Members seaneldon Posted December 21, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 21, 2006 patchbay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members seaneldon Posted December 21, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 21, 2006 recorders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members seaneldon Posted December 21, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 21, 2006 happy sean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members seaneldon Posted December 22, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 22, 2006 BUMP. i'll update with new entries sometime today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members seaneldon Posted December 22, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 22, 2006 [sunday December 17, 2006] So today we're ACTUALLY scheduled to start at 1pm. I know this for a fact. The problem is, maybe 15 minutes after I make the last "entry" (not the pictures. before that.) the night before, I decide it's time start drinking beer. There's a special place in my heart for the Rogue Christmas Ale. They're about 7 bucks for two pint bottles. Very dark, very smooth, very rich, excellent head when properly poured. I probably like this beer more than I like microphones. That's a lot. It's become a Christmas tradition of mine, especially since it's probably the only reason I choose to recognize the holiday. When the only {censored} you had to eat at the studio all day was a slice of pineapple pizza (hey, the drummer's young!) for dinner and some cashews at the console...Rogue Christmas Ale packs more punch than Iron Mike. It probably has more nutritional value than the nuts and it's twice as filling as the pizza. Add that to being tired and what do you get? A: One tired, yet anxious...DrunkSean! I watch some Get A Life and Mr. Show DVD's to try and calm down. Huge tiny mistake. Now I just can't stop laughing. Now remember, because of my dogs I am as good as dead in my house. Especially with all the windows closed for winter (which hasn't hit NYC yet. It was 50 degrees all week). If I sit silently and just THINK about laughing at something for a split second, I cough harder than I could ever imagine. So yeah. I certainly didn't get any sleep. This house is killing me. Pass the Camels. I call for my cab at 10:00 this time and RESERVE it for 11, rather than call 20 minutes before and have the asshole show up 20 minutes late. He shows up right on time, I hop in the back seat after grabbing my hat, coat, and manbag (holds my notes, "World's Greatest Beard" coffee mug, etc.). I'm glad I didn't sit in the front. This was another old man, a different one, and he appeared to have a much worse problem in his lungs than I do. And he's sneezing. Non-{censored}ing-stop. Coughing and wheezing and sneezing, repeat. And he makes it to the train 5 minutes quicker than I've ever seen anyone get there. It makes me happy. At least I know I have a shot at operating as usual, maybe stronger, in the event that I have some retarded lung cancer. If he can do it, so can I. We tracked 4 songs today, again, mainly for the drums. It was extremely productive. Here's some {censored} that went on that's worth noting. Now I'm using more mics on the drumkit than I would typically care for. Stereo overheads, stereo room mics, mono overhead, mono room mic, mics on 3 toms, 1 on snare, 2 on kick, and a hi-hat. I'm usually hanging up about half that. Now, this extravagant mic'ing technique was at the request of John. Now, I am hired as somewhat of a producer on this record, and could have been a real dick about it. But I go with his wishes. It's the guy's second day working with me in the studio and he's nervous. I'll do this for him and find a way to make it work. So I spend a lot of today exploring my options. The way I see it, the first song they did yesterday is somewhat of a joke-practice song, and will only be used to dissect the sounds I'm getting and figuring out how to use them best. Despite the fact that he is absolutely wrong (and I love the guy, but he IS wrong here), John starts worrying about the kick drum. Says it's presence isn't strong enough. Again, he's wrong. The kick drum sounds totally nuts. It's a great drum in a great room with some easy-to-work-with mics on it. He whips out his laptop and we take a line out of it and into the console. He wants to play me a reference track. It's a Lucinda Williams song. A mixed song on a properly mastered major label disc. I explain that I have absolutely no processing happening on the kick drum, it's a different room, a different dude hitting them, etc. I show him how simple working with this kick drum is in the context of the rest of the drums I've recorded yeseterday. Fly it into a Manley Massive Passive, a particularly well made and excellent sounding stereo tube EQ. It's the tits of a beast on guitars, and probably just as good on rock and roll kick drums. So I send the Shure mic (recorded with a Telefunken V72 as the preamp, by the by) into the Massivo and boost a bell at about 120hz, cut out some unnecessary {censored} at 470, and lift a bit at 3K9. Patch the Manley EQ into a Purple Audio MC77 compressor that's working very little at a 4:1 ratio, maybe about 1dB every once in a while. Turn up the speakers and do a bull{censored} drum mix. He nods, shakes my hand, and returns downstairs to the live room with newfound hope in my abilities. And I did that in about 20 seconds. It took 3 minutes to write about it. Today, Richard-The-Fast-Young-Drummer announced that he's received a pretty awesome scholarship at a major New York school for music and academics. I'm proud of him, but being that he's particularly easy to make fun of, I know this is going to be a hysterical joke throughout the entire duration of this album being made. Here's some examples. Richard has a tendency to extremely excited and stuck on one thing at a time. It can sometimes cause him to stutter. He's downstairs with the rest of the band, which now includes a bass player named Jackie, and they're knocking out a few takes of a song based on different arrangements I'd tried to work out. After a particularly excellent run through the song, Rich starts going a mile a minute about ideas he has and what he wants to do and what this guy should do and that guy and why it'll be great and what do you think Sean and let's do it twice! Of course, his stutter made it way funnier to listen to. I hit the talkback button on the console, which gets sent out to a set of mains in the live room, and my kneejerk reaction is to say: "Well, you didn't get a scholarship for speaking clearly, did ya? Stuttering prick." Everyone laughs. Hard. I don't think any of them have had the pleasure of working with a smartass, stubborn, wannabe comedian. Rich is a fan of the scholarship jokes so far. So is everyone else. And now everyone is cracking them. Extremely funny {censored} being thrown around. In other news, 34C (my girlfriend) said she'd swing by today and hang with us for a bit after the session and listen to what we're doing. She does, it's alright, and she drives me home and saves me a good hour. Pretty awesome. She's an alright lady. Sadly, I do not get laid tonight. Tomorrow: The adventures of a sexually frustrated recording engineer surrounded by a sweaty rock band. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members joncyberboy Posted December 24, 2006 Members Share Posted December 24, 2006 This is good stuff! Keep up the diary, i find it really interesting.Get that cough looked at though chief, illness ain't funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members seaneldon Posted December 24, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 24, 2006 i cough hard enough to throw up now. this is getting awesome. two entries tomorrow, which will conclude this drum tracking part of the diary. we're leaving the country for overdubs. it's that serious. helllllllllzzzzzzzzzz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members shniggens Posted December 25, 2006 Members Share Posted December 25, 2006 Thanks for sharing! Very entertaining. Dude, you should see a doctor. For reals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Flaat Posted January 2, 2007 Members Share Posted January 2, 2007 Hey Sean, anything happened on this project lately? I first wondered if you were in the hospital or something with your cough.. but then I saw you'd posted within the last days. Would be nice to hear how it all continued. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wuzza Posted January 9, 2007 Members Share Posted January 9, 2007 Interasting reading! Hey, have you got sleep apnea? The choking thing made me wonder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members halljams Posted January 9, 2007 Members Share Posted January 9, 2007 Aren't you getting a bunch of comb filtering having those bi dir oh's up so high and so close to the wall? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members seaneldon Posted January 9, 2007 Author Members Share Posted January 9, 2007 they aren't very close to the wall at all. the pictures are very deceiving. sorry for not updating this. ridiculously busy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AB Tracks Posted January 12, 2007 Members Share Posted January 12, 2007 seaneldon - Are you really that unhealthy? No health insurance? I pay about $200 a month for a single basic HMO plan. I think it's worth it. I know people who pay a lot more (I live in New Jersey). You should at least try to reduce your smoke and coffee intake. The quality of your day will skyrocket after just a couple of weeks of discipline. Nice pictures! I appreciate the details about the interaction with your clients. I am patiently awaiting your next post. peace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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