Everyday Blues

As we were playing Everyday Blues on Saturday night I thought that there was a lot of room for guitar harmonies. Especially at the last line of the Chorus when we get all quiet ("It's just your ordinary, average everyday blues"). I like the way our two guitars interact in that song. You can really hear it in the WMSE recording. I imagine our two guitar parts weaving and overlapping with eachother sometimes lining up and sometimes clashing. And the point where our guitars really sync up will be at that crucial moment in the song: the last line of the chorus. I will try and record some parts for that to illustrate what I'm talking about.

Recording Takes/Versions

Tim had a good idea last night that when we're recording, we should do multiple takes for each song, like around 2-4. And try to get one standard take that everyone thinks is good... and the other ones will try to take the song in new directions or over-exaggerate different parts. So as long as we feel we get one good take, the other takes will be like no-pressure freebies that we can get as weird as we want on and just have a good time with it... I also think we should record some jams in the studio too and just play these songs like we'd play them live at a show, don't over think it and keep the energy high... It gets back to that honesty idea we were talking about earlier...

Below are some ideas Chris had about the "feel" of each song as its recorded: Tight vs. Loose -->

TIGHTER:
crime
dimmer
auto
brighter
edb
orbiter

LOOSER:
for memories
blues/blood
smile
edb
icse
even country

Commandments of Recording - HH Pt. 2 (Feel Free to Add)

1. No sex for 7 days before any recording session.
a. it gives bite to the voice, tremor to the vibrato, snap to the snare & much more
b. we don't want any dry cocks.....that shit shows on analog tape

2.

Album Cover

The topic of Album Cover was mentioned in an email earlier so I thought I'd bring it up here...

I don't think we should have definite "pictures" or "images" in our heads of what the album title should be. I don't think we should tell an artist: "Hey man, I want a purple unicorn with flames coming out of its ass" We should say something more like, I want the artwork to be mysterious and thought provoking... or I want it to make you feel calm when you view it, or scared. We should use wide-angled adjectives to help describe the feeling of the album and the mood of the cover art.

Think of all the albums you like. When you listen to Dark Side of the Moon, how do you not picture the prism on a black background. Or when I listen to Phish's Rift and Story of the Ghost - I can imagine the colors of those album cover arts in the music (blue and red respectively). Check out Band of Horses new album pictured above. Now go listen to it in the dark and tell me what you see.

Scheduling Practices Before The Big Weekend

What weekends are we free to get together between, say, Feb 16th and March 14th.

I can contiunue to get together on Thursdays if thats how we plan on doing it, but those aren't the best option down the home stretch:

1) We don't get quite as much done on Thursdays (2 hours or so) vs Saturdays/Sundays (4 or 5 hours with no rush)

2) We will definitely not make every Thursday which equals about 3 shorter practices before the album. Yikes! Thats not enough!

If we're not 100% ready we'll be wasting a TON OF MONEY on additional studio time and end up with an album thats below our expectations.

She's Automatic

I'm going to massage the lyrics a little bit to this song. I just don't feel right about it especially now that it will be discussed by the masses when we start handing this hot disc out. Obviously Meesh knows about it by now and I don't think it's cool to throw it in her face. If she wrote a brilliant poem about one of her ex-boyfriends and had it framed on our wall I would take it down, line it up with her womb and punch through the glass. But that's just me....

Anyway, it won't be too different.....

Recording with W I L C O

This is exactly how we should approach our album. Look how close together they are!

Derek Trucks

Possible Album Titles

Raised by the Sound

Leave no Sign

Always Something New

Brighter Side

Carried By the Song

Let it Roll

Dime Store Dreamings

Kama Sutra '79

General Thoughts

Just thinking out loud here... I want this album to be as loose and honest as possible. I'd like to experiment with overdubbing (acoustic guitar, banjo, full orchestra, crazy sounds...etc) but I don't think we should get too crazy with it. The overdubs will be there to reinforce the sound we're after - not to lead it. I think the more organic the recording process is, the better it will be.

However, that means we will really have to play our asses off in the studio and might ultimately mean that the way were are playing some of these songs right now is insufficient. I think it comes down to the energy and emotion put into the song during our first recording session. We should be willing and able to do multiple takes/versions of songs quickly and with a ton of energy. Of course there are a few songs that deserve the quiet, but in general we need to amp these song up significantly.

This organic/honest capturing of the songs is also important for the piano player (and other extra instruments...) I think they need to be in the studio while we're doing our live takes.