5.29.14 - Birthdays

5.29.14

Our mad month of demoing is drawing to a close.  All in all, we tracked 27 songs that we’re working through, deciding on the right blend.  And I (Peter) may need to write a couple more songs to flesh out this record, before we begin tracking in July.

The typical workflow of one of our demos:we start with midi drums.  In Logic, Peter will drum his little heart out on his Axiom 25 and then quickly quantize his sloppy playing.  Once we have the layers of drums, Peter records scratch guitars and bass.  Back when we had more time on the tracks, we would track a lot of synths first.  But now - with that angry clock staring down at us - we have almost entirely forgone synthesizers… unless they’re an integral part of the song.  Once we have the basic shape of the song demoed, we track vocals… which are truly only demo quality, lacking strength and true gusto.  The end result is a track that contains the ghost of the final track, but not the sort of thing you should share with a person who is unfamiliar with listening to demos (which is an art, I’ve come to realize).

All work and no play… we have allowed ourselves a couple quick breaks… namely a trip to the San Diego zoo for my Birthday… which was just the sort of relaxation I needed after such a mad dash in the studio.  Here’s to the panda bears!

Next up for us… we are waiting for some feedback on the demos we have and then we make the tough decisions of what songs make the cut… we’ll also decide what additional songs to record (just to have).  In the meantime, our attention is turning to our June performance here in LA… more on that later.