Day #1

A long day, but a productive one.

Disregarding the desire to take a nice, hot shower, our senior project crew convened at the recording studio and began our work for the day. For the rest of the morning, afternoon and evening, we recorded tracks, mixed and set levels, made plans on how to record more songs, and edited some existing ones.

Our approach to recording is significantly dependant on circumstance and what is available at the time. Given that the studio is used by other students, senior project groups and is used as a class space, we have had to quickly record what we need for guitar, bass, drums, etc. in the studio itself, and quickly pack up and move into the control room and mix the tracks when the studio must be used by another party. We tend to complain here and there about this time and logistical nightmare, but such a thing keeps us on our toes, focussed, and quick to get things done.

For us, the way we want to record could be considered unorthodox in this day and age. Though we have this fantastic equipment before us, the pristine sound quality that comes out of our wires and microphones can be a burden. We hope to make an album that somewhat echoes back to a time of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and the Rolling Stones. The resources we have today are far better than what was available for these bands over forty years ago, but we understand that we are not trying to make something that sounds clear and perfect. To us, the grit, fuzz, hums and fizzles of older analog equipment and amplifiers give a certain warmer flavour that we hope to emulate to some degree. We fear that sound signals that are too clear and too present will sound fake, cold, and lifeless. The question is, how do we make "older" sounding music with modern equipment? Through experience, research, and luck, we have found that the effective use of sound compression, selective clipping, putting microphones on amplifiers, and utilising microphones that were manufactured well before our time can help with this warmer sound. If those that read this do not understand the techniques that I just mentioned, I will provide videos with examples in the near future. Time will tell if these methods will yield our desired results, but we are confident that this will all work out in the end.

In addition to recording, we decided upon specific roles that each member will focus on. Each participant will partake in recording at some point, but will spend a significant amount of time on another aspect of our project. Zack Doyle will handle the managerial aspects of our senior project, that being promotion, distribution, contacts, and day-to-day issues. James Roan will focus on the production side of the music, that being managing the recording itself, using equipment, use of the studio's facilities, and control over sound mixing, mastering, and general post-production. I will write the song material that is being recorded, arrange each part, and deal with the style choice and artistic direction of the music. We're all super excited to see what will come of this project and we can't wait to get it all done.