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?
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