Finished EQ-ing the drums tracks today. Now the long and arduous process of post-production begins, and fixing little mistakes and finding the appropriate levels will be the biggest challenges.

Reflections On Drum Tracking: Looking Backward

After soldiering through technical difficulties and musicianship frustrations, we finished recording drums for the four songs last Thursday. It was a learning experience, more so than I would have liked, but all in all it was fun. This being a solo project, I underestimate the challenges of parceling out ample rehearsal time for each instrument involved in the process, finding a reliable and at-least-somewhat quiet space for practicing, pulling together the funds for adequate gear and hardware, and finding the time to get acquainted with your recording software and interface. Thanks be to God, I have amazing friends who are more than willing to lend their time and resources for this endeavor of mine. Otherwise, this could never happen. I am forever indebted to them for their friendship and their musical camaraderie.

Now that drums are finished, the challenge for this semester is to balance both school and a job, all the while trying to find the time to clean these drum tracks up and practice the guitar parts, some (most) of which are currently beyond my abilities. Until Winter, this blog may be somewhat dormant, with a few posts scattered here and there: but be sure, something is on the horizon.

Recording Drums, Day 1

Today I set out to record drums for the upcoming full length, tentatively entitled "In Hoc Signo Vinces." My friend Oscar, who lent his guitar talents on the song "The Narrow Path", helped me in a whole variety of ways for which I can't thank him enough. I was most afraid of technical difficulties, but those were resolved quite quickly. Instead, performance difficulties were the biggest problems, as I haven't had a chance to actually practice these songs on a kit, ever. I survived the first song, and the next three will be done tomorrow. Embarrassments aside, the day was fun, and any opportunity to combine music and good friends is always worth taking. Hopefully things can be ironed out in post-production, and a quality release will be available to you, the listener. More tomorrow.

Some photos:

Drum tracking for In Hoc Signo Vinces begins tomorrow.

I'm pretty excited, and I get to try out all the different instrument-specific microphones I've accumulated over the years, as well as a new interface and its software. Sounds like it's gonna be a success. Pictures will be available soon.