The Ladies Have It Going On!

I just learned a little about myself the other day. I was just reviewing a lot of the music I was listening over the past year. It seems I tend to listen to, and purchase music by female songwriters at a ratio of about 10:1. Hmm... I'm sonically gender biased. I also thoroughly believe the girls are kicking ass musically. There's something in the estrogen, I can sense it. They are more impactful emotionally. I connect better with them. I'd dare say I even almost got weepy-eyed at times when seeing Rachael Yamagata perform recently. Not to sound too sappy, I wanted to, but I didn't. I haven't been drinking enough water lately, and I couldn't spare the moisture at the time. Fantastic show, however, and I feel it necessary to share with you some of the other talent female artists I've been listening to, if you're curious...

Rachael Yamagata
Jonatha Brooke (Neil Finn's female counterpart. Fantastic songwriter!)
Dayna Kurtz (like Tom Waits, and a unique voice as well.)
Thea Gilmore
Prascilla Ahn (produced by one of my favorite drummer producers- Joey Waronker)
Shivaree (Who's Got Trouble was a kick arse CD! What happened the 3rd time round?)
Hem (Stop putting out CDs, I'm burning a hole in my pocket!)
Over the Rhine (I lived in Ohio. It Sucked. But you're fantastic)
Keri Noble (When overly dramatic Jewel just isn't enough)
Kay Hanley (This girl rocks with attitude!)
Frou Frou (Completely inventive new sound)
Clare & The Reasons (Pluto is a fantastic song about how it's no longer recognized as a planet)
Beth Amsel (Sings about Michigan, right on! Not that I want to be reminded)
Juliet Turner
Jesse Sykes (love the slow, country atmosphere and dark, haunting mood of the whole CD)
Patricia Barber (excellent musicianship by her and the band)

(Not to say that the guys can't compete as well. Keane's latest release is fantastic as well; the CD is a departure for them, but trend setting. They're bringing back the eighties synth sound in a new and modern way. The lyrics and the delivery just don't hit me as their previous releases, however, this release is a party disc.)

Drum Mics

Chapter 2:
The Drum Mics. Passion at a price. Literally, there's a hefty price tag.
The necessity for my latest purchase stems from the fact that I have three recording sessions coming up, all at home studios of which there is a severe shortage of proper drum recording gear. As a drummer I have always prided myself on having great sounding, quality gear. It's the only corner I refuse to cut in my life. Seriously, I can survive on Ramen noodles and no-name brand toliet paper, but chafe as I might, I cannot settle for anything less than getting that pro gear to replicate my sound, at the highest levels, to a finished working product. It drives me nuts when gear doesn't work or sound properly as I wish it. Granted there are always financial restraints if there wasn't, I'd be sporting a pair of AKG 414 TL2s (www.akg.com) as my overheads and a quad of Sennheiser MD 421 II (www.sennheiserusa.com) for my toms. Unfortunately, there is always financial restraints, so we do the best that we can.

A brief description of my gear. If I get asked to see a picture of my girlfriend I'll crack a smile, open my wallet and excitedly show whoever is asking a beautiful picture of my drum kit. A Premier Genista circa 1994, in Terriverde green finish (www.premier-percussion.com). Not only does it's undersized shells sound spectacular, but the aesthetic of the drums still takes my breath away. Premier really outdid themselves in the developing of the teardrop lugs on the drums and the woodgrain finish is amazing, even still, as the drums are now starting to mellow as the shells are reaching a maturity at 14 years of age. The Premier Genista was discontinued many years ago, and, until recently when I had a chance to play Tama's new birch/bubinga hybrid kit, I still find its sound to be of the highest caliber damn near unrivaled when I have the beast tuned optimum. I have recorded with this kit on just about every session I've had, same goes for my cymbals, a plethora of Sabian AA, AAX, HH, HHX series (www.sabian.com). My only deviation came about a year ago. Playing with the jazz octet I needed a more traditional sounding ride cymbal, something with mature overtones, and although I was looking into Sabian's Artisan series or Zildjian's Constantinople line, I played a Bosphorus Wide Ride one day and it blew me away, at about half the cost of the latter mentioned. The Wide Ride is widely associated with Stanton Moore's endorsement of the Bosphorus cymbal company (www.bosphoruscymbals.com). Soon after my purchase, I was able to see Stanton play his signature line in concert. An amazing drummer, I couldn't believe the unique cymbal tonality he was getting in his monster grooves. It's great to be on the other side, to hear those cymbals from a different angle and in different hands. It's eye-opening.

Now to the mics. After many a heavy conversation with other drummers, sound engineers and music salespersons, I decided on the Audix DP7 drum mic kit (www.audixusa.com). I like the fact that Audix was located just outside of P-town in Wilsonville, not far from Guy's (bass) house. Audix has really established a brand awareness in the drumming world by winning the M.I.P.A. awards for the best Drum mics in 2007 with the DP 7 kit. I was already familiar with the quality of sound being recorded by the D2s which come in the kit as the Tom mics, but I couldn't wait to hear the highly acclaimed D6 on the kick, and test out the i-5 vs. the SM57 that has set the standard for the past 40 years as the go to snare mic.

The verdict. Sammy and myself set up the drums in the center of the room and mic'd up the drums in various fashions. Right out of the box all the mics sounded clean and solid. Our first test was the big showdown between the SM57 and the i-5. We placed the mics at precisely the angle and height and compared the two with no effects, no EQ. What I thought was going to be a long, drawn-out 15 round battle, ended up in the i-5 knocking out the SM57 in the first round. With the first few snare hits, Sammy's amazement (and my own) were mind boggling. There was no comparison, the champ is dead. The SM 57 sounded thin in comparison, with strong amounts of treble that Sammy always had a task of EQing to get the proper tone. With the i-5, there was a full-bodied, full-spectrum of sound that almost sounded like it had a touch of natural compression right flat out of the box. Sammy said there was lower gain and a lot of head room to work with the mic. The bleed into the i-5 mic from both cymbals and toms was minimal. Absolutely, the highlight of the Drum mic package and Sammy already can't wait to test record the i-5 on guitar. The second highlight were the overheads, the ADX-51s. We used the Fusion series f-15's on the first recording and I wished the tone of the cymbals came through a little better. I have a feeling we're going to get better presence from the ADX-51s. Even when we minimally mic'd the kit with just overheads and kick, those overhead condensers did a great job capturing the overall sound of the kit. Had I more to invest, the next step up and Audix's flagship overhead mic would be the SCX1 line. I'm really curious to hear the difference between the two lines. The D6 on the kick did exactly what we expected. It captured a big sound. Our initial placement was right up through the sound port to the front of the bass head. We didn't care for the sound we were getting, so we pulled the mic back, just inside the port of the front of the bass. The sound improved dramatically. After pulling the D6 completely out of the kick drum and placing it about two inches from the front head we noticed we lost a lot of the punch and depth. We'll probably just keep the mic inside the port which should give us a nice round, fat, punchy kick-drum sound.

The Wrap up.
Well, that's pretty much it. For you musicians and mic geeks, I hope the above sheds some light for those of you who were always interested in opinions concerning the Audix line. For those others, there should be a disclaimer somewhere in this blog that states: "cannot be held responsible for anybody shooting their brains out from boredom and engineering tech talk." In the next chapters I will bring to light some of the processes which Sam and I will encounter while recording the first songs on our sophmore album. I'll talk a little about the songs, how we recorded certain parts and how songs mature in the studio through focus and critique.

Quoting Napoleon. Album no. 2

Chapter 1:

The Next Record.
(Or, time to take the training wheels off.)

It always seems that sophomore records are often placed under a more critical microscope in the eyes of the general public and scrutinizing reviewers alike. Your first record sets a bar and is given a little latitude, like a child starting to learn to walk. Like a stumbling baby, if one song blows chunks, the audience chuckles and says: "awww, isn't that adorable." Different when the second album arrives. Think of this album as the teenage years. You have to come down hard on them or they'll walk all over you. If a band wants the driving permit they're gonna have to work for it.

As sonic artists, the second record proves either: you actually have a knack for this songwriting pursuit and are talented enough to sit at the banquet of professional talent, or, the first album was a fluke and you're still wearing diapers and you're in need of changing. As an artist, in any field, that's added pressure, and trying to graduate with honors transforms what was once a hobby or passion, into what any professional musician will describe as, dare I say it...work.

Quoting Napoleon has, in proper democratic fashion, decided to take upon itself the responsibility of creating the next album, to push new boundaries and prove that, again, a band in this day and age of recording technology can, with elbow grease and strong resolve, play, mix, and produce it's own quality product at a fraction of the cost of days ago where there was only one option - recording in a professional studio. An album's worth of material could easily cost tens of thousands of dollars.

This second time around, we are more experienced at the process and we are taking steps to ensure an even better sounding product. Sam has transformed the basement, from taking out walls and installing Auralex, to upgrading computer technology and sound recording equipment. New guitars have been purchased and I have ventured into my first big expense of buying high end drum mics to record with. We are organizing marketing strategies, budgets and building a realistic schedule to keep us on track. The songs seem to be more cohesive; darker and brooding, weighty and decadent.

The purpose of these forthcoming blogs is to invite our friends, families, fellow musicians, and most importantly, the fans of our music, to take the journey with us. We hope to illustrate the process by which a band struggles to get a product they all feel passionate about to market. So many of us take for granted slipping out a CD from its package and throwing it into an audio playing device without realizing just how many countless hours went into the development of songs, the process of recording, pressing, and designing the packaging. I equate each CD to the process of pregnancy because it takes about as long to gestate, watching you're sonic womb grow, and at the same time, there's similar symptoms of nausea, irritability, growing pains and the trauma of the final birthing process. The only difference is after that little sucker comes out, it goes straight to work, making us money, not sucking it from us for 18+ years.