Week 9 Progress

This week we made huge strides in finishing the recording of the 5 song EP. We now have three songs completely recorded and are about 3/4 of the way through the mixing process and the last two songs are not far behind. We need to finish the vocals for the song Bottom of the Glove and we need to record acoustic guitar and vocals to Change your Strings on Sunday which is the song that we recorded piano for. The recording session with the piano went a lot better then the first time we tried. The room sounded great and the piano was in tune and sounded wounderful. For the piano, I used two Audix pencil condenser microphones, one on each side on top of the piano with the lid open and I also used a Shure SM7B as a mono overhead to get a little more room feel. This combination is sounding really nice. This past week the only real issue i ran into was when we were recording the piano. Since I had to take all the gear out of my house, I forgot my Ilok and thus was not able to use Pro Tools to record the piano which is my go to DAW for any situation. I instead had to use Logic Pro X which was almost foreign to me. We did manage to get great audio and when the session was done I simply exported the files and imported them into Pro Tools to start the edit process. We are right on track to finish the recording by Thursday of this week and I will hope to have the mixing portion of the songs done by next Friday to give me the weekend to finish or fix any little issues that might come up during mastering. I have also started working with a friend on photoshop and I have worked with the band to come up with original ideas for the album art. I have been a little stressed that I would not finish the project on time and maybe that is normal for most people but that little extra pressure has pushed both the band and myself to get the best product we can. I do not see any major issues arising in the next week and most of the process remaining is is straight forward.

Around Sample full band

Heart of Fire Sample full band

Rose to the Flame Sample full band

Week 8 Progress

In week 8 the band and I took major steps forward to finishing the project. We now have 3 songs completely recorded, one that still needs guitar, bass and vocals and the direction of the fifth song is still in limbo. I will provide samples of the unmixed bass, drum and guitar tracks at the bottom of the page. Next week i will have mixed samples of the three songs up on here. We had some late nights the past few weeks so I can meet my deadline but so far the recording process is picking up and going better then anticipated. The band seems excited to see their project come to life. I have not ran into any problems this week as far as recording goes, however i am trying o find the right balance on the drums as I begin to mix the three songs. The guitars in Rose to the Flame seems powerful and dirty like an old Offspring song and the drums behind them seem small. I am working on compressing and EQing the drums to make them sound huge but not so over done that it takes away from the rest of the band. We have a full week of recording at night with a goal of having the entire 5 song EP recorded by Friday morning.  The guitarist and I are going to take another shot at recording a piano for the last song to give the EP a mellow song to even out the upbeat songs that are recorded. The last piano we tried to use did not sound great and we thought about scrapping the song but we think it could be a really strong song if we get the right sound. This time I will use a pair of SM57's as room miss along with two Audix pencil condensers for the piano itself. I beielve that I can have the record mixed by the end of next week or the very beginning of the following week. I am also starting to work on the album artwork for the front and back of the CD case. For this I using photoshop which I have only used a handful of times, hence why I am starting to work on it now rather then later.               

Rose To The Flame Bass Sample

Rose To The Flame Drum Sample

Rose To The Flame Guitar Sample