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…

Day 5

Recording: Drums for Part 2
Warm-up: “The Trooper” by Iron Maiden; “Warriors of Faith” by HammerFall

Tim

The secret to playing fantastic drum tracks isn’t carbonated energy drinks. It’s a certain energy shot. I had one lying around the house and gave it to Dave the second he arrived. Before we had been recording for 90 minutes, two complete takes of the song had been done. “Part 2” is sounding precise, exact, and … that’s right, epic!

After finishing up “Part 2”, we once again turned out attention to “Part 1”. There was one particular section that sounded good already, but had the potential to be better. So, since we were on a roll already, Dave redid the section a few times until we were happy with the changes.

Dave

One of Tim’s favorite bands is Pink Floyd, and as I walked into the Halls today, I was reminded of a certain line from “Comfortably Numb.”  It wasn’t a pinprick, but it was indeed a shot!  My amazing playing surprised even me, and I fear that I have become addicted to yet another delicious substance.

Spencehammer, Sr.’s number one gripe about heavy metal is the constant and indiscriminate use of double-bass parts.  Think Krisiun, but slowed down.  Or Manowar’s “House of Death.”  Or pick your favorite example, there’s literally thousands to choose from.  “Part II,” or whatever its final title will be, is the perfect forum for exciting and dexterous bass drum parts, and for my father’s sake, I tried to play with Tim’s rhythm parts, as well as the main riff in the first verse, while still satisfying my need to dance on the pedals.

Day 4

Recording: Drums for “Part 1”
Warm-up: “Asgard” by Therion, “Journey Through the Dark” by Blind Guardian

Dave

“A Thousand Lies” [Part 1] is proof positive that I need to get back on the bike.  My legs are not up to the challenge presented by the Hierarchy and the massive stairs leading to the Sanctuary.  That’s what everyone should imagine when listening to this song: each bass drum hit is one more stair up to the top of the Temple.

I owe a debt to Herr Jörg Michael from various bands, but specifically for his time with Running Wild.  The transition from the A-section to the B-section of this tune is “inspired” by his introductory fill to a certain song on the album Black Hand Inn.  It’s about a mystical man who’s licensed by the Crown to plunder Spanish ships.  I love the fill that he lays down on that tune, and now its cousin graces our own album.

Tim

After a good slumber and a soul-crushing half-day at work, we have returned to the Halls of Glory to lay down Part 1 once and for all. Things are coming much more easily today. After a mere hour, we had burst through the 9 minute mark of the song, the point at which we stopped yesterday.

We recorded until both Dave and the recording software were exhausted. We came away with a solid drum track that is sure to crush every poser in a thousand-mile radius. (For our non-US fans, this is about a 1600km-radius zone of poserslaughter.)

It’s becoming clear that each “part” of this album presents a unique drumming challenge. Part 3 has a lot of drum fills, as it is the climax of the album. There must be a lot of creativity and passion on Dave’s part to finish off the album, which is tricky to capture in the studio. Part 1 has a lot of precision involved over long periods of time since the song is so fast, intense, and let’s not forget epic. As such, it is nearly impossible to get one perfect take of the song, especially when that song is 13 minutes long. “Part 2”, in Dave’s words, requires “dexterity” throughout, which is challenging in its own right. Nonetheless, our next session could possibly be the last one for drum tracking.

Day 2

Recording: Drums for “Part 3”
Warm-up: “Dark Saga” by Iced Earth

Tim

What better place to start than the end? We have extra time planned for today, so we wanted to spend it crafting the finale to the album. “Part 3” has a lot of room for drum fills and other epic awesomeness on Dave’s part.

Dave

I am an improvisatory drummer.  I really don’t like playing the same thing twice, and if you come to Burning Shadows shows and pay attention to me, watch ME, dammit!, you’ll discover that I rarely play the same fill in a given song from show to show.  This has a way of biting one in the ass during a studio session.  The end of “Part III” is very spacious, and I felt like it was the ideal setting for me to toss in a couple of solos.  Hopefully everyone will be astounded by my playing, but I feel like some of the spontaneity that is lost by having to compose fills compromised the passion.  Ah, well.  There’s always the live shows to make up for it!

The beginning of this track is in fact one of my favorite moments on the album.  I just focused on getting good tones out of my ride cymbal and snare drum.  The rim click is something I’m particularly proud of.  I even used new sticks for this!

Day 3

Recording: Drums for “Part 1”
Warm-up: “Valhalla” by Blind Guardian

Tim

Snow is falling. It only feels right to be recording black metal this evening. Instead, we are channeling the evil in the winter air to feel the oppression of the Hierarchy. So we find ourselves at the beginning of our tale.

It took Dave quite a few takes to build up the head of steam necessary to pound out an appropriate take for the beginning of the album. Perhaps it is due to the fact that he worked the graveyard shift last night. (Sadly, we have yet to be able to all quit our day jobs; perhaps that will change with the release of this album!) Eventually, Dave’s playing came to the point where within the first few seconds of the start of the track, you could swear a warhammer (or Spencehammer in this case) has just smashed your face in. In a power metal way, not a death metal way.

Unfortunately, however, things just would not gel. Instead of tracking, attention was switched to mixing the drums for “Part 3”, which is much less exciting than tracking, I must admit.

Dave

Blind Guardian has a song called “And Then There Was Silence.”  It’s a great one.  You should go listen to it.  The last line of the song pretty much sums up my feelings about today.

We have officially begun recording for our next full length album. As we previously announced, the next album will be simply a trilogy. An album-length trilogy, that is. For the time being, the songs are referred to as “Part 1”, “Part 2”, and “Part 3”. Fear not, though. All will be revealed in due course. And now, we would like to present the first installment of the Gather, Darkness! Studio Diary:

Day 0

Dave

The ritual of disassembling, cleaning, and re-heading my drums is one that I undertake every so often; whenever Burning Shadows records, I do this to make sure that we have the optimal, cleanest sounding drums to work with.  This year, it took way longer than usual, because I’ve added 3 drums to my set.  Not all of those are going to show up on the album, given that for consistency reasons we’re only recording with one bass drum, but I figure that if I’m going to one drum, I might as well do them all.  We set up in the Halls of Glory, which was a real treat for me because I actually can walk all the way around my drums this time, rather than having to crawl underneath my snare drum to get behind the kit.

When I recorded Into the Primordial in 2006, I was a) underage and b) trapped in a corner.  Literally.  We recorded at RexRiot studios, and while RexRiot did a great job engineering the drums, the “drum room” was more of a torture chamber than anything else.  The drums barely fit inside this little cinderblock closet, and we were recording with only a few mics.  Now, for the inaugural drum recording in the Halls of Glory, we have mic’d every tom, including Tom Davy, so you’ll actually be able to hear my tom fills.  The fills I play on Tom will only be released on the special, limited edition gatefold, which includes a bonus 2 DVD video version of the album, and is only available by mail order from Japan.  Or Rockville.

Also we have a beer fridge now.

Day 1

Recording: Drums for a cover song

Dave

We’re recording a cover of [redacted] for your listening pleasure.  Originally, we were planning this for the B-side of a 7” single in which we would perform an original and a cover tune.  Scotty, if you’re reading this, we still want to!  The drummer who performed the live version of this track is a big inspiration to me; I think you might hear a little bit of Mr. So and So in my performance of this album’s tracks.  And now, having successfully proven that I can still play drums after two years in the Desert of No Drums, we’re all set to begin the gross undertaking that is our first concept album.

Tim

Since this album marks the first time we are in full control from start to finish of everything, I suggested we go ahead and record a cover before tracking the album, just to make sure we still know what we are doing. This recording session is also the first time I have tracked drums, as well as the first time I’ve fired up my recording interface to its full potential. The cover ensured we weren’t getting in over our heads, as well as to shake out the cobwebs before getting into the real album. What song did we do? I’m afraid I can’t tell you until it’s time to unleash it upon you!