In Which I'd Like to Bury My Head Along With Those Treasures...
Well, yesterday The Joans laid down rhythm tracks in the studio for their first CD (well, besides the rehearsal MP3s I burned onto CDs to play in the car). We spent nine hours and we got rhythm tracks laid for 10 songs. Yep, we worked fast...
All I can say after hearing the rough cuts is, Holy Christ, I'd forgotten how many damned mistakes I make when I just don't have time to make mistakes. And of course, putting ourselves under time pressure GUARANTEES that we'll fuck up plenty. Every error is exposed like a huge boil on the ass. Since we don't have a huge budget for this motherfucker, there are some things we're just going to have to live with, although we'll be going back into the studio in a few weeks for overdubs and vocals, and I might be able to fix some stuff then. The nice thing is, since we did three takes of each song, there was something I liked about each one, so at least in aggregate that's one whole song I liked! And there were a few that I liked my playing in each take (the less-fast ones mostly, because I didn't feel like I was rushing).
I did my damnedest to stay consistent in tempo (which was harder for the really fast songs, because I ALWAYS end up speeding up), but since I refused to play with a metronome in my ear (it always sounds like a heart monitor to me, and I've heard enough of those in my lifetime), I can only rely on my body clock.
The one that just turned 40.
Yeah--you can guess how successful THAT was.
The thing is, just for shits and giggles once, I played a metronome along with my favorite band's record. And you know what? THEY don't match the metronome either! Metronomes are fascist instruments. But I may have to bite the bullet and plug a really loud one into my ear when I go back into the studio, and forget how much it sounds like my grandmother's bedside...once I train myself, hopefully I'll develop a more relaxed and steady sense of rhythm. Right now, I have "multi-taskers'" rhythm, that sporadic sense of timing that develops when you are used to doing 20 jobs at once (and I have been for 12 years)...
*sigh* All will yet be well...I'm determined that this is so.
All I can say after hearing the rough cuts is, Holy Christ, I'd forgotten how many damned mistakes I make when I just don't have time to make mistakes. And of course, putting ourselves under time pressure GUARANTEES that we'll fuck up plenty. Every error is exposed like a huge boil on the ass. Since we don't have a huge budget for this motherfucker, there are some things we're just going to have to live with, although we'll be going back into the studio in a few weeks for overdubs and vocals, and I might be able to fix some stuff then. The nice thing is, since we did three takes of each song, there was something I liked about each one, so at least in aggregate that's one whole song I liked! And there were a few that I liked my playing in each take (the less-fast ones mostly, because I didn't feel like I was rushing).
I did my damnedest to stay consistent in tempo (which was harder for the really fast songs, because I ALWAYS end up speeding up), but since I refused to play with a metronome in my ear (it always sounds like a heart monitor to me, and I've heard enough of those in my lifetime), I can only rely on my body clock.
The one that just turned 40.
Yeah--you can guess how successful THAT was.
The thing is, just for shits and giggles once, I played a metronome along with my favorite band's record. And you know what? THEY don't match the metronome either! Metronomes are fascist instruments. But I may have to bite the bullet and plug a really loud one into my ear when I go back into the studio, and forget how much it sounds like my grandmother's bedside...once I train myself, hopefully I'll develop a more relaxed and steady sense of rhythm. Right now, I have "multi-taskers'" rhythm, that sporadic sense of timing that develops when you are used to doing 20 jobs at once (and I have been for 12 years)...
*sigh* All will yet be well...I'm determined that this is so.
posted by Aaron at 3:29 PM
4 Comments:
I'll bet you're a great Drummer. Most of us would never know if you were slightly off tempo. Don't be hard on yourself, although, ;) a hard man is good to find. :) Ed
I'm adequate, but I think there are too many things going on in my mind before I play sometimes...I'll have to find a "quiet place" where I can just concentrate on slowing down and counting!
Thanks for the kind words...
I can't wait for The Joans CD!
-and Happy Birthday!
-Kory K
Thanks Kory!! I'm sure there will be an announcement on MySpace when it's nearing completion (or perhaps another blog from Davy with my snarky comments on it :-))
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