Motion
A busy week came to a decent end. GS has two more new songs in progress, courtesy of Poison and Uber. There's an outside chance one of them could be ready for PEI next weekend. Since we're playing two shows at the nocases I expect we'll work out some old material this week as well. Those shows will mark the release of the split 3.5 inch floppy single with BB. The GS song on it is very short, and we've never played it live. Or even jammed it! It was written and recorded one part at a time. Playing it live could present some challenges, as we used three guitar tracks, two spacebeam tracks, two tracks of machine drums and a track of programmed synth to go along with the vocals. Why record such a thing? Well, there was no one there to stop us. It'll make a nice challenge we do try and play the song live. It'll be a significantly different interpretation. We'll also have the Born Female floppy single in PEI, as well as our tape and some copies of our mini-cd demo. We were talking about making a shirt tp bring up, but we're not sure yet what'll be on the front. I suggested a contrasty verison of the tape cover, but Poison has some doubts about this idea. I think it'll look great but I kind of don't blame her, in a way.
The last show at the Khyber was a success. I thought all the bands played really well, and there was a good turnout. (50?) It was as good a set as we've played I guess. Honestly, I'm not paying attention to much when I'm playing. Our friends seemed into it. This venue will be missed.
BB's week ended with an all ages show in Truro. Every conceivable force of nature and destiny fought against us doing this, but we would not be denied. I couldn't hear anything besides myself (I was right in front of my amp the whole time) and the ride cymbal, but we practice quite a bit so it's not hard to stay on course. I did some ambient noise with the spacebeam and some guitar feedback while Eb was re-stringing, which was fun. The lack of hearing anything at live BB shows doesn't bother me much, since it's virually always that way. I go with what people in the audience tell me afterward. I never think we sound as good as we can, yet people are often impressed with our set. That band needs full-on rockstar gear. Huge stacks, monitors, sound engineers running about... I think that's about what it would take for me to be satisfied with our live sound. Until that day comes, some kind words from the listener will suffice.
We're supposed to record soon. Through our many band discussions on this topic I've discovered that I'm the least picky about recordings. If a studio is successful enough to keep its head above water as a business for a long period of time, then whatever sound they can give us will probably be good enough for me. I enjoy recording bands on my own just becuase it's fun, but I'll never be capable of pro-quality results. As long as someone else is doing it, and they're not some hack, I'm indifferent, at best, about recording. Unless it's me or one of my friends running the show, recording is a pain in the ass.
I get psycho when I record. Actually, I get psycho when I do a lot of things, but recording is near the top of the list. I love the end result, but I hate the process of getting there, and I have no desire whatsoever to savour it. I get very focused on getting the job finished, and anything... ANYTHING that attempts to stop me from doing so is going to set me off. I'll do a million takes in a row, go without sleep, food, whatever. I've never reached the point of needing a rest. Well, not in my opinion! Recording is strange. It puts me into crazy-efficiency mode. No wasting time allowed. I say "tell me when you're ready" a lot. Attention to detail sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. I would not make a good producer. I want perfection, real, real fast.
The best way to deal with me being a psycho is to just be pleasant, calm and respectful, but make sure I clearly know what has to be done. Do this repetitively, and don't change the tone of your voice or your body language.
"Alright, you've nailed the first part. Stay comfortable."
It's important not to say too much though. Just be ready to start again seconds after I fuck up, and allow me to repeat this process for a long time. If it gets out of hand, set a limit. Like half an hour or something. Because chances are my ability to persist at perfecting a part will far surpass the recording budget of any band I will ever be in. I don't think it's boastful of me to say that. I wouldn't have to persist so much if I were a better musician. Whatever. TCB.
At the same time, my mind has played tricks on me in the past when it comes to recording. Things start to sound "good enough" that aren't. Under enough duress, I start to change the definition of perfection to include imperfect things. This can be a touchy issue. There's a good chance I'll freak out if someone tells me something I think is fine, isn't. Say something like "let's keep this track; you're done for now - but let's do another one later, just in case". When, really, you just want to throw that first track in the garbage.
How an obsessive-compulsive person can survive in such a sloppy lifestyle is a mystery to me.
My sense of quality control has kicked in too late again. Time to stop.
The last show at the Khyber was a success. I thought all the bands played really well, and there was a good turnout. (50?) It was as good a set as we've played I guess. Honestly, I'm not paying attention to much when I'm playing. Our friends seemed into it. This venue will be missed.
BB's week ended with an all ages show in Truro. Every conceivable force of nature and destiny fought against us doing this, but we would not be denied. I couldn't hear anything besides myself (I was right in front of my amp the whole time) and the ride cymbal, but we practice quite a bit so it's not hard to stay on course. I did some ambient noise with the spacebeam and some guitar feedback while Eb was re-stringing, which was fun. The lack of hearing anything at live BB shows doesn't bother me much, since it's virually always that way. I go with what people in the audience tell me afterward. I never think we sound as good as we can, yet people are often impressed with our set. That band needs full-on rockstar gear. Huge stacks, monitors, sound engineers running about... I think that's about what it would take for me to be satisfied with our live sound. Until that day comes, some kind words from the listener will suffice.
We're supposed to record soon. Through our many band discussions on this topic I've discovered that I'm the least picky about recordings. If a studio is successful enough to keep its head above water as a business for a long period of time, then whatever sound they can give us will probably be good enough for me. I enjoy recording bands on my own just becuase it's fun, but I'll never be capable of pro-quality results. As long as someone else is doing it, and they're not some hack, I'm indifferent, at best, about recording. Unless it's me or one of my friends running the show, recording is a pain in the ass.
I get psycho when I record. Actually, I get psycho when I do a lot of things, but recording is near the top of the list. I love the end result, but I hate the process of getting there, and I have no desire whatsoever to savour it. I get very focused on getting the job finished, and anything... ANYTHING that attempts to stop me from doing so is going to set me off. I'll do a million takes in a row, go without sleep, food, whatever. I've never reached the point of needing a rest. Well, not in my opinion! Recording is strange. It puts me into crazy-efficiency mode. No wasting time allowed. I say "tell me when you're ready" a lot. Attention to detail sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. I would not make a good producer. I want perfection, real, real fast.
The best way to deal with me being a psycho is to just be pleasant, calm and respectful, but make sure I clearly know what has to be done. Do this repetitively, and don't change the tone of your voice or your body language.
"Alright, you've nailed the first part. Stay comfortable."
It's important not to say too much though. Just be ready to start again seconds after I fuck up, and allow me to repeat this process for a long time. If it gets out of hand, set a limit. Like half an hour or something. Because chances are my ability to persist at perfecting a part will far surpass the recording budget of any band I will ever be in. I don't think it's boastful of me to say that. I wouldn't have to persist so much if I were a better musician. Whatever. TCB.
At the same time, my mind has played tricks on me in the past when it comes to recording. Things start to sound "good enough" that aren't. Under enough duress, I start to change the definition of perfection to include imperfect things. This can be a touchy issue. There's a good chance I'll freak out if someone tells me something I think is fine, isn't. Say something like "let's keep this track; you're done for now - but let's do another one later, just in case". When, really, you just want to throw that first track in the garbage.
How an obsessive-compulsive person can survive in such a sloppy lifestyle is a mystery to me.
My sense of quality control has kicked in too late again. Time to stop.
posted by the baron ash von foolishness at 3:48 PM
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