Just Like Old Times

So we finally played together again. When I say we, I mean all four of us; myself, Guitarist, Drummer and old Bassist. I don't know if that means that he is "coming back" or not, but I figure as we haven't actually replaced him he is more than welcome to play on a night to night basis. 

Our first time in the guest room was pretty good. We took a few hours on a Saturday afternoon and just had a good time. I feel a little silly for not being fully prepared (ie. no lyric sheets, etc.) but I had my trusty MacBook with me so it wasn't a total loss. 

Guitarist and I have been revisiting some of our earlier works. You know when you have an idea and you start to flesh it out but then you never really feel comfortable with the end result. Sometimes the only way to fix it is to tear it up and start over. Other times you can remove only the offending portion and retool it to better meet the needs of the song. In this case we have been doing the latter. The verse was great and the overall feel of the song was good but we never really found a good transition into the chorus or a good melody for the chorus either. As we have come back to the lyrics with a more critical eye and less of an emotional attachment to the exact phrasing, we have turned otherwise mediocre songs into some of my favorites.

So in summary, things have been moving forward. Maybe a little sideways too, but never backward.

Time is On My Side (... yes it is.)

We've been slacking again/still. Ever since we lost our rehearsal space we've all been pretty hesitant to get together to play. Drummer's parents okay-ed the clearing out of their guest bedroom to use as a makeshift lair for the group. One day soon we will start playing together again. 

With the new space will likely come the infusion of new blood. I've found a candidate for the position of 2nd Guitarist. If things click well, all we'll need then is a new Bassist. Then we'll be a functioning band again! I can't wait. 

But Wait, There's More

  Panic At The Disco (they have officially dropped the "!" from the middle of their name) just came out with a new album that is really refreshing. It sounds to me like they found some unreleased songs from the White Album recording sessions and redubbed the vocals. Very creative with something new and different from what is on the radio these days. 

Guitarist seems to have been inspired by this new album and is on a roll. He's got about a half dozen songs that are pretty close to done. He and I have been getting together for the last few weeks to put together new music. We'll have another album's worth of material within a month. 

I think it's worth noting here that material isn't really our weak point. I think we'd have been able to put together 2 albums by now with all of the material we've written. I think our weak point is attention span. We get bored going over the same material over and over. Taking weeks and weeks to write, practice and hone our arrangements. Then taking weeks and weeks more to record all of the parts, making sure that each part is perfect. Then taking weeks and weeks on top of that to mix and edit all of the parts together. It just takes too long. I think we'll have to work quickly and record as best we can as soon as we can. 

Priorities (...or The Waiting and The Waiting)

Having a band is a lot like having any other hobby. It can be a real heap of fun and provide hours of enjoyment. It can help you spend loads of money on what really amount to fancy toys. It can take up a lot of time that you really should be spending doing homework or with family. If a hobby ever gets to take over your life in a way that makes you irritable or unhappy... it's time to take a break. We all need our space after all.

Now, don't take this post as the eulogy of the band or anything like that. All I'm saying is that I'm set to graduate in less than two months and I'm being laid off in less than two weeks. With all of the stress of job humting and trying to maintain a GPA, I'm feeling a little crunched. Trying to set up a band meeting/rehersal is making my guts tie themselves in knots. When that happens I need to remind myself that making music and being in a band (however small and local that may be) is supposed to be fun.

I really don't expect to be this stressed out for very much longer so this de facto hiatus shouldn't last too long. And now loyal readers... cross your fingers or say a prayer that I can get a decent job soon.

Now What?

As of Saturday 2/23/08, we are homeless. That is the day we finally moved the contents of the industrial shop into storage. From 9 am to 6 pm we were moving and cleaning and loading and unloading. I'm glad it is finally over and done with. It is two days later and I am still very sore.

Now that the band has no place to practice we're looking into other options. I have no room in my little house for any extra equipment. Guitarist has a spare bedroom that he and his wife have offered to use for the drums. This is looking like the best solution but Guitarist is fairly timid when it comes to the possibility of being the noisy neighbor. I'm not too worried though. Drummer tends to play loud but the only environment I've ever seen him play in has been the shop. In the industrial area we were totally able to be as loud as we want with no consequences. I have confidence in his ability to tone it down now that we're probably going residential.

What's In A Name?

We have finally agreed on a name. We are The Marshall Plan. It's got ready-made cachet. We did find that there is another band with this name operating out of London. They have been on MySpace with this name for a few years, so they would totally win if it came down to proving who had it first. I figure we can use it locally and if we ever get to the point of competing in the same markets, we'll have to change. It is a bridge that may never have to be crossed.

Along with the ready-made cachet of the name, there is a ready-made ad campaign. Governments in North America and across Europe all had to convince their voters to participate in the Marshall Plan. There are posters and fliers in a whole lot of languages and with differing aesthetics.

Is This Thing On?

More recording this week. The deadline of our practice space going away looms large in our minds. We have been using every available hour to record. Drummer and I just spent 3 hours last night recording drums and vocals. I'm tired today but can only assume it will be worthwhile. We've got this Saturday, President's Day monday, and maybe some time the following Saturday before we help Drummer's dad move all his equipment into storage and clean out the shop. After that we're a leaf on the wind.

We're still working on finding a band name we can all agree on. Another major issue is replacing Bassist and possibly adding New Second Guitarist. I think we could use both. I was apprehensive about auditioning musicians but I think I'm okay with it now; maybe even a little excited. I think the process is going to be at least as much about personality fit as with musical ability. Also, since we're the ones doing the auditioning, we're the ones with the power. Besides all that, getting a few extra musicians will add to the band.

Getting Down With The Sickness

Musicians are humans after all. I have been down for the count for the past few days. Whatever bug is going around has kept me, and therefore the whole band, from recording. It feels like such a waste to be doing nothing with the space we have at our disposal. The clock is ticking and the pressure is building. I think this may also be a sign of where we are in our lives. My major priority at this point is to graduate in May. I'm sure Guitarist and Drummer have other things going on also. I feel like we need to at least get the drum tracks recorded before our space arrangement ends. We'll just have to make a point of going in and getting it done. The Beatles recorded their first album in a few hours. I know it is possible and I feel like we are capable. 

I'll let you all know how it turns out.

Square One Is (Not) My Favorite Square

So I finally finished mixing our four songs. I got all the levels just right, did some funky EQ and compression to get a really full guitar sound. But it was all for nothing it seems. Guitarist and drummer (and I agree) decided that we need to start all over by recording the drums first, followed by bass, guitar, then vocals. We had previously started with guitar and vocals to give drummer the cues he normally gets while playing live. This almost works. The big issue is that guitarist has trouble keeping perfectly to the click track. We end up with guitar tracks that sound great but fluctuate as far as timing is concerned. Not so easy for drummer to play to. The work we've done sounds pretty good but lacks the polish that would really set it apart from a basic demo.

Also, it seems that for promotional purposes, we will probably be making our first few singles/demos available for free download online. I hadn't really thought about it but as a band startup, it makes some sense for us to buid a name/get our music heard. Once we start to build some popularity, we start charging for our music.

In other news, our free rehearsal space is going away. Drummer's dad can no longer afford to pay for a big ol' shop he isn't using. Since we can't afford to pay for a rehearsal space... we'll be exploring other free options. Guitarist has a spare bedroom we can keep the drums in. Since it is in a residential area, noise will be an issue. If we can play with brushes and/or mutes, the drums may not be too loud for the neighbors. We'll have to see how it goes and roll with the punches.

Mixology

We have now completed principle recording on three songs with a fourth nearly finished. I have tried and tried to mix them in a way that sounds good and professional. I put together what sounds like a great mix, then put it into my iTunes (we are running an Apple based recording process) next to a real song in a similar vein and it sounds like total crap. I like to think that on a good day, we sound similar to Weezer, but you wouldn't know it by listening to our most finished product. I am starting to get really frustrated and I don't know how to fix it. I have tried EQ, compression, ducking, etc. I am hoping that we can get together as a band and come up with something. I refuse to believe that I am asking too much of my software (GarageBand). 

I guess it doesn't help that I have a full-time job as well as a full-time school schedule. I can see how being a recording artist can be a full-time job. Spending months in the studio for hours on end crafting an album, followed by months of mixing, fixing and producing, followed by live shows and tours. It is looking less and less like an easy life. I don't mean to sound discouraged. In fact I feel like this would be a great job to have. I really hope that this works out for us!

Location, Location, Location

The first rule of real estate is also an important consideration for a band. Playing loud music at all hours of the day and night is, in most neighborhoods, frowned upon to say the least. Well, we've been lucky in that respect. Drummer's dad rents space in an industrial park. It has been nice to have a free place to practice and record, but the dad hasn't been using the space for his business lately and is looking at closing/downsizing to reduce costs. Basically, we now have a deadline we didn't have before. We'll have access to the shop for at least January '08 and probably through the end of February too. Anything after that is up for grabs.

Guitarist and I took most of last Saturday to clean up and fix up our space. It was a functioning industrial shop in the not too distant past. Lately it has been a big mess with a drum set in the corner. It is looking quite snappy after several hours work. We swept and shop-vac'd, cleaned and wiped. Now all of the metal shavings that were all over the floor are in the dumpster. We have a sort of orchestra shell made out of plywood behind the drum kit. We have a makeshift vocal booth (based on the ideas from the Mac Idol article). We've got a sort of control room set up behind the vocal booth. That night guitarist, drummer, bassist and I inaugurated the new set up with a play through of all of our original material. Not necessarily the last time we will all play together, but bassist has now made it clear that he isn't really interested in writing or recording as bassist. He has expressed interest in being our part-time, substitute recording engineer. Since I am the current recording engineer (as well as vocalist, co-songwriter, and part-time second guitarist), I will be glad to offload some of my recording duties when I can.

Now for something a little different...

Can sound be upside-down? The answer is yes and no. If you have a single mic picking up a sound source, you have nothing to worry about. The sound wave will be changed from sound to electronic signal and then back again when going through a speaker. The problem is if you have multiple mics picking up a single sound source and one of them is upside-down, the upside-down mic will be picking up the signal upside-down from the others. When you blend the sound waves together in your mixing program, they will be out of phase with each other and actually cancel out the fullness of the sound. You end up with a thin, unprofessional sounding mix. Kind of an ironic result when you are specifically adding mics to get a better sound. The key to all this is to reverse the phase on the signal coming from the upside-down mic. If your mixer has this handy switch, then you're sitting pretty. If, like us, your mixer is without said switch, you need to purchase an adapter like this one. We have yet to buy and try and there are no ratings on Amazon. I'll be sure to post an update when we test this out. Until then...

The Story (...part 2)

So going into the Christmas season, there was a general level of discontent with our equipment. Guitarist was basically without amplification, drummer couldn't be effectively recorded, and I was unhappy with the tone of the vocal mic. As it turns out, bassist was unhappy also but more on a general level.

Guitarist ended up fixing his amp rig and selling it off. The VOX AC30 CC (with the AlNiCo Celestion Blue speakers) is it's replacement. This thing is seriously top of the line! Great tone, doesn't get muddy in the low end even when distorted. He was also gifted a neat pedalboard for Christmas.

I looked around and found a great article on Mac Idol about recording vocals in a home studio. The recommended mic was the Audio Technica AT2020. I looked around and was able to locate one on eBay for around $50. Testing it out was another story, you see condenser mics require phantom power, which we did not have at the time. We imposed briefly on my wife's cousin to make sure it is in working condition when it arrived. All is now well on the vocal front and the difference is noticeable.

Drummer's issue was a little harder solved. He found a set of drum mics that got great reviews and his folks even offered to get them for Christmas. The next issue is how to get multiple mics into multiple tracks on GB. We searched around and found the best solution for the money: the Alesis Multimix 16 w/firewire. It has eight dedicated XLR inputs and sends the whole signal to the MacBook for processing. GarageBand and Alesis play very well together. Set up was easy and gratifying. Next issue was the cables to connect multiple mics to the mixer...

After some lucky happenstance and a impatient trips to Radio Shack, we have enough XLR cables to do what we need to do. We will probably be getting more cables from Monster soon so we can use the mixer as a PA base station for live situations also.

That pretty much brings us up to date on equipment. Stay tuned for "studio set-up" and "sound can be upside-down?"

The Story (...so far)

I thought before diving in to current news and issues, a brief history of the up-and-coming, as-yet-unnamed band would be in order. I'm going to avoid using names, as I don't know how the other guys feel about that kind of thing. I think it is also worth noting that this is my take on the situation and that unless otherwise stated, I am speaking only for myself.

Drummer, guitarist and bassist were jamming fairly regularly with second guitarist. College semester ends and I am invited to come in to try out as singer. That very night, before even playing, second guitarist decides to quit. In a sort of informal, non-audition process consisting of jamming and playing through covers of some of our favorite songs taking place over a few evenings, I was unceremoniously a member of the band. It didn't hurt that guitarist and I had written a few original songs together during the off days. It also didn't hurt that I have a MacBook with Garage Band for getting a basic demo together.

We played together once a week for the Fall '07 semester and wrote around a dozen songs. Some time in November, guitarist's amp started acting up. (Marshall head running through a Mesa 4x12 cab.) If I remember right there was a short in one of the cables and it needed a tube replacement. He decided to get rid of it in favor of something smaller and more maneuverable.

We also recorded quite a bit of our new material onto the MacBook. At this point we were somewhat limited by our equipment, however. I was singing through a Shure SM 58 (with no pre-amp), which is a great dynamic mic but my ears (and all the literature I could find online) told me it wasn't quite right for a studio situation.

Drum recording (as any home recordist will tell you) is not an intuitive process. The best we could manage was running an old, cheap Radio Shack mic paired with the SM 58 into a Tascam Porta-Stutio MKII, then running the stereo mix out to a single track on GB. With significant EQ adjustment, it was a fairly workable solution but not anything approaching high quality.

I think that brings everything up to our pre-Christmas situation. I'll break here to keep post length manageable. Pick up the continuing saga... after the break.

By way of explanation

So a few months ago I started blogging for the first time, I decided to invite my wife to post as well so we could have an easy place to keep friends and family aprised of our comings and goings. As time went on, I found that most of my posts centered around the band that I am helping get off the ground. I decided today that I should start a new blog just for band news, musings, updates, etc. There is a lot happening with the band recently and I want to do it justice...

More news to come soon.