Bass is the best!

And now its time for the Bass! As a bassist I am partial to this instrument, and these tracks certainly needed a bass. I had began some mixing, but really felt the lack in not having a bass. It completes a song. Victor took on the job of playing bass for this recording. We had planned to begin tracking at noon but we had a few obstacles which caused us to postpone till 8:00 PM. For this session Jacob sat in, which was helpful. To me its always good to have another member of the band sitting in with an overdubbing session, especially when the music is as technical as this music.

Victor was using my bass and amp for the session. And I went with my usual combination of AKG D-112 and the Universal Audio LA-610. I've recorded my bass hundreds of times and over all these years I have settled on this combination as my favorite. I love the low end and the versatility of the sound. I can get anything I want out of it, and never lack in texture to work with. Initially, I had set the EQ on the amp but after a few takes Victor decided to change this sound and what he came up with perfect for the recording.

We started with the untitled new song, which Jacob recommended titling "Revolution." It took about 5 takes and a couple of punch-ins. Once we got the final, it was clear the song was complete, aside from the mix, but all the elements are there. It went about the same with "Rain of Fire." This song rocks with the bass, Victor wrote an excellent part that really helped bring tension and climax to the various sections of the song. Its much fuller , and it grabs your attention better with the new elements.

After tracking "Rain of Fire" we began working on "Celtic Jig" but after a couple of passes Victor felt something was wrong with original recording, that they need to re-record it. Jacob agreed, he felt the end was a bit messy and that the song could be better if they went though another time.

With that I spent sometime getting rough mixes and bouncing the songs so that I could make CDs for Victor and Jacob. They both seemed satisfied with the recordings. It certainly is a wonderful thing to record a musician's creation and for him to walk away proud of the recording. I remember when I first started recording, I was never very pleased with the final products. Only when my bands spent a lot of time practicing and we spent enough money to in a real studio did I finally create a product I was truly proud of. Now, in the sessions I engineer, I try to provide the best possbile recording I can make so that the musicians walk away proud of their recording. I want them to want to play their songs for their friends and family. This might just be the case with this project.

Concerning Jetsunma, yesterday John Keenan our co-producer and mix engineer sent a remix of "Cut the Spell." This is a radio edit and mix, its much shorter and a little more "traditional" than the album version of the song. This and 3 other remixes will be released as single sometime in the near future. Stay tuned!