14th Session, 27 March, Thursday.

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

-Inspire yourself. Terrible situations evoke awesome songs-

Well, back to the studio!

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

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

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

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

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

13th Session, 20 March 2008, Thursday.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"different strokes for different folks"

12th Recording Session, 16 March 2008, Sunday.

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

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

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

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

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

Ta-daa:

(look! the TAPE!)

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

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

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

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

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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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. :)

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!

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!

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~