Day 20

Recording: Additional Drums, Keyboards

Tim

Drums? Did you do that forever ago? Yes. Yes, we did. The drums at the very beginning of the album simply weren’t thunderous enough, it was decided. So, we added 4 more layers of booming toms. There are something like 20 tracks of drums at the beginning now. You’re welcome.

As for the keyboards, this is one of the most interesting parts of recording. We generally don’t have anything entirely specific in mind for keyboards when we get ready to record an album. Dave has an incredible ear for this, thanks to his conservatory training. We added keyboards in wherever they fit. We definitely don’t try to shoehorn them into passages they don’t belong.

The amount of keyboards as the album progresses is the opposite of the background vocals. There are more keyboards as time goes on. I like to think of it as our protagonist lifting the veil and crushing the powers that be as he gains power and purpose.

As we were wrapping up, we stumbled upon two fantastic patches that fit perfectly at the very end of the album. One was a tremolo orchestra patch. Clearly this was perfect for the final note of the album. As for the other patch, you’ll just have to listen for it, also at the end of Part III. I will divulge that it was found under the “orchestral percussion” patch.