Some videos of the drums recordings so far:

Recording day 3 (04/25/10):

We're almost done with drums. Our busy schedules are still preventing from getting these done quickly; the songs are very challenging, as always, so it takes Gabe many hours to get each one learned.

Clay arrived with Gabe at about 11:30am. While he was setting up, Clay and I messed around with some demo/scratch tracks for TDS, but I wouldn't be surprised if some stuff we recorded made the final cut. I did some scratch guitars too, to test out my amp and to get a feel for the songs. I still am not 100% sure I'm going to use my Triaxis for my distortion tones on this album. I'm really thinking of getting a Cornford (what a great name, heh). Guthrie Govan and Frank Gambale both use them, which is why I want to try one.

Anyway, after we spent a while on vocals, we cleaned up some drum parts from the older songs. Some involved trying a new groove, others involved changing some sounds. By the end of the night, we wound up using Gabe's kit with a tiny bass drum (instead of the studio's) for SBtV and TWNW.

I always found it to be intriguing how people hear music differently. There no right answer to most things, so that's why every organization needs a leader to take control and make executive decisions so something gets done. While working with the band today (Sam, April, and Andrew all stopped by) I heard polar opposite opinions on everything from snare and kick sounds to the grooves we're using; both sides can work just as well, just with different results. It's just a challenge to make sure everyone is heard, but to understand that if everyone had to argue their point, we would still be on our first album. Trying to make everyone pleased with the results is absolutely impossible!

For the record, I'm enjoying the way the drums are turning out. We decided to mix them in a non-trendy, more classic fashion. Triggering everything and making them real punchy is going to be to the 2000s as synth-pop was to the 80's; sticking to trends makes things dated. Think about how all the trendy bands in the 80s and 90s are now the embodiment of a stereotype and fad, while progressive bands are timeless. I had a ten-year old student the other day bring in a Boston song he wanted to learn and said "This sounds brand new but it's from 1976!"

We finally finished at around 9:00pm tonight. I hope to get all the drums edited by next weekend, as we want to start bass and guitars before the summer, which is when I may be real busy teaching music camps. Two more songs to go for the album!

-Gregg