I started experimenting with tracking vocals tonight. The recording itself didn't come out all that great, but it lets me know what direction to head in. I'll start by showing off the vocal booth.







Yep - "Heeerrre's Johnny."



(what? too soon?)







This door leads to my illustrious vocal booth known for it's class and comfort.





This is actually the best sounding room in my house. It is small and isolated and has a nice mix of echo and reverb.











So far I've only been working on one song. This is mostly because I've been waiting on a new M-Audio FastTrack audio interface to arrive that will allow me to record easier and with more better sound quality. Currently the way I am capturing sound is by running a microphone into a Behringer Ultra-Voice-Pro Preamp/Processor and adding effects when needed by running a T.C. Electronics Dual Effects Processor in the Behringer's effects loop. (So far the only thing I've used processed effects on is tonights vocal tracks, and the way they're sounding I'll most likely retrack them without the effects). I've been sending the audio signal from there directly into the mini audio in on my MacBook and using GarageBand as the recording software. I've been using an AKG D190E Microphone I inherited to record the tracks for this song. Overall this setup has been giving a noisy background to the tracks, which is ok for this song because it needs to have a dreamy background. Anywho ... Soon I will also be purchasing a pair of Audio-Technica Pro 37s and an Audio-Techinca 3035, all of which will have better capturing capability and help make clearer recordings.

Thats all for now.

Attempt 10,000

Well, once again I am attempting to record an album's worth of material, both in quality and quantity.

I have been down this road many a time before. Each time I get impatient and settle for tracks that are not up to the standard they should be. In previous attempts either I settle for inferior performance due to impatience, or I end up with recording errors due to not setting things up right and then being too lazy to start the process over again. Most of these recordings are now floating around labeled as "demos." Check out http://www.myspace.com/dandylyonwhine if you don't believe me.

The last time I tried to do this I enlisted the help of some friends with a decent recording setup to help me record. I figured that having other people on board and excited about a project would make keep me going and doing it right. Unfortunately they live quite a ways away and schedules have not been lining up. Only getting one day in a month was not working out well for the recording process, especially with my idea behind the recording process.

My identity as a writer comes much in the American Singer/Songwriter tradition. When one comes from that tradition it is extremely easy for every tune to sound like just another fok-rock song. My philosophy for this album is to work like Wilco did on the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album, which is to deconstruct the song through the recording process and try to come up with a different approach. This can come from trying something new while recording, jamming and recording multiple takes, it can come from recording it the standard way and then trying to approach it differently. The idea overall is that I don't want these songs to sound the way I already hear them in my head. Most of these songs have been floating around for years. I'm bored with them the way they are and will and have been coming out that way on the recordings I've made.

I've started tracking already on what I hope to finally be the finished product. I already like the way it sounds and I think I'm on the right, pardon the pun, track. I've been through alot of changes and a lot of things that have been trying in the last couple of years. I've made a lot of decisions that have made major changes in my life. I am not complaining, so far I've somehow magically come out on top, but it's also been eye opening. It's a hard reality to wake up to when you realize that nothing is as it seems. What I'm getting is that this newest period of my life is the one that I'm finally somewhat coming into my own and seeing certain things the way they are, all of which prepares me to make the most honest album.