Conference napalm::guitar

2505.0. "My Day In The Studio, by Alan Starr" by DPE::STARR (Red Wine and Whiskey) Mon Apr 20 1992 14:24

I guess you could call this a "book report" of the time I spent last weekend 
in the studio. Greg House and Tom Gallo both asked me to "keep notes" on
what happened (and how/why/when) for future reference, and I thought some
of this might be of interest to others as well. Please note that this is my
first time recording in a "real" studio, so I may be repeating things that
others find totally obvious. On the other hand, I may leave out some glaring
details, so feel free to ask me anything about the experience.

First off, some background: My band, See No Evil, needed to go into the studio
to make a half-decent demo tape. We're a cover band, and needed something to
pass out to club owners/managers and agents. Previously, we had been using
a rough 4-track recording that was done in our rehearsal space, and it was
rather shaky (although at the time we thought it was good! 8^). The aim of
the session was to cover 5-6 songs, recording only about 60-90 seconds of 
each song, in order to create a 8-10 minute medley.

BASIC STUDIO INFO
-----------------
Studio: West Sound Studios
	14 Sherwood Rd.
	Londonderry, NH 
	603-434-3676

Producer/Engineer/Co-Owner: Mike West

16-Track 1" Tascam recorder with outboard dbx, a 32-channel Tascam board 
(w/16-channel sub-mixer on it). Bunch of outboard gear, but some of the most
used were (3) Yamaha SPX-90II and (2) Yamaha REV-5. He also has a lot of
MIDI/keyboard stuff available, which we didn't use. 

COSTS
-----
Studio Time (10.5 hrs. @ 22.50/hr)	$236.25
Tape cost (one reel of 3M 1" tape)	  78.00
DATs (2 @ 13.50 each)			  27.00
					-------
Total					$341.25

BEFORE GOING IN
---------------
One of the biggest problems most bands have in the studio is lack of 
preparation. Its something that we tried very hard to avoid, and for the most
part we were successful. For several weeks before the actual recording, we
were playing the pieces of songs that were planning on recording over and
over. We made a tape of those exact 8 minutes we wanted to capture, and the
guys would go home and listen to them and play along with them. We figured
out all our weak spots, and worked on them. And just basically really 
tightened up the songs, so we could play them in our sleep by the time
we go there.

Also, some basic stuff - all the guitars were intonated the night before, and
had new strings on them (including the bass). The drummer was recommended to
have new heads put on (pinstripes preferred). Although he didn't put new
heads on, the ones on there were in good shape so it was ok.

TIME BREAKDOWN
--------------
9:30-10:00am - free load-in time, off the clock
10:00-11:00am - miking the drums
11:00-noon - miking the guitars and bass, getting setup with headphones, etc.
noon-2:20pm - recording basic tracks for 4 (of 5) songs
2:20-3:20pm - lunch break (off the clock)
3:20-5:30pm - recording basic tracks for last song, adding leads (and acoustic
              guitar track) for all songs. Also, breakdown and loadout of 
              drums (and amps, once finished with them).
5:30-7:00pm - recording vocals (in empty drum room)
7:00-9:15 - mixing the songs down to DAT
9:15-9:50 - making cassette copies, cleaning up, billing, etc.

MIKING THE EQUIPMENT
--------------------
I paid special attention to the miking of the various pieces of equipment,
since this is something that people are always interested in. The drums 
were first to be done, and took about an hour to set up. 

On the BASS DRUM, Mike had an AKG D212 mike inside the bass drum, and he took 
the head off the front. 

On the SNARE, he attached an EV N/D408 mike directly to the snare, and placed 
it right above the lip of the snare. He also had to place some sort of muffler
on the snare, because it was ringing a bit too much, After that, it sounded
real fine.

For the three TOMs (2 rack mounted and one floor tom), he used Sennheiser mikes 
(not sure of the model number) - all were placed about �" above each tom, at 
about a 45� angle. 

For the HI-HAT, he used a Shure SX12-48 (I think that's what it was!), and
just had it pointed horizontally towards the hi-hat, about level with the
hi-hat cymbals when its closed. 

And for the cymbals, he used an AKG 414 for one of them, and one Nuemann U87A 
for the other two (each placed about 4-6 inches above the cymbals). 

BTW, I should mention that the drums were in an isolation booth by themselves.

Each of the two guitars had their own isolation room. Dave Ickes' Boogie was
miked by an EV RE20, and Jack Barrier's Fender Twin was miked by a Yamaha
MZ204. On Dave's Boogie, the mike was placed about a foot in front of the
amp, pointed directly at it. For Jack's Twin, the mike was also pointed 
straight at it, but only about 6" out.

The bass was run directly into the board.

GENERAL RECORDING INFO
----------------------
First off, it should be noted that ALL instruments were recorded as dry as
possible, and effects added later. The guitars only had distortion on them,
and there was a bit of noise gating and compression on the drums, but that 
was about it. Everything else was added in mixdown. For Dave Ickes, that 
meant that he ended up abandoning his GSP-21, and going straight from his 
guitar into the Boogie.

The band recorded their basic tracks live, with the two guitars, bass, and
the drums all playing together. With the exception of the drummer, the rest
of us were all in one room. Everything was heard through the headphones, 
and I sang a guide vocals to go along with the music. There was also a click
track that was sent to us from the control room, which helped us out with 
the timing (and would allow us to go back and overdub the drums later, if
we needed to, which luckily we didn't).

Also, we tuned every instruments after every take! This was important, to 
keep everything sounding *just right*. Even being a tiny bit off made a really
big difference in the sound, and we had to go back and redo a couple parts
because someone was slightly out of tune.

All the instruments volumes were kept ALL the way up, at ALL times during the
recording process. I don't know why this was (shoulda asked!), but I know
Mike reminded and asked us several times to make sure the volume knobs were
all the way up on all the guitars. (Maybe its because he simply didn't want
us changing volume levels on him partway into recording, maybe there's some
other reason, I don't know....)

We worked on one song at a time, which means that we would get down a basic
track that we were happy with first. Then go back and punch in overdubs and
leads, and also re-record any tracks that had glaring errors. It turns out
that on each take, there was at least one guitar track to be re-done. For
the most part, we tried to get a good rhythm section take, and then redo the
guitars if needed.

THE SONGS
---------
Hard To Handle - This was the first song we did, and it took a few takes to
realize that the distortion was too thick on Dave Ickes guitar. After we
cut that back some, it was much better. Word of advice - a guitar that sounds
really good alone might sound terrible when mixed in with the band. Many 
times, you don't need a TON of distortion to get a good rockin' guitar tone.
Other than that, nothing special about this song really, pretty 
straightforward. No solos or anything.

Jenny Jenny (867-5309) - This was a touch more involved, because there were
three guitar parts instead of just two. But for the most part, it was no big
deal. We ended up getting a good rhythm section track, then going back and
re-recording all the guitars one at a time.

Bad Case Of Loving You - The problem with this song was again the guitar 
tones. This time around, Jack didn't have *enough* distortion on his guitar, 
it was too clean. We ended up going back and having re-cut his track, using
his guitar through Dave's Boogie. 

Cold Shot - We sort of whipped this one out real quick, before heading off to
lunch. Only took about 3 takes, and then the guitar lead was overdubbed later.

Wonderful Tonight - The most intricate of the songs, this is the only one 
which used all 16 tracks. There were four different guitar parts on here - 
two different rhythms (one picking the chords, the other simulated the organ
by playing double-stops), then the lead guitar, and finally an acoustic guitar
(doubling the picking rhythm). At first, we thought there was no reason to 
add the acoustic guitar in there, but then Mike suggested that we should do
it anyways. Luckily that happened, because the final mix sounds *fantastic*
with the acoustic in there! The acoustic (an Ovation Balladeer) was recorded 
in an isolation room, with the Neumman U87A mike placed about a foot or so 
in front of the soundhole. No signal was taken from the built-in pickup.

VOCALS
------
We knew vocals were going to be the key to a good tape, and we were also aware
that our background harmony vocals are the weakest part of the band. Because
of that, we specifically picked songs and sections of songs that minimized
the need for intricate harmony work. None of the pieces had more than one
harmony line to them, and we kept them pretty simple for the most part.

Hard To Handle - This one was a two-take effort, and I was really surprised at
how fast it was done. (I guess I expected to spend a lot more time on vocals
than we ended.) After two takes, we just had to punch in one line on the 
chorus, and it was done. No background vocals.

Jenny Jenny (867-5309) - Again, another quick one. I think this one was done 
in just one take, with no punch-ins. There were two background vocals parts
here - one is a harmony part during the verse, which was sung by Dave Nelson.
The other is the answering vocal during the chorus, which was sung by both
Dave Nelson and myself. This was done in two takes, with both of us singing
together live.

Bad Case of Loving You - I must have been getting cocky, after getting the
first two songs in one or two takes, because this one suddenly gave me all
sorts of problems. But I think mostly because my vocals weren't loud enough 
in my headphone mix, so I couldn't hear myself well. After a terrible first
take, I thought this one might give me problems, so I decided to save my 
voice and go on to the other songs. After doing "Cold Shot", we came back
to this one, and I was able to do a half-decent job the first time through.
We ended up punching in a couple lines that were a little sharp at the end
of the chorus, but nothing too bad. We then wanted to add a harmony to the
chorus, which was usually sung by Dave Ickes when we play it live. 
Unfortunately, it was tough for Dave to right in and sing that line, without
any warmups or anything, and he was having a tough time. I ended up giving it
a go, but it was touch too high for me to sing. In the long run, we ended up
slowing the tape down a touch, to drop the song a full step, and then I was
able to sing the harmony part no problem. Since we didn't actually slow the 
tape down that much, it didn't sound too Chipmunky when we sped it back up.

Cold Shot - I'm not sure, but I think this was another two-take song. I do
remember that I was singing and incorrect word, and had to go back and re-do
it again because of that! Again, nothing fancy though, and this went pretty
quick.

Wonderful Tonight - again, the most difficult of the songs we did. For some
reason, its much easier to sing on-key when you're shouting out and really
letting it rip, rather than singing quietly (or at least it is for me, I 
dunno if that;s a general rule or not). After two tries through, we decided
to record this one line at a time (yup! ONE line at a time!), so we could
get it just right. It took a bit of coaching from Mike to help me out, and
point out exactly where I was singing sharp (again with the sharp! I thought
most singers sang flat! Not me though...,.. I gotta be different!). After
doing the first and second line individually, I had a better feel for the
pitch, and was able to complete the verse all the way through. Then the bridge
had to be done several times also, trying to get it just right. This was sort
of a real pain, but Mike was patient with me and helped me through it. For
background vocals, we just added a single vocal singing "ooooh", to replicate
the album. This wasn't as bad as I feared, and actually was done in either one 
or two takes.

MIXING
------
Well, here's the critical part of the whole process - putting it all together!
To my surprise, the actual mixing of instrument levels took minimal time. Once 
they were set up, they pretty much stayed the same for all the mixes. But
the part that took all the time was adding in all the effects on different
instruments! Boy, what a pain!!!

This section is going to be mostly generalities, since I wasn't able to 
remember all the setting and effects Mike used on everything. For the most
part, the only things that Mike played with a lot were the reverbs (mostly
on the snare), and certain effects specific effects we wanted on the guitars
or vocals for each song. 

The first thing I have to mention - learn how to use something called Pitch
Modulation!!! This was used to a GREAT extent to help fill out the vocals 
and some of the guitar parts. What this basically does is takes the original
signal and duplicates it twice, one just above and once just below the pitch
of the original signal. This does three things - first, each of the two 
altered pitches are panned left and right, helping with the stereo imaging.
Second, it makes the vocals sound much more full and, well, for lack of a 
better word, more "professional" sounding. And third, it helps hide the 
little pitch variations in the vocals, which might show up otherwise. I guess
this effect has a touch of the "fix it in the mix" to it.

So - all the vocals were sent through pitch modulation. Some more than others, 
depending upon the effect we were looking for. For example, "Bad Case Of 
Loving You" is heavily modified, while "Cold Shot" is hardly touched at all,
so it retains that personal warmth that SRV had on the original. The 
background vocals were also fed through the pitch modulation, and usually had
a bunch of reverb thrown on them, so they sounded a bit "airy". Again, this
helped hide some of the inferiorities of the background vocals, making us
sound much better than we probably are!

When there were distorted guitars, these were pretty much left alone, except
for some basic reverb added to them. On the clean guitars, there was sometimes 
some pitch modulation, usually some chorus, and reverb. Also, on "Cold Shot",
we added some flange to the guitar (to help simulate an organ sound that's
on the record).

For the leads, it was pretty much the same as the other guitar parts, except
that there was some delay added on. (I should note that I was surprised that
delay wasn't used that much as an effect, it was mostly reverb and pitch 
modulation, and some chorus. Delays were not used much at all!)

Unfortunately, I didn't notice much else in the way of effects. I particularly 
wished I had noticed more EQ stuff, and more compression setting. But by
this time I had been there about 12 hours, and was starting to get pretty
beat! 

The first songs took about a half-hour to mix down, the following ones each
took about 20 minutes. Dave Ickes and I were the only ones to stay for the 
complete mixdown. For the most part, we just let Mike do the work, and then
we would make comments for suggestions. There were some minor things we
pointed out to him (certain effects we wanted, bringing up the snare a bit 
in "Bad Case Of Loving You", etc.), but for the most part he knew what we
wanted and was able to get the results on his own. I suppose it probably 
helped that we were doing cover songs, since he already knew what the 
originals sounded like.

SUMMATION
---------
Overall, we were incredibly pleased with the result, and the entire 
experience. For a minimal price, we were able to get a pretty high-quality
demo tape that we should be able to use to a variety of gigs. If it even
helps us get ONE show, it will pay for itself!

I truly believe that the recording was a success for two reasons: our 
preparations, and Mike West. 

We spent a LOT of time getting ready for this session, carefully mapping out
exactly what we wanted to accomplish, and practicing the parts to death. We
walked in there fully prepared, both musically and equipment-wise, and there
was no lost time. This was important, since we had a LOT to do, and we had
very little time to waste. As it was, we went over our allotted time by about 
a half-hour, but that was no big deal. But if we had been less prepared,
this session wouldn't have been nearly as successful.

And the other reason was Mike West himself. I gotta hand it to him, he really
knew what he was doing! The studio is right in his home, and he works there
full-time, usually 6-7 days a week. This is a big advantage, because he REALLY 
knows the equipment he's working with. There's no fumbling around with stuff
he's not familiar with, there's no wasted time on his part. He sits there and
twists knobs, and dials in sounds, all without a second thought, like the board
and the gear were an extension of himself. Also, he really know the rooms and
how miking things will sound, so we allowed him to dial in whatever tones he
wanted on the guitars and stuff. That worked out fine, again, because he knew
what he was doing. I guess we took a chance on allowing him so much freedom
to control our sound, but in this case were lucky enough that it all worked
out well. 

So - there's the key to a good recording. Good preparation, and a good 
engineer/producer! Keep that in mind, that both of those things are equally 
important. Before you step foot in that studio, you should have clearly
defined goals, and have a plan to reach them. (We had everything timed
out beforehand exactly, and came very close to sticking with those time!)
And make sure you get an engineer who knows his work, and knows the studio.
It will save invaluable time and energy.

Hope this all helps (anyone who got this far)! I know there's a lot of stuff
in here, some is probably good info, some is probably gibberish. If I think
of any more things that I've forgotten, I'll try and post an addendum. And
as I mentioned up top, feel free to ask any questions of me about any step
in the process, I'll try and answer as best I can!

alan

    
    	Alan, just a quick reply to you note. My band(New Venture) was 
    	recently in West Sound Studio also, we need to put together the 
    	audit for your video. Much like your demo to club owners/managers
    	we need a video for entertainment agents and prospective brides.  
    	
    	This is the second time we've worked with Mike West. I  highly
    	recommend him to anyone that is looking to put a quality product
    	together for minimum bucks. As you said Alan, Mike knows his stuff, 
    	has a pleasant personality and is more then willing to make and listen 
    	to suggestions. 
    
    	

    Great book report Alan!
    
    Could the reason for the instrument volumes being all the way up be
    related to getting the maximum 'tone'?  I know with a guitar volume
    pot, when you back it off, you tend to lose some of the high-end...
    The other reason, as you stated, is probably so input levels stay
    consistent.
    
    In your opinion, how many full songs could you have completed in the
    same amount of time assuming:  1.) You were as prepared, and; 2.) The
    songs were originals that Mike had never heard...
    
    joe.

I'm curious too Alan - When you say "all the way up" do you mean
like "On 10!".  I wouldn't to be in the same COUNTY !!  Ouch !!

Is this the norm for studio work ??

jc (In pain thinking about it)

    re: Coop
    
    He was referring the the volume on the guitar, not the volume on the
    amp.
    
    Greg

    
    
    
    		I'll bet the reason Mike wanted the instruments up
    	full was to minimize the musicians influence on recording 
    	levels.  It's hard enough for someone to play very consistent
    	throughout a 3 or 4 minute song....What is a real bummer is
    	when the levels and eq(if any) are set for one input signal
    	and then someone ends up turning there quitar up mid-take.
    
    		Just blows the track all to hell.   Some people even
    	tape the pots wide open.

    >		I'll bet the reason Mike wanted the instruments up
    >	full was to minimize the musicians influence on recording 
    >	levels.  
    
    Actually, it has more to do with the tone produced from those passive
    circuits installed in most electric guitars.  To achieve the best tone
    to tape, both the volume and tone controls must be on full (which is
    flat, btw).  Anything below 10 is actually rolling off from "0".
    

    Would not maxing the volume also provide the greatest pickup signal
    in relation to any external noise generated by cables/electronics?
    I imagine the net effect would be to minimize unwanted noise.

Boy Greg, I hope you're right.  :)

The volume and tone on yur guitar I can see... Makes more sense.
:)

    What happens if you depend on use of the guitar volume to change your
    sound as part of the music you're playing?  For instance, I have a
    softer passage in one of my songs, and I roll the volume off on the
    guitar to reduce the amount of distortion during that part and
    gradually increase it as it goes into the next section.  I don't like
    the abrupt change induced by switching channels.
    
    How is that going to record?
    
    Greg

                We just overdubbed those types of things.

    Did he also tell you to replace the volume knob with one that went
    to 20?

re: .2 (Joe)

>  In your opinion, how many full songs could you have completed in the
>   same amount of time assuming:  1.) You were as prepared, and; 2.) The
>   songs were originals that Mike had never heard...

I would imagine that you could get three full songs done, if you were fully
prepared. You're obviously going to lose some time, in the fact that you're
recording longer pieces of music. But on the other hand, you gain a little
time in recording and mixing. We used a bunch of time re-setting our tones
and stuff for each song, which you wouldn't have to do. And once a mix was
set for a particular song, it wouldn't change as the song continued (there
was no mixing on the fly here), so that's at least two less mixing setups
you'll have to do (maybe more, since the mix might be very similar on all
three song you do).

alan

    
    FWIW, I've heard Alan's tape and it was good, very good.
    
    The vocals sounded very professional, with just the right
    amount of processing. 
    
    I'd be very happy with this tape. 
    
    

    We played the tape last night at our band practice.
    
    The tape sounded good, and the performances were good.
    
    Only negatives I remember were that I thought a couple of the pieces
    seemed a tad too slow and the drums were mixed too high although they
    SOUNDED great.
    
    But that's in ultra-picky mode.  I think prospective clients would
    be very impressed with that tape.
    
    I would also mention that you got a very good deal if all you spent
    was around $300.  

This guy comes highly recommended from some friends, and I've
heard his product - GREAT work...

Name:  		Americus Audio
Engineer:       Jim Barber
Format:		8 track R2R  (Tascam 48)
Price:		$15/hour (Includes couple hours set up for free)
Mixer:		Tascam M320B (20x4x4x2)
Outboard:	Lexicon LXP1
		Yamaha R1000
 		Effectron II
		Yamaha SPX90
		BBE Sonic Maximizer
		DBX150X
		DBX Stereo gating
                (Lots more!!)

Mixdown:	Cassette (Nakamichi)
		DAT (Tascam DA30)
		

Comments:	8 tunes for approx. $200.
		Free tape
		Video monitoring and a tape !!
		

    I used to play in a band with two of Mike West's brothers and spent
    quite a bit of time doing work in their studio. I'm still in touch with
    them and will certainly be heading back there when I'm ready to throw 
    down my originals. I'm really glad to hear people recommending them 
    because they not only know their stuff, but are also really nice
    people. It's hard to find a studio where the prices are very
    reasonable, and the engineer does not waste time just so he can squeeze
    a few more bucks out of you.
    
    Ross 

I'd like to grab Alans topic here too.

A little background on my band also, just so ya know:

HardBall is a contempory pop metal band.  We do 80% covers of "old metal"
(AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Nazareth, Juda Priest etc), and covers of "new stuff" 
(Metallica, Shotgun Messiah, Alice In Chains, Tora Tora, Guns n Roses etc...).
We're four piece and we're vocally intensive (means we all sing).  We write
some original material when we can come to terms with our schedule.  We're
based in Colorado Springs and play the local heavy metal bar circuit here, 
and in Pueblo (soon in Denver too).

Like Alans band, we'd had a rough four track demo we did at our rehearsal
studio, and thought it was pretty happenin'...heh-heh; I stand corrected.
Anyway, we decided that we'd kill two birds with one stone.  We started 
planning a trip to the studio to get a 4 song "demo" and a 4 song "ep"
that we could sell at our shows.

Here's what we ended up with.


                                Studio Review

Name:  		Americus Audio
Engineer:       Jim Barber
Format:		8 track R2R  (Tascam 48)
Price:		$15/hour (Includes couple hours set up)
Mixer:		Tascam M320B (20x4x4x2)
Outboard:	Lexicon LXP1
		Yamaha R1000
 		Effectron II
		TC 2290
		Yamaha SPX90
		BBE Sonic Maximizer
		DBX150X
		DBX Gating
		

Mixdown:	Cassette (Nakamichi)
		DAT (Tascam DA30)
		

Comments:	8 tunes for approx. $200.
		Stereo drums (2 tracks)
		Free tape
		Two free DAT's
		Two free cassettes
		Video monitoring and a tape !!
		

Here's how it's going:

Night 1

We arrived at 17:00 and unloaded our gear and staged in the garage.
First thing we noticed is that the drum room was way to small for our
drummer (Casey) and his kit.  He has 16pc Yamaha Custom...Of course, he 
only brought a 6pc sub-set...But the bass drum is HUGE...  After trying to
make him fit we ended up setting him up in the garage.

Drums were recorded onto two tracks of the TASCAM.  Kick drum (single, with
double pedal) was miked with an Audio Technica ATM25.  The mike was "in" the
drum. Highhat was miked with a EV PL6.  Snare was miked with Shure SM57, all
toms (rack and floor) with Beyer Dymanic MkII (M-76).  I'll have to get the 
model/number of the three overheads and post tomorrow...But there were three
overheads (cute itty bitty little mikes :).

Both guitar racks were set on top of each other in the room where Tom, Guido 
and myself would play.  Speaker cords were run into other rooms (1 room for 
Tom, one for me).  

I used a Celestion stuffed 4x12 in stereo mode, Tom used my 2x12's from ABC
with PV Scorpions.  For Tom, a Beyer M-76 were placed in between the two cabs
about 2 feet away from each.  The 2x12's were place perpendicularly (sp?) from
each other.  

For me, the M-76 was placed about three feet away from the cab pointing right 
in the middle.  My cab was in a larger room, Toms were in the "closet"...
(just like where you put your cabs, Greg).

We both used our "live" patches.  Y'all know what my rig_o_doom is like, 
Toms is a Roland GP16 with a MOSvalve.

Tom recorded "wet" with an Ibanez RG565 and a Charvel Model 4. 
I recorded "dry" with an Ibanez USA Custom.

Guido used a Randall bass head with direct out and an effects loop.
In the FX loop he used a DSP128+ for a touch of chorus and a hair of 
doubling.

Track layout:

Track 1 Drums
Track 2 Drums
Track 3 Guitar (jc)
Track 4 Guitar (tom)
Track 5 Bass (Guido)
Track 6 Scratch (guide-vocal)

We played everything live for the tracks...So tracks 1-5 are keepers.
Pretty much first takes on it all (with exceptions like "Man, restart it,
I hit the damn mike" stuff - scratch one Beyer M-76).  We listened to the 
tape returns (dry) before we left - quality is killer.

We recorded 8 tunes:

Original stuff			Covers:
--------------                  -------
Devils Games                    Enter:SandMan - Metallica
Thats All                       Man In The Box - Alice In Chains
Playin' For Keeps               You've Got Another Thing Comin' - Priest
To Be A Fool                    Highway To Hell - AC/DC

On the originals, we'll go back and punch in some some patches... We're after
a really good DAT so we can make/sell tapes and CD's (An "EP" if you will).
We'll spend most of our time with the originals.  

The covers will more than likely stay the way they are.  They are for demo 
purposes.

Tonight is our last night.  We do vocals (tracks 6,7,8) and any patching 
(punching) that needs done.  We should have a couple of DATs' and couple of 
Cassette masters in our hands before we leave.

Draw backs of Americus Audio:

1.  The headphone system is SH*T!
2.  Drum room is too small

My advise if you're going to pay for studio time - (I'll repeat what Alan
Starr said):

1. Plan.  Know what your going to play, and have an idea in your head for
   miking and layout.  Make sure you bring your tuner, cords, whatever.
2. Expectations MUST be communicated.  We told the engineer that we wanted a 
   broadcast (CD) quality EP to sell, and a four song cover/demo.
3. Practice your ass off - know your sh*t - Be prepared.  Man, we couldn't even 
   SEE our drummer, and the headphones s*cked, so be prepared for oddities like
   that.  We just finished a 4 nighter at a club, so we were well rehearsed...
   Best practice in the world  :)
4. Name your producer and follow number 2.  :)

All tolled up, we started at 5, sent Tom back to our practice studio for the
cymbals Casey forgot (drummers, man...sheesh!). And were partying by 9pm or so.

Part two tomorrow...

Well, we finished our recording last night, but never made it to 
mix down.  I have an appointment Friday at 13:00 to go over and play 
producer.  Should be a LOT of fun.  I suspect this tape will  come out
excellent.  What I do have for listening is a straight (dry) dump from
all eight tracks (with no mixing).  I'll be making production notes from 
that.  Umm, one vocal track might be re-done.

First, a couple of corrections from yesterdays write up:

- HiHat mike was an Ibanez Comm 3 condenser mike
- Overheads were Audio Technica ATM Pro 7's
- Guitars were miked with Beyer Dynamics M400's
- Drums were miked with Beyer Dynamics M69's
- Vocals were done with SM58's.

Disclaimers - The four covers we did are for demo purposes only.  We didn't do
ANY punches on them at all (thinking we wanted to spend our money on the
original stuff).  There are a couple of boo-boos on the covers, so be warned.
:) We did 8 songs in 8 hours total.  It'll probably take us 3-4 hours to mix
it up right and maybe 30 minutes to patch a vocal track on "Playin' For Keeps".

Basically, everything is still live.  A couple of punches for lead guitar on
the originals.  The punches were done by the engineer, James Barber, whilst
we sat in the control room next to the mixer via wireless...

Here's how the tracks laid out:

1 - Drums
2 - Drums
3 - Guitar
4 - Guitar
5 - Bass Guitar
6 - Lead vocals
7 - Backing vocals
8 - Backing vocals

Copies of the finished product will go out Monday (I hope!) !
If you want a preliminary - copy send mail!

jc

I thought I'd let everyone know that See No Evil just went back into West
Sound Studios last weekend, updating our demo tape. 

This time we took longer - 11 hours just to get down the basic tracks, and
I'm going back tomorrow night for 3 hours to finish up the mixing. I think 
there were several reasons that it took longer - we did one extra song; the 
portions of songs we did were longer; the songs were more complex than before, 
and included at least 3 full solos that took a while to get perfect; and 
after being in there once, we were pickier this time around, and tried even 
harder to get things *just* right.

This time around, Jim West played engineer (last time it was Mike). Jim was
just as efficient as Mike was, and I would be happy to work with either again. 
I have a slight preference to work with Mike, only cause he seemed a little
more easy-going and was a little better at getting his points across, but
otherwise there was little difference. (I will be working with Mike when
we mix the tape tomorrow night, by the way.)

Since the recording session was very similar to last time, there no reason to
go through a description the whole process again. Once the mixing is complete
tomorrow night, I'll give some final impressions, and circulate a few tapes
so people can check it out....

alan

FYI, West Sound Studios has gone 24-track digital (I believe they bought
three Tascam DA-88s). I just got a flier in the mail, and here's the specials
they're currently running:

	24 Track	36 Hours	4-day weekday block	$24.50/hr.
	24 Track	24 Hours	4-day weekday block	$27.50/hr.
	24 Track	18 Hours	3-day weekday block	$29.50/hr.
	16 Track	24 Hours	4-day weekday block	$22.50/hr.
	16 Track	18 Hours	3-day weekday block	$24.50/hr.

See .0 for more information if you want to contact them, or send me mail.

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with West Sound, other than being a VERY 
	    satisfied customer...

alan

    
    
    	Hmmm, I never noticed this note before...
    
    	
    	My one & only time in a "professional" studio was here at West
    Sound Studios, back around 1987. A couple of guys in Nashua, NH were
    putting out these compilation cassettes of local bands, called "The
    New New England Debut", and the band I was in at the time, Spooky Blue 
    (lame-o name, I know), bought into the 2nd volume of these tapes.
    
    	They had a deal with West Sound Studios; we didn't have to pay for
    studio time, all we had to do was buy the 1" tape. We went in and did
    a tune I wrote called "Stand Your Ground". 
    
    	The band at the time was a 3-piece, with all 3 of us singing. This 
    song was a duet between myself and the bass player. We had just done
    some 4-track recording of some tunes, including this one, so we had
    our parts worked out pretty well. 
    
    	We recorded each part one at a time; I laid down a scratch guitar
    part while the drummer did his tracks, then we put the bass, 2 rhythm
    guitars, lead guitar, and vocals on. 
    
    	One thing I remember that struck me was the recording of the
    drums. Our drummer did not bring his own kit, he used the one at
    the studio. They miked it and used noise gates to chop off all but
    the initial "whack" of the particular drum, and then used digital
    reverb to put the "natural" decay back into the sound.
    
    	Overall, the song turned out okay. I wasn't thrilled with the
    sound of the lead guitar-- the 4-track demoo ended up sounding better,
    but the rest was all right, considering it was our first time in the
    studio. Any "First Time" is always intimidating. The guy at the
    board, Mike West, I think, was a good engineer but not a "producer";
    he offered very few opinions and didn't propose any off-the-wall
    recording/production techniques. But he (and his brothers) were all
    easy to work with and I'd have no problems going back there again.
    
    
    Just reliving old memories,
    
    Brad