2/6/10 - Fur Seal Studio - Tony

Fur Seal Studio

Minneapolis, Minnesota

2/6/10

The goal today was to get a good start on drum tracks. Additionally, we planned to track as much bass as possible along with whatever drums we got finished. We hoped to get at least half of the tracks done today, which would have been eight songs, with the remainder being tracked tomorrow.

What we actually accomplished today exceeded expectations. We arrived at 10:00 a.m. and began tracking around 11:00 or so. By lunchtime at 2:00 p.m. we had already finished drums for seven and a half songs. By 6:00, we had finished ALL drums for Modern Day Fairy Tales. So we decided to record drums for a couple cover songs that we regularly play live, just in case we want to record and release them sometime down the road. So, in all, drums were recorded for eighteen songs, all today. Furthermore, about 80% of the bass tracks were finished by the end of the day as well.

This is a testament, I think, to our preparation this time around. When we recorded Share, there were frantic cram sessions the night before. Heck, the drum part for "So True" was written the day we recorded it. We had to learn how to play to a click track. There was a lot of time wasted in the studio mapping out tempos and arrangements. With Modern Day Fairy Tales, however, we had routinely rehearsed with a metronome and (for the most part) had tempos settled prior to arrival. We were more prepared than we realized we were, and most drum tracks were captured in two takes. A few tracks took a little more work, and two tracks in particular, "Bumblebee" and "Like a Dream" were each captured in one take. We nailed the parts quickly and didn't even feel rushed.

We finished the night by listening to some of the takes and trying to figure out what we're going to do tomorrow, since both days were set aside for drums. We're a day ahead of schedule now, and that's not a bad position to be in.

So far, Fur Seal has been a really comfortable atmosphere. Joe is a real easy dude to work with and he fits in perfectly with our vibe. He seems to understand what we're doing and we're glad to have him on board. Plus, his dog Ajax is awesome and humps our arms whenever he gets a chance. One of the coolest Ajax moments I had was in the middle of tracking "Found My Boogie," while I was busy playing, Ajax ran up to me with Anthony's empty soda bottle in his mouth and he wanted me to play tug with him. As I was playing, he just sat there so politely with his head tilted, waiting for me to play with him. So after the song was over, I did. The dog rules.

We'll be back tomorrow, same Fur time, same Fur channel.