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!
Showing posts with label Making the Album. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Making the Album. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
Fin.
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!
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!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
So far....
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-
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-
Friday, February 25, 2011
Today is the Day
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.
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.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Top Of The Stairs
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!
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!
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
The Demos
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
Making The Band
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...
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...
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Recon
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.
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.
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Making the Album
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.....
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.....
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