The Recording Studio!

by Luxi Lauri

Going to the recording studio can be the most exhilarating adventure of all time. Whether you are singing in the vocal booth or watching and/or producing in the control room, every true artist should have their material recorded. I believe I have been waiting years upon years to go and record my own music, and maybe you have had the same feeling. Since being in California, I did have the opportunity to experience this. Although the process was very tedious, it was well worth it.

First things first, you need your track. Picking the actual track gave me the enjoyment to hear all kinds of music and concentrate on what style I would like to focus on. It’s better for you, the artist, to be involved as much as possible in this process so you can be comfortable and really treasure your work. After I picked the music, I took a few days to come up with the lyrics, drawing from my relationships and experiences in the past.  I picked which part of the song was going to be the verse, the chorus, and the bridge. The next step was rehearsing and rehearsing with my producer to get a feel for the song as well as have the chance to switch things up if need be; this  helps you spend less money and time in the actual studio. Now off we go to the studio!!!

Knowing When* (an article on Adaptation)

There are a lot of key elements that make a musician descent.  One of the ones I experience often is knowing when to adapt.  This mainly goes out to rock bands.  In practice sessions, your amps do need to be up a little to be heard in the mix, but lets talk about live performances a little bit.

Time and time again, musicians come into the bar and refuse to adapt because they know no better.

I’m here to tell you to trust your sound guy.

I know its a hard thing to do, but what makes a good sound guy is the ability to control a band.  Sound comes out of your amps, into the mics, and to the board.  Here’s the critical part: The board tells the PAs how much of the sound going into the mic to project.  The louder your amp is, the less sound is coming out of the speakers, and the less control the engineer has.  There is a little angled speaker in front of you called a monitor.  That monitor is controlled by the same channel controlling the main PA’s.  The louder you are the less we can put through those monitors, so the less you’re going to hear yourself and the other musicians.  That’s only your problem.  Our problem is that you’re making your band sound kinda crappy because you can’t be balanced evenly with the ensemble.

There are only a few things you need to do to adapt to this setting: First, before you pack your stack up for the gig, turn your master down 2 notches (unless you have an Orange, then see how big the venue is first, you may need another amp for this gig); Second, don’t be afraid to tell the sound guy what you want in the monitors and how much, that’s what we are there for; Last but not least, BALANCE YOUR PEDALS!!!.  Nothing is more damaging to your sound than a drastic volume change in the live setting.  Consistency is your goal.  The more control you give your sound guy, the more you’re gonna get what you want all the way around.

Good luck and keep it unified.

~C.A.Mooneyhan

*Article copied and edited with permission from http://composingsilence.wordpress.com/

Face Palm Records! a Mitch Clem Project

As some of you may have heard by now, everyone’s favorite punk cartoonist has decided to start a record label. Mitch has named the project “Face Palm Records” and has said the following about it:

“I have big plans for tons of fun records and CDs to come. My first official release will be a split 7″ between Brickfight and Shang-A-Lang, which is sure to be awesome breaded awesome deep fried in awesome and served with a side of awesome. Seriously, I love both of these bands to death, this record will kill.”

Face Palm will be working with Silver Sprocket which is affiliated with Springman Records who have released great albums from the likes of:

Big D and the Kids Table
the Phenomonauts
River City Rebels
and one of my favorites, the Groovie Ghoulies (RIP)

So, go find more info over at http://rainofbastards.livejournal.com/ and check out the tunes!