A Cookie in the Ear

Alright, so in the end I finished twelve songs, ten of which I decided to record. Just like the last album, I put them on bits of carpet that I rearranged to work out a sequence. I wanted to start working on the sequence earlier in the process so I can prepare for the transitions better. It can always be changed later, but I wanted to have something that I think works early on. It's especially important on this album because the songs are more tightly integrated than anything I've done previously; many of them rely heavily on the same chords and certain sections "call back" previous songs. Being able to allude to previous lyrical themes simply by reusing the music is a new idea for me, and it strikes me as a pretty powerful tool for creating cohesion.

 I wrote them all on nylon string guitar, which I have never really played before. This changed what I wrote in a few ways. Playing without a pick meant that there are a lot more fingerstyle sections, the larger neck meant fewer bar chords and staying closer to the headstock, and the strumming sections were more painful and wound up blistering the side of my thumb repeatedly. I think of these heavy parts as misusing the instrument, beating the hell out of something that's usually graceful and self-possessed. So with that in mind I resolved to bash the crap out of the smallest drumset I could find, a rented Mapex Saturn bop kit with an 18" bass drum.

 I hadn't had any cymbals at all on the last album because I didn't have any I thought were worth recording but this time around I wanted a nice ride cymbal, something complex, dark and washy. I rented a Sabian Artisan Vault 22" ride, and heavily overused it on the drum parts, with almost no hi-hat.

I got the drum parts mostly how I wanted them but don't seem able to produce the kind of tightness that I want on them. Suppose I would have to practice more. Instead, I decided to do the bass recordings and then edit both tracks for tempo abnormalities until I think they sound solid, then proceed with the rest of the recordings.

I used the same 1972 Fender P-Bass running into a 1971 Traynor YBA-1 that I used on the last one, running into the high impedance input on the first channel and blending with the DI.

I built a little bass house for my microphones, the NT1a and a CAD KBM412 that I had lying around. I used this combination on the kick drum as well, with the NT1a back about a foot on the batter side. The CAD mic does a good job on the very low end but I didn't like it much until I tried blending it with the snap of the NT1a on the other side.

I figured the same approach would work for the bass track, but in my rough mixes I just find myself muting one or the other and blending with the DI. I have the bass tracks recorded and am proceeding with the  rhythmic tweaking. Then comes guitar, vocals, and other fun surprises.