Day 6

Recording: drums – loose ends for all Parts
Warm-up: “Desert Rain” by Iced Earth

Dave

It is a rare luxury for me to be able to “punch-in” (as we call it in the business), but Tim’s excellent recording setup makes this possible.  Since I come from the conservatory, where we do things 10,000 times until we can do it once perfectly, the punch-in still feels like anathema to my musical training.  Regardless, I have to remember that films are not cut from a single take, and likewise, the greatest albums of our time are not made in one session alone.

Most of the stuff we recorded today was extra stuff.  I had wanted certain sections to be big, not just big, but BIG.

BIG!!!!!

So I made Tim record six different snare drum tracks for a mere 8 measures of metal.  I think the effect was worth his headache.  We also recorded several tracks for the introduction to “A Thousand Lies,” which I feel will make for a nice transition out of the Overture.  I wish I had an entire percussion section at my disposal sometimes…

Tim

It has been over a week since our last recording session. That was plenty of time for all of us to review the drum tracks we had previously recorded. After such intense scrutiny, it was determined that there was some cleaning up to do. Armed with another energy shot for Dave and a Boh for myself, we got down to business. After flying through the edits we wanted to make throughout the CD, I assumed we were finished with the drum tracks. Dave had a different idea.

We multitracked the drums in Part 1. I don’t mean like track 1 = kick, track 2 = snare, etc. I mean tracks 1-8 are drums. Tracks 9-16 are more drums. Tracks 17-24 are more drums! The result is an amazing colossal sound. Dave sounded more powerful than an entire orchestral percussion section. By now, I’m sure there are some naysayers out there going “there is no possible way that sounds good.” When you hear this CD, your head will explode.

Dave again

Wait until Tim sees the percussion I’m going to bring in to record for the Overture.  I don’t actually own tubular bells or timpani, but I know where to find them…