The weekend of August 22, 23. Very fortunate to spend the weekend at the fabulous DIG studios here in Portland. A great way to spend two solid days in doors while the summer weather is beautiful outside. Thebrotheregg recorded some eight songs very quickly and efficiently, but these songs are hardly done; they will be requiring all sorts of final singing, fancy guitars and general treatments, not to mention mixing.
We spent two days immersed in what we were doing and for me, it’s difficult to come back to any sort of a “normal” life afterwards. I didn’t expect that the world would still exist after this weekend. I try to put my 150% into this process of capturing hit songs to “tape” and such effort leaves one emotionally drained afterward. This is the immersion process. It’s very much like going into a sweat lodge and seeing visions. Given the summer temperature, the studio on the sixth floor was much like a sweaty sweat lodge. Hopefully in the process we realized visions of pop excellence.
Grilch
Recording this weekend was also an opportunity to work closely with thebrotheregg’s new bass player, Grilch (David). He had recently joined our ranks just as the bulk of new songs were being born into this world, so we are just now actualizing this new chemistry.
The story of how we connected with Grilch is actually quite amazing. One of the few miracles I would consider that we’ve experienced along the way. I answered an ad on Craigslist posted by someone who sounded like the music world’s obsession with handsome twenty year olds had put him out to pasture, and that he wanted experimental rock or something to that effect. The reply I received was something like, “Hey Adam, it’s me Dave.” Weird, it was Dave whom used to play with Kaitlyn ni Donovan and her other group, the High Violets. We shared a practice space with those two groups and he had been over numerous times for these projects. It was a strange coincidence that he should be posting this ad when he did and that I should be responding to it then as well. Needless to say, we set the wheel in motion and Dave’s been a great addition to thebrotheregg. He likes old Genesis, odd time signatures, and gutter humor. What a great fit! Anyhow, Dave was a great inspiration to work with in the studio. What an effortless, organic process capturing music can be when you have the right people to work with.
Additionally, Tofer and Jairus were in top form conjuring a perfect pop think tank of rhythmic assessment and guitar tone governance. Together, we worked through different arrangements with drums and bass in the spotlight. Everyone was quite articulate in communicating individual abstract envisionings of how the process should play itself out.
Well, insofar as how I tend to enjoy the process as much as I do, it seemed interesting to post a little something about recording in the studio again. It’s such a weird science of psychology in certain regards to convey this live music feeling using multi-track recording. The idea that individual instruments might not all have been recorded at the same time or even in the same place initially blew my mind the first time I learned about recording. This idea is one I’ve been known to preach, that one is deflowered when the veil of magic is lifted from the sound coming from the stereo. Casually listening, we hear a group performing and we tend to dismiss the music as live as it would be on stage. I’m just saying, the reality behind this live feel was the rude awakening I went through many years ago. Multi-tracking is about separation where every instrument and voice is given it’s own unique space, it is not just about putting a mic in the right place to capture a whole room full of musicians just right. In this fantasy stereo field, a classical guitar can drown out a loud drum kit. A quiet snare roll can be heard over a wall of guitar sludge. Whispering words can actually be heard and understood with maybe a nudge of the fader or with some processing. In the end though, we close our eyes and pretend we are wherever, listening to the band stick it to us.
The Fifth Member
One of the things you may often read about Syd Barrett and the original Pink Floyd was that they treated the recording studio as the fifth member of the band. They were likely not the first by any means, but as deliberate outsider artists they were identified as using the recording technology of the day as almost it’s very own instrument. I think that after all these years of listening to Piper at the Gates of Dawn, I tend to still return to it as a replenishing revitalizor because of this innovative interpretation of recording that was so freely utilized in the album’s creation. I think with thebrotheregg, we have always enjoyed the studio for its power to help re-invision and transform the music with all it’s filters, effects, and happy accidents, not to mention the blatant illusory fantasy world that a recording projects from our speakers in general.
Always up for some of the more odd quirky aspects of the process. The gear discussion alone doesn’t reach me; that’s a different facet of the science. I like the twangy guitars, the rough overdriven sounds, and the tape compression just as much as everyone else for sure. I’ve just been considering the psychology of listening lately, the suspension of disbelief we enjoy as music is read through stereo speakers. I just thought I’d say a few words about it is all. Thanks –a.