My new Mic came today and I’ve got to say it’s one of the most clearest sounding mic’s I’ve ever used. The AKG Perception 120 is my best mic for now, and will be my Mic of choice for vocals on the record unless I can get my hands on on the 220 or 820 Tubed model. For now though, I am totally content with this purchase, even without the preamp I think it sounds fantastic. My vocals are coming out clear as ever, and I am starting to feel like I’m coming way closer to actually finishing the record. Seriously I mean it this time, just have to gather a few friends for the sing-along’s and Gang vocal parts. Then it has to be sent back to the studio to be completely mixed and mastered.
Also one of Bridget’s friends who composes music for indie films has dedicated some of his time to add some orchestral parts to two of the tracks; the opener and the closer. I think it makes them even more powerful and adds something I wouldn’t of been able to do on my own. It breaths life into what was once a dull song (In my opinion which is hopefully not yours.)
Next purchases for Home-Studio set up
1. M-Audio Studiophile AV40 Powered Monitored Speakers
2. TASCAM US-1800 16-in, 4-out USB 2.0 Audio Interface
3. Shure SM7B
4. Akai Pro LPK25 Laptop Performance Keyboard
5. Pyle-Pro PDKM7 7 Microphone Wired Drum Kit with Mounting Accesories.
6. Acoustic Foam 12x12 Tiles
Go Green brought back, mixed-mastered and re-done in a new way! I’m sure you can tell the differences as subtle as they are.
AREALLDEAD
Go Green Sneak Preview
Yesterday Chris and I hung out with the intent of redoing an old song he wrote when he was 17, and I was totally game. I’m still doing some fine tuning but here is a little sneak preview.
Check out more of Christopher’s stuff
We have HIT the studio!
It seems like just yesterday I was whining about how badly I wanted my music out there, and how it was going to take forever. Well I’ve been scraping up loose change and am finally getting close to enough to afford recording the album. Chris and I got drums out of the way first, five songs in ONE day, BAM! I went back the very next day to track the bass, and watch the drums get fixed up. Let me just say, Mike Austin is a genius with Pro-Tools. My other band Shorelines and Sirens just finished recording there right before I joined. They recorded a 3-song Demo and together we are all going back January to Sacred Sound Studios to record the EP. Although I’m pretty broke, and can only really offer Mike and Gregg chump-change, they are doing their absolute best to make this record come out as fast and clean as possible. The dedication they have is astounding. Mikes skill will probably lead him to a very successful career with mixing/editing one day. Gregg is great too, he and Chris collaborated on some new drum takes on two of our songs which helped keep them fresh and exciting. I’m supposed to head back in Wednesday and Thursday to finish up guitar. However if I can finish it all on Weds I can begin to track vocals Thursday. Then hopefully the mixes will come back quickly after and I can FINALLY let this record spin!
EXPECT THE NATIVES - THE OCEANS COMING
LATE OCTOBER - EARLY NOVEMBER
River City Extension - An Amazing Band With Some Amazing People
Last night I had the pleasure of seeing River City Extension; a band I had never heard of until last nights show. As an opening act for a legend like Max Bemis, I would imagine that would be extremely intimidating. Not for RCE though, they came on stage strong, and ended just the same.
It was something totally out of the ordinary, an opening act truly being great. Let me just tell you, this is not the type of band you yawn with your arms crossed, start conversation with the guy next to you, and text your buddies. This is the type of band you wish you were prepared for; you wish you’d known all of the lyrics before hand so you could sing along. I will say, in a way I was glad I didn’t know them before hand. For me it was way more exciting especially being dead center in the front, right against the stage. The Three members that were there (Out of 8!) really blew us (The Audience) away. I was not just bopping my head, I was stamping my feet and trying to sing along to choruses. Mike Costaney had incredible skill, he used Brush Sticks which I have seen before, but not done this well. His beats weren’t your average and boring, bass-snare-bass-snare-highhat. He utilized that whole kit, in a totally appropriate and catchy manner. That’s not to say he wasn’t thinking outside the box, because he most certainly was. I have seen drummers who have been playing their whole lives who couldn’t pull off some of the rhythms he was creating. He really had some amazing focus yet didn’t play with that goofy straight face most drummers often play with. He was smiling and looking out, and having a blast. He truly helped create a great atmosphere for us all. Next up was Joe Michelini the front man, the singer-songwriter behind it all. Joe is not the type of guy to not throw his emotions into his music. Every song he played/sang I could really feel, I could relate to him- which In my opinion is one of the greatest things an artist can achieve. His raw vocals (Which were always in tune) really added to his intense strumming patterns on his beautiful guitar. His guitar depicted mountains all over his fretboard, I thought it was genius, it looked fantastic and played just as well. Fortunately Joe wasn’t a boring singer/frontman, He was very intimate with the audience for an acoustic show. He stomped around on stage and got right in the audiences face, and made tons of eye contact. Like I said, there was no way you could stand there with your arms crossed. Also, before one of his songs Joe gave an extremely concise explanation of a song about a beautiful sunset in Pennsylvania. It really added some depth to an already meaningful song. I’m glad he had done that, it really shows that him and his buddies truly love their music. With his friends, they’ve traveled the country side and have gotten to see some pretty amazing things which in turn has been written about and performed for us. Now last but not least (Seriously she was awesome) is Jenn Fantaccione; who played both Acoustic Guitar and Cello on this tour, and not just boring ‘let me add some strings to the song to make it sound pretty’ cello. We’re talking, Let me get a good groove and feel on this kind of cello. One of Joe’s finger plucked songs (which was impressive as hell, this coming from a musician) had me staring at her cello for this crazy bass sounding part. Her fingers didn’t have to be all over because they were in the exact right spots at the exact right moments. Her acoustic playing, which was only one song was fun too, she was plucking chords from mid range, to higher up frets. They really flowed together perfectly. These musicians which I discovered are all around 21 have really blown me away. I was still craving more when it was over, which led me to buy a CD after the show.
RCE was kind enough to sign my CD
As a side note, the band as people are some really tight people. This is the kinda band I would really love to jam with. I would hate to sound like that ass kisser saying we hung out but I had a really great time hanging with them after the show. They signed a CD for me, Chatted, and even danced a bit. (Jenn and Mike did, more so Jenn, she had the moves) I took a few pictures with them (Mostly ruined because it’s crummy cell shots in a dark room) and even got to interview Jenn a bit about the band. She had told me that her and Joe had known each other since early on in grade school. They had played cello together in school and reconnected later on in high school to form RCE, which had been Joe’s solo project for a long time. They had a crazy line-up of eight people, which had driven previous tour managers nuts; which made me laugh. Jenn said they felt like they had been babysat, told when to eat, when to wake up etc. etc. but despite all of it, she was still a completely normal and fun human being. In fact they all were, which makes me fortunate I was able to hang with them for as long as I could.
LEFT TO RIGHT: Mike, Jenn, Me, Joe
Word of advice to you guys, if you want something new to really get yourself into, check out
I am FREQUENTLY on my Gmail, all the time; at home, at work. It doesn’t matter I am on it, and ready to respond. With that said I got an email from Christopher today, which is strange as he usually just IM’s me. The only times he emails me, is if there is an attachment of a photo or something. Even then, it’s extremely rare to get an email from him.
However, Imagine my surprise when the email was more of a forward, from an old friend at Gilly Hicks we worked with. Megan, or Megan Jeggings as we called her, worked for a record label, and was studying to be an entrainment lawyer. She gave us a few insightful in’s and out’s of her record label, and showered us with some knowledge we didn’t necessarily have. As cool as I think it would be to be on a label, I’m not too concerned with that right now. What I am concerned with, is actually getting the demo done, and I’ve got to say, the news I got from this email is just making me want to do it faster and faster.
Anyway, the message read…
Sooo, one of my classes at NYU is running our little record label and we have to put out an album each semester.. since you guys were talking about your band at Gilly a lot would you possibly maybe be slightly interested in being on an NYU album? The catch would be that we really can’t help in the whole recording process, but the upside is it’s obviously non exclusive and your band would get their share of the profits from the sale of the album!
Do I even have to tell you guys my answer?
THE JEFF TURNER SHOW
So earlier today Jeff Turner of Say Anything decided to go live on Stickam. I figured, “What the hell, this could be awesome,” and joined in right away. With a tight knit crowed sucking Jeff’s E-dick it was fun as fuck. I’m totally going to say we jammed, I played Accordion for him, played Complicated by Avril Lavigne for him etc etc. Like I said it was really fun.
Let me just say, Jeff is extremely down to Earth, [I know Cliche whatever] answers all of our dumb questions like, “Did you know black people have purple genitalia,” and “What did you think of Hayley Williams Nudes,” AND MUCH MORE!
Song Requests? Absolutley, I suggested SPIDER HANDS, and STINKY RICKS NEW SHOES, BELT, WOE, HIGH SCHOOL, BLIZZARD, and so many more it was crazy. He had a very intense jam session with his loop pedals and his pup Eden.
HE EVEN GAVE SONG LESSONS TO SAY ANYTHING SONGS AND TOLD US ALL ABOUT ANDY HULL AND HIS BILLIONS OF SONGS.
Jeff has promised to do this way more often so if you guys LOVE Say Anything, XO, THEY’RE GHOULS, and Jeff’s new project, you guys HAVE to check this out.
And Hey Jeff I TOLD you I was going to blog it, just be glad I didn’t blog what you said on Stickam about my dad…
THE OCEANS DEMO - BONUS TRACKS
So I have been thinking long and hard about it. I had made a set in stone track listing a few posts back.
I won’t change it, but I did feel like mentioning a few tracks did not make the cut. These tracks were LetMeGo and Molting, which in light of my good mood, I have decided I will still (re)record them and possibly release them as demo tracks.
LetMeGo, was written and recorded by Jim Towe, but I wrote and recorded the vocals melodies/harmony tracks. Jim seems iffy about being in a band and has expressed no interest in being in one. [Although he tells me he’ll work on music with me all the time] I still believe this track should be released free for the masses. [If there ARE masses] I worked extremely hard on it, and put all of my love into it. Although the song doesn’t fit the story it fits the theme.
As for Molting I had written this track intending for it to be on the record. Lyrically and Vocally I did not give it my all, and did not want it to just become a filler track so it was removed.
However, after reworking, and rewriting this song, I feel it is finally worthy of being on the record. Since the track listing is set in stone, this is another bonus track that takes place between Sailing: Part One and Ocean So I was thinking of a way to release these bonus tracks. On the CD? On Itunes? On Tumblr? Bandcamp? If you have any suggestions write ‘em in
If you are at all interested in the demo, feel free to express interest. Drop an email or an address and I’ll send a free physical copy/ or Download Link when it drops!
