Mastering

Annnnnnnnnd.... we're done. A few days ago we sent the mixes off to our good friend Kirk Wheeler for a quick mastering job under his deft touch. 

What's the next step; When is this thing gonna be out you ask? At this point we're going to burn off a few copies to hand out to a few friends in the music "industry" with the (let's face it - most likely vain) hope that we can get a little help pulling this scene together. Failing that.... we've got a pretty good idea up our sleeve. It'll take more time, but it'll be worth it.

In the meantime, you can hear a few of the new tunes on the front-page of the ol website.

The Continuing Saga...

Recording blog? Really? What were we thinking?

Amazing as it may seem, we're still working on the record. Not that we've been laboring every day for over a year on this thing. We've been going in spurts. And it's been a lot longer between spurts than we had anticipated. It's our own fault really, but to make everybody feel better we'll blame it on the bloated price of oil. Or the new iPods.

In reality there was some gear shopping. There was some learning curve. There were a couple of gigs. Oh and let's not forget general laziness.

So where do we stand? The drums and bass are done. Been done for a while now. Over a year in fact. We've completed about 97% of the guitars and keyboards. All that's left is some colorful sprinkels here and there. We've even done some horns on a few tunes. Now we've gotta finish up them horns and possibly add some strings.

That should take... oh... a few more months....


Invention of this caliber takes a while.

DIY or so it would seem

Keyboards and guitars are getting added here at home. New gear is getting bought to accomodate this method (madness?) and who doesn't like new toys?


Big angry Rich


All that's missing is a riverboat, a straw hat, and a big moustache

Baby Steps

Did a little bit of guitar today. Got a pretty decent rhythm guitar sound for "Herbie" and cut that. Might revisit this later as the performance may not be up to snuff. Also noticed that the previously recorded synth part was more than a little bit flat which is fine since Rich feels like he can beat the sound.

This is sloooooow going.



By the glow of the monitor...

Rich for a day

Rich played some fine keyboards (wurlitzer and synthesizer) on a couple of tunes. First step in the grand experiment to see how much we can sucessfully do at our little studio before we rejoin Stuart and slay this beast.


By the glow of the monitor...

Merrily we transfer files

The imperfect art of moving files from one recording system (Pro Tools) to another (Cubase). We spent a couple of hours with Stuart swearing and yelling at praying and lamenting. We manhandled two tunes into submission.



By the glow of the monitor...


James is a good little helper.

Ladies and Gentlemen we have drums

There is a new candidate for sainthood as far as I'm concerned: Jim White.

Write that down ladies and gentlemen. Jim White, Champion Drummer… Scratch that. Not "champion"- Herculean Drummer.

We finished up today by doing about six tunes. A record for us. The evening ended with all of us beating on lots of objects we pulled out of a dumpster for that slave-ship vibe that's so popular with the kids these days.

Naptime.


Hi Mom.


Done.

Are we still doing drums

Yes. As a matter of fact we are. Several more tunes finished today. Dinner at Baja Fresh. Stuart suggests that I put some spinners on the Saturn. This is given due consideration.

This is also the day Stuart insisted that we refer to him as Captaineer and Jim encountered a fellow named Haaht Shaat. Rich brought the beer…


The view from the Lido Deck


Keyboard flavor

Still Drumming...

Drums on about five more tunes today. The second trip to Baker Bro's for dinner. Cigarettes were smoked. A beer or two was drunked.


Jim. Jimbo. Jimmy. His monther calls him James


James. Jim. Jimmy. His monther calls him Jamey

Recording Begins

First day in the studio. Exciting. This is it. Are we ready? Are the songs done? Do we really want to go to the chorus here? Which part is the chorus again? How do you play this thing? What are all these strings for?

Lots of time setting up today. Lots of time putting mics on drums and getting great drum sounds. God bless Stuart Sikes.


This is what drums sound like

A couple of technical snafu's which we recovered from with the aid a quick run to Fry's to purchase a hard-drive. Approximately 4 songs were cut between the hours of 4 PM and midnight.

Great start.

A side note: There is a Chinese Proverb which states "If you wish to succeed, consult three people first." Great advice. Unfortunately we could only find two folks to consult, but we found the two people on the planet that are the best at what they do. Our fine, feathered new drummer, Jim White and the amazing and quite tall Stuart Sikes and His Amazing Powers of Concentration.


Jim White and Stuart Sikes. Next time you see them buy them a beer.

More Rehearsing and THE GIG!

A bit easier on the rehearsal tip today. A nice hang in the afternoon with engineer Stuart Sikes and a trip to his space to pick up his absolutely lovely Rogers drumkit. God bless that boy.

Our first (and so far only scheduled) gig as the "Real Deal" Shibboleth took place at the Barley House. We managed to play through about 18 of the 21 new songs. We also managed to run everybody out of the room and onto the patio. We'll blame that on a fickle (frat-daddy?) Dallas audience and not the quality of the songs.

Rehearsaling Begins

We started rehearsing today for the new record. We ran through about 15 songs over the course of about 10 hours. Add to that a series of phone calls trying to tie up loose ends in the drumset department and you have a very full day.

It's safe to say we were all a bit cross-eyed after this.

Jim White Arrives

Rich picked up Jim White at the airport this evening. After a celebratory dinner at Sol's Mexican House of Mexican Food they wandered over to Don's for to listen to the tunes. All excited. All hands on deck.

Beers followed at Meridian Room. Naturally.