Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Recording cello for the new album

what's playing - Tito Puente, "Mambo Tipico"

Well, it seems odd considering all that is going on these days, but we started moving forward on the new DBi3 album. Erika pointed out that once she and I get to Boulder, it'll be a bit of a trek for the current band to get into my studio, so for the past two days, I've been tracking Talia on "In the Meantime" and "By the By." As you can see, the "studio" is a bit makeshift, but the sound is surprisingly good for the surroundings.

Guitar, vocals and percussion for "In the Meantime" were already tracked for the most part; I just had to add the new "she loves to be his wife..." all-stop and slow section. The recording of "By the By" I had previously recorded was too slow (at 151 bpm), "undanceable," as Talia pointed out, so I re-tracked the vocals, guitar, tambourine, shaker and drums at a much more upbeat 161 bpm. Now y'all can shake your groove thangs when you hear it.

For Talia's cello, I'm using an AKG 414 aimed directly at the body just above the bridge and run directly into the MOTU 828; I'm also using an AKG C411PP run hotter than the 414 and then run through my Aphex 207 with the "MicLim" function engaged. That C411PP is a great pickup... but make sure you get the "PP" (normal sized XLR) not the "L" (mini XLR) if you're in the market for a condenser for your stringed instrument; I've heard horror stories about the tone of the "L."

Who knows how this "lighting a fire under my ass" will affect the release date of the next album? I've got about 9 songs intended for this project written and with rough tracking, but considering the fact that I'm about to pack up the studio and move it 1,200 miles West, I have a hard time believing that I'll be able to finishing anything up soon. Maybe I can get a couple songs cranked out to final format before the big tear-down though.
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