day one:

the groove.
the day of the groove. i spent the weekend programming the good dr. groove and mapping out all of the sequences on the lyric sheet, so recording was pretty much a no-brainer. the midi sync made it all easy: kick drum and snare split onto the first two tracks, with everything else in stereo on two more tracks. a little tweaking here and there, but once we got the rhythm, it was just plug and chug until all 8 were on tape. mmm-goood. out by sixish for a vittle break.

the godin.
the godin is a bizarre guitar to use in the studio. makes live performance a no-brainer, but it takes some tweaking in the studio to make it sound like a bona fide acoustic. the ideal setup for most acoustic guitars in most situations is to blend two sound sources, usually a mic for hi-end frequencies, and a pickup for the lo-end frequencies. the godin has both built right in - but because it doesn't have a soundhole, the mic sound tends to sound a little boxy, mid-rangey, thin. it was john's idea to use an external mic as well as a third sound source, which i never would have thought to do, since again, the lack of a soundhole makes the godin quiet and thin sounding compared to a real acoustic. so i just strummed in the booth a bit, and john tweaked the three sound sources from the board, stopping occassionally to see if i liked what i was hearing. the word i kept using for the sound i wanted was 'aggressive.' i felt that a full-on, authentic, acoustic dreadnaught sound might be out of place with the big boomy beat box - yet i didn't want the pickup harshness of the traditional electric-acoustic sound. and despite the blend of the three sources, the pickup sound seemed to dominate. so what did john do? he played with some of the channels and said, 'try it now.' and it was there. raw. forceful. aggressive. without the pickup harshness. 'that's it.' i said. 'what'd you do?' turns out he'd completely eliminated the pickup channel. so i was hearing just the external mic and the internal mic with the mid-range pulled back. throw in some compression for good measure, and ya got the sound i was looking for: aggressive. acoustic. compatible with the beat box. no pickup harshness. ready to roll.

the spirit child.
mario showed up 'round ten. seemed genuinely impressed by the sound i was getting on the playback, particularly with 'closer.' watching him get off on the rhythms of 'closer' allowed me to relax a little. we talked a little bit about the possibilities of a joint show at the qe2, which i'm dying to do: so many late nites/early mornings spent on the dance floor back in the day with the nisky gang, m.c. lee et al, so for sentimental reasons, it'd be like a homecoming. but i like the idea of being on a bill with mostly bands. to be loud. to rock out. as john, mario and i get talking, the session deteriorates into a comedy show, but at this point, it's late, and it's unlikely that i can be much more productive. so it's all good.

day two:

the godin
a little more tweaking today. some phase correction with the two channels is in order for the mixdown, but other than that, it's good to go. so i blast through several songs, many in a single take. there are a couple that i question: there's the wildly frentic rhythm in 'closer' that i decide is too busy with the clubby techno rhythm in the background. it hurts, but i decide it has to go. so i re-do it with a much simpler rhythm, which is hardly any rhythm at all. as i explain to john, the beats on most of these songs are big, but they're pretty simple, locked, right, so as not to get in the way of the guitar. another dilemma on 'six:' this time, it's the bass line that seems to be on top of the guitar rhythm. so i re-do it with a simple guitar riff that follows the offbeat of the snare. syncopoation as opposed to the straight strum. so it punches more now. (funny how what took a coupla hours of agony is summed up in a coupla sentences.)

the bass.
the day is winding down. i've got the basses with me, so i figure i'll try a little before i leave to give a head start on the next session. and it's a good thing, because while hoby's bass produces a nice mid-rangey, fretlessesque honk, it's buzzin' like a chain saw. looks like the change in weather has done something to the neck. i run through 'six' with it for laughs and giggles, give up, and then try 'closer' and 'interview' with mike c. lee's bass. not a bad sound, but flat compared to hoby's. so i leave john with the dilemma that i've got to come up with another bass for the next session. hmmmmm...

day three:

the bass.
hoby took the bass in for a setup on friday. a bit of a scare as it started buzzing again for him on monday nite, but it isn't really noticable on tape. again, it's john's idea to split the sound to two channels: a mic on the amp for hi-end, and a direct feed from hoby's sans amp for the low-end. sounds good. full. the honk really tonks. a long day, as i'm not really a bass player. if ya know what i mean. but i think what i laid down will fool most of the people most of the time :-)

electric axe.
the obligatory pre-noodle for the next session. john's strat. we mic it and i decide to screw around with just two tunes: 'one-four' (on which i think electric guitar will completely replace the acoustic axe track) and 'six' (heavy, open string chords to fill space, and feedback howls and growls at the end). it's a start, but by 11:30 i'm fried. save it for next week.

till then y'all,
b.

all stuff copyright 1999 bryan paul thomas
bryanthomas.com