FrankelAvenue.com launched

Dear visitors,

We have moved all updates on the upcoming album to http://www.frankelavenue.com .
Thanks for supporting us at this blogspot.

Also, do check out our myspace at http://www.myspace.com/spongemusic

16th Session - 8th April, Tuesday

Today Mr.Syafiq hit the studio to put down 2 guitar tracks: Come Home and For Fathers.
Well basically we're trying our best to progress with the recording process, and even though none of us were free, we'll have to make do with several independent session like this one.

15th Session - 3rd April, Thursday.

Bonjour, mes amis!

I am currently taking a self-declared, initiative-driven mini break in the midst of my exams. The exam is just a state of mind. But music is a state of BEING.

*strikes dramatic pose*


The Masterplan Superplan

So anyways! On the date mentioned above, it was D'n'B time, again! I'm sure some persons who happen to be reading this tremendously interesting blog will start to ponder: "they got no guitars, meh?"

But hah! I have anticipated your question beforehand, and plucked the question out of the air the moment you breathed it out. So here it is- It's all because of Syafiq and moi. We have our exams going on during April and May. What a bummer huh. So because of that, we decided to put down the D'n'B(i can't put my bass tracks down without the drums first - well technically i can, but i'll sound robotic) and Syafiq's guitar tracks down before the exams if possible, leaving the exam period for Kenneth and Rahmat to record their guitar and vocal pieces respectively.

This is just our intentions, of course. Plans might change, timetables shifted, Wader may get too popular, and F1 might decide to run through Dunlop St. So we'll get our business going like the normal spongerinas we are, and hope everything falls through nice and tight.


The Procedure

We marched in shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves, with Come Home and For Fathers firmly on our minds. The two rather 'simpler' songs on the album, we really hoped it would take only a few hours to get it down. Luckily for us and for Nick, we did.

Both songs were very very direct and it would be rather boring to detail what we did. But anyway, for anyone who has recognized For Fathers at our live sets, you'll be in for a surprise. The version that we usually play is that very version - the live one. The original is not astonishingly different, but still rather noticeable. Keep a lookout for that, yo!



Newsflash: For some fantastically unrelated news, i have just adopted a cat last night. It's currently busy hiding under my bed buried under all the damn junk, and i can't even get it out. When i do bring him out into the world, i'll definitely put up pics of him here, for any kittyphiles around.

*rushes back to notes*

The Artistic Visual Accompaniment to a Sonic Experience

i.e. : Music Video.

Behold!

We had to pause our recording plans for a few days about 2 weeks ago, as we got ourselves down and doiity for the shooting of News' music video.

Produced by Hanafi Mohd, an innovative filmaker and also a personal friend from NTU's School of Art, Design & Media, the video is currently going through the pre-production stage and will officially be screened sometime in mid-April.

*claps hands with glee*

We'll definitely post more on the video's launch once the exact details are confirmed. In the meantime, we'll let you salivate with all the candid shots we incessantly snapped during the shoot:

le studio.


*ROAHR*


amanda: GET TO POSITIONS !!!

*points* mommy i want those!


le direktor


The band shot of all band shots.


The guardians of the red beauty.


Dangerous PSI levels here.


artistik fantastik.

14th Session, 27 March, Thursday.

I have been reading some of Chuck Palahniuk's content recently, and like many others, I've been hauled mercilessly into his neurotic world. Regarded as one of the most widely read nihilists, there is a strange appeal to his form of dangerous writing. His minimalist style is very focused and intense, driving home one sublime point after another. The texts in his work are also peppered with priceless quotes and facts about the side of life less explored. A tale in the unique short story collection 'Haunted' had the narrator recalling his experience of his anus being sucked into a swimming pool pump. If you were reading that over dinner, I'd advice against having anyone sit opposite you. And don't move your hand towards the back of your pants. It's not that necessary.

-Inspire yourself. Terrible situations evoke awesome songs-

Well, back to the studio!

The Operation
Today Syafiq stepped in to record his parts for Dreams and Silver Stains. If you had read the previous post, you'll notice that Fiq didn't manage to quite identify himself with the most suitable tone. We braced ourselves to experience the same setback again, but lo and behold, our resident Magick Master Nick stepped in, yet again, to save our bum bums. He pulled out a sweet beige baby in the form a Squire Vintage Modified Telecaster Custom, which Fiq was already molesting when I reached the studio. It had a natural crunch, a vintage texture and so much raw mojo that will make you squirt chili sauce. It was a modified version of the original, and Nick revealed that the condition of the guitar when he received it was so bad that he had to personally re-furnish the fretboards and re-calibrate the truss rod in addition to other minute adjustments. And judging by how the guitar looks now, we once again marvelled at Nick's handiness and knack for DIY stuff.

Fiq plugged this newfound obsession in, and he was ready to roll. It took awhile to tweak a few knobs before getting the perfect warm and solid crunch needed for the rhythm backbone for Dreams, and he was good to go. In a few takes, it was all set and done.

It was then Silver Stains' turn, and Fiq used the same guitar. Coupled with the characteristic and classic Metal Zone, we layered the chorus to produce an arena-like effect. It was pretty direct tracking for almost the entire song, and then it was time for Fiq to punch in the almighty solo.

About 8 bars long(i think, ha ha), it begins with a wave of feedback just at the end of the breakdown, before launching into an avalanche of staccatos and slurs. So Fiq had to record inside the recording booth, facing his amplifier, instead of the usual chill pose of sitting cosily on the sofa outside beside Nick. It took a number of repeated takes before he finally nailed the perfect score. I assure you guys that it's gonna be one hell of a ride, when you do listen to it on the cd.

The day ended earlier than usual, as Nick had another recording session to do, and we left the studio at around nine-ish. With the exams coming up and the pressure to still continue the studio sessions, it's definitely gonna be a lil' something. But nothing has really come in the way of what we love to do, and i suspect everything'll be okayrissimo.

13th Session, 20 March 2008, Thursday.

let's start the day with some warm man-love:

"they are ov the gay....."

Fortunately, not all of us were turned on by this cuddly behaviour, and I attempted to keep my mind off it by recording my bass tracks for Silver Stains instead.

The Construction
I am hereby about to expound a rather embarrassing fact.

It was not until last session that I discovered, to my surprise, that Nick has always been lining me up into the Fender Bassman. Ha Ha. Ho Ho. At the same time, he uses the parallel out from my MXR Bass d.i.+ to hook me directly into his spaceship pre-amp. So what you get are options to choose from, and with it different permutations of the levels of both inputs to mix around with. You could add more clarity, or drive, or a firm and full body, depending on the character of the low-ends needed for any particular song. mmHmm. I didn't allow this variety to take hold of me yet though, as the first thing to keep my mind on is my own playing. I'll only tie down my exact sound for every song during the mix-down process.

It took a few seconds longer than the song's length to get the bass tracks down, and I was quite happy with what I had. Silver Stains is a stark departure from most of our other stuff, and I'm a sucker for variation. Granted, the verse and chorus lines are pretty solid in shape, but the doobeedoobaps all happen in-between; at times even bringing the rhythm out of phase, but resolving it a split second later.
Then i wrapped my stuff up and it was Syafiq's turn to lay down the guitars.

It's always a headache whenever we have to put guitars on, but it's a good kind of headache. Variety is always at our disposal in the studio, and Syafiq tried on guitar after guitar to get the right tone. First it was the red Gibson 1315113(i think), then it was the Epiphone Lucille(i think), then he used the Gibson SG(i think), and finally the Gibson Les Paul Supreme(i think).

At this point, if I recall correctly, Fiq was just about to get his desired tone when we realised we had to jam, to prepare for a gig we had the next day. And we had to do it by 10.30pm(the neighbours next door is apparently a bitch), when it was already 10.15. ha ha ha what a joke. So all 5 of us rushed and crammed into the studio to set up for practice, and abandoned the recording for the day.

Before i end off, i'd like to display the trucker-cap model of the decade:

"different strokes for different folks"

12th Recording Session, 16 March 2008, Sunday.

It was that time of the month again as Dr.Q and me(syai) got ready to lay our mojo down in the studio.

The agenda today was to set in stone the grooves of Silver Stains and Dreams, 2 of the more faster-paced songs that'll be on the disc. Ok well Dreams isn't really that pace-y, except for that last bit at the end where i gallop like a pony. But Silver Stains is perhaps as 'hard rock' as we're ever going to get, i figure. ....unless we embark on this special project called 'Breathless'....... but that's a different story for a different weather.

The Doing
So I arrived at the studio about half an hour after the agreed time(blame my conscience on the obligation towards schoolwork), and Dr.Q was in the midst of setting up his kit. After checking the this and the that, we were finally ready to get-it-on, yoh.

The previous week, Dr.Q tracked down Silver Stains' beats, only to find slight but haunting discrepancies that floated to the surface upon inspection. And once they were on that surface for us spongerinas, it would be almost impossible to drown them in the depths of our unconscious again. So in came Nick and his Magick, as he tweaked those slight details, and although they weren't really as perfect as we wanted it to be, we had to settle with what we had. After all, as long as all the instruments moved together coherently, it'll still emerge as good groovey mooziq.

Having settled Silver Stains' drumtracks the week before, we then listened through it again, and decided it was cool enough to keep. But just before Dr.Q actually went into the recording booth, Nick surprised us by unearthing a magnificent delay instrument. This fantasy box was manufactured by Roland, and although I can't recall exactly what model it is, I remember that Nick mentioned it's not in production anymore. . What i can recall is that it runs on tape (yes, producing delays using TAPE), and that it's 10 times bigger than a typical effect pedal. ho ho ho.

Ta-daa:

(look! the TAPE!)

Nick did a quick demo as he plugged in a guitar and using just simple initial sounds, he transformed it into a total monster of free-wheeling roller-coaster delays and pitch bends. It was simply deligtful. The tone is sweet, and very organic. You just couldn't get this warm texture with a digital pedal. Think of the comparison between vinyls and CDs, and you'll get the picture.

So after ooh-ing and aah-ing for abit, we threw Dr.Q into the recording booth and he churned out his bits for Dreams. After a few takes and a few more listens, he gave the all-clear for the drumtrack to be used for the song, and I got ready to plug in the Squire into Nick's mean machine.

There weren't any real problems with my take on Dreams, but i was trying to approach a different technique for the first time(in recording), and it didn't quite work out. I attempted to crank the volume up and play soft. To go gentle. Subtle but compact right-hand work. It turned out to be a pretty silly move, because Dreams is a song where authentic punch is needed. Meaning, the hard tap of the fingers. Reverse carrom stuff. Things were working out quite fine at the beginning but as the song proceeded, the mood was very different from what it was whenever I played the song. And it did affect my playing. The fills were not tight, I couldn't link different sections quickly, and I just didn't feel good playing it. So there I was, sitting there, doing a few re-takes and wondering why this had to happen at such a wrong time. I've pretty much tried to be as much of a perfectionist as i could with my playing, and it was a tad bit disappointing not to lay down the groove all at once. But oh welly-wells, this serves as a good old-fashioned lesson for your dear bassist. And it did get me thinking:

Isn't it amazing how the modern digital recording process has given us the excuse to be a less perfect musician?