDOWN!!! The combination allows us to blend in the right amount awesomeness in Okiki's sax. For the bass, we go direct from the amp to the Tascam interface.  Jim has three different amps to work with, so we get a different set of sounds, but I really love this Electro-Harmonix tube pre-amp pedal that he uses to dial-in a little grit and some roundness to his bass tones.  ?!?IS ANYONE STILL READING THIS SHIT?!?  I figure everyone has either killed the internet at this point or fallen asleep, so I will stop here.  But, there is a whole other world after the recording in making sounds within Reason to bring all of these recordings to life including effects, processing, eq, everything.  I am always trying to learn new approaches or methods to recording, mixing, mastering, so we can make this album the best it can be.  Sorry for geeking out a bit, though I did warn you last time.

The next post will be, uh, readable and focus on the songs, lyrics and ideas themselves that will form the basis of the next album. 

-Alvaro

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.