Week 29, Undefined

This song was about as close as I’ve come to scrapping a track and freaking out because I didn’t have anything else to go with. This was the first song that I’ve ever written on bass, and that seemed to throw me off of my game when it came time to write a guitar part. The bass line and song that I wrote just didn’t call for my usual style of guitar playing which is more chordal and rhythmic. A major credit should go to my wife, who after hearing me freak out and give up two nights in a row, suggested that I try writing a baritone part first. That’s what I did on the third night, and even that didn’t work until I tuned the baritone up a couple of steps to an F# version of standard tuning. Finally a simple baritone and guitar part came together, and I was on my way. I was a couple of days behind, though, and frankly I’m a little surprised that everything came out sounding as good as it did.

That goes doubly for the drums, as this was a pretty challenging drum part, and I was also breaking in a new mic configuration. I started out Project 52 with three drum mics and have slowly been adding them along the way. This song unveils the six-mic configuration. I’m pretty sure that I’m done adding mics, though. I’ll probably start taking mics away from here on out. I was inspired to switch mics up after reading a great article by Chas Ferry in the latest Tape Op Magazine. Quick plug: Tape Op is an amazing institution of a recording magazine. If you’re not currently subscribed, then do yourself a favor and get it (hint – it’s free). They do incredible interviews and generally have awesome content from a less-than-mainstream perspective (this week’s issue features an interview with Mac McCaughan of Superchunk and Merge Records fame), along with great online forums which are hands down the best in the recording world.

Inspired to put put a bit more room in my drum mix, I added a pair of large-diaphragm condenser mics about 20-30 inches out in front of the kit, one in front of the high hat and snare, and one out from the floor tom and ride cymbal. The revelation of the article is that in a small room like the one that I’m using, moving the room mics closer in to the source increases the ratio of distance between source and reflection, thus creating the impression of a much larger room. I didn’t have much time to play with it – I pretty much spot miked everything, but first impressions are pretty good.

After a weekend full of two 3-year-olds’ birthday parties, crammed-in drum takes and lyric writing, I ended up with a song that sounds a lot like a couple of the bands that I’ve been listening to a lot lately. I’d say most noticeably is the band C-clamp, which is sadly one of the most under-appreciated and unknown of my regular arsenal of 90s bands. As far as I know, both of their albums are out of print, but you should still seek out their music if you can find it. I’ve also been listening to a lot of Bottomless Pit and The New Year, having recently purchased one of the latter’s records. Bottomless Pit is made up of former Silkworm and Seam members, and The New Year is the band of former Bedhead fame. Even though these guys are all of a strong 90s indie rock vintage, both bands are still out there making great-sounding records and playing shows. It’s inspiring.

The rest of this week’s recording was done in regular fashion. The drums and final mix were done with Reaper. The bass, baritone, and guitar parts were all performed on my Orange Crush 30r and recorded using a dynamic mic into the iPhone. The vocals were recorded using the iPhone’s built-in mic, and everything on the iPhone was tracked using the MultiTrack app.  

Thanks again for listening. Have a great week everyone.

Tags: bandcamp, Bedhead, Bottomless Pit, C-clamp, Chas Ferry, Cockos, Corey Layman, developer, Harmonicdog, hovland, indie, indie rock, iPhone, Karl Hendricks Trio, Last.fm, lo-fi, MultiTrack, phone-fi, Pittsburgh, podcast, Project 52, Seam, Silkworm, Tape Op, The New Year, Woolslayer and Main