Project update

Well, not much of an update, but a little one.

I hope to get started with the actual recording in a few weeks. The project has gotten slightly bigger. Originally I was going to do 6 songs, now I'll be doing 8-9. Even though a few of the extra songs are different stylistically than the other 6, I've decided to add them because...well, because why not? I might as well get them recorded while I'm recording.

At any rate, I have a few people lined up to play on them so far. (Hopefully, provided no one falls through.) Eric is going to play drums on three of the songs. And then the drums for the original six will be played by a guy I know from online, Will. The one thing that concerns me is that I've never actually heard his drumming, so that should be interesting when I finally do. He's actually in a few bands, two of which I've seen, but in those bands he sings and plays guitar. However, most accounts say he's pretty good at the drums, so I've got my fingers crossed. Also, I might have a bass player, Jim, lined up for the original six as well. Also someone from online, and a friend and former roommate of the guy playing drums. In fact, it was the drummer that brought Jim on board, as he played the demos for him one night. Oddly enough, I have a few other connections to Jim: He played in a band called the Damn Personals (who were pretty popular) who I've seen before. He played in another band called The Horses, and two of his bandmates in that band dated two of my former Porter Sq. roommates. He is friends with Krista/Joe/Laura/Rob independent of the fact that I am. And he used to have a crush on my roommate.

Also, there is a chance that I might be able to line someone up to do the actual drum recording, so I don't have to. On one hand, I wouldn't mind trying it myself. But on the other, I also wouldn't mind having someone else with some more experience (and possibly some better drum mics) do it, so that I can get some better drum sounds. I had sent an email to my buddy Benny, (who works at a recording studio in Allston, and who I'd emailed recently anyway regarding some potential Pawnshop Diamonds recording), and asked if he knew anyone that might be interested in a few days work for some short money. Short, because it'd be coming entirely out of my pocket, and I can't afford to spend a lot of cash on what is essentially a vanity project. He said his assistant might be interested, so I'm trying to get more details on that.

If that doesn't pan out and I do the entire DIY route, I will be borrowing some mics/cables/stands from assorted people, and hopefully a headphone amp from Fil. Hopefully that will be enough.

Also, I sat down over the weekend and figured out how to unplug the speaker from my amp, and just plug the preamp into my I/O so that when playing scratch tracks for the drummers to record along with, my amp won't actually get caught in the recording. I'd like to have as much separation of sound as possible. Since I won't be working with the most top notch gear or experience, the more leeway and flexibility I have to manipulate the sounds after the fact, the better. That reminds me, I should see if I could get my hands on a DI box, in case Jim wants to record live with Will. Hmmm.

Anyway, like I said, hopefully I should be starting the actual recording in a few weeks. We'll see. I'm a little excited and a lot daunted by the amount of stuff I seem to need to pull together.

P.S. Bill, thanks for the offer. When I get past this first stage of getting the drums and bass down, I'll start thinking more seriously about what I need to do for guitars and vocals.