klotz!

i thought i mailed you a cd like a month ago. did you not get it? what is you mailing address one more time?

also...drum recording should take place soon now. i am excited.

PATTON

It sure would be nice to hear some of those new patton songs that everyone is raving about. I heard the guy behind it is some sort of social pervert but a genius at composition .

Micah

member of grynch...........
consituant for the NHS of England
senior writer for the blue parrot press

Jesse

I really enjoyed that song. The emotion of it seems so pure . I love the interplay.

65 days of static

wow. i really like those lyrics micah. i'd love to hear them to music. i'll be able to do some more recording post-new year. in the mean time i'll be busy with work and getting drums laid down for worth while little drummer boy is home for the holidays.

Nate & Jesse

I am sure you both are busy with the holiday's and I hope it is all wonderful. It is a time to enjoy. My father was recently hospitalized. He is doing well now and hopefully will be coming home soon. Ive worked on some more lyrics that hoped you guys could review. I want you both to know that I feel we could make a great album. I have always admired the creative force that you guys have and forgive me for sounding crazy but I think there were moments when we wrote together that we tapped into something truly meaningful or potentially meanigful to people. Natewhore when are you available to make noise ? I will try not to get sick next time I come up. I think it would be more fun for us that way. Well here are the lyrics to " The Grace & The Light"

" The Grace & The Light"

Well the writings on the wall
wroten in a strange language
a heartache in a cage
with nowhere left to stare
and the window is open
but the door's been locked
for years

Sometimes youve got to give it all youve got
but it seems like its never going to be enough
(repeat)

I am going to drive to you
straight through the night
and when the demons come for you
Im gonna give them my best fight
together maybe we can learn to escape this life
together maybe we can learn about the grace and the light

Sometimes youve got to give at all youve got
but it seems like its never going to be enough
(repeat)

A song in your heart
is worth a million dollars
a song in your soul
is more precious than gold
and you are the only song I know
and you are the only song I know

OOOOOOOOOOOOO OHHHHHHHHH OOOOOOOOOOOO OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
( Repeat over top of chorus for 4 measures )

i don't want to blog...

i just wanna lay down drums all day.

hello boys. that subject and the first part were to the tune of "i don't wanna work".

i like those lyrics klotz. i'd like to hear them to music though. as you can tell, i'm getting anxious to lay down some drums for worth. the day grows closer.

Aradaz

Hey, I've got some fantastic VSTs Plugins for electric guitar. Check out Aradaz Amps

I have the demo version of Peavey Revalver, which is $300.00 to activate (if you don't activate the demo it makes random annoying beeps when you play), and Aradaz Amps sound way better, Best part is they are all free. No activation codes, no beeps, just rock.

So maybe next time Micah can record these would be good to have. Check 'em out anyway and leave the author some encouraging comments if you like.

Jesse & Nate

I have some new lyrics and some music that I hope you guys like. Here are the lyrics anyways :


There was a time when I believed in you
but there was never a time
that you believed in you
now its time to start

I know they broke you heart
I know its hard

Jesse

I completely understand . How is your tribe doing. Do you have any recent pics of everybody ? How is jordie ? I know that whatever you write will be good.

Micah

sorry

sorry I'm being so quiet, this holiday season is going to be really hectic for me. I did get some time to sit down and record a bit last night so I'll try to get some of the new tracks up for worth soon.

NATEWHORE !

Dont forget to send Patton's new stuff you &*&&^^&^&%%#^#&^ !!!!!!!!

What is your schedule in november & december ? I know you said that before thanks giving would be best.

DOUGLAS !!!!!

WHERE THE HELL IS DOUG THESE DAYS !!! COULD WE BOOK JC ?

Jesse

How are things going with worth ? I cant wait to hear what you add.

Micah

NATE

PO Box 547
Bettsville, Ohio
44815

* I am moving to a different house in december but will still take all of mt mail at this address. I cant wait to hear it !!! By the way there will be lots of space at this house to record great music with old college friends !!

Dougs Drums

If you want him to play like Doug please don't tell him speed metal. That's not really what Doug was doing at all. If you remember Dougs favorite drummer was Jimmy Chamberlin from the pumpkins, that's who he was trying to emulate when he played. So if you want somebody to sound like Doug but don't know how to explain to them just tell them to play like JC.

If you tell the guy speed metal your gonna a get a bunch of really fast double bass playing which would just be annoying.

by the way...

i finally got the optical input on my digi002 fixed so i'm ready to record drums when little drummer boy comes home for his x-mas break. i'm looking forward to it. should be fun. anybody have any drum ideas that are communicatable over the blog? i was just going to have him do travis coffee cymbal trills for the verse and doug cain speed metal on the chorus.

sweet. i hope you don't think it all sucks and has some redeeming value.

Got It!

Thanks for the CD Nate, I'm listening to it now!

fine, you whiny bastard. remind me of your address.

NATEWHORE

I want a patton cd too........ Coug it up compadre .......DONT TALK SHIT ABOUT TOTAL !!!!

i sent you a cd today in the snail mail, jesse.

klotz...

you are bitch.

Jesse

I used to do that didnt I ? Im just glad you were my friend in spite of myself. I will try to send practical things as well as unusual things :) .

@

1102 S McKinley Ave
Joplin MO 64801


Now Micah's going to start mailing me empty french fry cartons or some crazy crap.

klotz - jared and angie were well when i saw them. as usual, they had about 50 unexpected things come up (including the death of jared's grandfather) in their final few weeks preparing to move to japan. but then again, what would life be without circumstances prevailing on the petty's? at least i got them to the airport on time.

hibbs - i would love to send you a cd of my most recent tunes. what's your mailing address? i'm not having much luck with the whole file share uploading thing. please tell me what you think once you give a listen.

to all - i'm finally getting around to getting my pro tools rig fixed. in case you hadn't heard me mention it before, my optical port had a little malfunction so i have to get that fixed so i can record 12 tracks at a time for drums (right now i'm down to 8) around xmas time when the drummer is in town for a few weeks. the hour draws near. klotz, can you make it here to record some paper thin tracks before thanksgiving?

New Patton Tracks

I saw you re-uploaded four tracks on your band page. Can I get a CD or an upload of higher quality on maybe rapidshare or whatever. I like the songs but myspace does not have the best audio quality to my ears.

Anyway, I'm listening now so thanks for the tunes!

Nate

How were angie & jared ? I was dissapointed to not hear from them. I miss them . I know they were going through a lot.

Micah

KLOTZ

yes, i have. they will be here this FRIDAY. you should call me asap if you want to be here to hang out. they fly out on saturday.

NATE

Have you heard from jared and angie ?

any good gtr parts yet for worth, jesse?

Thanks! Now tell me what to play I have writers block.

:)

we DID record to a click and we were @ 170bpm

BPM?

Thanks Nate, I appreciate it. Did you record this to a click track? How many BPM if you did.

FINALLY

ok these links should take you to 2 downloadable audio files. one file is just the guitar tracks micah recorded and the other track is just our vocals. if you pull them into your session and line them up even they should matchup if that's what you're looking to do.

http://rapidshare.com/files/154622077/Worth_-_Just_Gtrs.wma.html

http://rapidshare.com/files/154622078/Worth_-_Just_Vox.wma.html

~~~~~~~~

Micah, cool lyrics, very nice. Nate, I've never owned a mac but I'm pretty good at computer stuff, let me know if I can help.

NEW LYRICS

All the Time in the World...

All the time in the world
could never complete you
but certainly could
defeat you somehow
youve got to see with your heart
its the only thing that wont decieve you

It will scare you sometines
the way she looks at you
a fragile light before the final dawn
the last ice in a gentle rain storm

All the time in the world
will try to steal from you
the hope for tenderness
in an hour of deep pain



( thats all I have so far. I hope you both had a good day and enjoyed it even in a small way).

NATE!!!

YOUr ALIVE !!! I am glad .. I kind of like you regardless of your raw evil intelligence... OK. I like worth the way it is arranged I am just open to expanding if everyone thinks it is too simple of an arrangment. I think it is one of those songs that has a lot of movement is a little bit of space. Just wanted to make sure it was the way you two Warner Alumn wanted to go. I am very sorry to hear about jared's grandpa. Jared has had too much heart ache recently. It sucks !!!

Micah

jared and angie haven't made final plans with me, but i talked to them today. their flight leaves on october 25th so they'll probably be here for a day or two before that. depends on jared's grandfather who is apparently dying.

as for worth, i was listening the other day and like the potential of the song and the direction it's headed. but i'm open for improvements if you two think it's needed.

i'm still working on loading those gtr and vocal tracks, jesse. now, i'm thinking the problem is with my mac.

Nate & Jesse

About worth........

A little time has passed since we recorded worth. I know that you both will be adding a lot od depth and texture to it and I know it could change . How do you guys feel about the song in regards to this project ? Are you both feeling that it is a fit ? I believe it will be much more dynamic and interesting once you both have added your pieces to it. Does it need changed ?

Micah

Nate

When are jared and angie coming to chicago ?

File Size?

Maybe files to big? Both sites have 200mb files limit. I think megaupload has a larger files size limit you could try that. Hope that helps.

jesse,

i don't know what's wrong with rapid share or that mediafire site, but i'm trying to upload the files for you and not having any luck. maybe they are both just temporarily down or something. i will try again soon and hopefully it goes smoother. i've used them before on here so i can't imagine i'm doing anything wrong.

Just for Fun

I rerecorded an old song. Did it in one take so it's not perfect but whatever.

dl here

:)

A few questions

Micah,

If you want to work with that guitar riff I can certainly record it for you. Would it be better for me to just teach you how to play it and let you build a song around it that way (it's not terribly difficult to play once you have it memorized)? Whatever you think is fine. If you want me to record it do you need it at a certain tempo and what file format do you want?

If you want me to teach it to you I can just make a video and go through it step by step.

Acid Music

I've had Acid Pro 2.0 forever, it's sort of goofy but it would do for working out some basic ideas. I don't run Acid anymore because my stupid registration key became mysteriously invalid. I called up Sony but their tech support is almost useless. Oh well theres $250 bucks flushed down the drain.

Yeah I think that would be a fine way for us to share files. Does the version you have allow you to export the songs as Mp3? I know that the pro version does but I had the trial version at one point also and it didn't.

If you can export the songs as mp3 or wav files than I can load them up into Sonar or Cubase and work with them that way.

I haven't done anything else with that riff so if you have some ideas go for it!

Jesse

You posted a riff in august that I really really loved ! Have you been working with it still ? I am trying to figure out a way we could work on that together ? I have a simple Sony acid music studio on my computer. Maybe it would be good enough to share files back and forth for writing ? Maybe that could work for the three of us. I know we would still need to record it later with nate but we could wrtie that way. Maybe ?

NATE ( Male Prostitute & Theologion )

I get jared. You have already had him. Do you reember ? You guys were like rabbits in Alabama. What I couldnt understand was why you had Jeff join in. That was awful... Very innaporpiate... You did all of that while you were still wiht JJ ? Have you no principal ? Have you no morality ? What is the date they will be there ? Thanks nate cant wait to work on music some more.

Micah

october

the second half of october could work well. in fact, jared and angie will be in town to visit me sometime around then before they fly out of o'hare to go to japan. maybe we could all have 1 big warner orgie.

NATE

Is october still good for you ? I know its good for may ? I am very busy the first two weeks of october with new installations but the second half should be open.

Micah

one more thing

I don't know if this matters but I'm working at 24 bit, 96 khz

September

It's okay I've been really busy also. Just get me the files as soon as you get some free time. I don't know how pro tools works but there's a "bounce to track" command in DAWs Ive worked with that would mix down the selected audio and create a new track which would start from the beginning of the project.

All I really need is the acoustic/rhythm guitar and the vocals. Also I need the BPM for the project and if there are tempo changes where they fall.

Thanks, don't work to hard.

-Jesse

the files

i must find time to atleast post the gtr and main vocal files online for you soon, hibbs. it will still be a few days i think. forgive my busyness. work is crazy in september for me.

Huh?

Are you starting a grunge band? What? And what's pr-cognitive?

I WATCHED THE SMURFS !

Artist: I watched the smurfs

Title: Sacrificing Chickens to Pagan gods ...


What do you guys think ? Are these good names for a raw almost pr-cognitive grundge band ?

Jesse

I have always believed that screw drivers could make a potentially good weapon if called upon. Thats cool..... Nate must send you files......He must.......

Battle

Yes, I've gone bravely into battle. I attacked my computer yesterday with a screwdriver. Put in a new professional quality sound card, got stereo ins and outs 100 watt stereo studio monitors, a 25 key midi controller and new guitar strings... Now I'm just waiting for Nate to send me some audio files.

Jesse

Have you gone bravely into battle ? Have you plotted a course for your guitar parts on worth ? Are we going to record paper back sci-fi for the project ? I would like to work with that cool-ass riff you posted a few weeks ago. When are you & Swygert getting together ? Perhaps I could try to meet up with you then ? Always remember your towel when travelling through space ......

Micah

p.s. Who would win in a death match between Sarah Palin and Leigh Nash ? O.K. what about a death match between puffy and Hillary Clinton or what about a death match between Mark Hammell and Barack Obama ? If you put all of them in a ring

NATE

When do you think drums and bass will be added to worth ? Have plotted a solution for your piano attack ? Is napervill going to become its own country ? When shall we record again ?

Micah

Jarvis Cocker - Running the World

Probably not a good idea to play this one at work...

Running The World

Gilmour

Jesse,

Historically he is blamed for forcing the break-up of the original line-up. But I am sure that Waters was not innocent in the matter. Gilmour is a very superb guitarist. We cannot take that away from him... I do think that he was a jerk during the making of " The Final Cut". Maybe it was all of their fault... I dont know...I just know in the end they all gave old roger the syd barrett treatment.

Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Not a bad album...
My favorite is Meddle, I had that one on vinyl, wore it out, finally got around to buying it on CD last year.

I know we have had this discussion before but what do you guys have against Gilmore? I actually just bought his solo album "On an Island" and have really enjoyed it.

Nate ( male prostitute)

Gilmour will probably out live all of us . I know it is sad but true. We all know that roger is genius but he will die well before gilmour. Wright. He was a nice stoner.

Micah

p.s. Did you guys ever listen to " Pipers at the gate of dawn."

now THAT is some funny shit

on you nathan

sorry. just wanted to say something assholish to get it out of my system for the day.

the only thing sad about it is that it wasn't gilmour.

Wright, dead at 65

What a sad day.

LONDON - Richard Wright, a founding member of the rock group Pink Floyd, died Monday. He was 65.

"Pink Floyd's spokesman Doug Wright, who is not related to the artist, said Wright died after a battle with cancer at his home in Britain. He says the band member's family did not want to give more details about his death.

Wright met Pink Floyd members Roger Waters and Nick Mason in college and joined their early band, Sigma 6. Along with the late Syd Barrett, the four formed Pink Floyd in 1965.

The group's jazz-infused rock and drug-laced multimedia "happenings" made them darlings of the London psychedelic scene, and their 1967 album, "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn," was a hit.

In the early days of Pink Floyd, Wright, along with Barrett, was seen as the group's dominant musical force. The London-born musician and son of a biochemist wrote songs and sang.

The band released a series of commercially and critically successful albums including 1973's "Dark Side of the Moon," which has sold more than 40 million copies. Wright wrote "The Great Gig In The Sky" and "Us And Them" for that album, and later worked on the group's epic compositions such as "Atom Heart Mother," "Echoes" and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond."

But tensions grew between Waters, Wright and fellow band member David Gilmour. The tensions came to a head during the making of "The Wall" when Waters insisted Wright be fired. As a result, Wright was relegated to the status of session musician on the tour of "The Wall," and did not perform on Pink Floyd's 1983 album "The Final Cut."

Wright formed a new band Zee with Dave Harris, from the band Fashion, and released one album, "Identity," with Atlantic Records.

Waters left Pink Floyd in 1985 and Wright began recording with Mason and Gilmour again, releasing the albums "The Division Bell" and "A Momentary Lapse of Reason" as Pink Floyd. Wright also released the solo albums "Wet Dream" (1978) and "Broken China" (1996).

In July 2005, Wright, Waters, Mason and Gilmour reunited to perform at the "Live 8" charity concert in London — the first time in 25 years they had been onstage together.

Wright also worked on Gilmour's solo projects, most recently playing on the 2006 album "On An Island" and the accompanying world tour".

i'll have to check into this. gimme some time. snootchie bootchies.

OMF Files?

I thought I read before that Pro Tools has an option for importing OMF files, and Sonar and Cubase can export OMF files. This is supposed to allow an easy way to interchange audio files between different software platforms. Is this not true anymore?

If this isn't the case we can just make all the audio tracks start from the beginning of the project and export as wav files. Just note the tempo for me and convert anything midi to audio. right?

I'll give it a try.

Might as well give it a try. If it's too much of a pain in the ass than I'll just drop the original .wav file in and record along with that.

the pro tools session itself would not be compatible with sonar. but i could give you an audio (wav) file or two that you could drag into a sonar session. of course the annoying part would be lining up the timing on the part(s) i sent you. i don't know if that would be worth it.

Worth

Would it be possible to get the session file? I think I could record some on my own just to get some ideas. I'm assuming the session files from pro-tools are compatible with Sonar Pro 6.

JESSE

Have you had a chance to work with " Worth" ? What are your thoughts ? What direction are you wanting to take your parts in ? Do you have any questions about what I am playing ? I am excited about what you will add !

Web Site

That old site is funny and I still have the recording of the entire Fusion Soul/Opium Tea session. I'd like to start working on a new site. Maybe Well Dressed Matt would be willing to help with that again. Thanks for posting the lyrics Micah.

male prostitute? yes. but only to the highest end of clients...and delores klotz :)

anyway, september is a harder month for me because i have to work fridays, but october would be fine. tell chris we have an indoor pool, an outdoor pool, and a hot tub if that helps.

NATE & JESSE

www.geocities.com/grinchontheweb/theband.html


OK.... This is a very messed up site created by good looking matt . There is a free mps of nuclear fusion soul on this site, but at the end of the song if you let real player paly all the way through is a very very very crazy song of ours called " opium tea". At the very end you can hear matt may screaming " I want to join a spazz core band!" You guys have to check this out. It is truly nuts and makes me smile ...........

Micah

p.s. jesse I think that nate may be moonlighting as a male prostitute but I cant be certain.

NATEWHORE

How is september or October for another session ?

WORTH

I could promise you the world
but its already taken
I could build you a home
but when would I be there
You out up a good fight but whats that woth

Were not young for long

I know it hurt real bad
I wanted to be there
Sometimes we get lost
just trying to get there

Were not young for long

My Last FM Station

WORTH

Jesse,

The song is called worth. I tried very hard on this recording but nate kept trying to touch me innapropiately. I am sure you have that problem with him as well.

Micah

You're a star.

CHORDS

verse:

Am - C/G - Em

(the last progression before the chorus changes to Am - C/G - G)

chorus:

Am - C/G - F - C/E

on first listen

Yeah, I can understand the lyrics. Kind of a cool song. It's going to be really busy with piano, bass and another guitar. I think it's good but it is going to need a little room to breath once we start layering all the other instruments. Maybe a bridge would help with that.

It would be helpful to have the chords Micah is playing, the vocals are overwhelming the guitar so much that I can't quite make out what he is playing. Also can you upload a copy without the vocals. Thanks.

Everything sounds really good, is that an acoustic guitar, I mean the rhythm guitar? Whatever it is it sounds really good but it's sort of buried in the mix. I'm sure we can sort that out when we get closer to a finished project.

fyi - i think micah and i have already decided to scratch about half of those repeating vocals on the 2nd chorus to make room for more instrumental buildup stuff (aka spacey hibbs gtr). i'd post the lyrics but i think they are pretty easy to understand and i got micah to annunciate well on this song.

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=d0be7f954efb3f9ad2db6fb9a8902bda

that should be the link, jesse

i;ll try and get on that as soon as i get home tonight after work, hibbs.

Let's hear it!

Rapidshare or Mediafire are both excellent for file hosting.

I can't wait to hear what you guys recorded. Also could you post the lyrics and chords please?

what's the name of that website that i can use to upload the song for you, jesse?

for this visit we wrote and recorded a new song. for the most part, we just recorded micah's gtr parts and vocals. i threw in a few vocals too just to see how they mixed. i'll upload the tune for you, just be aware that there are no piano, drums, bass, or jesse gtr yet so the chorus especially sounds empty but with overbearing micah/nate vocals.

right now, it's just a verse/chorus/verse/chorus progression. maybe we'll add a bridge in the future i dunno. for now, we're just proud to have a grynch song with a defined chorus.

next time micah visits (hopefully sometime in the next 2 months), i'm talking him into re-recording his parts for paper thin so we can work on that, too.

So what happened? How did it go? When do I get to hear it?

hey hibbs. klotz and i are together at this very moment recording a new tune. we've decided to abandon piano and guitars in favor of mandolin and squeezbox.

micah says he misses you and wants you to rub your venerial disease in his eyeball.

Sunday and Monday?

So, what's going on? You guys get something together?

Roland JC-120

I just saw that also. The JC-120 is known for being able to stay really clean even at high volumes. I think a lot of that might have been related to the speakers. Not that those fender twins are bad speakers either.

I don't know I still think it would be a great amp. And it is solid state so no maintenance and it will sound just as good at apartment studio volume. Also it's true stereo 60 watts per side, there aren't to many guitar amps anymore that are true stereo.

Just to give an example of what they sound like that everyone would know, James Hetfield, the singer/guitarist from Metallica uses a JC-120 in the studio to record all the clean, non-distorted guitar parts. Not that I'm a big 'tallica fan or anything I was just trying to think of something you would recognize. 'cause I know what a head banger your mom is.

Another band, one that I really am a fan of, that uses the JC-120 is Slowdive. Both Christian Saville and Rachell Goswell played JC-120s live. They used them because they kept a decent tone at higher volumes and because they have a stereo effects loop.

Personally, I'd kill for one although what I'd really like is the JC-120h model which is just the head, that way I can match it up with a closed back 4x12 cabinet.

but the descriptions says it has the speakers of a fender twin? what's up with that?

Nate!

Nate, I saw this on eBay, it's Chicago pick up only and a ridiculously good price. I'd buy it myself if I had the cash right now. This amp will blow a fender twin out of the water. Check out this Roland JC-120. If your ever going to own a decent guitar amp for your studio than this would be it.

Dreamlogicc - Machines & Metaphors

Dreamlogicc album Machines & Metaphors is available as a free download at tonAtom Records. It's kind of low budget sounding but fun. The second track "Dew Pattern" is killer.

http://tonatom.net/

Bat for Lashes

Interesting, sort of strange mix. That girl writes freaky lyrics. The song "What's a Girl to Do" sounds like a harpsichord more than a guitar to me. Maybe it's just a weird sounding guitar.

sunday and monday could work i think.

call me 630-740-2239

NATE & JESSE

My interst for guitar tone is clean, clear, and full. A lot of melody..Straightforward melody like in " Once Upon A Time." I feel like jesse could add so much interesting texture and nate could add so much meat to it on piano. I have been listening to a lot of Bat For Lashes. www.batforlashes.com There is a song on their site entitled " What's a girl to do." I love the sound of the drums ! I love the guitar and the keywork . I have been listening to them as well as radiohead, rolling stones, pretenders, the temptations, moody blues, and simon and garfunkel and pink floyd.
What would you guys think of approaching " Once Upon A Time" with a mix that is similar to the approach on " What's A girl to do" except for maybe having the piano and th guitar louder in the mix. Perhaps a little bolder. There is a band from New York called " The Grizzly Bears " that have incorporated a 50's era drum sound with modern/sentimental guitar work . I recently saw a Doo Wap concert with the " Duke of Earl' and " Chantells" and other various era artists. In my mind there is something compelling about that pop sound. The reason I like Bat For Lashes and the Grizzly Bears so much is because of ther incorporation of modern alternative with retro ballad ?

Micah

NATE

Are you sill available sunday and monday ?

Micah

stomps

DS-1 through a Twin will have a really nice timbre. Can you wrangle up one of those?

stomp box distortion? i have some friends with a couple of pretty sweet sounding ones.

Even More On Fender Amps

Okay so here is the other issue. The deluxe and twin are both tube amps. If you record at a low volume the overdrive (distortion) is not going to have the same tonal characteristics. Are you in an apartment? If you are I doubt your going to be able to crank the amp to 11 with out your neighbors throwing a shit fit.

How do we deal with this, or does it even matter?

Fender Amps

These are okay, the twin and the deluxe are both good amps. Not really my style but they have a great clean tone and are sort of a classic. If we are going that route I would suggest that we avoid using the spring reverb which is built into the amp. I just don't think that's the sound we are going for.

I'm sure you have either a plug-in or a rack unit for digital reverb. I like too run the rhythm guitar through a reverse reverb, set at between 60-85% wet. Then record two tracks, pan one hard left and the other hard right. This eliminates a lot of the pick attack and creates a sort of "floating" guitar sound in stereo. I prefer the sound of an Alesis reverb or a Lexicon if you have either of those. If you don't like the sound of the reverse than try just a nice warm hall reverb.

Of course that's what I like, Micah I'm sure has his own tastes, I just wanted to throw this out there to give you some ideas.

Also, what are we doing for distortion? Micah, do you have a good stomp box? I don't see us getting the kind of distortion we need out of a Fender Twin.

i don't have any good amp modeling plugins i'm afraid. but would you consider a fender deluxe reverb or twin reverb to be a decent amp? i borrow those all the time from work.

i'm pretty confident (even with my relatively limited experience) that you would rather go with the real thing every time if you had the chance to actually A/B the sounds together. a friend of mine from around here was just over the other day helping me record some gtr. he's a big fan of going direct in on his own tunes. anyway, he brought over his gear to show me how his gtr run through the right effects pedals would be so much better than the prs mccarty and deluxe reverb i borrowed from work. i was pretty open-minded about it, but when we did the comparison there wasn't really much to compare. of course it didn't help that the gtr he was using was a cheap strat knock-off.

Recording Guitars

I'm still leaning towards recording the guitars direct. It seems to me that it's easier to get a decent tone on a budget. And there are so many good recording interfaces. I mean if we were playing through decent amps to start with, if I could afford to buy a Mesa, Soldano, or a JC-120 than yeah I would mic the amp with that Neumann you just bought. I'd just rather use digital modeling than mic a mediocre sounding amp. Do you have access to Amp Farm, Guitar Rig or Tone Port or something similar?

some sort of notice would be great, micah. keep in mind these work issues of mine:

1. i almost always have friday and sunday off
2. i DO have to work a semi-short day on saturdays (10:30-5)
3. starting after labor day i have to work fridays for the entire month of september (it's a seasonal thing)
4. i do have labor day off so if you came sunday august 31st we could work straight through sunday and monday and maximize your time away from ohio

any thoughts?

Nate

I got your phone mesage. Thank you. I gotta tell you that radiohead was amazing live. I am back from honey moon and luckily my employees ran things rather smoothly when I was gone . Thank God. O.K. Seriously I need to get to chicago. Today I am meetings all over the freaking green earth . Do you need any kind of notice or anything before I come ? I know that cooking crystal meth in the bathroom can be tricky and you may not want any unforseen visitors .

Air Formation 7"

I just preordered the new Air Formation 7" from Distant Noise Records . You can listen to the A side at the Myspace link, plus there is a bunch of other bands on the label you might like. Check it out.

i will be anxiously awaiting your final mix

okay cool

I'm working on an EP, I hope to have it done by the end of the year. I'd be making much quicker progress if it wasn't for the fact I have no fucking idea what I'm doing with this software. It's just a learn as I go experience right now. But I actually got a rough cut of one of the songs recorded so I must be doing something right. Now I just got to get session drummer to play nice and refine the whole process.

So I'm recruiting you and your fancy pro-tools plugins to master this when I'm done.

JESSE!

should be fine. basically, once you have the finished mix you can simply burn it to a cd and send me the cd. i can then drag the finished mix into a pro tools session and use some fancy mastering plugins on dat bitch. if you need my address:

1613 Country Lakes Dr
Apt 201
Naperville, IL 60563

sonar sessions

Nate, if I save sessions in sonar are they compatible with your pro-tools. I mean If I recorded a project here could you master it?

you out there micah or are you still on your honey moon?

how's life in missouri jesse?

holy crap, you got married? seriously? congratulations klotz!

finally made an honest woman out of her.

well i have fridays and sundys off and saturdays are relatively short days for me. this means a long weekend would be ideal to accomplish some recording. however, the month of september is probably going to be bad because of work. the whole month i'll have to work all day on fridays.

Nate & Jesse

I wanted to let you guys know that chris and I were married last week. We eloped to a radiohead concert . We had a wonderful week. Well, I am back from eloping and I guess it is time for nate and I to get together. Jesse that riff was very beautiful . I really found to to be alluring and calming. Very entrancing. All kinds of ideas of where that could go or how it could be sung.. Nate .... what days are good for you to ge together. What is your schedule like ? We should be able to get together soon. Chris and I are going to have a reception of sorts for friends and family. We are going to send invitiations to everyone.

Micah

wow, i think that sounds pretty cool, jesse. i'm not sure how it would fit into any song we have now, but it sounds worthy of having it's own tune built around it.

what do you think about this riff?

I wrote this riff yesterday, thought it might sound cool if we could fit it into one of our songs.
Sorry again for youtube/webcamsound quality sound. Let me know if you think if it would fit with anything we are doing. If not at least it gives you an idea of the type of tones I've been creating and me and micah can work together create guitar sounds that gel.

hi hibbs. i'm just hoping to hear from the klotzster about getting together sometime soon.

if you're out there micah let me know if you can get away to record anytime soon.

?

Anything happening? Are you guys making plans?

A Place To Bury Strangers - To Fix The Gash in Your Head

Shellac

sorry last one for now I promise :)

Explosions In The Sky -The Only Moment We Were Alone

Sonic Youth - Incinerate

my new address is:

1613 Country Lakes Dr.
Apt 201
Naperville, IL 60563

yet, my new place is literally just down the street from my old place. so if you're thinking of coming to record guitar and vocals anytime soon you'll pretty much be coming the same way (hopefully bypassing the wisconsin tollway this time).

Jesse & Nate

Jesse : How is liz and sage ? Did you guys make it to ben's this summer ? I am very excited for them. Do you have ben's number so I can call him ? Have a great thursday !

Nate: Do you have a new address ?

Micah

Nate & Jess

Nate how was florida ? Did you get to see robalard or christoph ?

Jesse are you still going to ben's this summer ? could you post bens address ? I would like to go see them and congrtulate them.

I am going to see RADIOHEAD !!! ON AUGUST 5th !!! I cant wait..

hey guys. i fly home tomorrow so give me a few days to get up to speed and maybe we can talk about recording klotz guitar/vocals very soon.

blah

I just picked up a copy of Seafood's “Messenger in the Camp” (2000) and have been listening to that and Silversun Pickups “Carnavas” (2006) all day. Both are really solid albums. What are you guys listening too? When are you coming home Nate?

you suck

Low is playing at Epiphany in Chicago on Sept 17th.

You should go! You have all the best concerts in Chicago. I live in @#%@$#@ Missouri where there is nothing to do.

find tickets and information about the band at
http://www.chairkickers.com/

Also check out my April post regarding this band if you haven't already
http://grynch.blogspot.com/2008/04/low-on-national-public-radio.html

Ulrich Schnauss, Auburn Lull, Screen Vinyl Image Improv Jam

Nate

Good luck on your trip. Are you going to see Robalard ? Well.... Lets get together in august. Let me know your new address .

Micah

ummm.....you could do that i suppose. otherwise it might be worth it to wait and do it just once for real whenever you can make it up here. forget scratch tracks, just record the part legit up here. besides, the drummer will have a easier time playing to a rythm track that was done with some care. but i dunno. it's totally your call. i'm going home to florida for the next 2 weeks so i'll be very spotty with checking in on here. wish me luck on two straight weeks of humid family time.

NATEWHORE !!!

I have a cheesy cakewalk home studio version 2002 ? It works with .wav files. I have a small eurorack mixer and I can record into and save the files onto cd. Would this be compatable with Pro Tools ? If so then I could record the scratch tracks now and not have to wait to get into bailey records.

Micah

CD Cover2

click to see larger size

Nate

I meant to say August but I am a crazy bastard. I can come in agust then. I dont think you are a bastard because of anything you have done. I think you were born a bastard and that is just the way things are. Just kidding....Sorry that your familty is being unfair. That sort of thing is always dificult. I am pretty sure that Bailey Records would be compatable with pro tools. I could record the scratch traks that way and then would you be able to build your piano, drums, and bass around that ? Then perhaps when I come to chicago I could to do the track takes ? Is that what you mean ? I think that would work.....

Micah

Nate

I meant august. I am a crazy bastard though I agree. I dont think you are a bastard because of brittinay. I think you were born a bastard and have always been that way. Just kidding.. I am sorry your family is being unfare. Seriously. O.K. I think we could try both methods.. I want to come in august but I think I could send you guitar tracks now. My only concern is quality. Would I just be sending you a scratch track do build bass and, piano, and drums around and then I could record the real deal in august ? I think that may work.. I am pretty sure that Bailey Records could be compatable but I definately would want you producing and mixing everything. Wasnt paper back sci fi cool as hell !!!

klotz!

june is already over you crazy bastard. how about late july or august sometime? i've been guilted into spending all my vacation time on my family in florida this year. they think i'm a terrible person because i broke it off with brittany so now i have to spend two weeks in florida trying to convice them otherwise. i think they hate me right now. anyway, i'm leaving this coming sunday and will be back monday july 28th i think. anytime after that would be great, but you'd have to come here since i'll be out of vac days. of course, you could record guitar tracks to a click and send them to me if we could make sure they would be compatible with pro tools.

NATEWHORE!!

Dearest nathan swygert theological heretic and possible night's templar ,

BEN IS A FATHER !! YEAH !! Well here is the deal my piano playing friend..... I can travel to your lands at the end of july or at the end of june as I am installing new locations for my company during the first two weeks of those months and need to be here to orient my route drivers. I could also rent a studio here ( you could bring your gear) and we could record here anytime. Also have you moved into your new place and have been able to admitt your sexual attraction to jared and jeff during that week in alabam when we were all unable to shower. I appologize for making fun of your mother. What we have is real and I shoudnt cheapen it with jokes and antadotial melay.

Micah ( one of the members of grynch...the worlds leader in strange ass lineups of musician.)

Mix Tape Blog

I started a music blog. Check it out and let me know what you think.

www.rainydayonline.com

Plans

Micah, I don't get what your talking about "installations in June." It's the beginning of July now. I'd rather get one song recorded well then a whole album of stuff that's mediocre. My vote is to stick with the original plan. Nate says he has a good drummer lined up, let's get the rhythm and piano tracks down. We can work from there. Nate, do you need Micah in Chicago to work with this drummer, it seems to me like you could do it without him? Micah, thanks for the compliments, glad you liked the song and hope you're feeling 100% soon.

Keep posting, we will work this out.

NATE & JESSE !

JESSE !!! WOW!!! I LOVED IT !!! Your voice is wonderful on this song even with the air conditioner. I liked the song lyrically and now that I have heard your melody I love it !!! I agree with nate there is no reason why you shouldnt record your vocals on this. It comes through with a lot a lot of cool ass vibe... Natewhore...... Unfortunaley I cant meet in the beginning of July but rather later and I know you will be out of town then I could rent a studio here if you could make it up here before leaving for florida. I have a couple of installations in June as well but I can always come on a weekend. I am sorry to delay guys I just had to take the time to recover from surgery. As far as this project goes...here is my perspective.....

1. We already have the cover art . ( do you guys agree)

2. I think we should do : ( so far anyways. I think " like the wolves" sucks sorry for writing it).
a. Paperback Sci-Fi
b. Paper Thin
c. Once Upon A Time

3. I would like to do more than 3 or 4 songs. Maybe a whole album ? Nate is there any of your songs you would like to add to the project at this time or would like to write ? I am going to try and get some scratch tracks ready for " The Madagascar " and see if you guys think it fits or not.

Whatever we do I know time will be limited so I'd like to make sure I'm happy with the rhythm guitar tracks before I tackle anything else -leads, vocals, ukulele, whatever.

Well now you're being logical, that just won't do.

what, you think singing doesn't scare the shit out of me??? you just have to do it.

eh... singing scares me :)

i like it a lot, hibbs. you shouldn't doubt your songwriting at all. and quite frankly i'm not sure why you shouldn't sing it on the recording.

Paperback Sci-Fi

Here is the song, Paperback sci-Fi. I know my singing sucks I'm not worried about that but hopefully the melody is decent? Let me know what you think and lets decide on a final line up of songs for this project asap. I'm thinking 2-4 songs right? Also I've got a second overlaying guitar part worked out for the verse of the song but no way to really record it until I get Sonar figured out. Oh and you won't hurt my feelings if your not impressed it's really only like my second venture at song writing so maybe use constructive criticism if you hate it? Revised lyrics are underneath the video.



Paperback Sci-Fi

My tired heart is dressed in red
My tired heart is dressed in love
Like paperback sci-fi I know this isn't real
I turn the pages but I can't beleive the lies

I'm sorry susan, I'm so damn sorry (x4)

My tired heart is dressed in red
My tired heart is dressed in love and razor wire
There is a gear inside my stomach
And when it turns there is perfect motion

I'm sorry susan, I'm so damn sorry (x4)

I'll dress in Red for the funeral.
I'll Sing this dirge for all of us.

july

That sounds great Micah. I'll bring an acoustic I don't think I'll have room for the rest of my rig plus I doubt Tracie wants a rock concert while she is recovering from having a baby. Also glad you liked the artwork, Liz didn't really dig it, so I was sort of wondering if anyone else was going to get it.

hey guys. nice artwork hibbs. july might work, micah. i'll be gone from july 13th-28th paying my dues and visiting the family back home in florida. pretty much any other weekend in july could work i think though. let me know if you're feeling up for it.

NATE & JESSE

Hello my friends... Nate what is your schedule in june / july ? I know you said your were moving. Have you moved yet ? Jesse... I talked to ben last night. He said that you guys are coming here in July. I am definately going to see you guys then which will be very cool. I was just thinking that perhaps we might be able to find a little time to play some of these songs together is person.
I dont know if this is a possibility or not for all of us but in the event that I could rent a studio here but have nate bring his gear and be the producer I thought maybe would could work on some of these songs that way. I know you guys didnt really care for the furmina cd ( i thought it sucked too) but the drummer on that CD is actually really talented. Well it was just an idea. Nate I will be able to come in July if that works. I am sorry about the delay it's just that I am not completely ready to travel that far yet due to the surgery. I am going to attempt to wrtie a second verse for the Madagascsar. Do you guys feel that song fits with the other material we have so far ? Jesse are we going to use Paperback Sci-fi for the albu ? Do have anything recorded for that song? Nate do you have any songs written that you would like to go on the album ?

Micah

CD Cover Page

I spent a good amount of time working on this so let me know what you think. I'll try to work on a few more covers in the same style if you like this one. That way we have some choices. I'm hoping that if these songs come out well we can get some nice looking CD's pressed for us. You can click on the image to view it in larger size. Unfortunately photobucket/blogger still kill the resolution the actual image looks a lot better and I can email it to you if you need it.

hey guys. you're right hibbs. i need to get together with micah to lay down his gtr and vocals before we can really start much else. these are really your songs, klotz, so you need to be at the beginning of the creation. after that comes drums and bass which i don't really need you two around for. but then i would need to get together with you, jesse, for your parts. what say you?

the plan?

Hey, I was just reading your post below and I don't think the three of us will be able to get together this summer. I thought the plan was for you and Nate to get together first and record the base of the songs then me and Nate would get together to work on adding my guitar which I need to work around your vocals anyway.

Sonar 6

Glad to have you back Micah! Your new lyrics are interesting. Nate, I've got a few questions when you have time. I just started working with Sonar 6 Producer Edition. I'm hoping I can use this software to compose and record music since I don't have a band at the moment. Any suggestions on learning how to use it? I know I can figure it all out but I also know it's going to take some time and probably cause me some serious headaches. This is a big jump from Acid 2.0 Pro. Also I need to pick up a Midi Controller. 25 key would be fine and I'm on a pretty tight budget, any suggestions? I was looking at the Alesis Photon x25 or maybe the Line 6 Toneport. That's only because I've bought other gear from both Alesis and Line 6 not because I have any actual experience with the controller. Thanks!

The Madagascar

I reworked the lyrics a little bit. I think this works better.....

The Madagascar

vs. 1
a long time ago
the madagascar sailed across the sea
she was a spledid ship
made for human trafficking
a beautiful ship commissioned by the queen
and the cargo in her belly
paved the way for....

chorus
Human Suffering
Human Suffering
what a tragedy that sugar dont come free

Human Suffering
Human Suffering
a lot of things are made easier by human trafficking !


Well guys this is all I have so far. I think this works a little better than the earlier post. Anyways I really am looking forward to hearing some of the material that you guys are writing.

Older Posts

I went back and re-read and responded to some older posts. If you guys have written or recorded anything I woould love to hear it.

The Madagascar

Sorry guys. My recovery is takinga lttle longer than hoped. Is there any chance of all of us getting together this summer to work on the grynch project and such ? I have written 1 verse for a new song called The Madagascar. Where are we in the project. Have you guys been working on any new songs ? Well here are the lyrics I have so far:

The Madagascar

a long time ago
the madagascar sailed across the sea
she was a splendid ship
made for human trafficking
a beautiful ship commissioned by the queen
and the cargo in her belly
paved the way for you and me

human suffering
human sufferin
he wept in his tea
the sugar it didnt come free
( i thing this whole bridge to the chorus is extremely dumb but its all I can come up with)

reunion

My Bloody Valentine
Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, IL
Sat, Sep 27, 2008 08:00 PM

are you feeling "strong like ox!" yet klotz? do you have pro tools sessions of those demos you sent me?

boring.

!!!

!!!

klotz is bitch

Hey Guys !!!

I am sorry I disspaeared for a couple weeks. I had surgery on may 8th and am recovering. I need a little more time to recouperate. I still feel like crap. I will get caught up on all of the recent entries and respond. I got an idea for a new song last week called " The Madagascar sailed across the ocean." Sorry no animal theme but I can try to work it in.

Micah

Reverb

I'm on a reverb kick right now. Listening to a lot of different records and realizing what an important role reverb plays in setting the mood of an album. I just wanted to think about what sort of sound we are looking for when we record Micah's guitar and vocals. I'm using a lot of digital reverb with a slow decay and also early reflections these days for my guitar, I think it fits the sound we are going for more than traditional tank/amp reverb. Any thoughts Nate or Micah?

I'm drinking please ignore typos/

damn it where are you micah? Watch the Rainer Maria video belo0w and get the last album they did you will like it.

Rainer Maria - Live

a zoo themed ep is the best idea we've had so far.

so i need some klotz love if we're going to get the ball rolling on this stuff. i'm gonna be busy until mid-june trying to find a new place to live and moving my shit. me and brittany are splitsville so life will be hectic for the next few weeks. after that though i'm ready to record some stuff. are you out there micah?

Klotz Tracks

I love it. Especially the outro on The Lion. I also like the second track Wolves as much or more then the first. Nate, give that track another listen, I think this is one of those less is more type of songs. I think the slower tempo could still be really driving with a good rhythm behind it and I love the lyrics and the main guitar riff. Micah, any chance you were listening to TwoThirtyEight when you wrote "the wolves?" It really reminds me of some of their slower songs on "you should be living now". That's a good thing, they are one of my favorite bands. I can tell you have been practicing a lot the guitar sounds great on both songs. I got used to the typical Micah guitar drone, this is really much better. Also sounds half decent as far as the tone, how did you record it, what guitar/amp were you playing? Are both the vocals on the outro of the first track you? What do you guys think about using the outro as an intro to "the Lions" and then again as an outro but extended for about four times the length of the original recording.

Also could Nate write a song about Monkeys or Elephants so we could have a zoo themed EP? :)

Archiving Files

Thanks Nate, you're a star. Next time you can archive the files together for one upload. That saves you even more time. You can download Winrar here. http://www.rarsoft.com/download.htm

I'll listen now and leave some feedback tonight.

and here's the second tune...

http://rapidshare.com/files/112868429/klotz_2.wav.html

RAPIDSHARE

i uploaded the first song, jesse. here it is:

http://rapidshare.com/files/112866552/klotz_1.wav.html

just for fun

hey jesse. i promise i will post soon. at the moment i don't have any more than like 2 minutes which i realize i am even wasting that by typing this message. but hopefully later tonight or tomorrow i can figure out how to post klotz's stuff on there for you.

Upload Please!!!

Micah didn't mail me anything. I think he loves you more.
upload at rapidshare, post the link. It's an easy, fast and painless process I promise.
www.rapidshare.com

hurry hurry!

i got your scratch tracks today, micah. did you hear them yet, jesse? anyway, i really liked the first song a lot. especially the 1st verse, the chorus, and the cool outro thing. i don't know how much i like all the religious references in the second chorus, but that's just me being nit-picky and bitchy. i think we could really make that outro thing start out soft and build to a kick ass height. maybe we should dedicated our efforts right now to recording this new song and paper thin. any thoughts?

oh and matt's input would be more than welcome although it would just be a cruel tease since i see no way of getting him out here for a recording unless he has more money and free time than i'm aware of. i miss matt.

getting micah's scratch tracks will certainly help move things forward, but i'm not sure if that means we can go straight ahead with the drum and bass tracking. that depends on a few things:

micah...do you have session files for the scratch tracks you recorded? would it be a pro tools session? was it even recorded to a click?

the answers to these questions really determines if we could just use what micah sends me for the drummer to play to or if we need him to do a legit gtr track with me here in chicago. i'm assuming the gtr part will be more difficult than something i could even pretend to attempt myself (even if it's just a scratch). we'll see.

fghfghfghfgh

Any chance of getting Matt May in on this project-- or at least inviting him to the blog for some feedback on our ideas?

What about a schedule of events, when you get Micah's scratch tracks we can get the drums and piano recorded right? I'm just worried if we let this drag out to long you guys will start getting bored or whatever and nothing will ever get done.

I'm sure this would be easier if we could just get together and jam but that's not really an option right now. What's next?

i don't have any new modest mouse. as much as i love "the moon and antarctica" and a little of their older stuff, i'm a horrible fan and haven't really paid much attention to anything the've done since. but if you have anything cool of there's i wouldn't mind taking a listen. i just get stuck listening to that one album obsessively. it's almost unhealthy.

Avatar

Esta compañía hace alguno de gabinetes que miran lo más mejor posible tasados y más agradables que he visto en un rato largo. ¿Pensado le pudo estar interesado?

http://www.avatarspeakers.com/

off topic

Nate, Did you ever get the new modest mouse album? If you have it could you send me a backup copy. Also I have everything they did except the newest release so if you need backup copies of anything we could trade.

:)

i am looking forward to what i hear, klotz.

Upload?

Can you upload the tracks in mp3 format to rapidshare and send me the link. It's cheaper (free) then mailing CDs. www.rapidshare.com

thanks

Scratch Tracks

Jesse & Nate,

I got in the studio on tuesday night. I only had a couple of hours because they were pretty booked all week. Anyway, I finallly got two scratch tracks around. The first song is a scratch track for " Once Upon A Time" and the second is a new song called " Like The Wolves." I mailed two cds to nate's address:
N Swygert
30w084 Capistrano Ct. # 103
Naperville, IL 60563

Hope that is the correct address. Well here are the lyrics for " Like The Wolves."

Like The Wolves

It's been a long night

but we put up a good fight

Do you miss the simple light

of the fireflies at night

Everyone's been licking their wounds

Everyone's staring at the wall in their rooms

Like the wolves we've lost our fight

Ive lost my fight

Ive lost my fight

Stare them down

Stare them down

The creatures that live underground

Stare them down

Stare them down

Anyone who puts you down

Stare them down

Stare them down

Anyone who will put you down

you should let me find out how much a fender jazz master is and how much we could could get it to you for. i'll try to remember to check into it sometime soon for you. maybe give you something to think about in the future.

Gear

If you ever had a Roland Jazz Chorus 120h (that is the head not the 2x12 combo) in decent condition I would probably buy it.

Also thinking about getting a guitar with a floating tremolo. A Fender Jazzmaster would be ideal but they are so damn expensive.

that was cool stuff on that neumann history you sent me, hibbs.

anyway, i thought i would mention to you guys that the place i work has become a miniature guitar center for high end guitars and amps. we used to be just gibson, but we've added a ton of lines over the last year. i have no idea if either of you had any plans on buying any nice gear in the future, but if you are interested in gtrs or amps from any of these companies let me know:

gibson
fender
prs
taylor
martin
gretsch
guild
yairi
don grotsch
new orleans

i could probably get you guys near blow-out prices on this stuff. not quite the employee discount which is simply cost (unless i blatantly lied and said i was buying it for myself), but probably somewhere in the range of %10-%15 above cost on any of their products.

Low on National Public Radio

Low. Complete live performance and interviews on NPR. I think you guys will like this if your not already into them.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9432230

i love paper thin and think we could really do it the justice it deserves by re-recording it well. and i agree that a couple of extra measured somewhere in that first section would be cool to help build the vibe more. i'm down. we just have to make sure the bass player nails matt may's part.

Song Structure

While we are waiting for Micah's demo recording I thought we could begin discussing song structure and direction for this project. I'd like to take Nates advice and keep our thumbs out of places they don't belong. Of course I would like to play what I enjoy listening to; lengthly songs that focus on repetition and evolution of structure. Most of the music I spin doesn't strictly follow verse chorus verse structure, it drones, gradually building layers and textures. Listen to Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine or if your in a heavy metal mood Isis and you will hear what I'm talking about. What are your thoughts, where do you see this going. Maybe a good place to start would be with Paper Thin. This song already has a basic skeleton we could build from. My first suggestion would be to extend the into riff a few more measures. Give the song a little more time to build (but not enough to get boring) and it would make a decent opener for the CD.

hagstrom

micah said...

Jesse,

I think thats it !!! I just remember hoe Cecil was so happy !! The guitar looks like it should kick ass but sounds like it got its ass kicked by some umpa lumpas or
something....

Yeah, but I think mark arm from mudhoney played one, and it sounded a little less umpa lumpa ish.

video

kevin shields (of mbv fame) and gemma hayes.

I love the tone, I'd like to try and get this sort of a sound out of what we are doing. Thought maybe micah could look at a more clean folky accoustic or electric tone and I could work on my own take of shields reverse reverb/floating trem thing. any thoughts?

ummm......nice.

i like, hibbs.

celestion

Wow, so you own a u87 now. That's fantastic.

I'm considering buying just one or two greenbacks for my cab before we record anything. That way your not waisting that mic on a set of 20 year old ampeg speakers that suck tone like nobody's business.

gentleman, we're in business.

thanks to ebay and american express we now have our neumann u87. klotz, get your ass over here and lets start making some music.

god damn it...shut up jesse!

so how is everyone? any progress recording those scratch tracks klotz?
i like some of your lyrics quite a bit, jesse. i'm interested to hear how you would fit them with your cool guitar lick.

shhh

Paperback Sci-Fi

These are lyrics to go with a song I've been writing, we can use them for this project if we need them or I can save them for my own projects. The first line is the title.

Paperback Sci-Fi

Staring into the heart of the sun
Like moths swarming into the light
One hundred thousand insects scatered
One hundred thousand fireflys in the night

There is a gear inside my stomach
And when it turns there is perfect motion
My tired heart is dressed
In love and razor wire

I'll dress in Red for the funeral.
I'll Sing this dirge for all of us.

careful, jesse. i just might chain you and micah to my stove amd make you both record guitar until you each get a perfect take of "cecil the pimp".

wooka chika yeah

Maybe writing two new songs is too ambitious? We could write one new song and choose a second old song.

Here's an idea for new lyrics :P

LaShawn is not a pimp anymore
He's not white or black or anything else
He doesn't care for marvin gay or barry white or anything else funk
But he is still real smooth


:P

(i hope you know I'm kidding)

what are we actually going to do?

and what should i be focused on right now?

first, i'm guessing i should wait to hear micah's scratch tracks for the "lion in my heart" song. and from there maybe we put our immediate attention on working out all the parts for that song along with the "wasteland" song and a redo of "paper thin"??? are we agreeing to focus on those 3 songs at first? i'm asking here, i'm not telling. if we get basic piano and/or gtr and vocal tracks arranged and recorded as we like them for those three songs, then sometime this summer i can track the drums and bass with my guys up here. those 3 songs could probably be accomplished in one long weekend session. but remember, they're only around here when college is out so it's not like we can sit around with our thumbs up our asses and do this any old time. after a while our window of opportunity passes and we have to wait a while before it reopens.

One More :)

Sorry I know this is my third post in a row. I just saw Micah's comment about trading in his guitar and wanting to work together on "Once upon a time".

Yes, I'd love to work on the song with you. I don't know what you have so far. I have a cool riff I've been attempting build a song around for the last few weeks. Nate heard it I sent him a video. Maybe that would fit I'll try and find the video or rerecord it or whatever.

Also SGs are great if that's what your into. I think we can make it work either way we just have to shape the tone through equalization, amp and effect controls to make everything sound copasetic.

What is it you like about the SG the sound of the guitar or the way the instrument feels? I always liked the thicker darker tone that you can get out of Gibson guitars like a Les Paul or an SG. When I actually play one they feel awkward because I'm so used to a Stratocaster. The solution for me was that I gutted my Strat, removed the three single coil pickups and replaced them with a single mild output Gibson PAF style humbucking pickup in the bridge position. Now I have a guitar that plays and feels like a strat but sounds more like an SG.

It's a cheap alternative to trading guitars and you can always swap the pickups back if you don't like the guitars new sound.

Sorry for the slow response to this one I overlooked your comment somehow.

-JPH

Pedals and Effects

Micah asked about gear, specifically pedals, in his comment. I've been using a lot more rack mounted gear then pedals these days. Only pedals I still use are the ProCo Turbo Rat (Can't live without that) and a DD3 for more for weird space sounds then delay.

I get most of my modulation and reverb out of a yamaha fx500 and a Line6 POD PRO. The Fx500 is a great buy if your looking for spacey effects and digital reverb. They used to retail for about $1100 in the late 80's but now you can find them on eBay for around $70. It's got every kind of reverb you can imagine, even a good reverse reverb. Also has great trem, delay, chorus, flange, and a really shitty sounding distortion (oh well what do you want for a digital box made in the 80's). Theres also this really weird symphonic modulation that eliminates all of the pick attack out of your playing and makes it sound like keyboards or strings underwater or something strange. I don't know how to explain it but if you ever listen to Slowdive (and you should) Christian Saville (sp?) abuses the symphonic modulation and dense reverb of the Fx500 on about every song they play.

The POD PRO is good for more modern (heh heh) sounding distortion, emulation and effects.

Sorry I don't know what type of weird guitar that that you gave Cecil, It never had a label on the headstock and my memory of it is fuzzy at best. Maybe a Hagstrom?

Set List

How many songs are we recording, how many will be old songs?

I want to record Paper Thin. That's the most important song on the list for me. Some other songs I would consider revisiting are "Paranoid", "Pulse", "Chrysalis", "Never Change" and "Bored and 20". And of course "It Feels Right" if Nate will allow it. Some of these would need some restructuring.

Also can I get the chords for the tracks you mailed and for Paper Thin. I don't need tabs, I can find my own voicings I just want to make sure I'm hearing everything right. Usually when I'm trying to pick songs off a CD I'll here a C or a Cmin but not more complicated stuff a maj7 or add9. Get what I'm saying?

jesse,

the u87 isn't important for guitar. between my good old shure sm57 and my fancy neumann tlm 103, we have guitar amps covered. the u87s would really only be a rent option for vocal tracks. not that they'd be bad on an amp...just unnecessary for all the trouble.

More on Mics

I don't know as much as I should about mics. Maybe this u87 is a good all purpose mic but I know for me I'd rather spend my money on buying a mic designed for recording guitar amps then renting a u87. In any case this is your area of expertise so it's going to boil down to you telling us the best options then us telling you what we can afford. Really I wouldn't ask you what type of guitar I should play so I'm not going to tell you what type of recording equipment to buy.

wow

i can't believe this! i found a place downtown that rents original u87s for $40 a weekend. that's pretty awesome. of course, we (or maybe just me) would spend $40 in gas and 2.5 hours in traffic driving roundtrip into the city to pick one up. could be well worth it though.

RENTING MICS

i checked into renting some stuff a couple of years ago when i was just getting started. there are a few places around here that do it. however, i didn't see any of them willing to rent out stuff as nice as a neumann u87. and it's hard to imagine who would rent one of those out since they're so damn pricey. but who knows, i'll check around again tonight after i get off work.

Sending Music

Nate & Jesse,

I emailed Bailey in Columbus and put in a request to record some scratch tracks for Once Upon A Time. I dont really have anything here to record it with. I am really hoping to get there on friday to record some scratch stuff for you guys to work with. Please note any changes or ideas that you feel would add to the song. Jesse could you post your address so I can mail you a copy?

Nate: Perhaps I could rent some of the equipment you speak of when I come to Chicago. Is that even a reality ? Forgive me as I know very little about recording equipment.

Micah

also, i really just sent along the other song (around you) so you guys could hear the drummer and get an idea of the level of production quality i'm able to turn out at this point. any critiques on the mix would be greatly appreciated. i get so caught up in it, eventually i lose all real perspective and need to hear from someone on the outside to know if it's only me who thinks something sounds good.

i can see that my take on wasteland did go in a bit of a different direction than your original idea, micah. actually, that happens to me when i'm writing my own songs sometimes. i start off wanting to create a song about a very specific thing or idea and then the songwriting process just kind of carries me away to a slightly different place. now i never would have thought to go in the direction i did with wasteland on my own, but your bit of inspiration kind of kick started me down that path for better of for worse. maybe there's still a way to tie in your more specific idea with the other verses or a bridge or something.

as far as making the vocal melody more exciting on the chorus i wrote, that might not be possible in the context of what's there now. but we could just as easily scratch that chorus and do something entirely different.

i am flattered that you like "feels right" so much, jesse. i like it, too and i'm pretty proud of it. i'm not totally against us doing a recording of it, but there are some reasons why i would be hesitant to attack such a thing:

1. the original recording somehow managed to capture a kind of magical quality (at least to my ears) that could probably never be recaptured
2. the original recording was mixed by me and two other guys whos engineering ear and abilities still outreach my own. and i was an asshole in pushing them both very hard to make everything as dynamic and cool as possible. i'd be afraid of failing miserably in trying to top or even equal what they did.
3. a lot of the hi-fi sound of that original recording comes from the fact that we had access to neumann u87s. those are $3,000 mics. that's why the vocals and cymbals on the drums sound so pristine.

now on the other hand, i always wished i could have recorded feels right with a REAL PIANO and i felt like that simple little gtr part on each chorus is under-emphasized. that and some of the equipment i have now would be an upgrade from the original session. so it's not like there aren't some things that could be improved upon if we redid it.

Thanks for the CD

I appreciate you mailing the CD. In the future you could save yourself some money and just upload some high quality MP3s to a file sharing sight like rapidshare. Then I could download it and burn my own CD. Probably Micah could to, but I don't want to speak for him.

As far as the arrangement goes, I liked what I heard, I actually like the lyrics revision (sorry Micah) I think it gets the same point across w/out being as direct. I was actually well aware of the situation in Uganda, and I believe anyone crazy enough to be listening to our music would still make the connection. Lets face it this shits not going straight to the radio top 20 so there isn't any reason we have to spell things out for the listener.

I really loved your lyrics for "The Lion in my Chest", If Nate tries to screw those up I'll have your back, but this time I'm with Nate.

Also I think the vocal melody of the chorus on Diamonds needs a little help, I'm not a singer so I can't tell you specifically what needs to be done, it just drags a bit to my ear.

One more thing; is there any chance we could steal "It Feels Right" for this project. I absolutely love that song, more so then anything else the three of us have managed to write. We could give credit to Patton in the liner notes or whatever, I don't care, I would be so happy to rerecord that song.

-JPH

Strings on wasteland

Real strings would be great ! I like the arrangment you created for them on the chorus scratch.

I recieved the CD. Thanks.

Hi nate and jesse,

You guys know all of our names could be no more german than they are. Hibbs, Swygert, Klotz...They almost border on Klingon sounding. Anyways.....

Nate,

Around You: We dont stop enough to realize what we have. You are absolutely right ! A wonderful song. She definately would remember him or at least I want to believe that. I like the concept of addressing the moment with the conversation about time travel. It created a nice visual to explain the abstract. You do that really well.... I like the chorus musically. Especially the guitar !

Ideas: If it were accpetable to the nate... I would like to attempt to add a bass line. Something simple and subtle but resonant and full.. appropiately of course. I just think a nice bass melody could a touch to the song that is if I could write one worthy. I would also like to try and add some background vocals. In a sparse fashion but in a few places. Or at least try it out and see if it adds.

Wasteland: I really like the rhythm and nucleus. I like the words as well. It is sort of Nick Drake and Moody Bluesish. You can see the story. I think the verse and chorus work well with the idea I had musically. I wanted to explain the line

Who will get your diamonds now
That I am dieing of aids

* I wrote this line about the war boys of Uganda. The ones that are forced to work in the Diamond caves and feilds . Those diamonds are sold to dealers to fund genocides and we buy them here in the united states during christmas time. This whole phenomena made me horribly sad. These boys have no voice. I just saw this imagery of this wasteland with on part of the world in tolkiean ruin and the other in streets of white gold with lavish jewelry. Who will get our diamonds for us if the boys that mine them are dieing of the aids virus ... It is definately meant to be sarcastic towards our own sense of consumerism. It is an oxymoron that I cant believe truly exists. It breaks my heart. I definately agree with you that the line about diamonds works best in a chorus but I would like to try to work in the whole line. I love your melody on verse and chorus and think it works well. I would like to see what it sounds like with harmony . I am so sorry that all I really have is one line and no ideas for music. I just wanted to share the original vision of the half-baked half assed attempt at writing a song that I made. I really like what you did with it but I would like to incorporate some of the ideas I just discussed. I think you have just built upon it very nicely. I am sorry I suck so bad guys.....

Micah

hey guys. i threw together some scratch tracks for the "wasteland" song and mailed them off to you both today. forgive any sloppiness, but i was in a hurry. aside from my keyboard's shitty piano sound, i also used it to put some strings on the chorus just to help build the sound since there's no drums. although we could actually do REAL strings and do them well if you guys want. just throwing that out as an option.

jesse - i am up for trying synth sounds, although it's something i haven't really done before so it's kind of uncharted water for me. as long as we don't use keyboards to impulate some real tangible instrument we could go to the trouble of recording (like strings). but experimenting with weird sounds could be interesting and add to the mood.

micah - i seriously really really like the stanza of your lyrics where you say "the lion in my chest" or whatever it was. VERY inspired. i want to hear it set to music. do you still think you can come over here to record in april?

Once Upon A Time

Here are some more lyric ideas for a new song. Please add or take asway as you both see fit. This is just what I have for right now. I have worked out a chorus and a verse arrangement on guitar. I know it would be a million times better with nate and jesse involved. Well here are the lyrics:

Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time
a husband left his marriage bed
a widow fell asleep
and then they found her dead
and....

there was a time
when we didnt know anything
and there was a time
when we wore magic rings
and.......

I should have fought for you
when I had the chance
before life put to sleep
THE LION IN MY CHEST

and she heard the stories
about how david killed the giant
she heard about the storm
and how jesus made it quiet

There was a time
when we didnt know anything
And i dont want to know them now
i dont want to know them now
there was a time when we didnt know anything
and I dont want to know them now

There praying
there trying
to see the lion
to see the lion

Keys

Any chance I could talk one of you guys into adding some keyboards to the project? I'd love to hear what kind of textures we could add to the music with some spacey pad chords or arpeggios. I've gotten some really interesting sounds by running a keyboard through my pedal chain and
preamps, especially with fuzz box, reverse reverb, tremolo and long delay.

Also I'd like to work together with Micah on guitar tone. I was listening back to some earlier recordings and it sounds like are guitars aren't playing nicely. We might both need to make compromises in order to create a sound that really gels this time.

Jesse

Introduction to statistics was definately interesting. I liked it quite a bit. Say hi to your family for me.

Micah

I accept the mssion

Natewhore,

I had some ideas but nothing in stone. I definately would like to listen to your verse. I think we can both agree that the only solid lines I sent you were the opening lines but I believe that they would work in a chorus well. I am definately interested in hearing your verse idea. I thnik jesse should take a look too because he always is good at seeing a concept and improving on it. As soon as I get your scratch traks I will work with it. I would like to hear " around you".

whatever

I just wanted to check in.
I have to do stupid boring grown up stuff all day so I'll check back tomorrow. Thanks for creating the blog, this will help a lot.

-Jesse

What's New

here's what is happening music wise in nate-land...

i finished mixing the first song i recorded with that drummer i told you two about back in early january. i'm pretty pleased. while there's still room for improvement, i feel like i'm getting better and better at this recording thing all the time. of course, that fancy compressor i bought REALLY helps. with it, i've been able to get some high end analog compression on every single track except the close mics on the drumset. and wow what a difference. the digital plug-in compressors are good, but they just don't pack the punch this thing does, nor do they impart their own little bit of magic. plus, when i get around to compressing the master bus, half the peak-and-valley grunt work is already done for me and i can push the overall volume harder. micah, i alrady sent a cd to your sister who was asking me for a copy of anything recent i had done. the mix i speak of is on there if you want to take a listen. it's called "around you". i thought the cd would be going to you, too, but it looks like she must have moved out or something cause the address i sent it to seemed different. do you want a copy hibbs?

as far as grynch music goes...

i played with those lyrics micah sent me for quite a bit this past week. micah, i don't know if you had a tune in your head when you wrote them down, but it was difficult for me to put music specifically to those words and phrasings. BUT, i really liked the idea and the theme...and in particular, the first line stuck out to me. i rephrased that line a little and made it a chorus and then wrote a 1st verse around your main idea. i think you might dig it. we'll see. i plan on recording a scratch track of just the verse and chorus i wrote and sending it to both of you. your mission, should you choose to accept it:

klotz: maybe you can take my starting point and write another verse or completely different part of your own. i know a verse AND a chorus is already a big improvement for us, but just think how awesome a BRIDGE would be!

hibbs: start writing one of your sweet ass guitar parts

me: set up some mics and start recording what i've got down so far and send it to you guys

Dear Micah and Jesse,

You are the queerest bunch of muther fuckers around, but i still love you both in a non-Cecil kind of way and can't wait to make music with you better than we ever did before. So welcome to our blog where we can bounce ideas off each other easily without things like phone tag or having to forward emails or annoying shit like that.

my first idea for our music is that we should try not to suck as much as we did before. any thoughts?