I’ve started mixing the new Blank Pages record with Greg Potter.  We’re continuing that process tonight, as a matter of fact.  Also finishing up the final masters for the debut younglionapprentice record next week.  And…recording another band from the ground up this weekend.  More on that project soon!

Later Wednesday evening I’ll be finishing up small mixing tweaks on the Young Lion Apprentice full-length Save The Soundtracks.  I’ll then be mastering that record over the next few weeks.

During my free time this week I’ll be working on analog transfers for the new Sad Iron full-length, and starting the mastering process.  I met Jason through the Tape Op Messageboard (TOMB).  He’s a really talented songwriter (and singer, player, etc) currently residing in Iowa City, Iowa.  I am really excited about this mastering project.  Can’t get his songs out of my head since I first heard them last week.

Sunday I’ll be tracking lead vocals with Greg of the Blank Pages at his home studio in South Jersey.  Their new record is getting close to being completely recorded.  We’ll start mixing it in March or April.

Busy busy busy!

Mike recorded everything at home on a Tascam 424 MKIII 4-track.  He can chime in here if he wants to and go into his gear list or his fondness for Rustica Pizzas (Basil pesto / sun-dried tomato white pies) that fueled the sessions over here.  Anyway, we started transferring at 24-bit 96K and mixing last summer.  I think at some point he wanted to re-record some vocals that he wasn’t happy with (originally recorded with an SM58), and I was having a difficult time getting some of the vocals that he recorded at home to sit in the mix.  The mixes are pretty rich for 4-tracks; lots of delay and reverb direct to tape.  We made the decision to redo all of the vocals back in September or October in order to have them cut through the instruments.  In the past two weeks we finished them up after a few sessions this Fall and a break for the holidays.  I think that it took five or six sessions, tops.  Mike and I are a lot happier with the way that things sound between now and last Fall.

Tonight was especially cool since I was able to use my 1977 Maestro Echoplex as tape delay for Mike’s vocals on “Withered Arms”. (The Echoplex was a gift this Fall from Dave Palaitis of Lifetime, a life-long friend.)  It is amazing that something that sounds so noisy at times (and that at times deceives you into thinking that a hamster runs around on a track inside of it) can actually sound so good.  I have to get this thing into the shop so that I can use it for more and more vocals, even those that are up front in the mix.  It is a little scratchy and noisy right now.  However, I’m totally in love with this thing.  Thanks again, Dave!  We recorded the vocal track and then used the Radial X-Amp reamp to get it to the Echoplex.  Then the EP-3’s output was fed to the PM-1000’s DI.

We’ll finish some mixing tweaks in the next week and then master Save The Soundtracks.

I managed to record most, if not all, of these informal get-togethers. First, to my old Roland VS-880EX, and then, at my apartment, to my Alesis HD24 through a Mackie 1604 VLZ Pro. I think that I ran DI out of the back of my Mesa-Boogie DC-3’s recording output, and Mike ran DI out of his Marshall Valvestate combo. The recordings were archived as 20-bit 48K DAT tapes later in 2003.

Loopers. I used two Line 6 DL4’s (with expression pedals) strung together, and at one point I had a Guyatone delay in there as well. I created a few effects loops on the pedal board with a Boss Line Selector pedal and a few Morley A/B pedals. And then I had a few vintage MXR and Mutron Phasers (early 80’s Phase 90 and Phase 100, and a 1976 Mutron Phasor II), a wah pedal, and my trusty modified Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer. I was playing a 1999 Mexican Stratocaster, which I heavily modified (hardware, pickups, etc).

I’ll get Mike to post about his rig, but I know that he was using an Akai Headrush, a Boss Delay, and then at some point an Electrix Repeater rack unit. Mike was playing his 1990’s Gibson Nighthawk.

The beautiful thing about these recordings is that all of it was improvised. We would just set up and play until we got something going. And we recorded everything. Some of it is great, some of it just OK, some not so great. Most of the pieces in their original form are like 20 to 60 minutes in length. I’m planning on editing the best pieces together with Mike into a cohesive record, possible a double record. Then we’ll do a digital-only release. I want to maintain the feel and flow of the Sundays that we got together to do this, so we’re not going to be overdubbing anything, or recording anything new for the release. It’ll be a snapshot of eight years ago. We have no plans to do anything like this again. I actually haven’t played like this for close to five or six years at this point. Not sure about Mike.

For an example of the original recordings, check out this ancient Impossible Gardens’ MySpace Page that we set up and then abandoned back in 2005.

I’ve been spending the day bringing everything into Digital Performer from the original DAT tapes. The plan is to listen to these recordings in February and make notes. In March Mike and I are going to start editing, arranging a playlist, and then mastering everything.