Squeeze My Lemon

[Tripp]

Tripp, are you guys doing everything to protools? i am hesitant to jump on that bandwagon yet. i bought another tascam 1/2 inch recently but it's such a task to maintain it and do all the recording. i don't want to work so hard anymore. i'd like someone to pay for me to go into the nice big studio and record at my leisure, is what i'd like. whycome nobody does this for me?

 we record everything on the old tascam 4 track (that Eureka IV was recorded on). it's not all tricked out or anything, just a 4 track.
 what we (I) usually do is if we happen to record something catchy thats a decent recording (sounds good) I'll dump that tape into ProTools (free) and then we'll add vocals later.

You can download ProTools free. it's not that hefty. what's hefty is storing all the recorded music on your computer so you might consider getting an external drive ( I think you can get one fairly cheap these days ).

ProTools free is limiting but i think thats a good thing cause it forces you to be more creative AND it keeps you from overtracking everything.
On regular proTools you can get up to 36 tracks i think. Free only lets you use 8 and you can't do any automated mixing.


A song like I CAN RELATE was just me taking a couple of moments from a jam and looping them and then Bobby comes over to my house and improvises vocals. ( he usually has about 5 tracks to work with )

IMPRESS ME was actually a soundcheck song. It was the first thing we recorded one night and if you listen you can hear that Stan changes just a second or two after me cause he's watching my hands. Bobby for some reason was watching Stan. But everytime Stan changed he was trying to single out parts of his sound. like, "now I'm gonna beat this hi-hat, now I'm gonna pound the toms"  At the end of the night we were listening back to  the tape and we're like "dang! this sounds like we wrote it!" so I dumped it into the computer and Bobby came over and improvised vocals again.  AND THEN we had to learn how to play it.

PROBLEMO was the same thing. I played 2 chords over and over for 7 minutes (actually I was playing the bridge from Zep's Carouselambra).
but we're listening back to it and it didn't sound half-bad. And that was a case where I dumped it into the computer then I went through and deleted all the parts with sour chords or missed drum-fills and THEN nudged everything back together. And it's the best feeling when it lines up seamlessly. When you can't hear the edit.  I took the edited mix to practice and played it for Stan and Bobby and they were like "who's this?" I'm like "It's us from the last practice!"


AND THEN there's IF YOU SAY SO which we were TRYING to record a good version of. What we did was record the song 3 times back to back then I dumped all that into the computer and spliced bits from the three version together. There's a punch-in in the middle where the whole band drops off and then another at the very end when the Holmes-like ending kicks in.  And then Bobby comes over and adds vocals.


So I say YES.  get you some proTools and start getting freaky. it's been like the best songwriting tool I've had in years.

[bebopbalogna]

I'm waiting for the Dragoon cd.  I'm sorry, but I'm a bit of a fetishist regarding music: if it ain't on vinyl or cd, it doesn't exist. 

i, too, am a fetishist. i always purchase the artifact itself, preferably the vinyl.  but for the sake of leisurely listening in the age of ipods.  i take what i can for convenience sake.  thank you soulseek!!!

[bebopbalogna]

we record everything on the old tascam 4 track (that Eureka IV was recorded on).

is that "IV" as in "intravenous" or "IV" as in "4"?

i've always presumed the former, but looking at it now, i read it as "4".

[trompe]

I always call Eureka "the scary one"

Thanks for the detailed post, Trippers. I'ma tell my boss (mari) all about it.

Now, once again, I shall raize up out here and drag it on home. Check you laters for some p.m. crappiting.

[Poop Fresh-Herbed Pickles]

Right now I bet Bamah and B___ are laughing like children, living like lovers, rolling like thunder...under the covers.

[bebopbalogna]

Right now I bet Bamah and B___ are laughing like children, living like lovers, rolling like thunder...under the covers.

won't b___ be surprised when he discovers bamah's new gear.

[Tripp]

"honey, we need to have a gear talk..."

[bebopbalogna]

b___: "what am i supposed to tell my friends?"

bamah: "well my friends are totally cool with it."

[bebopbalogna]

by the way.  home now. ants teaching elephants securely in the pods.  thanks again.

[Tripp]

I wanted to add to the proTools talk...

when I dump stuff onto the computer I can't just create 4 trax in protools then transfer stuff each in it's own track. (you need the real protools with an Mbox or something similar. about $450)
If I di it would just record the same thing on all 4 tracks.
So one time I did it track for track.  transferred just the drums.. went back, transferred just the bass... went back and transferred just the guitar..
so everybody had their own track with as much separation as possible.  What happened was nothing quite synced up because once it's
on the computer it's digital and plays precisely the same speed every time.   When I added the bass and the guitar the entire track was almost ten seconds longer. So the bass would sllooowwlly fall out of sync with the drums.  There ARE ways to get around that.   You can compress the track without changing the key BUT not with ProtoolsFREE. that feature is denied me.
So usually I dump the rhythm section onto 2 tracks then give the guitar it's own track. then I only have to tweak one thing.
AND THEN I have 5 tracks left over for vocals or whatever.

ANTS TEACHING ELEPHANTS  is the one time we recorded the guitar directly to protools (using the 4 track as the send)

[bebopbalogna]

alright. we got cumpnee coming over.  i need to wash some dishes before k__ gets home.   score some points.

[trompe]

ok, now i'm ascared of protools.
I am at a loss over this:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/01/09/hand.cut.off.ap/index.html

[Bizarro]

I'm waiting for the Dragoon cd.  I'm sorry, but I'm a bit of a fetishist regarding music: if it ain't on vinyl or cd, it doesn't exist. 

Honestly, to me: physical media is dead. Even when my closest friends make records I love, I take the disc, admire its artwork for about ten seconds, flip idly through the booklet, then rip it straight to MP3, put the disc on a shelf and never ever look at it again.

What matters to me is the music. The cardboard and plastic are just stuff that take up space.

I realize how much this may horrify the folks who lovingly buff their vinyl and pore over every inch of a CD booklet or record sleeve, but I just don't worry much about that stuff.

My music fetishism probably comes in the overly meticulous way I rip, tag, sort, and store everything.

[Just Some Girl]

whoa.  maybe i SHOULD watch it all.


also, nice package bamah!

 

Speaking of packages (ahem), Trey, got yer discs in the mail today. Thanks a gazillion, can't wait to listen! Yay!

Also: yes, work majorly got in the way of the crappity today. But Thursdays = day off, so I'll no doubt be posting plenty o' nonsense tomorrow. Yay!

[Doctor Rock]

Right now I bet Bamah and B___ are laughing like children, living like lovers, rolling like thunder...under the covers.

won't b___ be surprised when he discovers bamah's new gear.

Where's the question mark?  WHERE'S THE QUESTION MARK?