Alcina....gesundheit

I just got home from two long days at the studio recording drums for the new Alcina (al - CHEE - nuh) record. Go check them out at www.myspace.com/alcinatn

On the left is RJ going at it like a champ. The kit was a very nice DW set that was borrowed last minute from a friend and the snare was a yamaha brass snare on loan from our drum tech Ivan Garcia. That other snare sitting on the ground came in close second - it's borrowed from my buddy Clay. it's a Truth brass snare, 8" x 14". I've worked in this room at Darkhorse Recording a number of times now and i'm pretty excited because i think that these are the best drums sounds i've gotten out of this room. for those of you who have recorded with me, i'm sorry. i try to get better every time and every once in a while i actually succeed.


Here's a shot of the Trident series 80 desk.



Wes shredding



Here's a tasty stack of vintech x81 channel strips. I'm hoping to get one of these in the next couple of months. I used every one that they had today. Kick, snare, overheads.



Here's another shot of the setup. Lately i've been using ribbon mics for room mics. Room mics tend to be kinda shrill and pick up a little too much cymbals - especially with bands where the drummer crashes on the cymbals like it's a hi-hat. Ribbons tend to be darker so it's a nice counter measure. Also, i've found that pairing ribbons with a tube mic pre makes a substantial difference in sound. Anyway, this week i tried their Cascade X-15 stereo ribbon which you can see in the foreground.



I'm pretty excited about this project. I think we're shooting for a Halloween release date which means a pretty tight schedule. And it looks like we'll probably have a lot of guests from other bands lending us their talents here and there. i'll post more later about that. ok, well i'm tired and don't want to type anymore. goodbye.

P.S. Beat Detective can go eat a bag. i'd like to punch Digidesign for promising to make drum editing go faster and failing to deliver. sure, it works if you spend enough time messing with it. but isn't saving time the whole point? no deal.