Making The Album

Mixing

2011-03-08T09:08:00.003-05:00

Last night I opened up my email, and sitting there in my inbox were 5 mp3 files. These are the rough mixes from our recording session. Stress on rough. There's been virtually no work done on them since we were in the studio.

I gave them a thorough listen-through, and I must say, I am very happy with the quality of the songs. They could easily be released as-is if we were just doing a demo tape. But now we begin the process of post-production.

Richard will spend a couple hours per song mixing the levels, adding some effects, some EQing, some editing and will really polish the tracks up so they sound professional. Then Brandon and I will pop into the studio, give him our thoughts on the first pass, and then he will begin the next round based on our notes.

Once this is finished, we move to the mastering phase, which is basically to get the songs ready to be "pressed" (as much as a CD can be pressed).

In the meantime, I am working on the hand-produced album artwork, Brandon and I are both working on the legal mumbo jumbo (copyrights, publishing, etc), and we are in the midst of designing a professional website.

Once the mastering of the disc is done, we send it and the artwork off for duplication and packaging.

One step closer to actually releasing this bad boy!

Fin.

2011-02-28T08:29:00.003-05:00

The tracking for our album is done! 10 acoustic guitar tracks, 5 drum tracks, 3 harmonicas, 1 banjo, 5 electric leads, 5 lead vocals, and 5 sets of LIVE background vocals in 2/3 part harmony.

All of this accomplished in 3 days. I am very proud of the work we did this weekend, and am immensely impressed with the skill and efficiency of all our guest musicians: Terry Brennan on vocals, Mike Bell on lead guitar, Carl Gallagher on banjo, and Will Prepestas on bass.

Brandon and I both agree, this is the most focused we have ever been while recording, playing live, rehearsing or anything. We were really on top of our game this weekend, and I'm not ashamed to say so.

Brandon's lead vocals were fantastic. At times it was ferocious, and was balanced on certain songs with a sense of vulnerability. He really let loose on this.

And the thing I may be most proud of personally was not my drumming. It was the fact that Terry, Will, Brandon and I walked into the tracking room, stood around one microphone, and started belting out the harmonies on several songs into one mic, on one track, with no overdubs, no ability to individually alter someones voice, and no ability to balance the individual volumes of the voices. We "Beach Boy'd" the vocals. They were tight, in tune, and powerful. Those of you who know me know how seriously I take harmony singing, and how hard I work at it. Though we didn't go nuts with the amount of vocal harmony, what IS there is quality, and I am very, very proud of it.

Now we move on to the post production phase of this record; mixing, mastering, duplication, NAMING IT, and artwork. The hard part is done. Also, arguably the most fun part.

Look for the WarrenScott EP to be released sometime this summer!

So far....

2011-02-27T07:54:00.003-05:00

The recording process has been going swimmingly. In two days we've got most of the album in the can. Today all we have left to record is background and lead vocals.

It's sad that this process went by so quickly. I think I love nothing more than recording in the studio. Maybe playing live, but it's pretty close.

Anyway, if you haven't noticed, I've been live-tweeting the recording process over at @stofte. You can follow the progression of tweets here-

Today is the Day

2011-02-25T08:35:00.003-05:00

It is 8:44 am on Friday, February 25th 2011, and the band is waking up and getting ready to roll out to the studio. It is a terribly rainy day in NYC, but it's much more peferable than snow.

We had a marathon of a vocal rehearsal last night, and I'm really impressed with how everything is coming together. Our bassist is fantastoc, Brandon's voice is sounding better than ever, Terry has thrown in some really great harmonic ideas, and the songs are meshing together very well.

Right now I can hear the sizzle in the kitchen as Brandon is preparing a "power breakfast" for the three of us that crashed here last night, so I should probably go lend a hand.

I will be live-tweeting as much as I am able to over at @stofte on Twitter. Pics, anecdotes, etc. Once again, thanks to everyone who has supported us in our musical journey up to this point. It only gets better from here.

Top Of The Stairs

2011-02-22T17:23:00.002-05:00

When I was a kid, my dad used to make us wait at the top of the stairs on Christmas morning before we could come down and open presents.

With our weekend recording lockout only 2 days away, I am starting to get the same gut-wrenching feeling of anticipation again. Nothing excites me more than creating songs and putting them down on "tape", and to think that that process begins again in mere hours, and with my best friend no less, is thrilling.

I will be live-tweeting the album making process at @Stofte, and will be posting some small blog entries here during the time when I'm not on drum or vocal duty.

I will keep everyone up to date as well with release info after the weekend sessions are done, and after the album is mixed and mastered. Thanks to all of you who support us!

The Demos

2011-01-18T09:07:00.002-05:00

Saturday afternoon, while I was out at a function for work, I received an email from Brandon that contained rough recordings of a rehearsal he conducted in NYC with Mike, our guitarist, and Terry, our backing vocalist. I quickly went to go find cell service (which sucks in the bowels of SUNY Potsdam's school of music) and download the tracks so I could listen to them.

I was very pleased to hear some good ideas being tossed around, and that the other musicians seemed to be enjoying themselves and trying out some different ideas that I would have thought of. I enjoy that kind of collaboration. It makes us all feel like a band, rather than just the two main guys and some session musicians.

I hope that in the week leading up to our studio time, we can all get together in Brooklyn and have a full-on full-band rehearsal. Needless to say, I am getting very excited.

For those wondering, and I may have said this before, but I'm too lazy to check, the EP will have 5 songs written by Brandon or co-written by the two of us. A small start, but something solid people will be able to take home with them after shows.

Making The Band

2011-01-05T08:28:00.004-05:00

While things have been generally slow going regarding the album making process (being that all the songs are already written and we don't hit the studio until February) we have made progress in the area of preproduction.

Brandon and I have been sporadically discussing the arrangements of songs, and as it turns out, we will be overhauling a few of the tunes so that they sound a bit different than people might be used to hearing them live. I don't want to spoil too much for those who are familiar with our tunes (which is very few people) so I won't get into detail about which songs or what parts will be undergoing changes.

The other very significant step forward we've made has been to hire our studio band. Our whole idea for this record is to make something that we can easily duplicate on stage with a 4-piece band. We want to keep it simple and straightforward, and raw to a degree. Thus, our line-up is as follows:

Mike Bell will be playing lead guitar for us. We met Mike through our buddy John Schmitt, whom he played with in the Brooklyn group "The Bay Ridge All-Stars". Mike is a phenomenal guitarist, very technically sound, and very well prepared and professional.

Our bassist is a guy by the name of Will Prepestas. Will went to college with us out in Fredonia, and actually filled in for us on occasion in our old band. He's an accomplished musician, majoring in saxophone and vocal performance at school, and being one of the most melodious bass players I've had the pleasure of playing with.

We're also adding an additional vocalist to the mix to help fill out some of the harmonies. Terry Brennan also plays with John in the "All-Stars", as well as his own NYC-based band "Belt". The first time I met Terry, he was hosting a performance series from Tainted Blue studios in Manhattan that Brandon was performing solo at. All around good dude, great singer, and music aficionado, he also oddly is currently dating someone I went to high school with in Central New York. Small world eh?

Brandon will obviously be handling rhythm guitar and lead vocaling duties as well as any incidental instrumentation (harmonica, mandolin, etc) that we may requite, while I will be hitting the drums, singing back-up, and maybe noodling on a few guitar licks here and there.

Within the next couple of weeks, we'll be sending off rough demos to the guys in the band, and having them basically come up with their own parts in an effort to infuse these tunes we've lived with for so long with some fresh ideas that maybe we wouldn't have thought of.

Till next time...

Recon

2010-10-23T16:12:00.004-04:00

So today we took a trip up to Norman Ave in Brooklyn to meet with a recording engineer and check out his facilities. After spending way too long in molasses-like traffic on the BQE, we arrived, parked and walked right past the place we were looking for.

After we finally found it, we met Rich, who seems like a genuinely cool guy. We clicked on a lot of our musical sensibilities and ideas right away. The studio is very small, but you can tell he put a lot of love into it.

We chatted a bit about mics, drum sounds, guitar tone, and how we would like to go about tracking. Both Brandon and I got a really good vibe off this guy. We booked three days in February at a very good monetary rate.

Shiz just got real.

Next step: more preproduction, rehearsals, booking additional musicians, and tightening the screws.

Making the Album

2010-10-07T13:45:00.002-04:00

I had a thought. Most blogs have a theme. Mine has pretty much nothing. What can I do? Let's give it a theme.

Here it is folks, an actual reason to perhaps, maybe, read this blog! I'm going to start posting about the process of getting my debut record make! Well, not MY record exactly, but the record I'm going to be recording with my buddy Brandon Warren.

Some of you may have seen us play in Corning at the Snooty Pig, or in PA, or in NYC at the Back Fence. Most of you have probably never heard us play, but we've been churning out music together since about 2005. Way back then we were two musicians in a college band still learning how to not suck. Without breaking my arm, I will pat myself on the back and say that individually, we all had a good amount of talent; we just kinda had no direction or discipline as a group.

Fast foward a few years, and Brandon and I decide to strike out on our own. The college band breaks up after recording a pretty mediocre CD that we never released, and Brandon moves to NYC. All this time, he's writing up a storm. Song after song (in between Phillies games, of course) and I venture up to the North Country of NY State for a teaching job.

We play together once or twice a month, and communicate often via email. We bounce song ideas off one another for a couple of years. We play a few shows where we include these original tunes, but we mostly do covers 'cause it's easier for people to drink and party to songs they've heard before. But we notice something: When we play our tunes...people actually like them! We get compliments! From strangers! It's awesome! Finally some validation. Then this happens:

"Where can I get your CD?"

....uuuh...we...don't...have one. D'OH! Ok, so admittedly, this is a bad thing. It's hard to promote oneself when one has no merchandise that people can take home and listen to endlessly. So we decided, hell, let's save up some money and make a record. A record record record (That Thing You Do reference for all you uncouth folks).

So we're off. We've somehow managed to narrow a list of 20 tunes down to 5 that we think will best represent what our sound is. We've been talking to recording studios, we've been working on some preproduction, and we are committed to this.

To be conintued.....

New Layout

2010-06-16T14:13:00.002-04:00

So ScottTofte.com has been slightly redesigned, and I'm still looking to tweak it a bit further. I'm trying to divide it into three distinct sections: Music, Art, and the Blog.

All the social internetty podcasty stuff will be taken care of on the blog. The other parts are pretty self explanitory.

I am also going to make an effort to pontificate more on subjects that interest me in an attempt to actually make use of this whole blog thing.

New Look for Artwork

2009-10-05T11:37:00.003-04:00

In case you haven't seen it yet, the Artwork section of the website has a brand new look. It's not totally done yet, but my goal is to keep it as simple as possible, while at the same time making the navigation very precise. All the art is now located on Flickr, so it makes the presentation aspect a bit more managable.

I also have a few new "Small Worlds" in the pipe that should be out soon. Stay tuned via twitter (@stofte) for the latest updates.

Update

2009-08-22T19:26:00.003-04:00

I apologize for the lack of updates but it's been for a good reason!

Brandon Warren and myself are currently working on tracks for an upcoming EP. I've been recording and mixing a few songs for the past few weeks now from my home studio, and things are turning out pretty well.

In the midst of this, I've taken the time to update my MySpace page. There is now new music posted on it, so go check it out! Also, you can check out a couple of new songs in the "MUSIC" section of the site. Keep in mind, these are probably not going to end up on the WarrenScott EP.

Paying Respect to MJ

2009-06-29T19:04:00.004-04:00

I made a pilgramage down to the Apollo Theatre in Harlem on Monday afternoon with the intent of paying my respect to Michael Jackson. Apparently I wasn't the only one. There were hundreds of people there, signing a long sprawling wall and leaving messages, or momentos for MJ. There were a lot of tears, and a lot of music playing. I just hope that the signatures and messages get sent to the family at some point. They deserve to see how much their son was loved.

Michael Joseph Jackson

2009-06-26T01:39:00.003-04:00

It's been a very rough night for me, and I know I'll catch some flack for this, but the death of Michael Jackson has affected me greatly. Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm the guy that will always stand up for MJ when someone starts talking crap about him, and they know that I can sit and listen to his albums, or quote facts with the most hardcore of Jackson fans. I would like to try to get down to what it is about this man that drew me in so deeply for my entire life.

The first music that I remember hearing was Michael's. I have vivid memories of running around my house singing "Bad". One of the earliest memories I have is of my sister, 15 years older than me, sitting me down on the floor of her bedroom, and putting the "Thriller" LP on the turntable, and exposing to me this whole new batch of songs by this guy who sang "Bad". My first musical memories.

I credit by strong devotion to being an MJ fan with a lot of my own self confidence. Any MJ fan will tell you, it's not always easy trying to support the guy, but we do it anyway. I got teased and mocked a lot throughout my life because of the fact that I listened to his music. Standing up to people my whole life, even if just for the stupid reason of trying to 'protect' my favorite singer, gave me the confidence to always do my own thing, to not follow the crowd.

As I matured, I began to take a deeper interest in Michael's performances. I tried my best to emulate his dance moves, and I think I did pretty ok. His music would infiltrate my soul to the very core, so much so, that sometimes, it was like a drug; I just HAD to hear "Baby Be Mine" or "Lovely One" in order to get my day on track.

Though it may seem silly to mourn a celebrity, Michael Jackson has been intertwined significantly into the last 20 years of my existence. Today has been a very difficult day, and I feel like I lost a close friend. I admit, that I'm not sure how I'll react to all this tomorrow, and frankly I'm a little scared of the fact that the greatest entertainer in the world is no longer in the world. On a positive note, most of the media coverage I've watched has been resoundingly positive. It's just too bad Mike didn't get to see it. My heart goes out to Prince, Paris, Michael, his parents Katherine and Joe, his 8 siblings, and the rest of the Jackson family.

Weekend Update - New Gigs, New Songs

2009-06-22T09:42:00.002-04:00

So Brandon and I played a place called "Patrick's" in Elmira, NY this past weekend, after having our show in Corning mysteriously cancelled. All was for the best though, we got to put our 2-man show through its paces, and all went well. People were clapping, compliments were coming at us left and right, and people really seemed to enjoy the original material, especially our newest tune, "Virtual Crush" which made its live debut this weekend. We've been working on this song together for the past few weeks or so. I wrote the core of the verse melody and lyrics, and then Brandon took it, smoothed out and added some words and a streamlined concept, and put together a killer chorus.

Fun Surprise

2009-06-11T20:50:00.002-04:00

So I got my copy of TMNT #30 in the mail today, and rapidly flipped to the inside back cover. You see, the artists that work on the book sign a limited number of them with a turtle sketch.

Here you can see the full-body Leonardo sketch done by the penciler, Jim Lawson. I find this incredibly cool, even if it is just a one-off, quickie sharpie-marker sketch.

Upcoming Gigs! updated 6/11

2009-06-11T11:02:00.000-04:00

New round of impending gigs:

June 13th - Buffalo, NY - Private Part

June 20th - The Snooty Pig in Corning, NY - Crazy Chester will play classic rock hits from the 60's, 70's, 80's and on

July 4th - The Snooty Pig in Corning, NY - Brandon Warren and I will get Star Spangled as we tear through original tunes and covers at our favorite joint!

July 17th - The Snooty Pig in Corning, NY - I'll be playing drums with funk/soul/rock group "The Bay Ridge Allstars"

New Stuffs

2009-06-03T08:54:00.001-04:00

I've added a few bits of Artwork in the last week or so, including a new "Small World" strip, so please, take time and check them out. There's something there for Trekkies and TMNT fans alike.

In addition, I will be playing a couple of gigs over the next couple of weeks. First, I'll be filling in with the "Bay Ridge All Stars" on drums for my buddy John's sisters wedding on the 13th. My first ever wedding band gig, and I'm very much looking forward to it.

Secondly, I'll be playing with my buddy Brandon Warren at the Snooty Pig in Corning, NY on the 20th. That one is open to the public, and will be a blast, I guarantee.

Artwork Update

2009-05-28T11:32:00.001-04:00

Hey all, I posted some of my Buffy Between The Lines covers over on the "Artwork" page. These are the first real "commissioned" works I've ever done, and I'm really proud of them. Take note, the colors were done by other artists, and by clicking on the covers, you'll be taken to the Buffy Between The Lines website where you can read the scripts, download episodes, and see the additional artists.

There's also been a couple of new "Small Worlds" posted in the last two weeks if you've missed them. Comments are always welcomed.

Small World 3-02

2009-05-14T08:56:00.000-04:00

Another "Small World" is up over in the Artwork section. If you're wondering about the numbering system of the strip, I'm running it like TV seasons. The initial run of Small World strips that were published in Fredonia's paper "The Leader" were 'season one'. The 3 strips I drew (which I intended to be more) in 2007 were supposed to be 'season two'. This new crop is, you guessed it, 'season 3'.

You'll notice tiny little design changes in characters from season to season. I also aged the characters a bit from season one, where they were supposed to be elementary school kids. At some point, I'll establish a bit of a "Small World" guide so that the background on various characters can be known by all.

Brand New "Small World"

2009-05-10T21:05:00.001-04:00

Head over to the Artwork section of the site to check out a brand new "Small World" strip, the first in a very long time! The artwork is getting better and better every time I draw these things. I also appreciate comments, so take a second and tell me what you think.

New Art Posted

2009-05-05T13:58:00.001-04:00

So I'm in the process of re-uploading the artwork to the "Artwork" section of the blog. There are a couple of new posts over there. I'm taking time to re-up my "Small World" comics a couple at a time. Hopefully this will inspire me to start putting my pencil to paper again soon, as Sparky and the gang must be getting pretty lonely.

Weekend Gigs

2009-04-20T09:49:00.001-04:00

So last weekend, Brandon and I played a couple of two-man shows, one in NYC at Wicked Willy's, and another in Corning at our favorite bar, The Snooty Pig. Firstly, I would like to thank everyone that came to either show for giving us a chance to perform some original material. Secondly, I would like to thank those same people again for actually getting onto the dancefloor during those original tunes.

As a songwriter, one is constantly looking for the audience to enjoy the music one creates. Granted, Brandon writes most of the tunes in our sets, but for people to be visibly boogying to something they've never heard before, fills me with confidence. We got a lot of compliments on those sets, and people seemed generally impressed with the cohesiveness of our sound despite the lack of a bassist. I'm very excited to play these songs again with a full band, and give them their proper due.

Thirdly, I am now accepting recommendations for band names for our group. Leave 'em in the comments. If we pick yours, we'll put a "thank you" in the liner notes. Not exactly a great reward, but hey, I don't really expect any responses anyway.

Make sure to come check us out again at The Snooty Pig in Corning, NY on June 20th at 9pm

Weekend Record Excursion

2009-03-29T21:46:00.000-04:00

So this weekend I decided to engage in a little bit of vinyl-therapy. I hit up Off Centre Records in Utica, and Soundgarden in Syracuse on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. I actually snagged a pretty nice haul. Got "Where The Light" is by John Mayer, which is a fantastic live album. I'm amazed that this guy has only been around since 1999 or so, and has released 4 official live albums already, and a handful more on iTunes. I also picked up "Return Of Saturn" by No Doubt, "HIStory" by MJ, and "Blame It On Gravity" by The Old 97's. These guys are a new favorite of mine. I just discovered them, and apparently they've been around forever.

This whole 'only buying vinyl' thing is going really well so far. It's forced me to pay a lot more attention to the music that I'm buying. Also, I find myself willing to step out of my comfort zone a bit and grab music that I wouldn't normally listen to. I find myself looking for my next musical obsession. Seeing as I've spent the last 2 years basically rotating between MJ, The Police, and The Eagles, this is a welcomed change.

Still A Work in Progress

2009-03-24T22:10:00.000-04:00

So as I make this transition from Tripod to Blogger, the website will be lacking some certain features. Give me some time as I relearn all the design aspects, and figure out how to link up all the old pages to the new ones. There will be some cool new little doodads and whatnots, so the wait should be worth it.

Take it easy, and for those still wanting the old site: http://eaglefreak2k.tripod.com/sthome

JS&F @ Sherrill Summer Concert Series

2009-03-24T19:08:00.002-04:00

Eisenhower Acapella

2009-03-24T19:08:00.001-04:00

John Schmitt CD Release

2009-03-24T19:05:00.000-04:00

New for' '09

2009-03-23T14:01:00.000-04:00

So here's the new skinny on ScottTofte.com: I've moved the site. I'm hosting my webspace on Tripod.com, but the blog part is now over here at Blogger, which offers me a lot more fun toys to play with. I hope it doesn't throw too many bookmarks out of whack, but just in case, I'll throw up a link at the old page so as you all don't get confused.