At 3:30 Jacob arrived. First we sat through and listened back to a couple tracks, getting a feel for what they sound like and giving Jacob a chance to hear what Victor did on Sunday. Before Jacob arrived I set up a SM57 through an Old School Audio MP1-C, an API knock off, on the upper right speaker. I also placed a Neumann TLM 103 on the upper left speaker. As soon as I heard the 103 I knew I wasn’t getting a good sound but I didn’t immediately swap out the mic because I had to deal with another issue first.
We decided to start with their untitled new song, which begins with an intro done by Jacob. In our initial session we did not record a count in, so now going back to the guitar, Jacob had no prompt to begin his part and be in time with the rest of the instruments. To solve this I tapped in the tempo of the song, in Pro Tools and aligned the tracks to this new grid.
Now that Jacob had a 4 count, I had to go back to the microphone issue. With the TLM 103 I was getting a paper flapping sound, the mic was near distortion. At first I thought to just give it some more space so that there would be less pressure on the diaphragm. For the most part it solved the near distortion, but I was still not happy with the texture of the sound. It was too transparent, too real, but not a reality one wants to hear from a huge cabinet of speakers. I listen to the 57 and I was getting a great sound, a nice traditional heavy guitar sound that really had all the body and edge that a distorted guitar should have. I decided to switch to a different condenser instead of the TLM 103 because I still wanted to record with such a mic, but I was pretty sure the 57 was going to be the one I ultimately use. I went with an AT3030, it was much better for this amp, but it still wasn’t giving me the sound I wanted. We recorded with both mics for each song, but I knew then that I will be going with the 57 when I get to mixing.
Having the 4 count and the mics set we proceeded to record. Each song took a good amount of time to get the final; we were being very careful and choose only the best take after laying several down. Once we had a take that we both felt was right we’d go back and punch-in at any minor flubs, cleaning up a part to make the entirety flawless. Each song took a little over an hour. Jacob was especially careful with his solos. We were doing them on their own separate tracks. Many times Jacob would play an extraordinary piece, with incredible skill that I thought was the final take, but Jacob would say “No, I made a mistake, can I do it again?” I would listen back and hear a tiny little piece that was slightly out of time. But as Nathaniel said to Jacob at the beginning of the session “Don’t go with a take that you are not really satisfied with because a day or two later you will regret it.” Which is good advice, I have often went with a weak performance because I was tired only to find a few days later it is really not acceptable and I have to do it again.
At about 9:00 we had the first 3 songs done and we began working on “Odyssey” the 10 minute epic. We both knew this was going to be rough and we were both tired. We did an initial take that was not too bad; it helped us see where some of the weak points were. I told Jacob to just keep going through the song, even if the mistake was huge, because we could just punch-in to fix it later. The second take was much better and we decided to go with this one. There were several spots that needed attention. And mind you this is not any problem with Jacob’s playing, it’s that the song is very technical, with many changes, very hard for anyone to accomplish. We got through the first 6 minutes, with many overdubs, when we hit a wall. At this point we were both tired and it seemed like we were going to be recording the same part over and over with out getting anywhere. I knew we had to call the session for the night. Jacob was fine, knowing he could come in today and that the fresh start would really help get the final.
When we began working on “Odysses” I listened to Victor’s guitar track recorded with the MD421 and to Jacob’s using the SM57. I am solidly convinced that these are better tracks. There is something classic about these as opposed to the tracks with the condensers, the AT4060 and 3030. With guitars I want to experiment and find a different sound but I often come right back to the standard SM57, there is something to be said about that sound; and as it has been used so often it makes sense to follow suit. But at what point do you break away from tradition and seek out that new sound? That’s what I am looking for, a new and innovative sound. I don’t think I am going to have much room to experiment with heavy distorted guitars on a demo for a band that I am not actually a member of. But perhaps as we begin working on the new album with Jetsunma and Tara I might have the chance to create a new and interesting sound. This is certainly one of the many great conditions of working with Jetsunma, she has an ear for the cutting edge and loves it when we create something unique, something all our own. Not to mention Tara and Nathaniel both actively seek out the new and different. Something special is on the horizon.
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