Wowzers, there's a lot of snow out there! Well, I've finished recording all of Ohio,
so I'm just mixing it down and putting on some final touches. The drum
takes actually went great yesterday. It took me a little bit to find a
sweet spot for micing, but all in all it was easier than I expected it
would be. For a drum set, I am using a Cajon drum and a tambourine.
If you are not familar with the Cajon, its pretty sweet. Its a
Peruvian folk instrument, and basically looks like a giant wooden box.
Just trying to stick with the DIY spirit of the album, I thought it
would be a cool alternative, especially since I can not play a
traditional drum set to save my life.

Hopefully I'll have the final mix ready for listening some time
next week. No promises though, it being the holiday season and all.
Until then, have some fun in the snow!



Peace,
Chad

      I am almost done recording Ohio. Today, I finished recording the electric guitar parts, the rest of the acoustic parts, and redid the mandolin parts. This only leaves the pedal steel, bass, drums, and a final vocal left. Hopefully, I can do that in one more recording day, but we will see how that works out. Somewhere half way through the tracking for the electric I realized how much I do not enjoy the sound I have had for the last few years. I have been playing a G&L ASAT Special through a Dr. Z Maz-38 Sr., and the sound is becoming a bit too bright for me. Maybe its time to shop for a new amp...
      Defying all logic, I am recording everything before I record the drums and bass, saving those for last. In place of the drums in the mix right now, I am using the Cakewalk Session Drummer 2 plugin to keep a beat for me while I lay everything else down. This could end up being a horrible train wreck, but I guess we will find that out in next week's edition of: The Recording Blog!

Peace,
Chad

Friday, December 05, 2008

Recording the EP: Week 1
Category: Music
So here it goes, the very first blog. Is everyone excited? So, I have started recording the EP. Yesterday I tracked the vocals, acoustic guitar, and mandolin parts for Ohio. So far, so good. My "studio" consists of a bedroom in my apartment with a handful of microphones, the Line 6 Tone Port UX2, and Cakewalk Sonar 7, the Producer Edition. It took me a few months to get the handle on the program, but I feel fairly confident enough to tackle the project. I'll post some pictures up later on of the gear, location and what not. Until then, sign up for the mailing list!

Peace,
Chad