patience

i want to let you all know that i had a great opening line for this blog, but at the exact moment that it popped into my head, my 16 pound boston terrier just farted right next to me and the by the time i was done wafting the smell away, my genius opening was long gone.

ok, now that the potty humor is out of the way, it's on to more important things.

i'm very pumped because today the Now Hear This Vol. 6 compilation CD was released and on it is a track from my wife's worship record that i've been producing for the last few months. the song is called "Lean" and we wrote it with @sarahhart. sarah was just nominated for a grammy for writing the amy grant song "Better Than A Hallelujah" (watch your feet, i'm dropping names). anyway, we first started talking with the label about this project almost exactly a year ago. it's hard to work on something day after day and progress only inches every day in what seems like a 26.2 mile marathon. i've never been a patient person. i fidget a lot and find it hard to sit still. doctors said i had ADD as a kid and i even had to take ritalin. who knows whether i actually had it or not. i could have just as easily been an energetic kid who didn't want to pay attention in class. all that to say patience isn't my strong suit. i remember a few years ago asking god for patience, and even though i have far to go, he's been using my own ambitions for recording to teach me.

why do records take so long? well, first come the meetings with the label. multiple meetings to get approval for the record, choose producer and work out budget. then the hardest part starts. the writing. the first demo we worked on was in december of 2009. we wrote off and on until september of 2010. we went through about 50 rough ideas, used those ideas and wrote 15 songs in co-writing sessions. we also had over 100 songs pitched to us from different publishing companies. the recording has only taken a few months. then there's mixing, mastering and a few months of lead time to properly market and promote the CD. and finally we arrive at the release date of June 7, 2011. about a year and a half after we first conceived the idea.

when i was a kid my dad and i would build model rockets. the process was agonizing because even though we could assemble it in a few minutes, when we painted it, we'd have to wait a WHOLE DAY for it to dry. i wanted to launch the rocket NOW. my dad once bought me a model car to put together. i didn't even finish it. now, years later, i understand that it's more about enjoying the process and not only looking for the satisfaction of finishing. but i'm definitely satisfied with how this project is turning out.

nothing worth doing is ever easy.

tear gas and molotov cocktails

hey everybody. it's been a while since i've written. i've gotten your angry comments and messages, and judging by the ferocity i knew i should write something soon or suffer the ire of my legions of followers. and by legions of followers i mean mom and dad. so here's what's on my mind.

egypt. yup. get ready for a real snooze fest. i've got an opinionated and fire-breathing political rant all ready to go. if you just rolled your eyes because you were expecting another commentary on disney movies or pop culture, then tough luck. you'll have to wait at least a few days until i succumb to the will of the masses and post about the plot inconsistencies in Indiana Jones...but i digress...

lots of people in egypt are pissed off. they're rioting and protesting in favor of ousting their "president"...and by president i mean the guy who has held dictatorial powers for the last 30 years. sounds like democracy to me, right? but my point isn't about whether regime change is a good thing or a bad thing. the single thing that nobody seems to be talking about is the fact that these events are bringing to light an issue that hasn't really been on the table for discussion in years - America's interventionist foreign policy.

i'll break it down for you. current egyptian government is a strong ally of the US.....you could even call it a puppet government. they do what we say in exchange for billions in aid every year. the people however, are protesting and rallying for freedom and democracy and basic rights. when egypt does it, the world celebrates. when people in the US do it, they denounce the tea party. but that's a whole diferent issue. anyway, this is a good thing...except it's pretty obvious that the new government that will probably take over will be the Muslim Brotherhood, a jihadist and extremist fundamental muslim theocracy. wow that's a lot of big words. for good 'ol US of A we're between a rock and a hard place.

pictured below: The United States of America

political irony was never so cute. anyway, if we support democracy and regime change, we're losing a strong ally in a volatile region. not only that, but the likely candidate for a new regime will probably make egypt yet another thorn in our oil-loving side. but if we support the egyptian government then we're going against everything that is American.

this exposes the hypocrisy of the whole situation. WHY DO WE HAVE ANY SAY IN HOW ANOTHER SOVEREIGN NATION CHOOSES THEIR LEADERS?? a.k.a. why is it any of our business???

i know i know...because freedom isn't free and these colors don't run and the terrorists hate american apple pie and all that. give me a chance to explain. time for a history lesson.

in 8th grade history many of you might have studied president James Monroe. he was known for implementing what was known as the Monroe doctrine. this was a complete policy change for the US in how they dealt with foreign nations. i'll simplify it for you. it basically says we won't mess with other countries if they don't mess with us. at the time it was more of a statement against imperialism and further colonization of the western hemisphere, but over time it's main meaning was that we as a country minded our own business.

after WWII the public denounced the Monroe Doctrine. they called the US "isolationist" and conjured up images of people with their head stuck in the sand refusing to acknowledge Hitler's aggressive actions that led up to the war. a more fitting word would be non-interventionist. the passage of time is revealing that the bigger cause of WWII was our treatment of post WWI Germany and the ramifications of the Treaty of Versailles that created the conditions that made Germany susceptible to Hitler's rise.

i write all that to say that since then, we've felt the need to "protect our interests" overseas whether that means secretly supporting rebels in a foreign civil war, installing puppet governments or military "police actions". and since that time we are presented with case after case of how our meddling in other countries' affairs, however well-intentioned they were, bring about unexpected consequences that nobody could have seen.

have any of you seen Charlie Wilson's War? it's a true story about how in the early 80's the US secretly funded and armed the Taliban while they were fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan because the cold war was all the rage back then. that was before 9/11 when terrorism became the new fear instead of invasion from the godless communists. anyway, some of those same weapons that we GAVE the taliban are being used against us. if we would have known that the USSR would crumble a few years later would we have funneled billions into a guerrilla force that would eventually turn against us?

"i did not realize that would happen...oh well, not my problem. i'm dead."

what's that?? you want another example?? welllll, ok, here's another. IRAN. everybody hates iran. we're collectively crapping our pants at the thought of them getting a nuclear weapon because hey, they might commit some sort of nuclear suicide bombing. get real. only the pawns do the suicide bombings. the ones at the top love their power and wealth. Achmadinejad, at the top of his throne is the least likely to martyr himself and his whole country.

anyway, what few people remember is that in 1953 the CIA carried out a plan and ousted the democratically elected leader in favor of the Shah of Iran. we liked him because he supported israel and also because we had oil interests in the country. well, that lasted for a while, but in 1979 the people revolted against the puppet government and now we have the Iran we know today.

the point is, even though we may have good intentions, we can never predict how that will negatively affect us in the future. it's happening again in egypt right now. for 30 years we've had our puppet leader doing what we say. all that breeds is anti-american sentiment and the eventual takeover of the most fundamentalist muslim gov't. the most invigorating motivation for muslim radicalization is the US meddling in their affairs. terrorism is a horrible thing and i am in no way saying that we asked for 9/11, but at the same time they do have a bit of a reason to not like us. the CIA even coined the term "Blowback" to mean the unintended consequences of US interventionism.

i'm not sure how this is gonna turn out, but i'm hoping we can resist the urge to find a way to install another puppet leader. EVERYONE is soooo scared of the middle east, but everybody seems to forget that as soon as they either A. run out of oil or B. we stop using oil, they become completely irrelevant again. overnight they will go from being a culture of oil sheiks with lots of oil money that doesn't value human life or human rights to a culture of goat herders that has no money and doesn't value human life or human rights. just like how we didn't realize the USSR would collapse a few years later, can't we find a way to mind our own business and spend our time and money figuring out a way around oil or if that doesn't work, just wait until theirs runs out. terrorist actions cost money. lots of money. more than you think. the 9/11 hijackers didn't just have to buy plane tickets and box cutters. passports, months and years of living expenses in the US. training camps, etc. where does that money ultimately come from?? OIL.

and think about this - the whole rallying cry behind citizens wanting to cut spending in government is this: We have to live on a budget, why shouldn't they?? well, i should ask the same question concerning foreign policy. we're expected to mind our own business unless someone threatens us. why shouldn't the government do the same?

Things I've Learned This Week

1. The Law of St. Nick: the strand of christmas tree lights that are the hardest to reach are the ones most likely to go out prematurely

2. if you ever try to re-create KFC's 11 herbs and spices original recipe fried chicken, it's gonna take a LOT of experimentation before you get anything that doesn't taste horrible. i learned this the hard way.

3. lately i've been realizing how in the grand scheme of recording, vocals account for about 85% of whether or not it's considered a good recording. for any singer, some days are just not good days to sing. when that happens, instead of getting frustrated and having them do a million takes (which makes their voice even worse), it's better to just work another day.

4. if your tires work out great and last 30,000 miles longer than they were supposed to, you can be sure the company that makes those tires will discontinue them so as not to make that mistake again.

5. frying a turkey is definitely the way to go. ok, technically that's not recently. i learned that a few weeks ago at thanksgiving, but seriously, do yourself a favor and skip the oven. no more dried out white meat.

6. Edy's grape and lime fruit juice popsicles dominate all other frozen treats. if you disagree, Edy herself will punch you in the face.

7. Preparation pays off. Here's a story for you: about 5 years ago it snowed in nashville around christmas. but nobody here sells sleds. so you know what i did? i asked for a sled for christmas from my family in illinois. they were confused, but nevertheless they obliged me and bought me a plastic sled. that sled has stayed in my basement since then. BUT THEN it snowed 4 or 5 inches on sunday. my day of reckoning had arrived. my new place has a big hill in the back. @davidmolnar came over with his snowboard and we were 12 years old again. THE END.

8. the biggest enemy of my productivity is angry birds

9. I am the Lord of Catan

10. watched the new narnia movie. SPOILER ALERT - the lion is jesus

11. Last Christmas is the best Christmas song ever written. there. i said it. thank you george michael.

12. the new my chemical romance record is awesome.

13. @davidmolnar is the best backup swayer i've ever known.

that's all for now!

nick

Bass

the english language is very weird. take the word "bass". because you are reading this, you have no idea if i'm talking about the fish, or the instrument. while i do enjoy bass fishing, let's talk about the instrument - and more specifically, this guy:

this is my buddy Nathan Thomas. he loves his cat, he loves Prince and he absolutely loves jimmy eat world. the last part is a big reason me and nathan are friends. in addition to being an original member of Cartel, he's played for Avril Lavigne, Shedaisy, Jeremy Camp, Krystal Meyers, Britt Nicole, and Day of Fire to name a few.

we share the same dark sense of humor. he told me a great story the other day where he was hired to play a one-off show for a fairly well known christian rock singer. the music director came to meet up with him to go over the songs the day before the show. when they started to play the first song, nathan proceeded to play the song in its entirety in all slap bass - with a straight face the whole time. he watched the guy's face sink and could practically read his mind as he probably thought "crap, how the heck am i going to find another bass player so quickly." the music director artfully downplayed the atrocity he had just witnessed and proceeded with a very nice "well, maybe we should try something different..." before nathan's face exploded in laughter and let him in on the joke.

anyway, nathan is awesome, and that's why i hired him to play bass on Tricia's solo worship record. he's a great player - he's the type of guy who usually gets what i'm trying to do without even having to tell him. with most songs i usually record a couple of takes without one word of direction and we end up keeping a lot elements of those takes. i'm a fan of melodic, moving bass lines in the style of paul mccartney. some think the bass should be simple and foundational - which there is truth to, but some tasteful movement in the right spots really excites the song.

anyway, he's the lowdown on the gear we used.

here are the main 3 basses we used. from left to right you'll see an Epiphone Jack Casady 2006 strung with flat wounds, a Fender P Bass 2002 with S-1 switching and a Fender Jazz bass 2005. jazz basses are my favorite so i think we ended up using that one the most. but the other two really found their places.

we also used an upright bass for one song.

here's what we had for pedals.

as you can see, he has a lot of aguilar pedals. i'm a fan of the agro pedal. it's got a certain low mid punch that sounds nasty when you hear just the bass but it makes it sit perfectly in the mix. that red pedal up on the top right is a custom fuzz/gate pedal that nathan and his buddy made. the best way i can explain is that it's similar to a fuzz factory pedal except for bass. here's the list of pedals:

Boss TU-2

Aguilar TLC compressor

Aguilar Agro

Aguilar Tone Hammer

Aguilar Octamizer

Home-made "top secret" fuzz/synth

Electro Harmonix Holy Stain

Tech 21 Sans Amp

we ran a clean direct line straight out of the tone hammer and then a "dirty" line at the end of the effect chain. no amp. that scares me a little. i usually like to have a mic'd up amp but this turned out really well.

one of the lines was run into a Vintech x81 and then a tiny bit of compression from a Distressor and the other line went through an Avalon 737 with a touch of compression and no EQ.

if you'd like to follow nathan thomas on twitter, his twitter name is @nathantbass

if you'd like to follow Tricia on twitter, her twitter name is @superchicktrish

work with what you've got

when it rains, it pours. i am definitely blessed with work to do. i'd rather be too busy than have nothing to do.

first off, i got back yesterday from a two week run with Stellar Kart and got back the first mix from Tricia's worship record. it's a song called "Lean" that was loosely inspired by the old hymn "Leaning On The Everlasting Arms." "wow" you might say. "why is one song done so early?" well i'll tell you. that song is going to appear in an upcoming Now Hear This compilation. we're very excited. we had it mixed by Ainslie Grosser (@ainslieg). i'll have plenty more to show and tell very soon about the rest of the record.

secondly, let's talk about something else exciting. as i said earlier, i just got off the road with stellar kart for a two week run. while i was out, i brough some gear with me and we recorded an EP - the contents which are very very secret. "how secret" you ask? well let's just say that if said secrets were to leak on the internets, many clandestine agents around the world would be outed, nuclear war would ensue and would probably bring about the end of the human race.

i've never done a record while on tour. this was definitely a lesson in less-is-more. what's surprising is how well things can turn out when you don't have your best tools. it just reinforces the fact that what makes a good recording are the ideas, not the gear.

here's a shot of the rig.

a single shock mounted road case, digi 002 rack, motu 8 channel mic pre and avalon 737. that drawer contains a bunch of mics, cables, dongles, headphones and random stuff. everything was run off of a macbook.

the day we recorded drums, we were incredibly fortunate to be playing a show at a church that had halfway decent acoustics. it wasn't as good as a professionally designed studio, but it was good enough. here's a shot:

notice the panels on the wall. they're absorption panels to deaden the room. also notice the angled walls. without getting into a long drawn out discussion on acoustics, just accept this fact when i tell you that you don't want any parallel surfaces in a room where you're recording.

here's jordan's setup

we didn't have the best mics available. here's the quick rundown - audix d6 and shure beta 52 on kick. audix i5 and 57 on snare(s) two unidentified mics on toms that came from manic drive. akg c1000's on overheads, audio technica 4050's for room mics and 57's for hat and ride. what's interesting about using a dynamic mic on hat and ride is that the pattern wasn't as wide as a condenser which is what i typically use. which means better isolation. i don't know why i haven't tried this before.

also, i tried something new with the room mics. i brought a long headphone extender cable with me. i grabbed one of the room mics and record enabled it and put the headphones on. i had jordan start playing and i just walked around the room listening to the mic. the trouble with room mics is usually with the cymbals. it's hard to find a good spot that's not so harsh on the high end. we ended up finding a sweet spot with some good low end about 15 feet in front and to the left of the kit. not exactly where i guessed it would be. if i'm ever trying to record drums in a room that i'm not familiar with, i think i've found a new trick.

here's another interesting thing i tried:

ok, things are about to get nerdy. be warned. if you don't like technical talk, you might want to skip the next few paragraphs.

noticed how one mic is about two feet behind the other mic. 22 inches to be exact. the night before i was thinking about an article i read where chris lord alge was talking about making sure if he was mixing two channels of bass how important it is that they're in phase with each other. forgive me if those of you reading already know this, but when you encounter phase problems, certain frequencies will cancel out depending on the phase. anyway, i was thinking that there could be a way to use phase cancellation to create a desired effect. i didn't have all my normal equipment to record drums like i usually do at darkhorse. with a kick drum i find myself almost always scooping out 300 Hz (or somewhere around there.) different frequencies have different wavelengths - actual physical wavelengths. i figured if i could find the exact wavelength of 300 Hz and place the second mic so that frequency would be exactly 180 degrees out of phase, then that frequency (and that frequency alone) would cancel out. the formula to use is:

c/f = w

where c = the constant (in this case being the speed of sound in meters per second [343 m/per sec])

f = frequency

w = wavelength

so when i plug my numbers in i get this:

343 / 300 = f

f = 1.14 meters

that's science!! well...math, really. mrs. labbe, if you're reading this (and she might actually be), you are probably so proud right now.

yes kids. i just did some algebra. i hate to break it to you, but you actually do need to use some of that stuff they teach you in school.

anyway, 1.14 meters is roughly 44 inches. if i want the mic to be 180 degrees out of phase, i need to place it at half that distance which is 22 inches.

did it work?? BEAUTIFULLY. i couldn't believe it. i didn't use any EQ and the kick sounded great. granted, i did have to move the fader up and down a bit to find the sweet spot where it was canceling out just right, but nevertheless, it worked. also, i should give some credit to @jordanmesser for having a good sounding kick and knowing how to tune it and play it well.

so lesson be learned. to everybody complaining about not having great gear:

a shoddy craftsman blames his tools.

my mom, a.k.a. life hacker

one of the benefits of playing in a christian rock band is that every now and then i can get tickets to other shows for my family. my mom called me yesterday excited because tobymac and skillet were coming through my hometown of springfield, IL. so of course, i called a friend who got her on the list. i texted her back the good news that she was on the list. later that night she texted me that she had a great time at the show and said thanks.

now this would be a boring story if it ended there. but thankfully, it doesn't.

i got a message from my friend today saying "hey nick! i'm so terribly sorry i was thinking ur mom needed comps for the Springfield, MO show the first week of december and just now realized it was last night's show. did she end up going? pls pass along my apologies if she did try :("

that is the exact text. if you don't believe me, notice the emoticon and shortened spelling of "your" into "ur."

now here's where it gets good. this is one of the reasons my mom is awesome. she managed to get in. long time readers of my blog may remember me occasionally talking about how sometimes just acting like you know what you're doing and acting like you're supposed to be there will get you far. my mom understands this concept COMPLETELY. there is no security guard alive who can keep my mom from getting backstage. anyway, apparently when the people at the ticket desk couldn't find the tickets that were never left, my mom just told them that her son is in stellar kart and he called his buddies and her tickets should be there. i'm not sure exactly what she said, but they ended up giving her tickets.

my mom beats the system like it's her job.

day off

so here we are. oklahoma city. the stellar kart 3D tour has been going great so far. but today we are just chilling in the bus. if you check google you would think that the shopping mall that we are parked at would keep us occupied. but closer inspection reveals that this is a dying mall. there's nothing more depressing than a dying mall. the empty parking lot. the removed store signs. movie theater shut down. the only signs of life are more depressing than the decay of the deserted and barred up spaces. i mean, who goes to a decrepit mall for a hair weave anyway?

i was in the mood for some adventure so i just started walking. lo and behold i found a pawn shop. I LOVE PAWN SHOPS. seriously. some people love malls, some people love thrift stores. i love pawn shops. i'm always on the hunt for music gear or electronics for super cheap. one of the best things about pawn shops are the DVDs. they have tons of classic movies and the DVDs usually run about $2 or $3 a piece. but nothing would prepare me for what i saw today in the pawn shop.

CHECK. THIS. OUT.

do you know what that is?? some of you probably do. if you don't, i'll tell you.

that is a FREAKING BARRETT .50 CALIBRE SNIPER and ANTI-MATERIAL RIFLE

i don't know if you can tell from the picture, but right in front of the gun is .50 calibre shell. that shell is about 5 inches long. these puppies aren't just meant to take out a bad guy from over a mile away. a well placed shot from this guy into the engine block of a car will stop a hummer or jeep dead in its tracks. remember the movie Shooter? remember at the beginning when mark wahlberg shot a helicopter down with a well placed shot to the rotors? well he was using this puppy, and that is a totally feasible shot. ya know how when you watch Walker Texas Ranger and there's always crazy inaccurate situations like when he shoots one bullet from his handgun and the car blows up? well, this gun is the closest thing we have to Walker Texas Ranger.

God help us all if chuck norris were to get his hands on one of these babies.

anyway, i didn't have $6,000 to buy this guy even though that's a great deal. they usually go for $10,000...oh ya, and the bullets cost $5 a piece. seriously. not a cheap hobby. but i've gotta do something or else the terrorists win.

but i did end up buying all three lord of the rings movies for a grand total of $6. so you know what? our crappy day at a dying mall is turning out to be an awesome movie day. so take that Osama. 'Muricah!! Freedom isn't free! These colors don't run!

and that brings us to the moral of the story. happy veterans day.

by the way, if you wanna hear more about the gun that i just casually found on sale in a pawn shop in oklahoma city, check out this video: