8/16/11 - IPR Lecture Hall 1 Hallway

Tonight's session was pretty much just for fun. Eddie Ciletti, the analog techniques instructor contacted me, asking if we'd like to play for his class. And we're not usually one to turn down cool things like this. So if we can get a couple tracks out of the deal, cools. We're in.

We arrived and set up around 6pm, when the class starts. Eddie had us all set up in the hallway, since it offers a pretty great natural reverb. He put on mic on the drums. Yup. One. It was an omnidirectional mic on top of the kick, seemingly pointed at my crotch. Not so strangely, that's how it was referred to in all of Eddie and the class's notes -- the crotch mic. Nice.

There was a mic on Brandon's bass cab and there were two ribbon mics (bi-directional) on the guitar amps, which also served as room mics. It was an interesting setup. Anthony did vocals in the doorway to the studio, which served as a sort of isolation booth. It was pretty cool.

We tracked two songs tonight - "Sledgehammer" and "Clone You." We played them live with a possibility of overdubs later on.

Not much more to tell. It was fun. Studio stuff always is fun.

UPDATE (8/17):

It turns out the tracks didn't turn out as well as we had hoped. We are so used to playing those songs so heavily that we overplayed in the recording. It just didn't sound that great. It wasn't Eddie's fault. We just overplayed for that setup and we didn't realize it until it was too late.

Oh, well. That's too bad. But for you savvy people who like to seek things out, there are currently files of the poorly played songs that will never be released somewhere on the Internet right now. That is your challenge, if you wish to accept it.

5/14/11 - IPR Studio 2

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'.

3/13/11 - IPR Studios

Studio Diary - Tony (3/13/11)

This was the second weekend in a row that by happy circumstance I was able to book a lot of time in studio 4 at IPR. Anthony was there and Brandon was able to be there this time, too. Unfortunately, Dustin was working again. So we missed him again.

The day started with Brandon laying down some bass on "On the Sidewalk." This was my first time recording bass, so it was kind of an experimental day. I had spoken with my buddy Collin a couple days earlier and we came up with some ideas for bass mic setup and such. So I employed some of those ideas and had fun with it. Brandon came in and knocked it out of the park like a pro. We got all the bugs out and did a few takes and called it good on that tune.

After taking a brief break to go pee, we reconvened in 4 and Anthony taught Brandon the chords and structure of "Piper." Because, though the other members of the band had previously played the song incessantly, it hasn't been played for years, meaning Brandon had never even heard it. But Anthony laid it out for him and asked him he accepted the mission put before him. Not surprisingly, he said yes.

After a few practice runs, he got the feel for the tune, and added his own flava to it as well. He put some licks and fills that we would not have thought of into the tune. He really helped to make a juvenile and monotonous song a bit more interesting and enjoyable. So to those of you reading that were with us in the old days, this song is coming back (at least in recorded form) and it's better than it was before.

We wrapped on bass recording and I set up the room for vocal takes, since Anthony did not get a chance to track vocals on "Piper" last week. As usual, Anthony was very consistent in his vocal and double vocal tracking. It didn't take too long to lock it down. It went so well that we finished up all we wanted to finish with two hours to spare. The dudes left, I cleaned up and worked on some school work.

All that's left on these tracks are guitars by Dustin on both songs and some background vocals by me on "Piper."

It's coming along. I love doing this stuff, and I have ideas for more songs to work on in future sessions. If you, the reader, have any suggestions for songs of ours you'd like to hear recorded, suggest them either in the comments below or on Junebug's Facebook profile.

...tony...

 

3/6/11 - IPR Studios

Studio Diary - Tony (3/6/11)

So begins a new chapter in this storied history of ours. Here's the thing: Junebug has so much material, old and new. Now that there are TWO members of the band (Dustin and Tony) that are capable of running recording sessions, there is no reason not to record our stuff. The way I (tony) see it, there should never be a time from here on out that we don't have something in production. So we decided to start.

As you may or may not know, we recorded our first studio album Share at the Institute of Production and Recording in Minneapolis. It just so happens that now I am a student at IPR and have access to the studios. So why not take advantage of that? I'm going to be in the studios anyway, recording stuff, so I might as well use it to Junebug's advantage, y'know?

We came in to record a couple songs. As you know, Anthony is a very concept-driven person when it comes to albums, and these are songs that may not have a place on any upcoming albums. These are intended to be ancillary to any albums we put out. They're simply online releases for our fans. But these songs serve two purposes: 1.) I (as a new producer/engineer) personally want to put them out, and 2.) we want to have a semi-regular flow of content even between our regular long-play albums.

So my buddy Collin Crawford and I booked studio 7 at IPR for the afternoon and by happy circumstance, we were able to book studio 4 for the evening. I set up my drums and Collin and I set up the mics as we had planned them to be set up. I told Anthony to arrive a little later than our initial scheduled time so that we had a chance to get good drum sounds without wasting his time. It was only Anthony and me today. Dustin had to work and Brandon's sister came to town last-minute. But no matter. We could easily get preliminary tracks with just him and me, with Collin's help running the session while I sat behind the drums.

If you're not yet familiar with our "new" song "On the Sidewalk," you may be familiar with a similar song from Share. Basically, we're doing a cover of one of our own songs, "Chosen Ones," just in a different style. Think of Paul Simon on the beach, and you might have an idea of how it will sound.

We got the drums done first, while we got scratch tracks of Anthony's guitar and vocal. It's a simple drum part, with a stripped down kit as you can see in the photo above. I got what I needed in three takes.

Next, we tore down the kit and reconfigured the room to record Anthony's acoustic guitar. He got it in about three takes as well. Pretty quick work. We grabbed some vocals from Anthony and some background vocals from me, and it was an afternoon.

But the day wasn't over, since our studio 4 time was just beginning. We trotted on over, and since we had already gotten everything form "On the Sidewalk" that we could get from the two of us, we wanted to do something else. We had free studio time, after all. You might as well use it. Anthony and I were trying to figure out what to lay down, and I recalled a conversation earlier in the day. I had asked Anthony what songs he might want to put out for this "flow of content" idea. He said he definitely wanted to do "Piper" sometime. It's a song from the old Junebug days. We played it at our first show. But by tonight, we hadn't played it for several years.

That changed tonight, however.

After sitting for years on the shelf, getting dusty, we pulled "Piper" down and decided breathe some life back into her. Collin and I got a drum mic setup going and Collin set up Anthony's guitar amp and a scratch vocal mic. We recorded live, at the same time, which is pretty appropriate for this song. It's kind of a dirty, gritty, twangy, surfy kind of thing. So it fit.

We got all the drum and guitar takes we needed. We figured we'd get vocals for that tune, but we were having technical issues and Anthony had to get going anyway. So then we actually did call it a night.

Well, for Junebug stuff anyway. Collin and I stuck around to work on stuff for school since we had the studio time. As it turned out, I was at IPR, in the studio, from 1:00 p.m. until about 2:30 a.m. It was a long day, but it was productive and great.

Junebug is officially back in the studio. And now I hope we never leave.

...tony...