The phrase of the day -- technical difficulties.
The idea was to come into IPR's studio 2 and record for a couple hours and beyond. We were originally going to go from 2:00 - 4:00, since Brandon had to be somewhere at 5:00. As it turned out, Dustin also had to be somewhere. Luckily, Collin Crawford (fellow engineering student) and I were able to grab a couple more hours, so our session was set for noon to 4:00.
Collin and I both arrived at IPR at about 11:30, and the studio was open. So we were able to load in my drums and check out the necessary gear from the lab office. We started the setup process and got a pretty good handle on it. The others arrived before we were completely finished, and they patiently waited while we finished setup.
I'll spare you the technical details, but long story short, we had major technical difficulties. Signal was not getting everywhere it needed to go. And then it would be fixed in one area, but mess up in another. Troubleshooting abounded. When Collin and I reached the end of our rope, we called in lab staff. They were flabbergasted at the situation. They told us we had better just unplug everything and start over. Oof.
I know in the above description it doesn't really sound like much time had passed or much difficulty had happend. But by the time we were told we'd be better off starting over, the clock had already reached around 2:15. All the while, the other three dudes were waiting... waiting. Oh, so patiently. My band mates were a class act during the difficulties. No one complained, though anyone would be bored and frustrated at that point. They all said it wasn't a big deal, even though anyone would be annoyed. They sat patiently, got some lunch, hung out, joked around, played some guitar and discussed some good music. Dustin bumped his plans back, otherwise he would have had to leave before any tracking at all took place. All the while, Collin and I were scrambling to get things set.
By the time we were finally ready to track, we had about enough time to lay down drums, bass, and guitar and vocal scratch tracks for two songs: "Destiny, She Drives a Rolls" and "Soul Shaker," both to appear on Beards. After these two were satisfactorily set, Dustin and Brandon both had to jet. So it was just Anthony and me, with two songs tracked, and everything set up to record. After a bit of discussion, it was decided that we would track drums and scratch guitar/vocal on two more songs, just the two of us. As long as we had spent so much time setting everything up, it would have been a shame to walk away after tracking drum and bass on just two songs.
We didn't really have much material rehearsed enough to record with just Anthony and me. So we decided on one we knew we had, "Handlebar Mustache" and one other fun cover tune, which will remain a mystery at this time.
When it's all said and done, getting drum tracks for four songs is a pretty good day -- assuming the sessions turn out to be of quality.
This session marks the beginning of Beards. It has officially begun. Hopefully, this isn't an omen of what is to come. Hopefully, today was our "getting the kinks out" session.
Here's hopin'.
