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.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
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*
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*
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
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 !!!
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.
le direktor
The band shot of all band shots.
The guardians of the red beauty.
Dangerous PSI levels here.
artistik fantastik.Sunday, March 30, 2008
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-
-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.
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....."
"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.
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"
Saturday, March 29, 2008
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?
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:
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?
11th Recording Session, 6 March 2008, 7pm-11pm
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not everything happens the way you want it to.
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not everything happens the way you want it to.
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Sunday, March 9, 2008
10th Recording Session, 28 February 2008, Thursday, (7.30pm – 11.00pm)
Unusually, this recording session was not on the last day of February but the second last day - A leap year. An extra day every forth year to compensate for each of the 1/4 days which should actually be at the end of every year. Its weird when you think about it. Did you know that a year which is not a leap year is referred to as a "Common Year"? Guess that's how normal life can be. Oh well. For more S.P.O.N.G.E unrelated info on leap years, head to (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_year). Anyway, just a little note. I will unlikely be writing on future recording sessions as Syai da man, will be taking over from the next post on. But hey! I promised to comment on a few things on this blog, so I will definitely do so in the future (once I have the time). These will be short little posts which won't have much to do with the recording sessions though. Hopefully interesting and related enough for you gals/guys! Anyway... back to serious business.
Songs – Today, News, Fortify
Instruments Recorded – Guitar (Kenneth), Classical Guitar (Kenneth), Vocals (Rahmat, Qader and Fiq), Shaker (Qader)
Recording Process
The Fender Bassman had returned (only to be taken away by "Electrico" the next session. Syai will let you know more in the future post. SYAI!) and the guitars for Today could finally be completed. I had only used the Bassman for the verse and ending chorus though. The rest of the guitars (including the distorted portions in the verse) were recorded using the Vox amp as we felt that the Vox sound "set" itself into the mix much better. Anyway, for Today, I had suggested adding a classical guitar to the mix. Glad that the band endorsed and liked the idea, more or less (Maybe they just didn't really care!) Anyway... Yup! There is a classical guitar being played in the song. I won't really spoil it for anyone, but once we have some clips... or the record gets out, try listening for it. Hehe :). Its in quite a few places. I liked that it wasn't too obvious. Still it was definitely worth the time.
Rahmat, Qader and Fiq did some of the vocals, redoing certain parts of the song. Hmm.. anything interesting about recording the vocals this time? Not really. Here's a picture of Syafiq pretending to record vocals though. He's just posing like this with his mouth open cos we wanted a "handsome" shot of him "recording vocals". ;)
Honestly, this photo wasn't even taken during this recording session. Haha! Oh! Once the song's out, try listening and see if you can identify where each of the 3 singers sang! :)
So next up... that box of percussion stuff. Man. I don't even want to begin saying know how many forms of percussion instruments were in that box. We'll try to take a photo and post it up for everyone to see. Its madness. Anyway, for Today, we used a plastic cylinder filled with rice, which you quite clearly hear in the last chorus - Gives the ending of the song a nice beachy (not bitchy) feeling. Ah... just listen to the song at a remote beach... and let your troubles float away...
End
Today's advice is on percussion! I am definitely not the expert here, but I think its worth learning how to use shakers properly. Apparently, there are many ways to shake a maracas (is this even how its spelled??) and different feels and sounds can be created. So. Yup. Definitely something worth learning for all percussionists. :)
Songs – Today, News, Fortify
Instruments Recorded – Guitar (Kenneth), Classical Guitar (Kenneth), Vocals (Rahmat, Qader and Fiq), Shaker (Qader)
Recording Process
The Fender Bassman had returned (only to be taken away by "Electrico" the next session. Syai will let you know more in the future post. SYAI!) and the guitars for Today could finally be completed. I had only used the Bassman for the verse and ending chorus though. The rest of the guitars (including the distorted portions in the verse) were recorded using the Vox amp as we felt that the Vox sound "set" itself into the mix much better. Anyway, for Today, I had suggested adding a classical guitar to the mix. Glad that the band endorsed and liked the idea, more or less (Maybe they just didn't really care!) Anyway... Yup! There is a classical guitar being played in the song. I won't really spoil it for anyone, but once we have some clips... or the record gets out, try listening for it. Hehe :). Its in quite a few places. I liked that it wasn't too obvious. Still it was definitely worth the time.
Rahmat, Qader and Fiq did some of the vocals, redoing certain parts of the song. Hmm.. anything interesting about recording the vocals this time? Not really. Here's a picture of Syafiq pretending to record vocals though. He's just posing like this with his mouth open cos we wanted a "handsome" shot of him "recording vocals". ;)
Honestly, this photo wasn't even taken during this recording session. Haha! Oh! Once the song's out, try listening and see if you can identify where each of the 3 singers sang! :)
So next up... that box of percussion stuff. Man. I don't even want to begin saying know how many forms of percussion instruments were in that box. We'll try to take a photo and post it up for everyone to see. Its madness. Anyway, for Today, we used a plastic cylinder filled with rice, which you quite clearly hear in the last chorus - Gives the ending of the song a nice beachy (not bitchy) feeling. Ah... just listen to the song at a remote beach... and let your troubles float away...
End
Today's advice is on percussion! I am definitely not the expert here, but I think its worth learning how to use shakers properly. Apparently, there are many ways to shake a maracas (is this even how its spelled??) and different feels and sounds can be created. So. Yup. Definitely something worth learning for all percussionists. :)
3rd Recording Session, 24 January 2008, Thursday (8.00pm - 11.00pm)
Wow! A journey back in time. Erm. This post is happening now as Syai and I kinda realised we had missed out talking about the 3rd recording session which was on the 24 January 2008 and we had wrongly labelled all the sessions... Er hup! Actually, it was solely my fault. Anyway... Moving on.
Song – Astray
Instruments Recorded – Syafiq (Acoustic), Kenneth (Electric Parts)
Recording Process
Ok. Basically this session was a long time ago, and my memory of what exactly happened is really quite vague. I do remember the difficult parts of this recording session. The first was strumming the acoustic guitar in time with the original strumming. It actually sounds easy, but it is a little harder than how it actually sounds. Like i've mentioned before, most guitarists strum in a rather random manner... so to actually perform what you did randomly before can kind of drive you crazy. Just look at Syai.
Anyway, the person who's sitting opposite Syai's is Flint from Bismuth. Just one of the many denizens you meet at the Musicforgood studios. He's kind of a chill dude (When we first met him, Flint said "I live in the West, I am a cowboy". To which we replied with a "WTF" look on our faces). Anyways... here's a link to Bismuth's myspace account, so you can listen to them. Some alternative shoegaze music (www.myspace.com/bismuthsg) for you. My favourite song is "Hospital Drive". Argh! That addictive guitar lick in the background..!
I wanted to really talk about why I choose the Fender Bassman to record the "Glittery" clean parts of Astray, but I had already mentioned that in a previous post. So in this post, I'll say a little about the Vox Amp which I recorded the distorted parts of Astray with (in the interlude at the end). For the distortion pedal, I had used my trusty Sansamp GT2 set to "Centre", "Hot Wired" and "California", to get the really overdriven sound I wanted. Here's the Vox Amp I used in its beautiful warm natural setting. :)
Just for info, this amp is used by two of my favourite guitar players, Mike Eizinger of Incubus and Jonny Buckland of Coldplay. The most unique things about a Vox amp is its slightly overdriven tone and its overwealming warmth, which many players love. I believe the Amp in the studio is a Vox AC30 CC. I use a Vox Pathfinder 15R at home too a definite recommendation for a budget amp for a warm "British" tone. But if you prefer, a heavier rock sound, I would recommend a Marshall CDR 15, which is what I used to own during my "metal" days. Both come with a distortion button, but the Marshall definitely has a heavier sound.
Anyway, yeah. That's really the highlights of the 3rd recording session. With all the tracking done, it was up to Rahmat to finish the song up with Vocals!
End
Well. My advice for this session is.... practice strumming in time with a metronome! Its really not that easy (unless you have been doing it frequently). :) That's all folks!
Song – Astray
Instruments Recorded – Syafiq (Acoustic), Kenneth (Electric Parts)
Recording Process
Ok. Basically this session was a long time ago, and my memory of what exactly happened is really quite vague. I do remember the difficult parts of this recording session. The first was strumming the acoustic guitar in time with the original strumming. It actually sounds easy, but it is a little harder than how it actually sounds. Like i've mentioned before, most guitarists strum in a rather random manner... so to actually perform what you did randomly before can kind of drive you crazy. Just look at Syai.
Anyway, the person who's sitting opposite Syai's is Flint from Bismuth. Just one of the many denizens you meet at the Musicforgood studios. He's kind of a chill dude (When we first met him, Flint said "I live in the West, I am a cowboy". To which we replied with a "WTF" look on our faces). Anyways... here's a link to Bismuth's myspace account, so you can listen to them. Some alternative shoegaze music (www.myspace.com/bismuthsg) for you. My favourite song is "Hospital Drive". Argh! That addictive guitar lick in the background..!
I wanted to really talk about why I choose the Fender Bassman to record the "Glittery" clean parts of Astray, but I had already mentioned that in a previous post. So in this post, I'll say a little about the Vox Amp which I recorded the distorted parts of Astray with (in the interlude at the end). For the distortion pedal, I had used my trusty Sansamp GT2 set to "Centre", "Hot Wired" and "California", to get the really overdriven sound I wanted. Here's the Vox Amp I used in its beautiful warm natural setting. :)
Just for info, this amp is used by two of my favourite guitar players, Mike Eizinger of Incubus and Jonny Buckland of Coldplay. The most unique things about a Vox amp is its slightly overdriven tone and its overwealming warmth, which many players love. I believe the Amp in the studio is a Vox AC30 CC. I use a Vox Pathfinder 15R at home too a definite recommendation for a budget amp for a warm "British" tone. But if you prefer, a heavier rock sound, I would recommend a Marshall CDR 15, which is what I used to own during my "metal" days. Both come with a distortion button, but the Marshall definitely has a heavier sound.
Anyway, yeah. That's really the highlights of the 3rd recording session. With all the tracking done, it was up to Rahmat to finish the song up with Vocals!
End
Well. My advice for this session is.... practice strumming in time with a metronome! Its really not that easy (unless you have been doing it frequently). :) That's all folks!
Saturday, March 1, 2008
9th Recording Session - 21 February 2008, Thursday, 6.00pm – 9.00pm
The 8th recording session is one which shall be remembered for the missing bassmen. The first bassman, Syai, was not around cos he was trying to find ways to get S.P.O.N.G.E a sponsorship deal from Gibson Guitars. The second Bassman (probably the more important one), was the missing Fender Bassman, which we wanted to record the clean parts for Today.
Oh well. Like all women would say... Men. Always go missing at the critical times. Err... argh W.T.F. lah. Ok. Song list and instruments recorded.
Songs – Today
Instruments Recorded – Guitar (Kenneth), Vocals (Rahmat and Fiq)
Recording Session
Rahmat and Fiq had arrived early together to start on the vocals for today. When I arrived, Fiq was finishing his backup Today. They both sounded good. Oh well.. Fiq had bowling so off he went off when I arrived after work. Nick was sick though. He was dripping mucus all over the place and desparately grabbing tissues. Me? I was probably too happy when he was suffering while recording my clean guitar parts for Today. Look at me!
Oh well. Like all women would say... Men. Always go missing at the critical times. Err... argh W.T.F. lah. Ok. Song list and instruments recorded.
Songs – Today
Instruments Recorded – Guitar (Kenneth), Vocals (Rahmat and Fiq)
Recording Session
Rahmat and Fiq had arrived early together to start on the vocals for today. When I arrived, Fiq was finishing his backup Today. They both sounded good. Oh well.. Fiq had bowling so off he went off when I arrived after work. Nick was sick though. He was dripping mucus all over the place and desparately grabbing tissues. Me? I was probably too happy when he was suffering while recording my clean guitar parts for Today. Look at me!
What was pretty disappointing was the lack of the Fender Bassman for the sparkly tone we wanted. Also, though I am seen playing a black Gibson here, we ended up using the recording which was done with my Gretsch Syncromatic (its in the background) for the clean chorus riff, which was the bulk of what was done that evening. After that, we wrapped up the recording for the night with the picking in the interlude. Nick was really too sick to do anymore, and we decided it was a wrap at 9pm.
Well... Rahmat and I headed to Geylang for daohui (known as Soya Beancurd to non-locals)... err... the right kind of course. Not the other "daohui" in Geylang... err... ok. Whatever.
End
Nothing much to say here. But hey! I feel really happy watching Juno. Have the soundtrack.. haven't really explored it yet thought, but the song at the end of the movie is simple... yet really touching. Here's the song which keeps running in my head now. (I'll talk about the movie in a separate post).
"Anyone Else But You" by The Moldy Peaches
Ciaoz~
8th Recording Session - 17 February 2008, (5.00pm - 7.30pm)
Waddup Currypups!
This is the day Dr.Q(Qader) and me(Syai) came in to finally lay down the rhythm section(drums and bass) for "Today".
After the setback of last week's session, where we discovered the crash springing a surprise on us AFTER recording the entire drumtrack, we were more determined that ever to get this over and done with. In stepped The Spongerina's rhythm section, on that sleepy Sunday, to get the groove down.
Song - Today
Instruments - the d'N'b
when we came in, we found Mr.Muon Magick staring concentratedly on his twin screens...
Ok kidding. I actually can't remember when this pic was taken. But it's good shiet. Courtesy of our brilliant Dr.Q.
Recording Process
Laying down the drumtrack for Today was tedious not because of it's technicality, but because the song consists of two different alternating tempos. Most of our songs are quite direct (in terms of the tempo), but we had to go through a stop-start process where Today is concerned.
The intro riff (that starting guitar part), all the way into the verse up till the first chorus, that's the pacey, chugging rock bit. It also comes in after the first chorus is done, and works its way up to the second chorus. These two chunks of supersonic-electrofying-turbocharged material, we recorded them at 144b.p.m(beats per minute). It's not really super-fast, of course, but it will be as compared to the choruses. The rest: the two choruses and the point from the interlude all the way till the climactic orgasm-inducing end, we recorded them at 140b.p.m.
I shall break away for a moment to reflect on something important regarding Today's tempo. For the Noise CD compilation, which we submitted both Dreams and Today(recorded with Nick, of course), we recorded Today using a single tempo, which was around 148b.p.m, methinks. No slowing down at the choruses. No retardation during the interludes. And oh, how unnatural that felt. During practice and during our 'live' shows, we always naturally slow down during the choruses and the interlude, because..well..they are meant to be slow in the first place! That's how the song was written, that's how it's been performed, and that's what YOU are going to hear. So we decided to split the song into the relevant tempos to get it down nice and right.
So Qader went in, smashed the kit dry, and came out in a jiff. Having ran through the take a week before, he knew exactly what to do and wasted no time in doing it. Split timings or not, he nailed it like a pecker. A woodpecker.
And then it was my turn. I believe I've not elaborated on how my rig is actually set up.
I run my bass into Nick's massivvv preamp, which is connected to the Hartke's VX410 Cabinet(speaker). He explained to me that he only uses the Hartke's cab, and not the HA3500
head, because he believes the boom he gets when he utilizes his preamp is much more solid, full and beef-ier. And i kinda agree with him. I mean, i've used the Hartke stack during our jam sessions at The Void, and somehow it doesn't sound as powerful as that UFO-looking thing on the left. Nick, you da man, maannnn.
I also have a piece of trivia that you guys can tell your friends once s.p.o.n.g.e has been around for 10 years and have toured the world 300 times(kidding....... ok maybe not...hey at least you know we ARE that determined.) Instead of using my skinny-looking Ibanez SGR-200, i've taken quite a liking to the studio's resident bass, the Squire J-Bass. The first time I picked it up to record the first song "News", Flint(the Bismuth vocalist/guitarist and Wilma's husband) went "what?? you're using that thing? the studio bass? for what???", and i just went "hey, i like the sound". And i'm NOT kidding! I do like it. Even Nick said that it's the lowest end of Squire models that you can find. How flattering. But that didn't stop me from using it, and it's been of service to me for 4 songs now.
I love it's tone, and I think it's important that I use Dr.Q's MXR Bass D.I. together with it. The D.I. has 3 basic equalizer knobs, and i use them to tweak and improve the tone output. Having this D.I. adds a totally different dimension to the input that Nick's Cubase 4 system receives. There is very very little noise given out, and the tone gained is a lovely rumble with a lip-twiching high end. Another trivia is that I didnt use any of my staple effects pedals at all. I only use 3 (i believe a bassist should keep his effects-toying to a minimal. .....well FINE i just don't have the money to buy more pedals): all 3 being from BOSS, i use the Equalizer, Limiter/Enhancer and Chorus. Save for the Chorus(very prominent on "For Fathers"), i won't be using the others, and it'll probably remain that way throughout the album. The combi of the Squire J-Bass and the MXR Bass D.I. keeps my bass sound 'pure', without any fancy stuff(my playing not counted *laughs*) happening. Keep a lookout for my bass sound throughout the album, and you'll note that aside from the difference in mixing, the rumble of my low end remains largely the same, creating a solid foundation for the characteristic and unique s.p.o.n.g.e sound.
this is me, with the studio's Squire J-Bass, laying down Today's groove.
Fin
Well, there're not many lessons to be learnt from today's session, since everything's been pretty much straightforward.
Now it's up to our duo of guitarists and our frontman to fly on top of the groundwork we've laid out for 'em.
Drop pants, not bombs, people.
-syai-
This is the day Dr.Q(Qader) and me(Syai) came in to finally lay down the rhythm section(drums and bass) for "Today".
After the setback of last week's session, where we discovered the crash springing a surprise on us AFTER recording the entire drumtrack, we were more determined that ever to get this over and done with. In stepped The Spongerina's rhythm section, on that sleepy Sunday, to get the groove down.
Song - Today
Instruments - the d'N'b
when we came in, we found Mr.Muon Magick staring concentratedly on his twin screens...
Ok kidding. I actually can't remember when this pic was taken. But it's good shiet. Courtesy of our brilliant Dr.Q.Recording Process
Laying down the drumtrack for Today was tedious not because of it's technicality, but because the song consists of two different alternating tempos. Most of our songs are quite direct (in terms of the tempo), but we had to go through a stop-start process where Today is concerned.
The intro riff (that starting guitar part), all the way into the verse up till the first chorus, that's the pacey, chugging rock bit. It also comes in after the first chorus is done, and works its way up to the second chorus. These two chunks of supersonic-electrofying-turbocharged material, we recorded them at 144b.p.m(beats per minute). It's not really super-fast, of course, but it will be as compared to the choruses. The rest: the two choruses and the point from the interlude all the way till the climactic orgasm-inducing end, we recorded them at 140b.p.m.
I shall break away for a moment to reflect on something important regarding Today's tempo. For the Noise CD compilation, which we submitted both Dreams and Today(recorded with Nick, of course), we recorded Today using a single tempo, which was around 148b.p.m, methinks. No slowing down at the choruses. No retardation during the interludes. And oh, how unnatural that felt. During practice and during our 'live' shows, we always naturally slow down during the choruses and the interlude, because..well..they are meant to be slow in the first place! That's how the song was written, that's how it's been performed, and that's what YOU are going to hear. So we decided to split the song into the relevant tempos to get it down nice and right.
So Qader went in, smashed the kit dry, and came out in a jiff. Having ran through the take a week before, he knew exactly what to do and wasted no time in doing it. Split timings or not, he nailed it like a pecker. A woodpecker.
And then it was my turn. I believe I've not elaborated on how my rig is actually set up.I run my bass into Nick's massivvv preamp, which is connected to the Hartke's VX410 Cabinet(speaker). He explained to me that he only uses the Hartke's cab, and not the HA3500
head, because he believes the boom he gets when he utilizes his preamp is much more solid, full and beef-ier. And i kinda agree with him. I mean, i've used the Hartke stack during our jam sessions at The Void, and somehow it doesn't sound as powerful as that UFO-looking thing on the left. Nick, you da man, maannnn.
I also have a piece of trivia that you guys can tell your friends once s.p.o.n.g.e has been around for 10 years and have toured the world 300 times(kidding....... ok maybe not...hey at least you know we ARE that determined.) Instead of using my skinny-looking Ibanez SGR-200, i've taken quite a liking to the studio's resident bass, the Squire J-Bass. The first time I picked it up to record the first song "News", Flint(the Bismuth vocalist/guitarist and Wilma's husband) went "what?? you're using that thing? the studio bass? for what???", and i just went "hey, i like the sound". And i'm NOT kidding! I do like it. Even Nick said that it's the lowest end of Squire models that you can find. How flattering. But that didn't stop me from using it, and it's been of service to me for 4 songs now.
I love it's tone, and I think it's important that I use Dr.Q's MXR Bass D.I. together with it. The D.I. has 3 basic equalizer knobs, and i use them to tweak and improve the tone output. Having this D.I. adds a totally different dimension to the input that Nick's Cubase 4 system receives. There is very very little noise given out, and the tone gained is a lovely rumble with a lip-twiching high end. Another trivia is that I didnt use any of my staple effects pedals at all. I only use 3 (i believe a bassist should keep his effects-toying to a minimal. .....well FINE i just don't have the money to buy more pedals): all 3 being from BOSS, i use the Equalizer, Limiter/Enhancer and Chorus. Save for the Chorus(very prominent on "For Fathers"), i won't be using the others, and it'll probably remain that way throughout the album. The combi of the Squire J-Bass and the MXR Bass D.I. keeps my bass sound 'pure', without any fancy stuff(my playing not counted *laughs*) happening. Keep a lookout for my bass sound throughout the album, and you'll note that aside from the difference in mixing, the rumble of my low end remains largely the same, creating a solid foundation for the characteristic and unique s.p.o.n.g.e sound.
this is me, with the studio's Squire J-Bass, laying down Today's groove.Fin
Well, there're not many lessons to be learnt from today's session, since everything's been pretty much straightforward.
Now it's up to our duo of guitarists and our frontman to fly on top of the groundwork we've laid out for 'em.
Drop pants, not bombs, people.
-syai-
7th Recording Session - 6 Febraury 2008, Wednesday (2.00pm – 3.30pm)
Chinese New Year Eve. Little India. Not exactly two things you put together. It happened. For one and a half hours, Syai and I spent time recording the lead guitar tracks for Fortify at Dunlop Street on Chinese New Year Eve, 6 February 2008.
Songs – Fortify
Instruments Recorded – Guitar (Kenneth)
Recording Process
What was really funny about this session was that it began with the idea to begin recording at 12.30pm. Nick messaged us that he would be late, arriving at about 1.00pm. Soon, Syai and I realised we'll be even later... to reach at 2pm. What's up with musicians and being late? Actually maybe its not a musician thing... its sometimes just a Singaporean thing isn't it??? Haha... ok. Back to what happened (which isn't much).
This session was relatively simple. But I'll talk about the Fender Bassman. Here it is right on top of the Laney Head and Cabinet.
Songs – Fortify
Instruments Recorded – Guitar (Kenneth)
Recording Process
What was really funny about this session was that it began with the idea to begin recording at 12.30pm. Nick messaged us that he would be late, arriving at about 1.00pm. Soon, Syai and I realised we'll be even later... to reach at 2pm. What's up with musicians and being late? Actually maybe its not a musician thing... its sometimes just a Singaporean thing isn't it??? Haha... ok. Back to what happened (which isn't much).
This session was relatively simple. But I'll talk about the Fender Bassman. Here it is right on top of the Laney Head and Cabinet.
For many of our songs, such as Astray, Today and Fortify, I wanted a bright sparkly tone for the guitars. This sound is very apparently in the lead guitar intro riff in Astray, the ending of Today and the verse of Fortify. This is what the Fender Bassman gives. A sparkle and glee to a guitar tone (probably very familiar to people who listen to atmospheric music like Sigur Ros). I haven't heard an amp which does the same yet. Amazing. Listen to believe. If you're a guitarist who wants that sound in your music, I would encourage you to head down to the musicforgood Studios and listen to the Fender Bassman (including what Nick adds to it). Its a tone which is hard to obtain anywhere else.
Anyway, recording wrapped up quickly. Oh. And we wished Nick, Wei Wei and Patrick a happy Chinese New Year :)
End
I think... from this session there was one special thing we learnt from Nick. Its that with layers, you can choose to eccentuate certain melodies or try to create a more dissonant ending to certain parts of the song so that it does not merely resolve in a listener's mind (ergh... I know this sentence is difficult to understand but that's the best way to put it). For Fortify, my overlays were pretty odd notes. When the CD does come out, listen to the ending and you'll hear certain notes played in a second layer to emphasis certain parts of the lead melody. It felt really different and I was glad that Nick made me do it (it was odd/difficult to play like that). One thing to takeaway? Choose a good producer which knows this stuff :)
6th Recording Session, 5 February 2008, Tuesday (2.30 – 8.30pm)
So, here I am (Kenneth), writing about the 5th session when Syai has not finished on the 3rd and 4th sessions yet (Yes. I am going to save this in draft so he can post this once he's done with the 3rd and 4th sessions). See how much I am blaming him for how slow the updates to this blog are? :) Anyway, due to a sudden inspiration, I hope to bring everyone up to speed on the status of our recordings. Really. When I heard the full unmixed recording of "Today", literally today, I had a good feeling that all the effort (and money) we have put in, has been worth it. The album is going to be a blast. Anyway, I think I will keep the introduction short and move on to the details of this session.
Songs – Today, Fortify
Instruments Recorded – Drums, Bass, Rhythm Guitar
Recording Session
This session was the beginning of the recordings of "Today" and "Fortify" (Henceforth refered to their titles w/o open and closed colons!). I think for those who know us, and have listened to us (if not, pls go to http://www.myspace.com/spongemusic), Today is a very familiar song. Its that kind of song which runs a million miles around your head w/o you knowing it... leaving you momentarily blank. Next, your mouth starts moving. Face it. You start singing along. I mean, I really never knew this fact till I was convinced by a few people say how catchy it really was. Well.. trust us to be cynical and hard on our own music.. and trust Mr Fiq to write a song like this just to blow you (and us) away.
Anyway, since I just talked about this, perhaps its a good time to talk about the collaborative and creative process between us banditos (that's just a term for bandmates which sounds better and not always... funnier). Many people have asked me (at least when I first tell them I play in a band), who writes the songs in the band, or how the songs are created. To quote them:- "Hey! So who writes the songs? YOU? *excited voices*" Unfortunately, no. Not all at least. In fact, only one (I'll talk about it when we blog about the session on it). So far I must say majority of our songwriting (the chord progressions, the melody plus some lyrics) must be credited to Syafiq. In fact, our journey as a band with our own songs began with "News". And it was really almost all done by the time he let us listen to it for the first time. For the current tracks which have been revealed, "News", "Astray" and "Today" were first played to us with Syafiq's singing and strumming. Woah. Trust us. We liked what we heard. But just to burst Syafiq's bubble and maybe musicians who just come up with "originals" and expect them to be good and heard immediately, we have trashed and dumped songs when we really listened to them. In fact many. Know why I will probably only have one song written by me in the record now? ;)
Just to be clear though. Some songs go through a different evolution. For e.g. Fortify. It began when Syafiq strummed a chord progression (if I am not wrong its E5, C9, A5). This lead to a sudden explosion of a melody for the lead guitar riff in my mind! With just these two elements, the band explored and created what was Fortify. Rahmat came up with a singing tune and the lyrics soon after and the rest... as the cliche says, is merely history.
I'll let Rahmat elaborate on Fortify in the future (if he ever posts), but for me, when I listen to Fortify I just think of two lovers lying in bed, looking into each other's eyes, in a moment of quiet peace (w/o any other additional movement in bed). This is definitely one of my favourite songs in the album, but I have heard many who have felt the contrary. Comments heard for a particular gig were - "Why did you play that STUPID SONG???". Not exactly a compliment. Oh and thanks Nadia for buying us all Chicken Rice (including Nick) that session (and the remark!). Haha... we still appreciate the realness of your (and many others') advice. Such comments really brings us back to reality whenever we start thinking (like many Singaporean bands) that we're rock stars and so good that we should be heard WORLDWIDE just because we have a few songs under our belt (I'll leave this rant for another time. This post is getting too long).
So, back to the recording. Qader, Syai and Syafiq, began by tracking the rhythm parts again. Nothing new there as this is how it always works when you record a song. Unfortunately, for Today, we realised that the crashes (a crash is one of the metal disc/cymbal at the side of the drum kit) at Nick's studio did not suit the song (no fault of Nick). And this was AFTER we had recorded the entire drum, bass and rhythm track which took about 2 hours. Definitely a downer when every crash sounded like a chinese cymbal in a Chinese Orchestra (no offense to Chinese Orchestras).
It felt a little worse because we realised at the end of the session we had to re-record the drums, and thus, the bass and rhythm guitar track. :( Well... Fortify escaped such an outcome though. And the drum, bass and rhythm guitar track for Fortify were kept.
End
So, what's the lesson to be learnt here? I think for bands who are really serious about what they do, its important for the drummer to have their own cymbals (crash, splash and right). Some drummers even bring their own snares. In fact, from the Ballyhoo talks we have been, its even advised for guitarists to bring their own amps (I wish I could) so that their tone can always be retained. Many local musicians go "WOW. WTF". But think of all the travelling small time bands in other countries (out of Singapore) who drive around with nothing but their gear (which includes, full drumkits, amplifiers and mics, yes mics) and get poor for long periods of time just to pursue their passion. Just think how many make it in the end (oh wait. Let me rant about the so called "lack of government support" in the Singapore music scene another time. Argh, why does this keep coming up in this post).
So yes. Having your own equipment is really important unless the studio really has all your favourite amps/gears there. For Syafiq, Syai and me, we aren't really able to afford our own big amplifiers right now (and its not worth the hassle transporting them all around yet), so we make do with what Nick has which is what we really want actually. At gigs, we just make do. We would love a van but... oh well. Anyway, I promised pictures so here's Syafiq on that day itself... looking longingly (lovingly?) at Nick after doing some tracks.
Songs – Today, Fortify
Instruments Recorded – Drums, Bass, Rhythm Guitar
Recording Session
This session was the beginning of the recordings of "Today" and "Fortify" (Henceforth refered to their titles w/o open and closed colons!). I think for those who know us, and have listened to us (if not, pls go to http://www.myspace.com/spongemusic), Today is a very familiar song. Its that kind of song which runs a million miles around your head w/o you knowing it... leaving you momentarily blank. Next, your mouth starts moving. Face it. You start singing along. I mean, I really never knew this fact till I was convinced by a few people say how catchy it really was. Well.. trust us to be cynical and hard on our own music.. and trust Mr Fiq to write a song like this just to blow you (and us) away.
Anyway, since I just talked about this, perhaps its a good time to talk about the collaborative and creative process between us banditos (that's just a term for bandmates which sounds better and not always... funnier). Many people have asked me (at least when I first tell them I play in a band), who writes the songs in the band, or how the songs are created. To quote them:- "Hey! So who writes the songs? YOU? *excited voices*" Unfortunately, no. Not all at least. In fact, only one (I'll talk about it when we blog about the session on it). So far I must say majority of our songwriting (the chord progressions, the melody plus some lyrics) must be credited to Syafiq. In fact, our journey as a band with our own songs began with "News". And it was really almost all done by the time he let us listen to it for the first time. For the current tracks which have been revealed, "News", "Astray" and "Today" were first played to us with Syafiq's singing and strumming. Woah. Trust us. We liked what we heard. But just to burst Syafiq's bubble and maybe musicians who just come up with "originals" and expect them to be good and heard immediately, we have trashed and dumped songs when we really listened to them. In fact many. Know why I will probably only have one song written by me in the record now? ;)
Just to be clear though. Some songs go through a different evolution. For e.g. Fortify. It began when Syafiq strummed a chord progression (if I am not wrong its E5, C9, A5). This lead to a sudden explosion of a melody for the lead guitar riff in my mind! With just these two elements, the band explored and created what was Fortify. Rahmat came up with a singing tune and the lyrics soon after and the rest... as the cliche says, is merely history.
I'll let Rahmat elaborate on Fortify in the future (if he ever posts), but for me, when I listen to Fortify I just think of two lovers lying in bed, looking into each other's eyes, in a moment of quiet peace (w/o any other additional movement in bed). This is definitely one of my favourite songs in the album, but I have heard many who have felt the contrary. Comments heard for a particular gig were - "Why did you play that STUPID SONG???". Not exactly a compliment. Oh and thanks Nadia for buying us all Chicken Rice (including Nick) that session (and the remark!). Haha... we still appreciate the realness of your (and many others') advice. Such comments really brings us back to reality whenever we start thinking (like many Singaporean bands) that we're rock stars and so good that we should be heard WORLDWIDE just because we have a few songs under our belt (I'll leave this rant for another time. This post is getting too long).
So, back to the recording. Qader, Syai and Syafiq, began by tracking the rhythm parts again. Nothing new there as this is how it always works when you record a song. Unfortunately, for Today, we realised that the crashes (a crash is one of the metal disc/cymbal at the side of the drum kit) at Nick's studio did not suit the song (no fault of Nick). And this was AFTER we had recorded the entire drum, bass and rhythm track which took about 2 hours. Definitely a downer when every crash sounded like a chinese cymbal in a Chinese Orchestra (no offense to Chinese Orchestras).
It felt a little worse because we realised at the end of the session we had to re-record the drums, and thus, the bass and rhythm guitar track. :( Well... Fortify escaped such an outcome though. And the drum, bass and rhythm guitar track for Fortify were kept.
End
So, what's the lesson to be learnt here? I think for bands who are really serious about what they do, its important for the drummer to have their own cymbals (crash, splash and right). Some drummers even bring their own snares. In fact, from the Ballyhoo talks we have been, its even advised for guitarists to bring their own amps (I wish I could) so that their tone can always be retained. Many local musicians go "WOW. WTF". But think of all the travelling small time bands in other countries (out of Singapore) who drive around with nothing but their gear (which includes, full drumkits, amplifiers and mics, yes mics) and get poor for long periods of time just to pursue their passion. Just think how many make it in the end (oh wait. Let me rant about the so called "lack of government support" in the Singapore music scene another time. Argh, why does this keep coming up in this post).
So yes. Having your own equipment is really important unless the studio really has all your favourite amps/gears there. For Syafiq, Syai and me, we aren't really able to afford our own big amplifiers right now (and its not worth the hassle transporting them all around yet), so we make do with what Nick has which is what we really want actually. At gigs, we just make do. We would love a van but... oh well. Anyway, I promised pictures so here's Syafiq on that day itself... looking longingly (lovingly?) at Nick after doing some tracks.
Before I forget. Nick was really great. As he kinda felt bad for the drums (despite even doing his best and letting us try all the crashes he had at his studio, which was really amazing of him), he told me to come down to finish up the intrumental tracks for Fortify on the next day (Chinese New Year Eve) and record for free. See why we made such a good choice in choosing him? ;) "Nick, you rock man..."
5th Recording Session, 31 January 2008, Thursday (8.30pm – 11.00pm)
This session turned out to be the first of its kind in its umm.. vocaling intensivity.
As it turned out, the rest of the band weren't comfortable with the results of the previous vocal session with respect to Astray. It was a mixture of the nasal-ness caused by Matt's flu and several off-tune parts which somehow escaped us completely. We then decided to re-record Matt on Astray completely.
Before we got to that, however, Syafiq had to correct the opening riff for Astray, as the electric and acoustic elements were somehow out of sync in a few phases. After laying down our goals for the day, we were ready to get down and dirty and mean and filthy.
Song - Astray
Instruments - Guitar & Vocals
Recording Process
Things got started with Syafiq re-entering the electric guitar track for Astray's intro, using the Gibson Les Paul Supreme. He realised that he forgot exactly which guitar he used for this intro-into-verse part, and we decided to try with the Les Paul. After laying down the track, Nick noticed that the tone was different from that of the verse, and Syafiq had to play into the verse until the first chorus, to achieve uniformity in the tone. Still, there were slight discrepancies in the sound as compared to the overall rhythm guitar tone. But this was well taken care of when Nick, doing what he does best, cast some brilliant Magick to set everything straight. It sounded just like before, in under 5 mins.
This is the Gibson beauty that Syafiq used for his part:
[pic]
Hurrah! It was finally time to get da vox in da box. At this point, we could see Syafiq stepping up and assisting Matt greatly with the vocal parts. Matt stayed inside the recording booth, with Syafiq outside at the cockpit alternating between sitting, standing and jumping, all the time barking out comments and orders to Matt through the BattlestarScralachtica-esque microphone.
It was quite stressful at times, especially in some tense situations where I thought Matt's hand would just crash through the thick glass panel of the cockpit, grab Syafiq's head, and gobble it up. But luckily that didn't happen. If it did, i'd be the first to grab all the Gibsons and get the hell out of there.
So anyway, i have to point out that our revered Mr.Muon gave a lot of helpful tips, pointers and shared his personal opinions while we were somehow struggling with the vocal tracking. The adjustment of Matt's pitching here and there, the pronounciation and focus of certain words or syllables, it all helped us a whole lot. Nick also reminded us that over-directing and being too critical of Matt for some difficult parts of the song would make things worse, rather than improving his performance. I realised that this is quite true, from what my friend majoring in Film studies also informed me about. Some directors tend to over-direct their cast of actors, and point out their mistakes too much. Instead of acting from their inner selves with natural feel and passion, they tend to focus on their mistakes that have been pointed out, and this shift in perspective can affect the actor's performance greatly.
As the day drew to a close, Matt finally finished laying down his voxiness at about 10.15pm. It was then Syafiq's turn to churn out his backing vocal tracks. Well well well well well well well. It turned out that Syafiq had slight trouble voxing it out shagedalically too. There were a lot of harmonizing to be done, particularly at the choruses, and to follow the exact wavering and slurring of Matt's melodies was pretty tough. At one point, Syafiq commented that he felt like a 'goldfish' in that room.
Fin
Our long day finally drew to a close when Syafiq finished his backing vocals at around 11.45pm. This is the latest we've finished a session, if i'm not wrong. We were all tired and aching and sleepy and hungry. And the next day we would still have to head to work and school. How lovely. The things we go through for what we love. At times, we sacrifice a lot just to get our music heard. Just to reach out to people.
But at the end of it all, we realise that it's absolutely worth it.
As it turned out, the rest of the band weren't comfortable with the results of the previous vocal session with respect to Astray. It was a mixture of the nasal-ness caused by Matt's flu and several off-tune parts which somehow escaped us completely. We then decided to re-record Matt on Astray completely.
Before we got to that, however, Syafiq had to correct the opening riff for Astray, as the electric and acoustic elements were somehow out of sync in a few phases. After laying down our goals for the day, we were ready to get down and dirty and mean and filthy.
Song - Astray
Instruments - Guitar & Vocals
Recording Process
Things got started with Syafiq re-entering the electric guitar track for Astray's intro, using the Gibson Les Paul Supreme. He realised that he forgot exactly which guitar he used for this intro-into-verse part, and we decided to try with the Les Paul. After laying down the track, Nick noticed that the tone was different from that of the verse, and Syafiq had to play into the verse until the first chorus, to achieve uniformity in the tone. Still, there were slight discrepancies in the sound as compared to the overall rhythm guitar tone. But this was well taken care of when Nick, doing what he does best, cast some brilliant Magick to set everything straight. It sounded just like before, in under 5 mins.
This is the Gibson beauty that Syafiq used for his part:
[pic]
Hurrah! It was finally time to get da vox in da box. At this point, we could see Syafiq stepping up and assisting Matt greatly with the vocal parts. Matt stayed inside the recording booth, with Syafiq outside at the cockpit alternating between sitting, standing and jumping, all the time barking out comments and orders to Matt through the BattlestarScralachtica-esque microphone.
It was quite stressful at times, especially in some tense situations where I thought Matt's hand would just crash through the thick glass panel of the cockpit, grab Syafiq's head, and gobble it up. But luckily that didn't happen. If it did, i'd be the first to grab all the Gibsons and get the hell out of there.
So anyway, i have to point out that our revered Mr.Muon gave a lot of helpful tips, pointers and shared his personal opinions while we were somehow struggling with the vocal tracking. The adjustment of Matt's pitching here and there, the pronounciation and focus of certain words or syllables, it all helped us a whole lot. Nick also reminded us that over-directing and being too critical of Matt for some difficult parts of the song would make things worse, rather than improving his performance. I realised that this is quite true, from what my friend majoring in Film studies also informed me about. Some directors tend to over-direct their cast of actors, and point out their mistakes too much. Instead of acting from their inner selves with natural feel and passion, they tend to focus on their mistakes that have been pointed out, and this shift in perspective can affect the actor's performance greatly.
As the day drew to a close, Matt finally finished laying down his voxiness at about 10.15pm. It was then Syafiq's turn to churn out his backing vocal tracks. Well well well well well well well. It turned out that Syafiq had slight trouble voxing it out shagedalically too. There were a lot of harmonizing to be done, particularly at the choruses, and to follow the exact wavering and slurring of Matt's melodies was pretty tough. At one point, Syafiq commented that he felt like a 'goldfish' in that room.
Fin
Our long day finally drew to a close when Syafiq finished his backing vocals at around 11.45pm. This is the latest we've finished a session, if i'm not wrong. We were all tired and aching and sleepy and hungry. And the next day we would still have to head to work and school. How lovely. The things we go through for what we love. At times, we sacrifice a lot just to get our music heard. Just to reach out to people.
But at the end of it all, we realise that it's absolutely worth it.
Friday, February 29, 2008
4th Recording Session - 27 January 2008, Sunday (12.00pm – 4.00pm)
*pop* !
And Syai finally makes his virgin entry on this blog.
I'm here to rescue Ken (aka Tan ah Tan). He's spending almost everyday of the week pouring over his work responsibilities, and having him go through and fill the blog up can take quite a toll. I think this is why they call me syai-da-man. And it's not just because i'm Gifted.
And so it was, on that Sunday afternoon, where Rahmat(Matt) picked me up from Eunos MRT Station to head over to our sweet lil' nest in the middle of Dunlop St., our very own Abbey Rd-ish haven.
The agenda of the day was to lay down the lead vocal tracks, and my job was to..well..listen. And provide constructive/deconstructive critique, of course. But it wasn't as easy as I thought, as I shall illustrate below.
Songs - News & Astray
Instruments Recorded - None. The mouth isn't an instrument.
Recording Process
We first listened through the raw tracks that we've just recorded a few days before. It sounded good. Very good, in my own opinion. And these tracks weren't even mixed yet. After exchanging grinning, satisfied looks with Matt, we decided to get right down to business.
Before Matt even uttered a single line of lyric through his teeth, Nick put us through the most important step: choosing the correct microphone. He went into the recording booth, put up 3 different mic set-ups, and had Matt sing through each. We then went back to the cockpit and sat through each of the 3 samples. At this point, I apologise for not noting down the exact models of those 3 mics, but I promise you readers that i'll update this info the next time I return from a studio session.
Nick stressed the importance of knowing why we chose the mic that we chose. He questioned us on our choice, and we could tell he wanted to make us realise what is it that we like in the mic's sound. Nick explained earlier that the set-up for Matt is quite unique, because of his very bass-ey voice tone and scruffy texture. Not suitable for any 'ordinary mic'. And so, with the mysterious-chosen-mic, Nick placed the mic set-up just behind the inner door of the recording booth, and put up a sound buffer by using a suspicious-looking purple mattress. Mr.Matt stood between the door and the mattress.
And then Matt sang. Oh, how we sang. It sounded the way our songs should sound, except for the fact that Matt was down with the friggin' flu. There was a nasal twang to it, which we would only fully notice in the next session.
We took a little longer than expected, though. Aside from the time spent on setting up, the total time we took to lay down take after take of matt's vocals and filling the mic surface up with his saliva was close to 3 hrs. I personally discovered that I don't really have the ear for precise vocal melodies. Even if I do identify what a certain tune should be, what comes out of my vocal chords as i try to describe it sounds like a squeak. Maybe this is why we took extra long. I think my 'helping along' of the vocal tracks probably did more harm than good. *laughs*
Fin
At the end of the session, as we said our 'seeyouagainextweeks' to Nick, he actually told us that he'll treat this session as just an hour's take. Me and Matt were surprised, of course, but we were absolutely grateful. In these kind of circumstances, it helps to be able to realise that it's not really the terms of the situation, but the thought behind it that counts. Nick, you rock mannnn.
Afternote: i'll promise to put up the pictures of the mic(s) used, and i'll see if it'll be more appropriate to post it here or in any futures posts that i'll publish. Just for the record, we didnt have any camera during this session, hence the lack of my beautiful face plastered on this page. :(
And Syai finally makes his virgin entry on this blog.
I'm here to rescue Ken (aka Tan ah Tan). He's spending almost everyday of the week pouring over his work responsibilities, and having him go through and fill the blog up can take quite a toll. I think this is why they call me syai-da-man. And it's not just because i'm Gifted.
And so it was, on that Sunday afternoon, where Rahmat(Matt) picked me up from Eunos MRT Station to head over to our sweet lil' nest in the middle of Dunlop St., our very own Abbey Rd-ish haven.
The agenda of the day was to lay down the lead vocal tracks, and my job was to..well..listen. And provide constructive/deconstructive critique, of course. But it wasn't as easy as I thought, as I shall illustrate below.
Songs - News & Astray
Instruments Recorded - None. The mouth isn't an instrument.
Recording Process
We first listened through the raw tracks that we've just recorded a few days before. It sounded good. Very good, in my own opinion. And these tracks weren't even mixed yet. After exchanging grinning, satisfied looks with Matt, we decided to get right down to business.
Before Matt even uttered a single line of lyric through his teeth, Nick put us through the most important step: choosing the correct microphone. He went into the recording booth, put up 3 different mic set-ups, and had Matt sing through each. We then went back to the cockpit and sat through each of the 3 samples. At this point, I apologise for not noting down the exact models of those 3 mics, but I promise you readers that i'll update this info the next time I return from a studio session.
Nick stressed the importance of knowing why we chose the mic that we chose. He questioned us on our choice, and we could tell he wanted to make us realise what is it that we like in the mic's sound. Nick explained earlier that the set-up for Matt is quite unique, because of his very bass-ey voice tone and scruffy texture. Not suitable for any 'ordinary mic'. And so, with the mysterious-chosen-mic, Nick placed the mic set-up just behind the inner door of the recording booth, and put up a sound buffer by using a suspicious-looking purple mattress. Mr.Matt stood between the door and the mattress.
And then Matt sang. Oh, how we sang. It sounded the way our songs should sound, except for the fact that Matt was down with the friggin' flu. There was a nasal twang to it, which we would only fully notice in the next session.
We took a little longer than expected, though. Aside from the time spent on setting up, the total time we took to lay down take after take of matt's vocals and filling the mic surface up with his saliva was close to 3 hrs. I personally discovered that I don't really have the ear for precise vocal melodies. Even if I do identify what a certain tune should be, what comes out of my vocal chords as i try to describe it sounds like a squeak. Maybe this is why we took extra long. I think my 'helping along' of the vocal tracks probably did more harm than good. *laughs*
Fin
At the end of the session, as we said our 'seeyouagainextweeks' to Nick, he actually told us that he'll treat this session as just an hour's take. Me and Matt were surprised, of course, but we were absolutely grateful. In these kind of circumstances, it helps to be able to realise that it's not really the terms of the situation, but the thought behind it that counts. Nick, you rock mannnn.
Afternote: i'll promise to put up the pictures of the mic(s) used, and i'll see if it'll be more appropriate to post it here or in any futures posts that i'll publish. Just for the record, we didnt have any camera during this session, hence the lack of my beautiful face plastered on this page. :(
2nd Recording Session - 20 January 2008, Sunday (3.30pm – 7.30pm)
Session 2
So. Session 2 started with Qader and Wadei. Basically, we were chilling and Nick was having his lunch. Soon, it rained. But look at how happy we were regardless. I think we appreciate that our producer can be as late as us (*hint hint* to everyone in the band). So... yeah. In the end, its perfect timing (just like our songs). This store shown here is just opposite the studio at Dunlop Street. Must say... Wadei tastes pretty wa wa licious. After Wadei-ing, we rushed to the studio in the pouring rain...
Recording Session
For guitars, Syafiq and I plugged into a Fender Bassman. Initially, we were just following Nick's instructions. But i'll elaborate in later posts what I like about the Bassman and include a pic on it (its now one of our many loves...). So what was difficult about recording guitars... (its really hard to remember now that its more than a month ago). Yet, I remember clearly how difficult it was to strum to a metronome beat. Syafiq definitely felt it the most during the recording of Astray. Most guitarists know that strumming is a "feeling" kind of thing which is really hard to control and keep consistent. Keeping it in time, and putting the feelings through into a recording were... to put it kindly, tough. News was a rather straightforward matter and wasn't difficult, but Astray. Woah... when you hear it, you might not realise how many takes it took to make it perfect, but i assure you it took quite a while!
What was special about Astray though, was that we added an additional acoustic guitar track to give it a really great soft rock vibe. So I did ask Fiq to give me details about the rig he uses but... argh. Musicians (this just means, musicians... always late). Moving on. For News, Fiq used a clean guitar w/o effects. For Astray, Fiq used a ProCo Rat and a Boss MetalZone (MT2) for distortion. In addition, Nick had lent Fiq a unnamed distortion pedal owned by a guitarist from March Twelve (OPPS!). Mental. When its out, listen to the interlude to hear how all three pedals sound like. Its crazy (especially when put together).
For me (Kenneth), I use a Boss Super Overdrive (SD-1) for the first verse of News and a Sansamp GT2 for the rest of my distortion. The SD-1 is famous for giving a nice warm buttery tone which is vintage. I highly recommend it to any guitarist. For beginners, its budget price (S$60 second hand is possible) makes it a must buy. For experienced guitarists, I heard that everyone returns to the tone of a SD-1 after trying all the highend stuff. I must say the pedal has its uses. GT2 is extremely well known in the Singapore guitarist community. I won't say much more about it (cos so much has been said on forums like soft.com) except that it retails at about S$330 first hand and S$180 (dropping) second hand. Check out luthermusic for great second hand deals (http://www.luthermusic.com/).
For me, I like the GT2 for its versatility and its edge. Its probably not as powerful as higher end distortions like MXR though... but MXR is much pricier and perhaps the premium is not really worth the improvement in sound (which is really still up to judgement and preference).
End
PS: We met Syai's friend Hanafi at Sarpinos for pizza to discuss a video, we're shooting in NTU tomorrow (will say more soon)!
Ok ok ok ok. I've been b*tched by the band lately about the lack of postings and how the blog is getting stale cos no one comes to a blog to read about what happend 1 month ago... Ok ok ok ok. I know its true. So as a new month resolution, I've decided to quickly complete all the sessions I'm in charge of writing and pass writing duties to syai-da-man (like spiderman)! :) - happy person.
So. Session 2 started with Qader and Wadei. Basically, we were chilling and Nick was having his lunch. Soon, it rained. But look at how happy we were regardless. I think we appreciate that our producer can be as late as us (*hint hint* to everyone in the band). So... yeah. In the end, its perfect timing (just like our songs). This store shown here is just opposite the studio at Dunlop Street. Must say... Wadei tastes pretty wa wa licious. After Wadei-ing, we rushed to the studio in the pouring rain...Songs - News, Astray
Instruments - Syafiq (Electric Guitar for "News" and "Astray"), Kenneth (Electric Guitar for "News")
Recording Session
So, 20 January shall be the day marked by electric guitars. Syafiq and I had the privilege of using almost all the guitars in the studio. I haven't got all the names down yet, but lots of them are Gibson guitars, kindly sponsored to/by Patrick (not the starfish) from musicforgood (check out his site http://www.musicforgood.com/)
So here is the rack of guitars (notice a few are missing. Why? They were being used by us of course!)
For guitars, Syafiq and I plugged into a Fender Bassman. Initially, we were just following Nick's instructions. But i'll elaborate in later posts what I like about the Bassman and include a pic on it (its now one of our many loves...). So what was difficult about recording guitars... (its really hard to remember now that its more than a month ago). Yet, I remember clearly how difficult it was to strum to a metronome beat. Syafiq definitely felt it the most during the recording of Astray. Most guitarists know that strumming is a "feeling" kind of thing which is really hard to control and keep consistent. Keeping it in time, and putting the feelings through into a recording were... to put it kindly, tough. News was a rather straightforward matter and wasn't difficult, but Astray. Woah... when you hear it, you might not realise how many takes it took to make it perfect, but i assure you it took quite a while!
What was special about Astray though, was that we added an additional acoustic guitar track to give it a really great soft rock vibe. So I did ask Fiq to give me details about the rig he uses but... argh. Musicians (this just means, musicians... always late). Moving on. For News, Fiq used a clean guitar w/o effects. For Astray, Fiq used a ProCo Rat and a Boss MetalZone (MT2) for distortion. In addition, Nick had lent Fiq a unnamed distortion pedal owned by a guitarist from March Twelve (OPPS!). Mental. When its out, listen to the interlude to hear how all three pedals sound like. Its crazy (especially when put together).
For me (Kenneth), I use a Boss Super Overdrive (SD-1) for the first verse of News and a Sansamp GT2 for the rest of my distortion. The SD-1 is famous for giving a nice warm buttery tone which is vintage. I highly recommend it to any guitarist. For beginners, its budget price (S$60 second hand is possible) makes it a must buy. For experienced guitarists, I heard that everyone returns to the tone of a SD-1 after trying all the highend stuff. I must say the pedal has its uses. GT2 is extremely well known in the Singapore guitarist community. I won't say much more about it (cos so much has been said on forums like soft.com) except that it retails at about S$330 first hand and S$180 (dropping) second hand. Check out luthermusic for great second hand deals (http://www.luthermusic.com/).
For me, I like the GT2 for its versatility and its edge. Its probably not as powerful as higher end distortions like MXR though... but MXR is much pricier and perhaps the premium is not really worth the improvement in sound (which is really still up to judgement and preference).
Ok. Enough about the technical stuff. I'm boring all casual music listeners. So what happened? Well, we kinda completed tracking (which means recording the raw tracks) for both songs, leaving Rahmat to fill the songs up with the vocals. Now you know who has the easiest job eh? ;)
End
So... I am kind of sleepy (after work, though its only 10.30pm) so i'll keep this short. One thing which is really important for guitarists is to learn to strum with a metronome. We actually re-recorded the acoustic rhythm part for Astray in future sessions again (no fault of Fiq, its really hard). Well.. maybe there are others who are just more talented than us... Anyway, I would like to talk more about amps (why the Bassman, why???), but I'll really leave it for a later post where I'll post some pics. I hope I remember!
PS: We met Syai's friend Hanafi at Sarpinos for pizza to discuss a video, we're shooting in NTU tomorrow (will say more soon)!
Monday, February 18, 2008
1st Recording Session - 17 January 2008, Thursday (8.30pm – 10.30pm)
Session 1
Alright, I guess we've delayed this for too long! Its been a month since the first recording session and here we are blogging history (not really what blogs were meant to be used for). Just to be clear on how this blog would work, its going to be like the blogging of every recording session. We start with a little introduction, followed by the two songs we recorded and the instruments! Here goes.
Songs – News, Astray
Instruments Recorded – Drums and Bass
Recording Process
Next, we talk about what we did. For the first session, we chose two songs, the first was "News" which was the first ever song we wrote together, and Astray, one of our less played songs (still rocks like a S.P.O.N.G.E). Mr. Q began the proceedings for the recording to start. Here's the drumset (without him).
I'll get him to elaborate on the set up once he's ready to talk.
Alright, I guess we've delayed this for too long! Its been a month since the first recording session and here we are blogging history (not really what blogs were meant to be used for). Just to be clear on how this blog would work, its going to be like the blogging of every recording session. We start with a little introduction, followed by the two songs we recorded and the instruments! Here goes.
Songs – News, Astray
Instruments Recorded – Drums and Bass
Recording Process
Next, we talk about what we did. For the first session, we chose two songs, the first was "News" which was the first ever song we wrote together, and Astray, one of our less played songs (still rocks like a S.P.O.N.G.E). Mr. Q began the proceedings for the recording to start. Here's the drumset (without him).
I'll get him to elaborate on the set up once he's ready to talk.Syai ran his bass through a Hartke amp (HA3500 Head and a VX410 Cabinet) Syai will elaborate on what he likes about this amp in future posts. Meanwhile, here's what I like :) I like it for its slight warmth and punchiness. Apparantly Hartke is rather famous for being a "rock" bass amp. I guess that's about right and that was the sound we really wanted for both songs. News required a more punchy bass sound and Astray, I would say a more traditional rock bass tonel. Here's the Hartke.
I would say... it wasn't a really eventful recording session besides the fact it kicked everything off! But maybe that's cos I forgot lots about it... Opps. Anyway, 2 hours and 2 drum tracks and bass tracks? That's really quite a good start.
End
Finally, at the end of each blog of every recording session, we'll end off with something that perhaps future bands can use. We call it "End" to make it sound better than... "conclusion" or "summary"...
Anyway, here's the short takeaway. Before we actually began recording, we had played through all the songs with the metronome, noting down the exact tempos we wanted for each song. (Note to new bands: A metronome is very important. Despite the difficulty and all the easy excuses about the lack of "feel", it makes you a better band. Honest. Even we hate playing with it and we often don't... but oh well).
Quite strangely, we do feel that Astray did end up a bit slower than we wanted. What we found useful was to sing along as parts were recorded so that we knew exactly how it felt and could correct it if necessary. This is why its important that most of the band members have to be present even if they are not recording (Yes! The vocalist should be around when recording drums. How would anyone know that???)
Yes. It does get a little boring sitting around doing nothing but listening to the same instrument being recorded for about 4 hrs. But it definitely beats a lifetime of listening to a mistake which could have been corrected easily. So our advice is (as indirectly said by Nick) is to be patient, especially with each other. Practical advice would try not to be too stingy with the retakes. It doesn't help to be stressed about getting each part right one time through. Like we try to convince ourselves, its really better than listening to a lifetime of bad takes.
Anyway, in the next post, we'll be talking our 2nd Recording session. It involves guitars (my faa-vourite). :)
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Before the Recording
So, as you can probably tell, this blog started way after the recording process had begun (Recording Process Started: 18 December 2007, Blog Started: 5 February 2008). And the recording process does not begin with instruments. It begins with meeting people.
18 December 2007, 4 brave sponges (sans Kenneth) visit studios. While it will be prudent not to elaborate on what actually came into our minds regarding the other studios we looked at, let me (try to) explain and justify our choice of our producer, Nick Chan, and studio, the musicforgood studios (also known as "The Void".
The reasons are at times, obvious:
1. Our prior experience with Nick during Noise Singapore 2007 - This allowed us to really understand what he could do with our music and his commitment towards what the band wanted. We had to admit the Noise Singapore experience was not a total one (due to Nick's many jobs and the rush for time), however, the band felt more confident after speaking to Nick repeatedly about the album we envisioned.
2. Great studio set up - Now, while S.P.O.N.G.E isn't exactly a gear crazy band, we can hear good amps and equipment when they are around. However, it was not only the availability of good instruments and equipment made us fall in love with the Void (the line sounds deep), but also the fact that Nick knew what to do with them to make us sound even better.
3. Clean and nice environment - The musicforgood office/studio is clean, green and just basically a good place to hang out. A well stocked fridge with drinks for $1 (picture coming up), nice office table (to set up laptop and exploit the wireless connection while your lousy bandmate is doing his tracks and you're bored to half death), nice beanbags (to sleep or laze on), books and cds (Nick lends them out. I am currently holding on to "Sophie's World). Oh well... yeah. Its small. But its cosy, and we appreciate simple little things like this :)
4. The Producer, Nick Chan ("he's the man") - Astreal, I am David Sparkle, Marchtwelve, Muon (his own band) and Bismuth. We had plugged these CDs into our heads, analysed them and came to a consensus that Nick could reproduce the album the band envisioned (and hopefully more). We won't be counting the chickens before they hatch though... but what has happened so far, has been good.
Well. We have now completed the 6th recording session (and the 2nd blog post, but we haven't even begun documenting the sessions!). We know, we know, the photos aren't in yet... these will take time. We intend to take some.
18 December 2007, 4 brave sponges (sans Kenneth) visit studios. While it will be prudent not to elaborate on what actually came into our minds regarding the other studios we looked at, let me (try to) explain and justify our choice of our producer, Nick Chan, and studio, the musicforgood studios (also known as "The Void".
The reasons are at times, obvious:
1. Our prior experience with Nick during Noise Singapore 2007 - This allowed us to really understand what he could do with our music and his commitment towards what the band wanted. We had to admit the Noise Singapore experience was not a total one (due to Nick's many jobs and the rush for time), however, the band felt more confident after speaking to Nick repeatedly about the album we envisioned.
2. Great studio set up - Now, while S.P.O.N.G.E isn't exactly a gear crazy band, we can hear good amps and equipment when they are around. However, it was not only the availability of good instruments and equipment made us fall in love with the Void (the line sounds deep), but also the fact that Nick knew what to do with them to make us sound even better.
3. Clean and nice environment - The musicforgood office/studio is clean, green and just basically a good place to hang out. A well stocked fridge with drinks for $1 (picture coming up), nice office table (to set up laptop and exploit the wireless connection while your lousy bandmate is doing his tracks and you're bored to half death), nice beanbags (to sleep or laze on), books and cds (Nick lends them out. I am currently holding on to "Sophie's World). Oh well... yeah. Its small. But its cosy, and we appreciate simple little things like this :)
4. The Producer, Nick Chan ("he's the man") - Astreal, I am David Sparkle, Marchtwelve, Muon (his own band) and Bismuth. We had plugged these CDs into our heads, analysed them and came to a consensus that Nick could reproduce the album the band envisioned (and hopefully more). We won't be counting the chickens before they hatch though... but what has happened so far, has been good.
Well. We have now completed the 6th recording session (and the 2nd blog post, but we haven't even begun documenting the sessions!). We know, we know, the photos aren't in yet... these will take time. We intend to take some.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
S.P.O.N.G.E - Introduction
What is S.P.O.N.G.E Touted as one of the top local bands to "look out for in 2008", S.P.O.N.G.E is no stranger to the Singapore music scene. The band has transversed the entire length (and width) of the sunny island, entertaining audiences throughout Singapore. Originally a three piece band, S.P.O.N.G.E has evolved to now comprise of 5 members (elaborated below!). Describing their music as "Alternative Pop-Rock" (a mouthful), the band creates magical dreamscapes, to entertain, challenge, provoke and touch through the the medium they love the most. :)
Who is S.P.O.N.G.E Rahmat - Vocals, Syafiq - Guitars/Backing Vocals, Qader - Drums/Backing Vocals, Syai - Bass Guitar, Kenneth - Guitars.
S.P.O.N.G.E, the blog. This blog serves to document the recording journey of the band's first full fledged album. Beginning from the frustrating search for a studio and producer, to the final press of invisibile and intangible sounds onto a piece of plastic, which we hope, will be wrapped in nice packaging and sold at "reasonable" prices in "good music shops" everywhere (probably to be digitised and sent out to many more people so that less people would need to buy pieces of plastic - cheers for the environmentalists!). Of course, lots of advertising and selling of the album will be done here.
The Album Frankel Avenue. Record(ing) at the Void, under producer, Nick Chan. To be released in the 3rd Quarter of 2008.
Who is S.P.O.N.G.E Rahmat - Vocals, Syafiq - Guitars/Backing Vocals, Qader - Drums/Backing Vocals, Syai - Bass Guitar, Kenneth - Guitars.
S.P.O.N.G.E, the blog. This blog serves to document the recording journey of the band's first full fledged album. Beginning from the frustrating search for a studio and producer, to the final press of invisibile and intangible sounds onto a piece of plastic, which we hope, will be wrapped in nice packaging and sold at "reasonable" prices in "good music shops" everywhere (probably to be digitised and sent out to many more people so that less people would need to buy pieces of plastic - cheers for the environmentalists!). Of course, lots of advertising and selling of the album will be done here.
The Album Frankel Avenue. Record(ing) at the Void, under producer, Nick Chan. To be released in the 3rd Quarter of 2008.
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